D-Link DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera Review

If the stork has recently dropped by your house with a new bundle of joy and you’re a proud (and soon to be exhausted) mommy or daddy, one of the basic survival items you will need in your arsenal is a baby monitor. Hands down, this piece of technology is simply something no parent should be without…especially if this is your first child. It’s amazing how being able to see and hear your new baby when they are napping will not only make you more responsive to their needs, but it will also help ease the paranoia with all the little sounds they make that without video would normally result in your getting up and checking on them insistently. These days there is no shortage of video baby monitors on the market. And where that would generally be a good thing, speaking from personal experience, not all baby monitors are created equal. With that said, a friendly piece of advice, research extensively before you buy. Since video baby monitors are not cheap, rushing into a purchase could result in a serious case of buyer’s remorse. Now that I have stressed the importance of doing your homework before purchasing a video baby monitor, how about we look at one of the latest entry’s on the market, D-Link’s DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera. Now if D-Link isn’t a brand that immediately springs to mind when you’re looking for baby monitors, you’re not alone. D-Link has a long history of producing some excellent network (switches, routers, wireless AP’s, etc…) and connectivity products and that includes an extensive line of network attached video camera’s. So it not surprising that D-Link has decided to leverage their know how and produce a Wi-Fi connected video baby camera. Having the video baby camera Wi-Fi connected, this allows viewing from any iPhone, Android, or remotely on a PC (via their free secure web service). The only question is, how well did they do? Let’s dive into the details and see how well the DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera performs. Before we get into the on-hands, let’s take a peek at the technical specifications:

Looking at the technical specifications, I must admit that it appears that D-Link has hit almost all of the targets with the feature set for this Wi-Fi HD camera. On paper this looks like it may be a real winner, so let’s get our hands on it and see if delivers.

Packaging:

The packaging for the D-Link DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera is small, simple, and does a great job of highlighting all the key features this camera has to offer. I think the only nitpick I can make is that the Apple iPhone and iPad are plastered all over the external packaging, and unless you read the Minimum Requirements section on the back, it wouldn’t be obvious that Android devices are also supported. Once inside the packaging all the included parts and accessories are well compartmentalized. Included in the box are the following:

1 x D-Link DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera
1 x Power Adapter
1 x Desktop Base
1 x Wall Mount Kit
1 x Set of Pink Accent Rings (Blue are installed by default)
1 x Quick Install Guide

Initial Impressions:

With the D-Link DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera and it’s accessories out of the packaging, the camera itself appears to have a solid construction. I was surprised to see that the desktop base isn’t fixed to the camera, but has a semi-sticky pad on it that grip the camera. This allows you to pivot the camera the desired amount, and once set shouldn’t move…but isn’t permanently stuck to the camera. The included wall mount is a nice addition and is designed in such a way, that “should” facilitate almost any angle. I have used and reviewed other video baby cameras in the past and some of the wall mounting solutions I have seen left a lot to be desired. The power adapter has a nice long cord on it, so you won’t be handicapped by a 6-foot cable. On the top of the camera are four buttons that allow you to play a lullaby, adjust the volume, and power the unit off/on. Also on the top of the unit is what appears to be an antenna, but actually is the built-in ambient room temperature sensor. On the back of the unit is a MicroSD slot for adding storage for video and pictures. The inclusion of a standard tri-pod mount on the bottom of the unit is also a nice addition. With the initial impressions out of the way, it was time to power on the D-Link DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera and get it configured for some hands-on testing.

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Installation & Setup:

Once powered on, to configure the D-Link DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera you merely have to take your Apple iOS or Android mobile device of choice, download the free mydlink Baby Camera Monitor app. Once the app is installed, it’s a 10 step process to get the D-Link DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera configured for your local Wi-Fi and have it accessible to your mobile devices already configured to use the same network. I could post pictures of each of the 10 steps required, but their pretty straight forward and D-Link did a great job of keeping this process simple. Unfortunately, D-Link offset the simple process with an app that doesn’t feel quite flushed out. For a real world test, I had my wife attempt to configure the camera, and she unfortunately hit a snag when prompted to enter the password for the integrated D-Link DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera wireless network. Neither the app or the documentation specify the password is case sensitive, minor issue and common sense when you think about it, as proven easily overlooked and could be your first stumbling point. Once we overcame that issue, each step and subsequent screen took an unusually long time to load and even completely froze in a couple spots. I attempted the setup several times on both Android and Apple iOS devices, and it seemed to me that the experience was “better” on an Apple iOS device. With the D-Link DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera configured on our local wireless network, it was time to put the camera to use and see how well it performed.

