Lorex LW2002W Portable LCD Wireless Surveillance System (White)
by Lorex Corporation
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List Price: Category: Digital Camera See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Lorex LW2002W Portable LCD Wireless Surveillance System (White)
Customer Review: So, so as a baby monitor
Summary: 3 Stars
After doing quite a bite of research for a baby video monitor I narrowed it down to the Lorex LW2002W Digital and the Summer Infant Best View Digital. I wanted digital because I have had problems with interference with my old monitor.
Both have many similar features but I initially purchased the Lorex with 2 cameras over the Summer Infant because of the automatic cycling between cameras feature and AV port feature. With a lot of monitors if you have more than one camera hooked up you have to manually switch from one camera to the other. I have 2 small kids and I need to monitor them both. With the Lorex you can set it to automatically switch b/w cameras about every 5-8 sec. Also the Lorex has an AV port connection that allows you to connect the monitor to your TV.
The Lorex is a quality video monitor for the the price. However, after using the Lorex I sent it back because of one feature my wife and I did not like. It automatically mutes the sound if the noise in the room is below a certain level. When the sound in the room gets above that level the audio comes back on. Lorex customer service told me that the feature prevents listener from hearing a soft hissing sound (white noise) in the receiver when the monitor room is quiet. You can't disable this feature.
Don't get me wrong, it does pick up most sounds such as normal conversation, walking on hardwood, crying, something dropping on the floor, etc. But it does not pick up very soft sounds like a baby breathing, whispering or walking on carpet. This may sound trivial but at night while I'm sleeping great audio is important. It's usually the audio that alerts me that something is going on in the room. Then I look at the video to determine if it's trouble or not.
After returning the Lorex I purchased 2 Summer Infant Best Views to monitor both my kids at the sametime. I was unable to find a monitor in the <$200 range that met all my need, so this was my compromise. Fortunately I was able to get both of them at the same price (on Amazon) that I purchased the one Lorex with 2 cameras. The Summer Infant does not have the auto camera cycling and the AV connection but it does have a very nice pan & tilt feature that allows you to scan almost the entire room and the audio is very good. You can hear a baby breathing.
The Lorex is better suited for people who are looking for a reasonably priced (not cheap) low interference video monitor to monitor older toddlers, their property or for parents who don't feel they need a continuous sound feature. One of the previous reviewers stated she uses her Lorex with her old audio monitor and it works well.
Customer Review: OK system, but not as primary baby monitor
Summary: 3 Stars
After 10months with this system and an extra camera, here are my comments.
PROS:
+ The picture and sound quality is pretty good
+ The range is OK within a medium-sized house - signal is strong until it breaks altogether
+ No interference with wifi (and I have a lot of it)
+ Multi-voltage power supplies so we could use them on our travels overseas without worrying about voltage adaptors
+ Hooks up to TV/ video very nicely - I connected it to a video capture card and piped the video through my home security system which worked really well.
+ Night vision is pretty good for the range of the camera
CONS:
- Menu design is retarded - meaningless options and no way to tell what's selected
- the light has an on/ off switch that does nothing (it's always on).
- Sound circuitry must have a threshold to trigger it as it turns off to save power. This is not a problem if it kicks in reliably - but it DOESN'T. We have heard our babies crying through the wall and the monitor is silent for ages, until it finally wakes up.
- Camera angle of view is very narrow. I had to build a pole to put it on so that I could see the whole crib from above. Now the twins are in separate cribs, the camera is across the room in the opposite ceiling corner. Nowhere left to go when they start getting out of their beds.
- the night vision uses a circle of red LEDS (infrared?) to illuminate the room for its night vision - they're pretty unobtrusive, but there's a back lit button on top that's really bright and won't turn off (see light switch comment above).
Overall, the technology exists to make this an awesome product. However, they seem to have taken shortcuts to cut production costs that greatly compromise this.
If you're looking for looking to pair this with a DECT monitor that has reliable sound and use this to visually make sure your baby isn't in trouble, it's fine, if a bit expensive. If you're wanting just one unit, though, you should get a reliable audio monitor instead.
Customer Review: Nice little camera, but not very versatile.
