Introduction & Pricing, Availability and Specifications
If you are new to parenting or are on your second or third child, then you know baby monitors have long been a mainstay letting you know when your child has woke from a nap. Traditionally, baby monitors have been an audio-only solution, but today we will take a look at D-Link's twist on the technology in the form of the DCS-825L Wi-Fi Baby Camera.
This newly released camera from D-Link builds off their great knowledge in building network surveillance solutions such as the 2330L and 2332L we have reviewed previously. This time around, D-Link designed the solution from the ground up to take advantage of features like a room temperature monitor, motion sensing, and a built-in speaker that can play lullabies.
In addition to those features, D-Link has integrated a 720p capable image sensor along with night vision capabilities and an onboard microSD slot for recording H.264 video.
Pricing, Availability and Specifications
Pricing of the DCS-825L at this time is set at $179.99, with a one-year warranty. Availability is quite high with several retailer carrying stock.
PRICING: You can find the D-Link 825L for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The D-Link 825L retails for $179.99 at Amazon.
Canada: The D-Link 825L retails for CDN$179.99 at Amazon Canada.
D-Link Baby Camera
D-Link DCS-825L Wi-Fi Baby Camera
Packaging for the 825L clearly indicated this unit is purpose built to be a baby monitor.
The scope of delivery includes everything need to get up and running. Here we have the power adapter along with two sets of mounts to give you an extra flexibility in setting up your camera. We also have two sets of camera rings that allow you to switch out colors for boys or girls.
The bottom of the camera houses two sets of LEDs; one lets you know the power status of the camera and the second, its cloud or Internet connectivity.
The back of the camera houses the microUSB port that D-Link uses for power. To the left, we have the microSD slot.
Here we have the camera setup on the wall mount. The antenna in the back of the camera is not for Wi-Fi but rather the temperature sensor.
Baby App
MyDlink Baby App
The DCS-825L is not the same as traditional D-Link cloud cameras; rather than give you a full management screen to change settings, they allow you to control every feature of the camera via your smartphone or tablet. Here we initialized the app for iOS and have begun setup.
The setup wizard for the camera guides you through step-by-step. Following this, the camera is very simple to setup, and you will be ready to go in a few minutes.
Once you plug in the camera, it takes a few moments for the LED on the bottom of the unit to turn green indicating you're ready for the next step.
Before you mount your camera, it's worth writing down the Wi-Fi password for the device so you don't have to mess with the camera during setup.
In the next step, you will need to connect to the SSID that says mybabycam.
We can now connect the baby camera to your existing wireless network by entering the network SSID and password.
Here we have completed setup of the camera and have entered the configuration menu. Within this menu, you can set everything from resolution to enabling or disabling event monitors such as motion, temperature, and sound.
[img]32[/img]Digging deeper into the menus, we entered the event configuration where you can set the temperature range for which to monitor. You can also tweak the sound and motion detection levels.
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In these last two images, we take a look through the camera with lighting and with night vision activated. As you can see, it does have a decent amount of clarity in both modes. Notice the temperature is a live feed in the bottom right corner along with motion and sound alerts that pop up as well.
Final Thoughts
The DCS-825L is great solution for parents wanting more flexibility in their baby monitoring application. With the 825L, we push past the days of audio-only streaming where parents had to clip the sometimes large receiver from traditional baby monitors to their belt. Instead, we now have audio and video along with event monitoring pushing straight to your smartphone or tablet, a device that's much more sleek and sensible to carry with you.
The build quality of the DCS-825L is rather good; the plastics feel secure and durable with no small parts that could fall off and result in an incident with your child. Performance was, as you can see, quite good. The image clarity was more than acceptable at 720p, and the night vision actually worked quite well.
Another feature I really liked was how fast the event notifications came through. After setting up the camera, I made an effort to see how fast the app responded to motion and sound. Much to my surprise, the alerts came through almost instantly.
One thing to note: make sure to also switch your smartphone or tablet back to that network after you connect the camera to your existing wireless network.
MSRP of the D-Link 825L is set at $179.99 with a one-year warranty. Current market pricing can be found below.
PRICING: You can find the D-Link 825L for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The D-Link 825L retails for $179.99 at Amazon.
Canada: The D-Link 825L retails for CDN$179.99 at Amazon Canada.