Belly Armor SmartNova Baby Monitor

When I opened the Belly Armor SmartNova Baby Monitor, I was immediately impressed with the sleek design of the product. I don’t know that the “look” of the baby monitor matters to many, but I certainly appreciated the high tech and modern feel. The monitor looks more like a small black cellphone than a bulky, white baby monitor, like I was used to. I love that it is small and easily stands on its own.
The instructions were incredibly easy to understand, and the set up was extremely basic. The manual clearly explained how to put in the batteries and—most important—what each button does and how to sync the parent and baby units. The only assembly was putting the batteries in each of the units; no explanation needed there, as it was simple and quick. After putting the batteries in, I had to let it charge for just 5-6 hours, and then they were ready to go.
While they seemed pretty user-friendly, I must admit I had a little trouble figuring out what each of the buttons meant. But when referring back to the instructions and looking online, all of my questions were answered. Overall, the monitor works great. I think my favorite feature is the thermometer on the baby side that shows the temperature on the parent monitor. I never thought of that as imperative, but now I cannot imagine not having it. We live in Michigan and are always concerned about whether our little guy is warm enough—especially during the winter!
The SmartNova also has the red lights that light up when it picks up noise. I especially like this feature because we have a white noise machine that runs in our little man’s room. It can be quite annoying when you have a monitor on with the volume turned up to have to listen to white noise. With the Belly Armor monitor, we can have the volume turned down but know if he is stirring just by seeing the red lights.
Another great feature is that the monitor uses CARE technology. CARE stands for Cordless Anti-Radiation Environment. I hadn’t even thought about the amount of radiation coming from a baby monitor or even that a baby monitor could emit radiation until I started researching baby monitors. Most baby monitors use DECT technology. The main difference is that the CARE technology uses zero pulsing radiation and has very low radiation emission—up to 97 percent less than DECT technology. The Belly Armor Smart Nova monitor also has a longer battery life than most monitors. It can last up to 3 days on average with the CARE technology, where the typical baby monitor using DECT technology only lasts about one day.
Some additional features of the Belly Armor SmartNova include a battery backup for each unit, a night-light with a dimming feature, vibrator notification, two-way communication and an operation range of up to 1,200 feet. There is also zero interference with this monitor, which means 100 percent privacy. We’ve all heard of the parents who have monitors that somehow run on channels that are accessed by others. There are few things scarier to me than the thought of a stranger being able to see or hear my sleeping baby, so I love that I can be 100 percent sure of privacy with this monitor.
I don’t know that there is anything I would change about this monitor except for maybe adding a video option. I love being able to see my little one—but more for entertainment purposes than anything else! (There is nothing that’s more fun than watching your baby when he doesn’t know it, ha.) However, I’m sure the video comes with increased radiation, so in my mind it’s completely worth it to skip the video feature in exchange for something that’s overall better for my baby, especially when I use it every day.
I would definitely recommend the Belly Armor SmartNova to anyone searching out the perfect monitor for their little one.
Price: $149
To buy: bellyarmor.com