Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony NTM-910 900 MHz BabyCall Nursery Monitor, NTM910

This was the third monitor I bought for our second child. Don't waste your time trying the least expensive ones like I did, this one is worth the money. I have the Super Clear Double Receiver by Safety 1st in my 2 year old's room, which works perfect. I needed a second one for my newborn. I tried another Safety 1st, and even with 2 channels, I could only pick up sound from one room. Then I returned it for a Sound N Lights monitor by Fisher-Price. Bigger mistake, we couldn't hear any room, only major static. Finally we tried this one and love it!!! It is so quiet, except, of course, when your baby makes noise. I can't believe how many channel options it has, and other features too, like an alarm when you are almost out of range. Also, a rechargable battery, that charges when plugged in, so you don't have to waste your own batteries when wanting to use it outside. Go for the Gold, this Sony is the best yet.

It's interesting that I am writing the first review of a great Sony product. When we purchased this from a local [store], it was the last one on the shelf. This must be a popular product, but I guess if it works, people don't feel compelled to write good things about it.

With that said, my husband and I are very, very satisfied with the Baby Call Nursery Monitor (27 channel) from Sony. But we didn't choose it first. When our old Sony Baby Call (a hand-me-down from a relative) died on us after having it for about 7 years and using it with our oldest son, packing it away and unpacking it for about 6 more months of use with our newborn son, we were on the hunt for a replacement.

I was at [a store]and picked up the Fisher-Price Sound N Lights With Dual Receivers. It was a less expensive model, there was a whole wall of them at the store, and we were interested in a 2-receiver system because we have a two-story home. We figured it had to be a decent product - especially since it has received above average reviews from Amazon.com reviewers. Well as soon as we plugged it in, all we got was static. Oh sure, we could hear our son crying if we had it cranked all the way to maximum volume, but the additional static noise was incredibly annoying, especially when it's sitting on the night table next to your head and you're trying to find some precious hours of sleep. Also, after one night of use, one receiver's 9-volt battery had been completely depleted - after just one night! What a joke! It was no Sony! So we were on the hunt again.

What we determined (a little too late...we should have done our research before we purchased the first time), was that we were looking for was a product that worked on a 900 MHz signal for greater noise reduction, a sensitive transmitter that would allow us to hear the baby's breathing, a longer battery life, and a 2-reciever system. What's surprising is that there is very little on the market that meets each of these basic feature needs. We did find the First Years Peace of Mind - Two Receiver Monitor, but it didn't get great reviews at Amazon.com. And there were too many left on the shelf when compared to the Sony, which, like I said above, only one was left on the shelf of our local store.

So we decided that we needed to remain Sony customers in this market because of our previous great experience and Sony's reputation. But with that, we sacrificed the 2-monitor feature. Oh well. A little more hauling of the monitor certainly is a sacrifice worth making when you get all of the other critical features - and more. The Baby Call Nursery Monitor (27 channel) is ultra quiet. This is great considering all of the 900 MHz telephones we have, the wireless network in the home, and other radio signals, etc. This product cuts out the CD player in the nursery which plays quiet, soothing music while our son sleeps, and brings his breathing and movements to fore. This is excellent. Just what we wanted and expected from Sony. This product also has a rechargeable battery with an expected 19-hour life on one charge. This is great. When I need to move into other rooms for a few hours during the day, I won't need to worry about the battery. Plug it in at night to recharge the battery and you don't burn through and waste batteries unnecessarily.

The signal strength is great too. We have a large 2-story home and the nursery is upstairs and about 100 linear feet from where I spend much of my day downstairs in the kitchen/family room area. We hear him no problem.

There are plenty of other great features - you can set your own frequency signal (you have 27 to choose from), you can wall mount the transmitter or the receiver, the monitor has a belt clip and an out of range alert, the receiver is water-resistant (great for having next to the kitchen sink) and much more that we're still discovering. Overall, we're very pleased and wish we had purchased this to begin with. It was more expensive..., but you get what you pay for. Well, the baby is waking up - I hear him clear as a bell making his soft, pre-waking whimpering sounds. Gotta go!