Functionality and Performance:

For our first test, we placed the camera about 3-4 feet away from the baby’s crib. At this distance, the default sound and video quality was exceptional in both day and night scenarios. The night video quality really excels and doesn’t leave you squinting to make out any of the important details critical for feeling secure that you can see what you need to see to properly monitor your baby. In our second test, we wall mounted the camera high on the wall a few inches from the 8-foot ceiling. The default video setting was still really good at this height and distance, however there was a drastic drop off in the ability for the camera to pick up sounds. This translated in having to have the volume set to high on the mobile device and app (as both of these can be independently set) and even then it was hard to hear the baby, unless he was in a full cry. As most parents like to avoid their babies getting to that point, this was disappointing as the limited audio pickup will constrain your options for camera placement. Since this is an HD camera, it’s important to note that the default resolution is 360P (which is less technically less than the 480P SD). As previously mentioned, at this default setting the picture quality is exceptionally good, but than again mobile devices have small screens so this isn’t all that surprising. Changing the resolution to 720P HD, I will say that the picture quality was not drastically improved. Given how good the picture quality was at 360P, I wasn’t expecting the picture to be twice as good by doubling the resolution. An unfortunate drawback to changing to the 720P HD resolution was the resulting latency or lag with both the video and audio. With the video, there was at least a 1-2 second delay. Now a 1-2 seconds delay may not sound like much, but when it comes to monitoring your baby, I personally want it to be as real-time as possible. Now I am fully aware that some delay is to be expected over a Wi-Fi connected video camera, but this was considerably more than I was expecting. To rule out wireless signal strength, I ran a seperate test with the camera sitting right next to our wireless-N AP, and the performance was unchanged. This left my wife and I really no choice but to go back to the default 360P resolution. The silver lining, even at this resolution, the picture quality is still superior to most other baby camera’s we have worked with in the past. Aside from the lag/latency with 720P viewing, the only remaining nitpick with the video picture is the Paranormal Activity inspired date/time stamp. Made me mention to my wife several times that I expect to see something start moving in the room by itself. With camera performance out of the way, I wanted to expand on some of the key features this camera has to offer.

The motion and audio detection, while potentially a little gimmicky, work extremely well. At first I questioned the value of this feature, but after evaluation it’s helpful to see the running total (as it counts the number of detections) of how often our baby was moving and making noise significant enough to register. The detection level thresholds are configurable, so you can fine tune it for your specific environment to get the most out of this feature.
The temperature sensor is also a very nice addition to this camera. The temperature is displayed within the mydlink baby camera monitor app and there is a colored LED light on top of the camera that is either green when the temperature is within acceptable thresholds or red if it is not. Camera placement can influence it’s readings, so you will need to be aware of that when choosing where to place your camera. In our two placement tests, the camera read the room temp warmer when it was mounted high on the wall near the ceiling, but since hot air rises, this is to be expected. So, you need to be aware that the temp near the ceiling may not be indicative of what your baby is feeling down in the crib.
The mydlink app has a nice feature to play background noise while the app is not active. So you can still hear your baby, if you need to power off the screen or use the mobile device for something else.
Taking snapshots and video directly from your mobile device and those being saved directly on your mobile device is a nice feature, however it’s only supported on Apple iOS and is not currently available on Android devices.
Multiple mobile devices can access the camera at the same time. At 360P resolution, I didn’t notice any noticeable lag/latency with multiple devices accessing the camera.
Remote viewing was quite simple, once I created a free mydlink account. If you’re looking for remote access, this secure portal will more than sufficiently meet your needs.
Not overly advertised, but you can plug the camera into a USB attached battery for cases when traveling.
2-way communication is a nice feature, but we also noted a similar 1-2 second lag in the audio. Again this isn’t deal breaking, but it’s odd to talk into the app and hear your voice a couple seconds later sound in the baby’s room.

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Conclusion:

With a retail value of $179.99, the D-Link DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera isn’t on the cheap side when it comes to video baby cameras. At this price point, you can find cameras that have controllable PTZ mounts, something the D-Link DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera does not offer with it’s fixed mount options. However, that aside D-Link obviously put pen to paper and polled parents on what features they would like to see in a baby video camera, as this camera really does have a lot to offer. Sadly, if it wasn’t for the video and audio lag/latency at 720P resolutions, I would overlook the not-so-polished app and say the D-Link DCS-825L HD Wi-Fi Baby Camera is a perfect choice for any parent looking for a top-notch video baby camera. I say that, because even at 360P resolution, I still think it’s a great choice and still worth recommending. If D-Link can work out the video and audio lag/latency and refine their app, they would have an impressive product on their hands and one competitors that have been doing it longer attempt to emulate. I noticed after I created a mydlink account and linked my camera it performed a firmware update directly to the camera, I hold out hope that a future firmware update might resolve the lag/latency.