Nest Indoor Camera isn’t your typical baby monitor. It doesn’t track any of the sleep analytics or give you the usual infant updates. In fact, it is a home surveillance and security camera that has the Internet of Things capabilities. However, it does allow you to do the basic monitoring of your baby
It fits nicely into your vision of building a smart home as it can communicate with many other devices and services like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Amazon Prime. Nest Indoor Camera is suitable for parents who are into technology gadgets and plan to include some baby monitoring features.
Camera’s Picture/Audio Quality
Nest comes with 1080p HD camera quality, which is pretty much the standard for the recent wifi baby monitors. Using your wifi connection, you will be able to get 24/7 live video streaming. You can get access to the live stream even when you are viewing your camera remotely.
It has a clear infrared night vision which switches automatically when it encounters dim lightings. You will be able to view your baby’s movement in the night without much trouble. Nest gives you the ability to pan, tilt, and zoom remotely through their app.
Their camera has a 130-degree diagonal wide-angle view coupled with an impressive 8x zoom power that gives you a lot of flexibility to “roam” around in your baby’s room. The camera’s quality is as good as it gets.
Other features
Nest Indoor Camera does not include lullabies and white noises as it is not built for that. However, it does have a 2-way talk function with crisp audio. In fact, you might need to speak softer to not alarm your baby. Do play around with that to see what works for your baby. Simply press on the microphone button in the app and it will be communicated to the current camera view that you are on.
Next, you will get notifications to your phone through their app, which is a common feature amongst other smart baby monitors. It has a 3-hour snapshot history, which allows you to review what happened.
However, if you get a subscription with Nest Aware, you will be able to get continuous video recording as well as access to Person Alert, a smart function that can tell a person apart from a thing. You can create an activity zone in the app for the baby’s crib which gives you an alert when something happens. That is pretty useful for baby monitoring. Nest Aware’s subscription starts from $6 monthly if you are keen.
Also, try to keep Nest Indoor Camera at least 6 feet away from your baby to reduce EMF exposure, which is common across electronic and wifi devices.
Nest Indoor Camera has a versatile magnetic stand that you can use to hold up the camera or you can use other means of support through tripod, wall, or standing.
Dropcam Backstory
Google acquired Nest in around 2015 and soon after that, Nest acquired Dropcam. So Nest Indoor Camera is an upgraded version of Dropcam. Dropcam is basically a Wifi-enabled security camera and there are people who use it as a baby monitor.
You can view videos remotely for free but if you require archived footage on your videos, it will require a subscription. You can change the stand of Dropcam Pro interchangeably with Nest Indoor Camera but not older versions of Dropcam.
The main point being made here is that Nest Indoor Camera has very reliable hardware that had gone through many iterations and is known for its security. Although wifi baby monitors are more prone to hacking due to data being transmitted through wifi, we believe that Nest Indoor Camera is less prone to this happening.
The Verdict
As mentioned, Nest Indoor Camera is really built to be entire home surveillance and security system rather than a dedicated baby monitor. It lacks functions like lullabies and diaper alerts but we know about its reliability and mature hardware in terms of its surveillance and security abilities.
Nest Indoor Camera is cheaper as compared to other dedicated baby monitors and it gives you the flexibility to repurpose the camera when your baby is older. With Nest tying into other smart home functions like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Amazon Prime, you get to create a holistic home experience that includes baby monitoring as a sub-function.