Security System Vs. Baby Monitor

ok so we have a baby on the way, and the wife wants a baby monitor obviously, and of coarse I want a security system lol some of the prices for those baby monitors are crazy, it looks like I can buy a whole house security system for just a couple dollars more, and obviously get a lot more out of it, I can set a camera up in the open basement, one in the baby's room, one in the living room, and a couple outside for security, I will want it to be viewed from our iphones and ipads also, most of the security systems seem to come with a app for it anyway. the wife is worried about peopling being able to hack into the security system, but I would think that if someone was trying that, it wouldnt matter which device, baby monitor or security, they could hack into it, but that would never happen anyway lol. there are some on amazon that look appealing. or would I be better building my open system?

thanks for the help.

hotblast1357,We raised our 4 children with the "forced monitor system",& you say We lived in a small square house for 21 yrs.... all 800 square feet of it. We couldn't avoid monitoring the baby even if we had wanted too. I guess this doesn't help you much... I have my doubts that you would want to downsize your house to that level.In bed or in the kitchen,we were still only 20' away,same in the living room....no monitor was needed. Security system..... we get telemarketers calling about that,my answer currently is this, we have a 12 guage shotgun,a 22 rifle & 20 attack cats.................silence on the other end finally gets broken by........... attack cats ??????? Yep 20 of them,we likely don't need the security system I guess I still wasn't much help to you,i'll get out of here & see if & what the others have to offer. If all else fails you could try it the way we did it.

I used a simple baby monitor with our two boys, no complaints. It was very handy if I wanted to do something in the basement or garage while the baby was napping. Get one with a rechargeable battery.

haha I hear ya, its more of a peace of mind for when im working and shes home, as I can be gone 16 hours at a time in the winter, I also have a 12 gauge 20 gauge and 22 rifle and 2 dogs that would probably tear someone apart, lol the outside cameras would be for more when im not home.

Rob R. wrote:I used a simple baby monitor with our two boys, no complaints. It was very handy if I wanted to do something in the basement or garage while the baby was napping. Get one with a rechargeable battery.

this is where I was thinking it would come in handy was if I wanted to go out to the garage or something, with the security system I could also view it from my iphone. thanks rob.

Not for monitoring baby's as I am past that phase in my life......but I put in a couple wifi IP cameras outside for security (and fun).

They were cheap, about $70 each and fairly easy to set up once I got past the chinenglish translation challenge. They have similar indoor units that have pan tilt and zoom as well as audio for a few more $$. You can see the live video while on the same wifi network simply by entering the IP address:port of the camera. You can access it remotely through port forwarding on your internet router. I did not set this remote feature up.

I have mine set to snap pics and email them to me if they detect motion during the night. Caught some deer grazing in the yard but no intruders yet. One benefit of your own system is no monthly fee.

edit....i was wrong, the indoor with audio are less $$, wanscam has one for about $35.

I'm with Rob and like the mobile baby monitor. If this is your first child, chances are it will spend more time with Mom than without, speaking from experience.

You may want a home security system as well, speak with your insurance agent about getting the proper one
and ask about a policy discount because of it.

The less my insurance company knows the better lol

Titleiset are those cameras wireless?

hotblast1357 wrote:Titleiset are those cameras wireless?

yes they are wireless. you do need to plug into them with an ethernet cable initially to configure them. and you could run an ethernet cable when installed but mine are connected to my wireless router. They need power nearby to plug in their adapter.

ok I am looking into "foscam" cameras, they look like a pretty good setup.

I went cheap with the Wanscam. I set up one other brand for somebody, cant remember the name, and the camera hardware was identical, and the configuration menus were 95% the same. Probably there is one company making the hardware and the different companies are loading their own firmware for configuration.

I hope Foscam's setup instructions are easier to understand the ones I used. If there hadn't been detailed user reviews stating the correct steps rather than what the manual had I'd have never got them working.

By the way.....Congrats on the baby to be!! :punk:

thanks man, I have a lot more research to do first anyways.

Just make sure the router is password protected, not only the password you use to connect to the internet but the router password itself. The default password on some routers is admin and everyone knows this.
Some new routers Linksys for instance allows setup wirelessly, no Ethernet cable necessary, so unless the routers default password is changed anyone could access the router and get in.

of coarse, great advice.