Babysense Max View Pro Baby Monitor review: #1 for a reason

Price on writing: £150 £185 | Buy now from Amazon

Overall verdict

As one of Mumsnet’s Baby & Child editors, I’ve had editorial responsibility for the best baby monitors page for several years, during which time I’ve researched just about everything there is to know about what makes a baby monitor one of the best. So when I was given the chance to try out our number 1 monitor, the Babysense Max View Pro - formerly known as the Babysense 1080p 5.5” Split-Screen Monitor - I was eager to see if it lived up to all the hype. After several months of testing it out in multiple locations with my own children and toddler niece, I can confidently say that it does.

There are many features which make the Babysense Max View Pro an excellent choice of baby monitor, the top ones being its crystal clear screen clarity, the responsiveness of the parent unit when it detects sound and movement and thoughtful extras such as a room temperature alert (even though this did wake me up at 4am when the kids’ room got a bit chilly at their grandmother’s house!). I also love the fact that it comes with two cameras - this enabled my sister and I to keep an eye on both my kids and hers while staying at our mum's. It’s also a really useful feature for parents of multiples and siblings with small age gaps.

As a mum of three, I've often been asked what is the most useful baby item we bought. Three times over, I've always said the baby monitor for so many reasons - reassurance and freedom being forefront. As useful as the monitors we used over the years were, they all pale in comparison to the Babysense Max View Pro.

Bottom line: It’s just a really good baby monitor and well worth the spend (especially if you get it on sale, which it often is!)

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How we tested the Babysense Max View Pro

I tested the Babysense Max View Pro baby monitor over several months.This included extensive use during a stay at my mum’s house, which is four floors tall. My sister put her toddler to sleep on the fourth floor while my kids used the ground floor and we were comfortably able to use the monitor’s split screen feature to keep an eye (and ear!) on all four children with no issues at all.

I also tested the monitor over several months at home, taking care to research and address common baby monitor pain points as part of the process. This included testing its durability by dropping it on hard floors, taking the parent unit to all corners of the house and for a walk down the road to see how far the range stretched and getting the kids to voice test how well you can hear over the lullabies and white noise features.

What's included with the Babysense Max View Pro?

• 1 Parent unit with 5.5” 1080p Full Split-Screen Display

• 2 HD Cameras

• 3 Power adapters

• 1 Wall mounting

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How easy was the monitor to set up and use first time?

The Babysense Max View Pro was extremely easy to set up and use first time. I consulted the instructions which gave guidance on how to charge the parent unit and how to pair with the cameras, but upon plugging the cameras in and switching on the parent unit, I found that it was already set up and paired so I didn't even need to do that!

It might seem like a trivial benefit because a baby monitor is something you use so frequently that its different functionalities become second nature extremely quickly (particularly apparent when it comes to trying to explain them all to a babysitting grandparent!) But actually, I think when you consider the state of perpetual exhaustion new parents exist in for the first year or so of having a baby, simple set up is one of the most underrated benefits of baby gadgets, so I really was very impressed with the Babysense for that.

Does the monitor feel sturdy?

Yes, very much so. The cameras are big, sturdy units and the parent unit is also pleasingly robust. All survived a drop test onto a hard floor. 

How does the monitor work?

It’s very simple. Once the cameras are plugged in and you’ve paired the parent unit with each one (if needed - like I said our units came pre-paired), it will start working straight away with default settings. You can adjust things like the nightlight, lullabies, white noise, alerts etc, using the menu on the parent unit. You can also adjust the VOX level sensitivity - this means the level of noise to which the parent unit responds by switching the screen on. 

If you don’t want to use the split-screen feature you can set it to switch automatically between the two cameras every few seconds, or just keep it on one camera all the time if you prefer!

Does the monitor use WiFi and if so, how secure is it?

No, this baby monitor does not use WiFi at all.

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How does it look?

I really like the look of the baby monitor. The screen is a decent size without being too big, the camera units are quite chunky but I like that - having dropped many a camera while stumbling around a dark room in the middle of the night in the haze of new-mum sleep deprivation, I appreciate a sturdy unit. The cameras also feature a nightlight feature - you can switch between six solid colours of varying brightness to pulsing rainbows. (I quite liked the pulsing rainbows but when my sister used the monitor with her two-year-old, she opted out of this feature as she felt it was "too disco-party for bedtime". Which is fair enough, I suppose.)

What is the quality of the audio like?

Comparing the Babysense Max View Pro to our trusty old BT 6000 and the ancient black-and-white Motorola baby monitors we used just a few years ago, the audio is excellent. However, I have read reviews that the white noise is a bit intrusive on the Babysense which can affect how easily you can hear a baby crying. Having tried it out, I think that on the lowest volume setting the white noise might obstruct a baby beginning to wake up or low level fussing, but I think you’d be able to hear a full on cry above it. When I got my kids to voice test this, I could hear them speaking at a normal volume with the white noise on low. I can see how it would be much harder to make out the sound of a baby crying with the volume switched up, though, so it's a valid concern.

What is the video quality like?

The video quality really is excellent. It’s high definition, switches from day to night vision seamlessly and it’s crystal clear - you’d easily be able to see if a baby’s eyes were open from across the room. 

What’s the signal quality like?

The range advertised is 300m and after trying out the monitor from the furthest reaches of our house, garden and wandering down the road with it, I’d say this is about right. I was able to go past our next door neighbours’ properties on both sides and go across the road from our house before losing signal. In my mum’s house we were able to use a camera on the fourth floor and one on the basement with the parent unit easily reaching both from all areas of the house, something previous monitors have struggled with. I was very impressed with this.

Do you think it represents good value for money?

The RRP of the Babysense Max View Pro is £185, however as the Mumsnet editor who has been responsible for the baby monitors guide for several years now, I can authoritatively say that it is hardly ever sold at full price, at least not from Amazon. You’re more likely to see it at around £150 - £160 and it often dips to £140 during sales periods like Prime Day or Black Friday. Of course, you can pick up a far more basic video baby monitor for as little as £45, but I think that given all the features of the Babysense, it is definitely worth the cost - particularly for parents of multiple children with small age gaps. I would highly recommend it to all parents and only wish we’d been able to use it when our little ones were that much younger!

About the author

Jenny Wonnacott has been working as a Content Editor for Mumsnet since 2022 and, as part of the core baby and child editorial team, has been responsible for the bedtime category of articles, buyers' guides and review content for most of this time. She has extensive experience of researching, testing and reviewing a wide range of baby and toddler sleep items from travel cots to swaddles, baby monitors to toddler beds.

A mum of three, Jenny has done her fair share of late-night Googling in search of the best baby sleep aids - and now puts that experience to good use by ensuring Mumsnet’s reviews and buyers' guides are practical, trustworthy and based on genuine insight. She works closely with medical and industry experts and Mumsnet’s community of parent testers to make sure every product recommendation truly lives up to Mumsnet's goal of making parents’ lives easier.

About Mumsnet Reviews

All Mumsnet Baby & Child product reviews are written by real parents after weeks of research and testing – this includes recommendations from the Mumsnet Talk boards. We work hard to provide honest and independent advice you can trust. Sometimes, we earn revenue through affiliate (click-to-buy) links in our articles. However, we never allow this to influence our coverage.

All prices correct at time of publication