Advantages:
1) Super clear compared to most nursery monitors on the market. There is little to no static or "white" noise in the background.
2) There are two "on" settings. One is the regular stay on all the time setting and there is the voice activated setting. It also has a light monitor that lights up according to the intensity of the sound (i.e., baby crying).
3) Water resistant so that you can place this receiver in damp rooms such as a bathroom or a laundry room. (Note: it's water resistant but not WATERPROOF. In other words, you shouldn't take it into the shower or bath with you.)
4) In addition to an external DC supply, it comes with a 2.4V rechargable battery supply.
5) It has up to 27 potential channels to choose from and is 900 MHz.

Disadvantages:
1) There is only ONE receiver.
2) It is bulky.
3) It is difficult to see the control settings on the side (i.e., OFF, ON, VOICE ACT) and can easily be in the off position instead of on.

Improvement suggestions for Sony:
1) A 2.4GHz monitor would be great for more range and potentially greater clarity. I think people would be willing to pay a little extra for this considering this current product is wonderful already.
2) Two receivers would be wonderful and convenient. Again, I think people would be willing to pay for the extra receiver.
3) You could slim it down a bit or change the design to something a little more ergonomic.
4) The three indicators at the bottom of the face of the receiver is not necessary since there are indicators at the very bottom of the receiver for the selection of channels. I don't think we need to see what channel selection we have made but rather, I would like to see color lights there instead to show that it is either off, on or on voice activation since it is difficult to see what setting we are on.

Conclusion: I wouldn't trade this monitor in for any other one in the market. I have tried many other nursery monitors and they were dismal failures. Sony can make a few improvements to make this monitor even better!

We received The First Years Peace-of-mind baby monitor as a shower gift. Upon testing it out (we haven't had the baby yet...) we noticed you couldn't move the receiver without getting lots of static. It was very annoying! We decided to return it since the reviews for that monitor on this site largely confirm the problem. We purchased the Sony 900mhz 27 channel model because I have always been happy with Sony products (I got a 7 year old Sony TV and 9 year old Sony VCR and they still look/work like new and the Sony 900mhz phone would still be here if I didn't run it over with my truck.) Anyway this monitor is excellent! It is super clear, and with 27 channels you should surely find one that works good. We put it at "red, red and red" (essentially channel 1) and didn't even try any others because it was crystal clear. I really like the "Sound Activated" mode on the receiver. It shuts off the speaker if the transmitter isn't receiving anything. It doesn't take much noise to make it kick back on - we shouldn't miss any baby sounds. For example, with the transmitter in the back bedroom, if I clap my hands in the living room on the other side of the house, it will cause the speaker to turn back on.

As another plus, the receiver uses a rechargeable battery, much like a cordless phone. We will definetely save money on batteries! We wish it came with two receivers but we are sticking with this one beacuse it does job #1 excellently.

PS - When testing baby monitors, remember that these are just a microphone (transmitter) and speaker (receiver). If you move a speaker close to a microphone you WILL get loud feedback. The volume on the receiver must be turned way down (or off) to get close to the transmitter. This is especially a problem with baby monitors because of the extremely sensitive microphones used. Remember to leave the room with the transmitter before you turn on the receiver. The higher the speaker volume (even with no sound coming from it!) the further away you have to be from the transmitter to prevent feedback.

My husband and I are expecting our second child. We recently moved my son out of the nursery and into his own room. We have a video monitor for the nursery but still wanted something for him as well. We hit the jackpot with this monitor!
This monitor has no static. When I say no static, I mean none! I plugged the transmitter into his room then plugged in the receiver into our room. It was perfect right out of the box and I didn't even need to play with the 27 channels to find a good frequency. I have taken the receiver all over our house and even outside in the yard and have yet to get any static.
My favorite feature of this monitor is the voice-activated mode. This is a great feature for two reasons. First, this monitor is so sensitive to sound that I can hear my son when he's in the next room. And second, my son loves his music and wants it on at bedtime and naptime. This makes things somewhat difficult for me to sleep because I hear it through the monitor. When the voice activated mode is switched on, it blocks out all other noises and you hear nothing until your child makes a sound.
Having the rechargeable battery is also a plus. Not only does it allow you to become mobile, but it also saves you from buying new batteries every few weeks.
We tried two different monitors when my son was young before getting the video monitor. Both ended up back at the store because there was so much static it drove us crazy. We were so frustrated that we decided to spend the money and get a video monitor hoping that the 2.4 GHz would eliminate the static. Had we been aware of this Sony back then, we could have saved ourselves the extra cost.
If you are planning to get a monitor for yourselves or as a gift for expecting parents, take my advice and spend the little extra that this costs. You will not be sorry.