Summary: 3 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
This is a nice little camera, but suffers a bit from a lack of versatility. We used it in a number of situations to get a feel for its capabilities. These included using it as a straight up baby monitor and using it as a camera to monitor the exterior of our home (from the inside and then from a sheltered area).
The picture clarity is very good - although the range can be, at times, marginal (trouble holding a signal from 20 ft. or so) - the same can be said of the sound quality. The night vision is excellent - however, the infrared lights, when reflected back by a window or mirror, cause a glare that makes it impossible to see. There is no way to turn off the infrared lighting. The batteries in the camera do not last long and one should not expect to use the camera for an extended period of time by means of the battery (if you could turn off the infrared lights, it might help there too). The battery on the receiving handset works pretty well. The sensitivity to "wake" the monitor was handy and worked well. Construction was generally good, but we have had some issues with the power supply for the camera unit - it no longer works and appears to be an internal connection issue in the camera itself. It's probably an easy solder fix and may be the result of us having moved it from place to place or from the kids mucking around with it (once the kids in your baby room get mobile, these kinds of things are investigated).
It would be fine for simply monitoring a baby room, although the camera would have to be placed carefully. It's not small enough to really be a nanny cam; it may have issues with distance; it's not for use monitoring the outdoors.
Customer Review: Terrible battery life
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a great baby monitor if you don't need to use it for more than 3 consecutive hours. I've owned mine for 4 days and I'm sending it back to Amazon on Monday. Here's what I think of it:
Pros: Great picture! My previous monitor was a Summer Day & Night and it doesn't even come close the quality of the Lorex. Crystal clear audio.
Cons: Scary looking camera has a red ring of lights and looks like a spooky eye. My daughter has been used to the Summer camera (has only one green light on it) for her whole 2 1/2 years of life. As soon as we hooked up the Lorex, she started waking up screaming two times a night. After 3 nights we finally put it together and figured out it was the camera scaring her.
Terrible battery life. I left mine on and in the charging cradle all night long. Then I used it for about an hour or two off the charger downstairs until my daughter woke up. No problems there. I returned it to the cradle upstairs when she woke up to let it charge for her nap. By naptime, the handheld says it's fully charged, but it dies midway through her nap (it lasts about 2 1/2 hours). So then I had to go upstairs, unplug the charger, plug it in downstairs and let it charge until she woke up. Then I had to lug the whole setup upstairs when I went to bed. Very frustrating!
I'd also like to note that I called Lorex about this issue today. They said the estimated handheld battery time is 20 minutes to 4 hours. Very helpful, huh? They walked me through my settings to make sure I was in "power saving" mode, which I was. They recommended I buy a $30 portable battery charger, which would hook up to the handheld unit and charge it portably. But then I'd have to make sure that was charged, too! Sounds like too much hassle.
I was deciding between this camera and the Summer Best View. I think I'm going to try that one next.
Customer Review: pretty good, with one really dumb design feature
Summary: 3 Stars
We've been using this product about a year. Overall, I'd say we're satisfied - can't imagine living without a good night vision camera in the baby's room. We bought this over competing models (including one with a remotely moveable camera) specifically because it said i wouldn't interfere with Wifi, which it doesn't. It occasionally (a little too frequently) gets a "no signal" which is not related to the strength of the signal. This problem is solved by turning the unit off and back on.
Which brings me to the dumbest design feature: when you power on the handset, the nightlight on the camera automatically turns on for a few seconds. Who thought that it would be a good idea to illuminate the baby's room when you turn on the handheld? If we forget to turn on the handheld before bed, we must wait until we're sure the baby is deeply asleep before turning it on. For the most part, we never turn it off.
Since we leave it on all the time, it must be kept on the cradle. It doesn't have the most confidence inspiring fit on the cradle, and I keep expecting that the contact points are going to bend or something, but they haven't yet.
Other than that, the picture is good, the night vision is good, the "red ring" around the camera is really subtle and not troublesome (though it's freaky when the kid stares at it while you're looking at the monitor), the alarm settings are about perfect. I might try a different brand next time to see if it's any better, but truth is that besides a few weird traits that give it "character, this one does the trick.