Who It’s For
Parents who want a camera with vast panning capabilities and a decent range will appreciate the eufy SpaceView. This monitor is also ideal for those who may need more than one camera and prefer not to rely on Wi-Fi or an app.
Setup and Design
The eufy earned a 5 out of 5 for ease of setup in our lab test, which is why we think it’s perfect for parents who don’t have a lot of time to spend installing a video baby monitor. The camera can be mounted or set somewhere in the nursery where you can get the best views—on a wall, a dresser, or a shelf in a bedroom or playroom. You can also move it around to other areas of the house as needed. Simply unplug it, place it in its new location, and plug it in again. This quick setup makes it ideal for travel, whether to a relative’s house or a hotel. “Occasionally, we do have to reconnect the camera and the monitor when we take it with us on vacation,” Levinson told us. “We have extra cameras at the grandparents’ house, so we can typically show up, and it automatically connects.” Since eufy does not require a phone app or Wi-Fi, you don’t have to worry about handing it off to relatives or caretakers who aren’t tech-savvy. “It is easy to pass back and forth between caretakers, ” Levinson said, adding that she had previously owned a Wi-Fi monitor but preferred this system for that very reason. Families can also take advantage of this easy setup by putting cameras in siblings’ rooms, not just the nursery. “Each kid has a camera in their room, and the monitor flips back and forth between their rooms every 10 seconds,” Levinson said.
Range and Video Quality
The eufy SpaceView earned a 4.5 for range in the lab test, and Levinson said it works well throughout her house. “We can use it anywhere in a three-level 2,500-square-foot house,” she said. “We can also use it in the backyard on the patio, hugging the house. We have brought it on vacation and were able to use it down the hallway at a hotel. When it gets out of range, it is harder to see/hear. But we make it work the best we can.” But more range would be nice, especially while on vacation. “Those are times I may have preferred a Wi-Fi monitor with a further range,” Levinson added. “On the flip side, when using a Wi-Fi monitor, sometimes you have to connect to the hotel Wi-Fi each time you check on your kids. With the eufy, we can just leave it running.” The eufy camera provides a 720P HD image on the 5-inch monitor, and it earned a 4.9 for image quality and a 4.9 in the dark test in the lab. The wide-angle camera is great for panning the room when the baby or child moves—it pans 330 degrees, tilts 110 degrees—as well as zooming up to 2x. While the image remains quite clear, in the lab we found that the audio sometimes stalls during panning.
Connection Type
We previously mentioned eufy does not use Wi-Fi, but instead connects over FHSS (frequency-hopping spread spectrum), a form of radio transmission that resists interference. This is great for entrusting little ones to caregivers. since the monitor can be passed to them seamlessly. “We decided early on we don’t want to be watching the monitor on our phones when we are away from home. We trust our nanny and have peace of mind by checking in with her (versus watching her on a camera),” Levinson said. But if you need to see your child while you’re in an office or want to check in on them throughout the day while running errands or from a distant location, eufy may not be the best fit for your needs given its limited range.
How We Tested
Editorial Director Lauren Levinson tested this video monitor at home with her two children for ease of use/setup, range, video/audio quality, battery life, and other special features like two-way communication, and mobile connectivity. In the lab, our team of editors tested a total of 13 video baby monitors and then took several of them home to further explore their range and other capabilities. We set up each camera near a crib to see how easy it was to position them to get a perfect view of a baby (in this case, a baby doll). Then we spent time connecting the monitors and apps to the cameras, examining the difficulty of setup and use. In the lab “nursery,” we played sounds of a baby crying while one tester walked out of the room and around the office, evaluating the quality of the image and sound, and reading the monitor alerts, while walking as far as we could until the sound and video cut out. Finally, we turned off the lights in the nursery to test the cameras’ night vision modes.
The Competition: Eufy vs. Miku
We also tested the Miku Pro, an HD video baby monitor with several features and a long range that works via Wi-Fi and cellular data. Using an app, Miku Pro lets you check in on your little one from work, another room in the house, or while you’re running errands. You can also see your baby’s respirations per minute (RPM) in real-time, and SensorFusion technology captures and analyzes your little one’s breathing and displays it in waveform on the app. The price point is another notable difference. The Miku Pro sells for $399, whereas the eufy sells for $160. If you don’t plan to use a video monitor from a long range and don’t feel the need to track RPM, then the eufy is an excellent alternative to the Miku Pro.
