It is like putting a cell tower in your babies bedroom.

I tried a walkie-talkie as a means to get around these problems, but it cut in and out so quick you couldn’t tell what the noise was about, so no use really.

#1 Parents spend tons of money on small things that are outgrown in a few months. The larger purchases are for gear that lasts throughout toddlerhood and still has considerable resale value. Even if we don’t have a second child next year, I’ll probably still need a monitor for a couple more years.

#2 The monitor falls in the middle of my major purchases ($150 changing table [almost outgrown], $200 baby gates [now outgrown], $300 for Amby Baby hammock [outgrown at 8 months], $350 stroller). I use a baby monitor now twice a day. I use the stroller maybe three times a month. A baby monitor packs a lot of bang for my buck.

#3 The no-static and two way communication rocks. I always marveled at the monitors that have a video camera, but they seem extravagant, a luxury. The walkie-talkie function of the Philips monitor is extremely useful with my daughter.

Someone who needs a baby monitor either has a big house or thick walls. I have a long house – family room at one end, baby room at the other. It’s tiresome to walk back to my daughter’s room 10 times after the official bedtime just to listen to stall tactics. I now revisit her room about one time every other night, and only for good reasons (water cup needs refilling, I forgot to put her favorite doll in her bed, she wants our cat off her bed, etc.).

That $200 price tag is pretty steep — that would rank as one of the most expensive things in my son’s bedroom, and certainly the most expensive non-furniture item. After your experience with it for a month, is it something that you would feel good about spending that amount of money on if Phillips took it back tomorrow and you had to go buy one?