Would look OK in a kids room
Wireless
Easy to setup
Tricky adjusting viewing angle
Not the best specs for the price
The D-Link DCS-825L or DCS825L or Eyeon baby monitor is an indoor video and audio IP cam designed to let parents keep an eye on their children. It sacrifices a few whizz-bang features you would find in high-end surveillance cams.
Instead, it’s a fun, easy to use indoor IP cam with good apps that brings baby monitors into the 21st century.
D-Link market …
8
Total Score
D-Link DCS-825L – Fun design, simple setup
Whilst the DCS825L may be missing some bells and whistles, it’s a baby monitor you actually wouldn’t mind putting in the kid’s room
User Rating: 4.6 (1 votes)
PROS:
- Would look OK in a kids room
- Wireless
- Easy to setup
CONS:
- Tricky adjusting viewing angle
- Not the best specs for the price
The D-Link DCS-825L or DCS825L or Eyeon baby monitor is an indoor video and audio IP cam designed to let parents keep an eye on their children. It sacrifices a few whizz-bang features you would find in high-end surveillance cams.
Instead, it’s a fun, easy to use indoor IP cam with good apps that brings baby monitors into the 21st century.
D-Link market this specifically as a baby monitor. If I look at the £129.99 RRP and compare the specification to other IP cameras, the DCS-825L is a little light on specs.
You get a wireless 720P camera, with short-range night vision, 2-way audio and a micro SD slot. The DCS825L at least breaks the mould in styling – think GLADoS or ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’.
You can get indoor IP cams with PoE, better optics and Pan-Tilt-Zoom for the same money. However the Eyeon baby monitor is pitched at parents looking for that extra reassurance when a little on is sleeping.
How Do I Mount This DCS-825L Camera?
The mount for this camera is a tad clunky, given that most parents will want to clip this indoor CCTV camera to a cot.
The DCS-825L does not come with a motorised Pan / Tilt / Zoom feature. You are stuck with the Field-of-View you start with. For a baby monitor, it might have been useful to move the camera. We can’t have it all though!
Setup and software-wise, it is obvious D-Link have pulled out all the stops to make it easier for parents with their DCS-825L installation.
You use the iOS and Android MyDlink apps to connect to your new baby monitor. There’s no messing about with IP addresses or router settings. See also the DCS-825L Manual – you can even set it to play a lullaby at night!
Head away from home and you are reliant on D-Link’s servers to handle your home CCTV stream. When it works, the remote viewing is magic. Parents at work or distant relatives can view their child in real-time. You can even talk via the two-way audio feature and DCS-825L microphone.
Don’t think I ever needed to monitor my baby away from home. But it adds some flexibility to the Eyeon baby monitor.
What I Want From My Baby Monitor
If I were making an IP camera baby monitor, reliability would be my Number One Priority. I’m a parent, and if I’m using a baby monitor, I do not want it to work SOME of the time.
Audio-only baby monitors are glorified walkie-talkies. Yet they do work almost all the time. They are no substitute for being in the room and checking on your child. The hiss and crackle tells you the device is working though, and it is totally reassuring to hear your child breathing in their sleep.
Or screaming their lungs out. My first child did this for the first year. He made so much noise, the baby monitor was redundant.
My concern with an indoor IP cam as a baby monitor is reliability. If the video feed goes wonky, I don’t want to be dashing upstairs to fix it.
I’d pair my Eyeon with a regular, audio-only baby monitor. Belts and braces!
DCS-825L Is Good Enough For Simple Applications
If you are buying the D-Link DCS-825L for fun, it is a great baby monitor.
Funky design, easy setup, decent picture and simple software. Share a livestream with the grandparents, or let Dad sneak a look from work.
Personally, I think video baby monitors like the D-Link Eyeon are great, but it’s never going to totally replace that quick into the kids room at night to check they’re OK.
As a baby monitor, the D-Link DCS825L is a superb hi-tech parenting aid to complement all the other good things we do as a parents to keep our kids safe.
