Angelcare AC1120

Most video baby monitors look like oversized webcams. The Angelcare 1120 looks a bit like an angel. All very cute, I’m sure you’ll agree. The left wing is the power switch, while pressing the right one turns the halo into a glowing night light.

There might be a practical advantage to the design, though. Older children may not appreciate having a camera trained on their every move, so this one looks less imposing. The downside is that there’s limited scope to angle the camera, with just a small back foot that can be extended to tilt the camera down a little. It could be tricky to get a view of your baby over the side of the cot. There’s a tripod thread on the bottom of the unit but this seems like a heavy-handed solution. The 1.8m power cable presents another challenge — most other baby monitors use longer cables that make it easier to place the camera where you need it.

The parent unit looks less celestial but it serves a purpose. The upright design works well and the charging dock and belt clip are convenient. Picture and sound quality are fine for the purpose, and the portrait-orientation screen could be useful depending on how the camera is mounted.

The video feed can be left on permanently or set to switch off after 5, 10, 15 or 20 seconds, but the screen stays on regardless. Battery life for constant video was reasonable at 6 hours 13 minutes, but poor in audio-only mode at 6 hours 51 minutes. The unit beeped every 15 seconds for 30 minutes to warn of a low battery before it ran out. There’s an option to have vibrate alerts instead but that’s only slightly less annoying. The use of three rechargeable AAA batteries makes it easy to replace them if they start to underperform.

The range of any wireless device will depend on various factors including the structure of your home and the presence of other wireless devices. In my tests the Angelcare 1120 performed poorly compared to other baby video monitors tested in the same conditions. Audio frequently broke up when moving the parent unit around the house. Unlike the other units tested, it was unreliable in some parts of my three-storey house and didn’t work at all when I took the parent unit outside.

The 2.75in screen is touch-sensitive and, despite a few cryptic icons here and there, the controls are easy to navigate. There’s a strong collection of features including an infrared night mode, digital zoom and pan function, talkback microphone and temperature sensor. It sounds a warning if the temperature goes too high or too low, with variable thresholds covering 23 to 32 degrees and 5 to 19 degrees respectively. An alarm sounds when a threshold is passed, and pressing a button silences it for only two minutes. It takes longer than that to cool or warm a room, so most people will probably turn the feature off and then forget about it.

The Angelcare 1120 has some useful features and it scores a few points for novelty factor, but the relatively poor battery life and wireless range put it out of the running. You should also consider the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature instead.