If you’re a tech-savvy person who wants modern technology to be a helping hand in watching over your children and running your home?
If that is the case, buying Google Nest Cam will be one of the greatest things to start with.
Below, we are going to provide you with an honest Google Nest Baby Monitor review to explain whether you can use it as baby gear or not.
Google Nest cam comes with its fair share of advantages and drawbacks if you use it as a baby monitor in your baby’s nursery. However, it’s still worth considering this product due to its strengths in features that are essential in baby monitors.
Let’s dig deeper to see the Google Nest Cam review and know whether it can be used as a baby monitor or not…
Contents
Google Nest Cam Overview
The Google Nest Cam isn’t just a baby monitor that you ordinarily use.
It is rather a security camera for home (and not a dedicated baby monitor) you can utilize as a video monitor.
It means, that when your child is grown up, use the gadget as a home security camera.
It offers great features, for example, it is better than other monitors to monitor your baby’s room and comes with VOX (sound activation) features. Additionally, the Nest camera is provided with a night vision mode and a motion detector.
With the Google Nest Cam, you’re capable of seeing what is going on in the baby’s room. You can even connect your Nest Cam with a laptop, tablet, smartphone, or also Apple watch to monitor your baby’s activity.
It does not need any mounting, moreover, you can carry it around your house in a hassle-free way. You can also set up several cameras to observe your twins.
However, this device does not have baby-specific features like a two-way talk function and play lullabies, yet it can be used as a video monitor near your baby’s crib.
Like all the other WiFi baby monitors with parent unit, it’s trivially effortless to hack. But as Nest works through WiFi, in case you do not have a powerful signal near the baby nursery, it can render issues.
Google Nest Cam Features
- Unlimited distance long range baby monitor
- Secured WIFI transmissions
- Motion detections
- videos are HD quality (1080p)
- High-quality image
- Night vision
- Good battery life (Lithium Ion battery)
- 8x digital zoom
- Easy-to-use
- 130° wide-angle lens
- Built-in speaker & microphone
- Sound activation
Pros of Nest Baby Monitor
Here are a few things that we loved about the Google Nest Cam in our review process.
So, let’s take a look at the benefits of having the Google Nest Cam as your baby monitor.
Sleek Look
Unlike other cameras, The Google Nest Cam comes with a special, sleek look. The camera is black as well as the stand of the unit is dark gray.
WiFi Connection
It pairs with a tablet or smartphone via WiFi. This means the Nest works in a place where there is a strong signal. This’s great for strong WiFi connections.
1080p Quality Video & Night Vision
This camera streams HD quality video (1080p) and comes with infrared night vision mode.
Works as Security Camera & Baby Monitor
You can use the Nest Cam as your home security camera, and it’s also super easy to add an extra camera into the baby’s room to record and monitor video there.
Supports Several Cameras
You can use it as multiple or two camera baby monitor. The Nest app permits you to add several cameras so that you can monitor more than 1 kid at once. However, for that, you need to purchase additional cameras and set them up through the app of the Nest.
More Bandwidth
Nest Aware utilizes more bandwidth because it uploads videos to the cloud. So, all your videos get stored in the cloud.
>>Click Here To Check Price of Google Nest Baby Monitor
Cons of Nest Baby Monitor
Just like other cameras or other monitors, this too has a few disadvantages.
Here are the disadvantages of using Next Cam as a baby monitor.
Security Concerns Of The Device
WiFi is barely the safest way to provide video, and in case you do not want some random person to access footage, you shouldn’t use the WiFi baby monitors since they’re very easy to hack.
Poor Noise Detections
It isn’t great at catching noise and is particularly bad at stopping outside noise. As soon as you open the video feed on a device, you’ll hear every noise, from the snores to fans and so many more.
Sound Quality
The sound quality of Nest Cam is a little bit spotty as if you are listening via a tunnel. It isn’t perfect when it comes to baby monitoring.
Extra Cost for Storing Video
In case you want to store video (instead of simply streaming), you will have to buy a Nest Aware subscription that will cost you $10 per month to keep videos for 10 days in the cloud.
No Separate Display
It pairs with a tablet or smartphone and doesn’t have a different display. To hear/view your baby, you need to open the Nest app on your device.
When you close this app, Nest cams send notifications to inform you whether it detects movement or noise, but it’s not very savvy about what “counts” as a relevant movement or noise when your baby cries.
What’s In The Box Of Nest Baby Monitor
- Camera wall plate
- Mounting magnet
- Nest screws
- Power adapter
- Installation guide
Setting Up Nest Cam As A Baby Monitor
Setting up the Nest cam is a breeze. So, this is how you need to install the Nest Cam in your baby’s nursery
Decide Where You Want To Install
First, decide the place you want to install your baby monitor. A mounting plate is included in the box so in case you wish to mount the camera to the wall utilizing a few screws (also included).
The camera’s bottom is magnetic, thus, it makes things easy to install the camera on any magnetic surface in your room.
However, only one thing needs to be remembered to use the camera, you are going to need a plug it in. Thus, make sure you are installing the camera near an outlet to get easy access to the plug.
Download The Nest App & Connect
The next step is to download the Nest app as well as to connect the device with your smartphone or any other preferred device via WiFi.
Test Two-Way Talk Feature & Change Settings (If Needed)
Two-way talk & listen allows you to listen & soothe your kid. The only issue is that this device’s default setting delivers a chiming sound as soon as you begin and/or end the two-way communication feature. To do this, in the app, you need to select the “camera”->”Settings”, then scroll down to Talk and Listen, as well as turn off “Chime”.
