The Best Baby Monitors in Australia

You’ve finally got them down, the house is quiet, and now you can’t stop listening for every rustle through the wall. A good baby monitor gives you your evening back. We’ve compared the best baby monitors on sale in Australia, and for most homes we’d buy the Uniden BW2511. It’s a simple video monitor with crying and motion alerts, it’s one of the cheapest picks here, and more owners have scored it than any other monitor in this guide.

If you want to check in from your phone, the eufy E20 is the Wi-Fi pick. If you’ll carry the screen from room to room, look at the VTech BM5250N: VTech claims up to 17 hours of active monitoring from its rechargeable parent unit. And if hearing your baby is enough, the VTech BM2150 costs a fraction of everything else.

The short answer

The best baby monitors in Australia

• Best overall: Uniden BW2511
• Best baby monitor with Wi-Fi: eufy E20
• Best for carrying the screen around the house: VTech BM5250N
• Best for a camera you can steer: ieGeek 2K Baby Monitor
• Best budget audio monitor: VTech BM2150
• Best clamp-on camera: Uniden BW4501
• eufy’s 4K step-up: eufy E21
• Best for several cameras: Oricom OBH950

Product		Price
	Uniden 2.8" Colour Display Baby Monitor (BW2511)	from $99.95 at Amazon · 3 shops	$99.95 at Amazon
	eufy E20 Baby Monitor (E8352C21)	from $349.00 at JB Hi-Fi · 3 shops	$349.00 at The Good Guys
	Vtech BM5250N 5" Full Colour Video & Audio Baby Monitor	from $146.00 at Amazon · 2 shops	$146.00 at Amazon
	ieGeek 2K Baby Monitor with 5" HD LCD	from $199.00 at Amazon	$199.00 at Amazon
	VTech BM2150 Digital Audio Baby Monitor	from $38.00 at Amazon · 2 shops	$38.00 at Amazon
	Uniden 4.3 Full HD Colour Baby Monitor with Clamp Camera (BW4501)	from $241.00 at JB Hi-Fi · 2 shops	$241.00 at The Good Guys
	eufy E21 4K Baby Monitor	from $449.00 at JB Hi-Fi · 2 shops	$449.95 at eufy
	Oricom Smart Remote 5 Pan & Tilt Baby Monitor (OBH950)	from $329.00 at JB Hi-Fi	$329.00 at JB Hi-Fi

1. Best overall: Uniden BW2511

Most people buying their first monitor want two things. They want to know the moment the baby stirs, and they don’t want to spend a fortune finding out. The Uniden BW2511 handles both.

The crying and motion alerts are the part you’ll appreciate day to day. You don’t have to keep staring at the screen while you cook dinner, because the monitor tells you when something’s happening. The temperature display and alert give you a heads-up if the nursery gets too warm or too cold, which saves you walking in to check and maybe waking them. Uniden also lists a “time task function” but says nothing more about it, so don’t buy it for that.

Owners at The Good Guys give it 4.7 out of 5 from 18 reviews, which is more reviews than any other monitor here has. For a cheap monitor, that’s about as reassuring as it gets right now.

The catch is the 2.8-inch screen. It’s fine for checking they’re still asleep, but not for a close look at a face.

Our verdict: For most homes this is the one. Buy something bigger only if you know a small screen will annoy you.

2. Best baby monitor with Wi-Fi: eufy E20

Sometimes the monitor needs to reach further than the next room. You might be out in the backyard, or one parent might be at work and want a look. That’s what the eufy E20 is for. JB Hi-Fi lists it as networked with remote monitoring from a mobile device, so you can watch from your phone, and it still comes with its own parent monitor for nights at home.

Eight owners at The Good Guys rate it 4.8 out of 5.

Where it falls short is the information. The retailer listing we have is thin: it covers the Wi-Fi, the single camera and a 300 m wireless range, and gives no screen size or night vision details. It also costs nearly three times as much as the BW2511. If you’ll never open the app, that’s money for nothing.

Our verdict: Buy the E20 if checking from your phone matters to you. If you’ll only ever watch from the next room, the Uniden does that job for much less.

3. Best for carrying the screen around the house: VTech BM5250N

A monitor that has to stay near a power point isn’t much use when you’re hanging washing or folding it on the bed. The VTech BM5250N is built to be carried. VTech says its rechargeable parent unit runs for up to 17 hours of active monitoring. “Up to” means you’ll likely get less in real use, but even a good share of that should get you through an evening without hunting for the charger.

You also get a 5-inch screen and automatic night vision. That’s a far easier look at a dark cot than the Uniden’s small screen gives you, and the digital zoom gets you closer still.

It scores 4.0 out of 5 from 10 reviews at JB Hi-Fi. That’s decent, not glowing.

Our verdict: Pick the BM5250N if you want a bigger screen you can carry around. If the monitor will sit on your bedside table, save the money and get the Uniden.

4. Best for a camera you can steer: ieGeek 2K Baby Monitor

Babies don’t stay where you put them. Once they start rolling into the corner of the cot, a fixed camera ends up showing you a lot of mattress. The ieGeek 2K Baby Monitor has a camera you can steer from the screen. You can pan it 355° and tilt it 60°, or switch on human detection and ieGeek says the camera will follow your baby. The listing’s heading says 360°, but its own numbers say 355°. That difference won’t matter at home.

The other thing we like is the choice of connection. Out of the box, the camera talks straight to the 5-inch screen without Wi-Fi. You can add the phone app over Wi-Fi if you want it, then switch that channel off again later. That suits anyone who’s uneasy about a nursery camera on the internet.

