Angelcare AC327 Review

Angelcare began in 1997 as one of the first to create and market a baby movement monitor for parents to use at home. Angelcare hails from Canada and has a variety of different monitoring options that include audio and video solutions.

Performance Comparison

Range

The range on the AC327 in our tests was 4 walls and 65 feet. The manufacturer claims of 820 ft is an open eyeliner test without the usual trappings of a standard home of walls and appliances that can create interference or limit connectivity. Our open field tests showed connectivity up to 700 feet before it stopped communicating. This is not the best in-home distance in the review and likely will not work in larger homes or homes with any significant distance between the camera and the parent unit.

Audio / Visual

Sound clarity for the AC327 is average for the dedicated monitors, and honestly, none of the units performed that well for sound. With a maximum level of 89 dB but the best clarity is closer to 81 dB. It offers a reasonable voice activation that shuts off at a respectable level but kicks on as it should for louder noises and crying. Overall, the sound is hollow and has an echo that means less clarity on what is happening in the room.

The video quality (above left) of this monitor is nothing to write home about in our opinion compared to the competition. The daylight images are color, and neither the color nor the clarity of the image is great, especially when using the zoom feature (above right). It does not represent the color in the nursery.

Night images (above left) are worse than the day video with more fussiness and less detail. If you are hoping to see your baby's face to determine their level of upset, this is not the right monitor for you. This lack of clarity only worsens when using the zoom feature (above right).

Ease of Use

Overall the AC327 is not as easy to use as some of the competition, with a score below the average for the group.

Setup of the AC327 is fairly easy, with a wireless sensor pad and components that automatically pair. There is little to do here but determine a good place for the camera and the right sensitivity for the sensor pad. The pad will work with most mattresses but not foam or hollow-core options. You can read our best movement monitor review for more information.

The AC327 could be easier to use daily. First, you'll need to remember to turn off the motion detection before removing your little one from the bed. Failure to do this will result in ongoing alarms. The sensor pad has adjustability to find the right sensitivity for your baby and room to help prevent false alarms from occurring, but this will take some trial and error to get just right. The parent unit is not very intuitive, as it suffers from few buttons and a dated design similar to the competition that will result in toggling through menus to find what you want when you could avoid this with more buttons.

Battery Life

The parent unit battery life on the AC327 was about 10 hours in our tests under standard use conditions. This is ample time for a nap or even most overnight sleeping periods, but we recommend using it plugged in at night to ensure you don't lose monitoring ability due to a low battery. The battery life of the sensor pad is approximately 8 months, but the parent unit will give you an alert when the batteries run low.

Features

This monitor has the standard features you'll find on much of the competition without any of the bells and whistles like lullabies or nightlights. On the upside, it has voice activation and motion detection, but most of the remaining “features” are found on even the most bare-bones products.

• 2-way talk
• 4.3-inch viewing screen
• Add a sensor for two babies
• Add up to 2 extra cameras
• Wall or table mount camera
• Wireless and adjustable sensor pad
• Voice-activated (VOX)
• Temperature sensor and alert
• Low battery alarm for parent unit and sensor pad
• Digital zoom and pan

Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Levels

Each monitor in this review has been tested for its level of EMF emissions, including this one. As there is always some level of ambient EMF, we test them in the same location to ensure a one-to-one comparison between units. The AC327 had EMF levels of 1.2 V/m at 6 ft from the meter. While not the highest level in the group, it is more than some of the competition, including several higher-ranking WiFi options we tested. Depending on how you feel about EMF, you may want to consider another option as the sensor pad also emits EMF.

Should You Buy the AC327?

If your main goal is a movement monitor and you can accept sub-par functioning in other arenas like sound and video, it could be a potential contender. We'd encourage you to read more about our movement monitors to ensure they will meet your needs before you purchase. Overall, it wasn't an impressive contender in our video lineup, and we think there are better options available no matter what your goals might be. Since movement monitors have the shortest lifespan, we can't recommend a product that is only good at one aspect that doesn't get used past nine months, typically at best.

What Other Video Monitor Should You Consider?

If you want a dedicated monitor without relying on WiFi for functionality, the LeapFrog LF920HD 7" Display is our pick. This unit is straightforward and does the job well enough to avoid inferior visuals or hard-to-discern audio. It has better sound clarity and video quality than much of the competition. Alternatively, the Nanit Pro is a WiFi option with impressive video and the potential for movement monitoring with accessories. It has sound activation and the ability to zoom in on the video, something not shared by all of the competition. The Nanit is significantly more expensive, but we believe the quality and better functionality are worth the price bump.