Introducing the Arlo Baby Smart HD Monitoring Camera
Over the years, we’ve come to know Arlo as a great name in home security. Their dynamic and multi-faceted security systems have done great things for countless Canadian homeowners. Whether you want cameras inside or outside of your home, or you want them to be wired or wireless, Arlo has become a trustworthy and dependable name for the short time it’s been around.
Now, Arlo wants to help you keep an eye on the most valuable thing in the house. The new Arlo Baby Smart HD Monitoring Camera was announced at CES 2017 and with a multitude of different features, is sure to be at the top of any smart home-loving parent’s list.
Why a smart camera?
The idea of IP Cameras being used as baby monitors is nothing new. They provide an easy gateway between parent and baby no matter where mom or dad might be. If you’re a working parent, perhaps you like to check in on things at home. IP Cameras allow you to virtually remote into home using a smartphone or tablet and check to see how your baby’s sleeping or (using the two way communicators,) help you chat with baby and whomever’s taking care of them. I’ve heard of parents using IP Cameras to chat with babies post-nap and even for working parents to read bedtime stories to their child before they go to sleep. There are a lot of different possibilities.
However, a lot of IP Cameras are usually made with the camera part in mind and with very little features to benefit your baby otherwise. What sets a regular camera and something like the Arlo Baby Smart HD Monitoring Camera apart is the number of features it has geared strictly for your child.
Fun for baby and fun for parents too
What sets Arlo’s camera apart from its competition? The fact that it’s a baby monitor first and a camera second. Sure, it has all the regular features you can expect from a 2 way IP Camera, but here’s what it comes built with specifically with your baby in mind.
- A music player. Stream and control lullaby play over the monitor’s speakers directly through your smartphone. You can do single plays or for finicky yet musically inclined babies, there are looping options too
- Room Quality sensors. The Arlo Baby Smart comes with built in temperature, air quality and humidity sensors. Keeping track of these are especially important in the early months when your baby has no control over monitoring their own temperatures. You’ll know if your room is too hot or too cold for your baby to sleep comfortably in.
- A multi-color nightlight. At some point, your baby may stop wanting to sleep in complete darkness. To make sure that you’re ready for it and to keep you from going to have to go out and buy one, Arlo Baby Smart comes with a built in nightlight. In fairly typical smart device fashion, you can choose from thousands of colours of different warmth and brightness.
- Motion and Sound Alerts. Working with the Arlo Baby Smart app, you can get up to the minute updates on major motion (like your baby waking up and trying to climb out of the crib) and sound alerts.
- Noise Detection. The Arlo Baby Smart camera is intelligent enough to not only tell you when there is noise in the baby’s room (like something falling off the shelf or perhaps your pet snuck in and now wants out of the room) but it can tell you specifically that your baby’s crying.
- Skins. An optional feature to this baby monitor are animal skins. You can dress up your Arlo Baby Smart in a variety of different coloured skins to help blend the camera into the scenery of your nursery rather than sticking out like a sore thumb.
Features for eager parents
While all of these features sound great for your baby’s benefit, what do you as the eager, tech-loving parent gain from this? Well, Arlo has a variety of features for you too, inspired by their previous security products.
- Live in a wireless world. The Arlo Baby Smart comes with a built-in rechargeable battery, meaning it’s ready for you to take wherever your baby falls asleep, whether it be the bedroom, a playpen or even on the couch. You can feel safe to move around the house and get on with your day knowing that you’ll get the notifications and be able to check in no matter where your baby’s asleep.
- High Quality video, no matter the time of day. This camera films in 1080p and also has an advanced night vision feature for you to be able to see all of baby’s movements no matter whether in the light or in total darkness.
- 2-way communication. A standard staple of most IP Cameras, the 2-way communicator allows you to speak to your child whether they need soothing or are trying to get your attention somehow.
- A minimum 7 day free cloud storage recording. While many cameras come with a few hours or very little in the way of ongoing recording, Arlo breaks that mould and provides up to 7 days of rolling motion and audio-triggered records at a time. Of course, they do offer other plans at various pricing tiers but if all you’re seeking is a basic plan, Arlo has one of the best out there and you don’t have to pay anything extra for it.
- Flexible compatibility. One of the worst things you run into when buying products like these are taking them home and finding out it doesn’t work on your phone or tablet. The supporting free Arlo app is available portably on iOS, Android and Apple TV and can also be accessed on a web browser.
- Seamless integration with your other Arlo devices. Since this camera will work with the standard Arlo app, if you have one of their existing security systems, you can just add this camera into your Arlo ecosystem and basic plan without having to re-register yourself in any way. This also means that you can utilize all of the other integration features Arlo offers, like Geofencing and IFTTT partnerships.
While there are a few smart baby monitor options out there already, the Arlo will surely shoot immediately to the top of consideration lists given the number of features available for it. While I’ve seen some of these features incorporated in smart baby monitors here and there, I don’t think I’ve seen one with this many at once that integrates so easily with your existing security system.
The Arlo Baby Smart HD Monitoring Camera will be available in two formats: One package will feature just the camera itself while the other also comes with a fairly standard monitoring device. Expect both to be available to you at Best Buy later this spring.
