Angelcare AC401 Baby Movement Sensor Pad and Sound Monitor
- 8 channels (manual selection) for best performance
- Full colour LCD display
- Baby’s room temperature indicator + programmable alarm
- Sound indicator icon
- Movement indicator icon
Rating: 
(out of 74 reviews)
List Price: £79.99
Price: £65.00
About AngelcareAC401
Review by Si for Angelcare AC401 Baby Movement Sensor Pad and Sound Monitor
Rating:
What a task finding baby monitors is!!!! I did so much research but I really feel it paid off with this monitor. Firstly, who the hell needs a monitor with video? It’s just insane to assume that you’ll sit there all night looking at a 3 inch screen when you might as well just stand by the cot all night. The Angelcare saves you on this one because the movement sensor pad will tell you if there’s something you need to deal with quickly. I was worried about false alarms, but after 3 weeks of using this we’ve not had one false start. I even ran some hardcore tests where I literally just stroked my fingers over the surface of the mattress and this thing picks it up. I then got paranoid and thought if it was this sensitive then surely it might mistake someone playing music loudly downstairs for heartbeat movement in the cot, so I did some jumping up and down next to the cot and it didn’t pick that up – perfect, despite how dumb I looked at the time!
The handheld is nice and slick with a good user interface and shows the room temperature (not that I pay much attention to room thermometers – you know if it’s too hot for crying out loud). It also doesn’t contantly monitor the audio (which in other monitors means you sit in your living room listening to static hiss all night). This is clever by only playing audio when it detects baby crying. If the baby stops crying it will leave the audio channel open for a minute afterwards. You can also set alerts for if the temperature drops below or goes above a certain point (which you set yourself).
I’ve read some reviews moaning about build quality but honestly I don’t get it; all these things feel a little bit ‘Fisher Price’ if you ask me, and actually I think these are well made compared to the competition – oh and don’t worry about thick walls as the range on this is great (I got half way down the garden when testing).
The only thing some people have moaned about is that you can’t sit the sensor pad on wooden slats (ie, the base of every cot) and you need a 6mm thick square of wood to sit the pad on. When you unpack the box you’ll note there is a square piece of card which is on top of the sensor (just part of the packaging) and I use that and it works fine.
I’ve actively recommended it to friends because I think this is the best monitor you can buy and it won’t break the bank.
Review by A. Peart for Angelcare AC401 Baby Movement Sensor Pad and Sound Monitor
Rating:
I bought this model a few days ago following a couple of disaster purchases (esential video monitor.)Being a 1st time parent, it’s important to have faith in the monitor you choose – The sound quality on this model is superb (zero interference)and this has so many great features over and above the movement sensor – such as temperature alarm, also the choice of sound activated monitoring or continuous. The night light is lovely also, just enough to see my daughter without disturbing her putting extra lights on – I would recommend this to any parent.
Review by Maureen Cochrane for Angelcare AC401 Baby Movement Sensor Pad and Sound Monitor
Rating:
I first became aware of this complete unit 7 years ago when my son was born 3 months premature. I was living in America at the time and he received the best of care but was inevitably put on several monitors in the intensive care unit. He suffered many episodes of Apnea whilst in the baby unit which scared the living daylights out of me. Like most parents of preemies, I was extremely worried about how I would cope once he got home, with not having the monitors to rely on. After searching the internet, I found this unit and bought it immediately. At that time, it was well over £100.
Unfortunately, my son developed Cerebral Palsy and has no speach. He is quaridplegic too. Without this unit, I would never have slept for fear of every parents nightmare coming true. Thanks to this unit, I could put my head on the pillow and managed a peaceful nights sleep, knowing my baby was safe and that I would be allerted if anything should happen. (We have had a couple of scares but thankfully the Angelcare monitor alerted us in time)!!
We first used a moses basket with the sensor pad, then his cot and finally moved him into a full sized single bed. The sensor pad it situated in the middle of the base unit underneath the mattress and works perfectly. The pad is amazing, it works brilliantly with all forms of beds. Granted, my old Angelcare from the States started playing up 4 years after purchasing but I immediately bought another one from Amazon which had the new features this one has. My old one did not have the temperature gauge or the night light. However, to be perfectly honest, I think the sensor pad is far more important!
As I stated in my review title, my son is now 7years old and we STILL use this unit. With a severely disabled child, who has no movement or speach, this unit has become my lifeline for his safety and our peaceful nights sleep.
Personally I think these units should be given FREE to every mother when they leave maternity, it would certainly help to reduce SIDS. Perhaps someone could campaign for this from the government but in the meantime, I don’t see how any parent could be without this fabulous monitor.
I would also pay 10 times the price of this unit because when it comes to your baby, What price can you put on a life?
Review by Christy for Angelcare AC401 Baby Movement Sensor Pad and Sound Monitor
Rating:
This is a great little piece of kit and has almost everything you would want in a movement and sound monitor. Being our first baby, we thought long and hard over our choice of monitor and in the end I think we picked the right product. As with everything there are features that are included in some products but not others and this one must lose a star for the lack of 2 way talkback functionality.
That being said, the sound quality from the one way system is top notch. The sensor pad is also a really really good idea. I could sleep through a brass band playing at the bottom of the bed and one morning while I was snoring away, unbeknown to me, my partner lifted the child from the cot and brought him downstairs. After 20 seconds the alarm (similar to a smoke alarm noise) went off and I was outta that bed like a shot standing over an empty cot in a state of panic with a heart rate of about 180… Thankful for the false alarm, but also because the damn thing works!
In a nutshell, the Angelcare does what it says on the tin and unlike some of the other reviews, it is quite easy to set up… if you read the manual.
PROS:
- Great sound quality
- Multi channel/freq to cut down on interference from other devices e.g. wifi
- Movement monitor is brilliant
- Upper/Lower Temp monitor (alarm sounds when either is reached)
- Choice of Sound/Movement/Ticking – all three or any combination
- Nightlight
- Volume control
CONS:
- No 2 way talkback
- No built in lullabies
- Docking station is a wee bit flimsy when device is docked
- No audio-in Jack to connect MP3 player up (I’m getting picky now, but a well known competitor has this function)
Hope this helps.
Review by Tracey S for Angelcare AC401 Baby Movement Sensor Pad and Sound Monitor
Rating:
This is a great product, and we bought it for our first baby. She was only 5 days old when the alarm went off and when we picked her up she was breathing but shallowly, and she was on the cool side despite being well wrapped up. We took her straight to hospital and they kept her in for 3 days, lots of tests, and ultimately diagnosed her as fit and well, but there was no explanation apart from it was ‘a newborn thing’ and she may well have been fine anyway. The thing is we will never know what might have happened had we not been alerted by the monitor, so I thank my lucky stars each day that I bought it. We now know my daughter does have a slightly lower temperature than the average baby and in fact she set off the monitor other times as she is a shallow breather, but whilst worrying these times were more normal as she was responsive, or we could see she’d wriggled away from the pad. I would never have slept again if we did not have it!
We’ve used it for my son too and he has had no ‘false’ alarms so guess each baby is different.
Only issue is the instructions didn’t say if 1 or 5 is the most sensitive!
Also, be aware that having a mobile going could give the monitor a false movement reading.
I also think that if you are going to get one of these monitors it is well worth doing a 1st aid course or familiarising yourself with the resuscitation process, otherwise the alarm might go off, then what? (The hospital gave me that advice!)