On paper, it sounds great: "What if we add video monitoring to the award winning Angelcare Deluxe's sound and movement sensor capabilities?"
In practice though, the Angelcare Deluxe is a much better option for sound and movement sensing based on our tests, with dramatically superior range, two parent units, and much better battery life.
And, compared to competing video monitors, the video capability of the AC1100 is lackluster.
Although novel, the Angelcare AC1100 impresses us as a $250 all-in-one that under delivers compared to products with a more dedicated focus. As a potential buyer, you are left with something of a compromised offering.
Unlike other video monitors, the Angelcare AC1100 video is presented in a vertical orientation. We find this to be a nice optimization since the view from the end of a crib is better displayed in this manner.
Sound quality is very good, and we found the touch-screen controlled menu system is much easier to use than the menus of the Angelcare Deluxe.
Range is relatively poor, especially when contrasted to the superb range of the Angelcare Deluxe, but also relative to competing video monitors.
Set-up is much more complicated than other video monitors due to the need to fabricate a firm board to go under the crib for the movement sensor, and the need to test and tune the movement sensor to assure it alarms properly and does not false alarm. On the other hand, you will end up with a unique movement sensing capability that no other video monitor provides.
The camera itself has some significant drawbacks relative to competing video monitors. There is no option for wall mounting, and that makes it difficult to set it up properly to look down into a crib (especially when baby is older and you lower the mattress in the crib). In addition, there is no ability to pan/tilt the camera (if you zoom in you can pan/tilt, but it doesn't change the view window compared to the normal view). Lastly, you can't add additional cameras to the system. While the other video monitors can be used well after baby is older, into toddler, pre-school years, and beyond, the Angelcare will not have the same long-term investment utility.