The Canberra Times recommends it for its 2K video with an adjustable blue light, its Wi-Fi-free and app modes, its 10-hour active screen time and 6-day battery life, and its clear images and zoom. We found no independent owner rating at the retailers we check.

Amazon Australia is the only retailer we found that stocks it, so check the warranty and returns terms before you order.

Our verdict: If your baby moves around the cot, or you want the app without depending on it, this is the pick. If you’d rather go by owner scores, the Uniden and VTech give you more to go on.

5. Best budget audio monitor: VTech BM2150

Plenty of parents find they never look at a video feed anyway. They just want to hear the cry. If that’s you, the VTech BM2150 is the cheapest pick in this guide by a wide margin, at under half the price of the BW2511.

VTech says the digital connection means no hiss of background white noise. That’s what you want from a monitor sitting next to your pillow at 3am. You can talk back through the baby unit, play one of five lullabies, and there’s a night light on the baby unit too. “WiFi friendly DECT” is VTech’s wording, and it doesn’t mean app or phone monitoring. VTech doesn’t list any app or phone monitoring.

Two owners at JB Hi-Fi have given it a perfect five. Two people is a very small sample, so don’t lean on that score too hard.

Our verdict: Buy it if sound is all you need. If you think you’ll wish you could see the cot, go straight to the Uniden BW2511.

6. Best clamp-on camera: Uniden BW4501

Not every nursery has a handy shelf at the right height, and a camera balanced on a chest of drawers is a camera that gets knocked. The Uniden BW4501 uses a clamp, which Uniden says attaches almost anywhere. The camera also has a battery backup, so it doesn’t rely entirely on the power point.

The 4.3-inch screen is a real step up from the BW2511’s 2.8 inches, and Uniden lists both the monitor and camera as Full HD.

Owners are less sure. It has 3.8 out of 5 from eight reviews at The Good Guys. That’s lukewarm, and for over twice the price of the BW2511 we’d want more. JB Hi-Fi and The Good Guys stock it, but Amazon Australia showed it as unavailable at our last check.

Our verdict: Worth it if mounting the camera is your real problem. Otherwise, the cheaper BW2511 has the happier owners.

7. eufy’s 4K step-up: eufy E21

The eufy E21 is the dearest monitor in this guide. eufy calls it a 4K model. It has the same phone monitoring and listed range as the E20, and it adds a rechargeable battery and motion detection, which the E20’s listing doesn’t mention.

The trouble is the score. Owners at JB Hi-Fi give it 3.36 out of 5 from 11 reviews, which is well below its cheaper sibling. JB Hi-Fi is the only retailer we found selling it.

Our verdict: Most people should buy the E20 and keep the difference. Choose the E21 only if a 4K camera is the one thing you’re set on.

8. Best for several cameras: Oricom OBH950

Twins, or a baby and a toddler in different rooms, need more than one camera. The Oricom OBH950 can take up to four cameras on its parent unit, or 10 or more in the app, with a split screen so you can see them together. You can steer and zoom the camera, and like the ieGeek it works either direct to the screen or through an app.

There are two catches. The 5-inch screen is listed at 480 by 272 pixels, which is a low figure for the “HD” in Oricom’s own listing title, and lower than the ieGeek’s 720p screen. The battery claim of up to eight hours applies with the display off, so that’s eight hours of listening, not watching.

Its owner score is 2.0 out of 5, from a single review at JB Hi-Fi. One person’s bad experience doesn’t settle it, but it isn’t a reason to buy either.

Our verdict: Consider it only if you need several cameras on one screen. For a single cot, the ieGeek does the steering and dual-mode job for less money.

How we chose

These picks are based on owner ratings, maker specifications, and price and stock checks. We weigh each rating by the number of reviews behind it. Products with an owner rating or an independent recommendation come before any chosen on sales rank alone.

Baby monitor buying guide

If hearing them is enough, skip the camera

Most people buy more monitor than they need. If you’ll be within earshot and you’ll go in anyway when they cry, an audio monitor like the VTech BM2150 does the job for very little. Video earns its money when you want to check without opening the door and risking waking them.

If you want to see the cot from the couch, look at the screen size

A 2.8-inch screen, like the one on the BW2511, is fine for a glance. If you want to see faces, especially at night, look at the 5-inch screens on the VTech BM5250N, ieGeek and Oricom. A bigger screen isn’t automatically a sharper one, though. The Oricom’s 5-inch screen has fewer pixels than the ieGeek’s.

If you want to check in from your phone, get Wi-Fi

The best baby monitors with Wi-Fi in this guide are the eufy E20 and E21, the ieGeek and the Oricom. The ieGeek and Oricom also work straight to their own screen without the app, which helps when the home internet drops out. If you’ll never be further away than the kitchen, Wi-Fi is a feature you’re paying for and won’t use.

If your baby rolls all over the cot, get a camera that moves

A fixed camera points at one spot. The ieGeek and Oricom cameras pan and tilt, and the ieGeek can follow your baby by itself.

If the nursery runs hot or cold, get a temperature alert

A west-facing bedroom in an Australian summer can get warm fast. The BW2511 and BM5250N will alert you about the room temperature, and the Oricom displays it.

If you’re after an infant sleep monitor, this isn’t that

None of the picks here say they track breathing or sleep patterns. They let you see and hear your baby. If movement or breathing tracking is what you’re after, see our guide to the best baby breathing monitors.

What are the benefits of a baby monitor?

A monitor lets you hear or see the nursery from another room. That means fewer trips in just to check, and fewer chances of waking a baby you’ve only just settled. Talkback lets you soothe them with your voice, and some models add lullabies, night lights or room temperature readings.

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