Here's a scenario you may be familiar with: You've just gotten the baby to bed, not sleeping but not crying, and you're just settling down yourself. Just drifting off to sleep, you hear a grunt and a blast of flatulence. It wasn't you. It wasn't your spouse. Eerily, it was the baby, for it was the miracle of technology brought to you by Sony that allowed you to hear your baby fart. Thanks to this miracle of technology you are unable to sleep for another 10 minutes because you are laughing so hard.

That's one reason you don't want a baby monitor. But for every other reason you can think of, baby monitors are the best baby tool of our generation (I don't think they were around when I was a wee lad).

When shopping for electronics of any kind, I shop strictly on name-brand basis. If you are a guy, you can understand how excited I was that there was a Sony product involved with this baby business.

You see, I am a Sony man. I have a Sony home theater system, Sony car stereo, three Sony cordless phones, one Sony corded phone, Sony boom box, you name it. I buy Sony because of their exceptional quality, sound quality, reliability, you name it. I have never had a problem with any Sony product I have ever owned. And this baby monitor didn't let me down either.

The sound quality is so clear, yes you can hear farts, snoring, all that. But you can also hear breathing. This is important for most new parents like myself that find themselves sneaking out of bed to check and make sure the baby's still breathing. Well with this day and age, and with SIDS and everything... I don't have to explain, do I? Anyway, you can hear the baby's breathing so well through this monitor, I don't have to get out of bed to make sure my baby's well-being is taken care of.

Voice-Activation mode is an option, and it is supposed to save batteries. Personally, I don't like it because it's all broken up and sometimes you can't hear the baby if she's whining and not all-out crying. Besides, I like to hear the rhythm of her breathing all the time.

The base unit is an upright unit that can either sit on a tabletop or be mounted on the wall (ours is on the wall.... less clutter). It is AC powered only and has a switch for voice-activation mode and a choice of three separate bands (in case there is any interference or less-than-ideal radio wave traffic situation in your house). The receiver is the same... three way band, voice-activation switch. However, the receiver is round, and thick, like a swollen hockey puck. It doesn't really sit upright very well, just lays down so the speaker is pointing toward the ceiling. The antenna doubles as a little carrying handle, and there is a built-in belt clip. Just in case you like that sort of thing.

The reception is great. I can hear the baby clear as day when I am sitting on the first floor (baby's room is on the second floor). Haven't tried it outside, but I don't imagine it would be a big stretch. Sony doesn't specify the actual range, but it's fine within a normal size house. I haven't gotten out of range yet. Speaking of range, there is an audible alarm on the receiver that sounds if you are out of the base's transmission range. It also sounds if you turn off the base while the receiver is still on, even if you are within range. This is a nice feature, so I don't just think the baby's quiet because it's not making any noise.

If you are hearing impaired (which I am not) there is a LED indicator that lights when the baby makes noise. This is also helpful for when you are watching movies (using your loud and powerful Sony home theatre system with Dolby surround sound) in the dark, you can see the monitor go off even if you don't hear it.

The receiver is either powered with a supplied AC adapter or a 9-volt battery. A word of warning: If the battery is used and voice-activation mode is OFF, your battery life will be very short. Like, less than two days with continuous power but baby noise only at night. For this reason, I always keep it plugged in unless I am roaming the house while she is napping.

One thing I've noticed, and I'm not saying this is a good or bad thing, is that the monitor has bonded with one of my Sony cordless phones that is plugged into the same outlet as the receiver. Whenever the phone rings, is hung up or paged, there are a few seconds of weird static from the baby monitor, but that's about it. It doesn't have a problem with it otherwise, even when you're talking on the phone. Weird, huh? My electronics are buddies.

The only thing I would have changed about the design of this product is the battery type. I definitely would have picked either C, D, or one of the round types of batteries. I find that children's toys require a variety of batteries, and usually not in equal numbers, so we always have some leftovers laying around in our junk drawer. But 9-volt batteries... well, we only use them on smoke detectors and... smoke detectors. They are expensive and we don't have much use for them. But that's the only thing that bothers me about this product. Otherwise I am very happy with the Sony BabyCall monitor.

Recommended: Yes