Turning off the status light for the cameras
Under the “Device” option, you are capable of turning off the status light so that it illuminates only when there’s an error—or else, it’ll always be turned on.
Customize Notification
It sends you push notifications and emails whenever it sees anyone. You can adjust the notifications in Settings to customize notifications. Or you can even turn them off completely.
Set Motion Zones
Do you have an oscillating fan? If yes, then you can choose specific zones to observe motion for. Establish a motion zone for just the baby’s crib in your web app or mobile to reduce false alarms.
Sharing Permission
Undoubtedly the extra feature of sharing camera permission is fun. By sharing, you can allow the person to keep an eye on your kid if you can’t do so for a reason.
Change More Settings (When Needed)
There are many more setting options are available. So, go through them and find out which one is more appropriate for you, and then change or adjust the setting as per your preference.
Nest Baby Monitor Review
We have already discussed the overview, features, pros, and cons of Google Nest Cam in this article above.
And now it is time for reviewing the Google Nest Cam as a baby monitor below. Let’s keep an eye on our in-depth review of the Google Nest Cam here…
Clarity Of Video
Nest Cam is among the market tops when it comes to video quality. The Nest Cam gives the 1920 x 1080p HD quality resolution. Thus, it is clear enough to see everything vividly in your baby’s nursery.
As soon as you zoom-in the video, you may see the quality getting deteriorate, and the photo can get pixelated. Nevertheless, it’s still quite vivid. It’s great since you can zoom-in the video as well as search for anything in your baby’s room from your baby’s sock to their pacifiers.
Quality Of Sound
Since the Nest Cam is developed as a house surveillance system, its sound quality is not the primary focus. It does not separate human-made sounds from white noise. Furthermore, the sound is not quite clear.
Nevertheless, the Nest Camera monitor lets a talk-back feature, which implies that it can transmit the sound from the Nest app to the Nest camera. For this, the clarity of sound is likewise average, as well as while you speak, the app intercepts the sounds from your baby’s nursery.
Data Security
The Nest app stores the data utilizing cloud services as well as ask for permission from you before doing anything using your data. The software comes with several security levels – Transport Layer Security and HTTPS to confirm that intruders can’t access your information.
Further, Nest allows a 2-factor verification system. Thus, it prevents anybody from logging into the Nest app without taking permission from you. It’s a nifty characteristic since it puts you into the power of who can operate the app as well as watch your kid.
App, Alerts, And Subscription
If you want to use this Nest Cam as your baby monitor, then you have to download Nest app. This app is obtainable for both Android and iOS devices.
The app is effortless to navigate around and involuntary. It lets you set up push notifications as soon as the camera sees unusual conduct in the baby’s nursery, thus, you can review the app as well as see whether everything is okay or not via live stream.
Setup And Mounting
The Nest Cam is effortless to set up, as well as it takes only a minute or so. Simply, plug the Nest Cam device into the outlet, then turn it up, as well as download the Nest app to use it as a baby monitor. It’ll guide you during the process, as well as a few seconds after, the device is ready to use.
You’ll barely find something as easy as this one on the market now. Furthermore, it has a detachable wall mounting plate (included), which lets you mount the camera anywhere you prefer. You put the device on the ceiling or wall to monitor your baby.
Thus, using the Nest Camera as a baby monitor is easy in terms of discovering a suitable location to put the monitor.
Multi-Camera Support
The Nest Camera supports multiple cameras. Thus you can monitor more than one kid at once. However, for this, you will have to buy extra cameras (separately) and then connect the cameras with the device to monitor more than one kid at once.
Night Vision
The Nest camera comes with a 20 ft range coverage in the dark. So, with this night vision on in the Nest Cam, you can even monitor your baby while it is in deep sleep at night. So, when you use the night vision feature on the Nest Cam, you can monitor your baby’s peaceful sleep without disturbing them.
Range
The Nest Camera’s range is infinite, this transfers the notifications and video to your smartphone if both of the devices are connected with a strong internet connection. Thus, you can be anywhere yet you can live stream videos from your baby’s nursery.
FAQ Nest Baby Monitor
Following are the most common questions on Nest Baby Monitor
Can Nest Be Used As A Baby Monitor?
Yes, it can be used as a baby monitor. However, you may have to compromise a little to use the Nest Cam as a baby monitor.
Since the Nest Cam was mainly created for home security, it lacks a few features that a dedicated baby monitor has.
Does Nest Tell You When Someone Is Watching?
When Nest Camera is on and connected to Wi-Fi it will blink green if someone’s watching. On the other hand, when someone’s talking via the speaker it will blink blue.
Conclusion
The Nest camera wasn’t built as a video baby monitor. It’ll offer you the finest picture quality as well as the most integration and flexibility with other IoT gadgets around the home, but you have to understand the restriction that Nest cam can have as a baby monitor.
The biggest disadvantage of the Nest Cam as a baby monitor is that the Nest app isn’t meant to be operated for an ample period. On your phone, the video stream can start to be choppy or delayed in case you leave it ON for mover 30 minutes.
This’s because you are supposed to look at it only when something activated an alarm in the house. Or in case you wish to replay something that happened already after the fact.
In case you wish to keep an enduring eye on the baby while they sleep, you must consider buying a dedicated smart baby camera monitor instead of buying this Google Nest Cam.
A dedicated baby monitor features voice-activated mode, lullabies, etc. And these also come with a distinct parent unit so that parents can monitor their baby’s sleep as long as they want.
Resource:
- play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nest.android&hl=en&gl=US
