I know that I don’t usually do reviews. And I want to make sure it’s clear before I get into the review, that this is in no way sponsored by or affiliated with Owlet. I purchased the Owlet cam myself, and I wanted to give my honest experience with it! I had a hard time finding a lot of substantial information about the camera when I was trying to buy it, and would love to be able to provide necessary information to anyone else looking to purchase the Owlet Cam.
In short – I don’t like it
I really don’t. It is a camera, which is a must for me when it comes to a monitor in my baby’s room. But I think I could’ve gotten another camera that does more for considerably less. So, let’s dive into a few reasons why.
Price point
I think the Owlet camera is overpriced. I think they priced it so high with confidence, because their smart sock is so popular. I love our Smart sock! I’ve used it with both of our boys, and while I know it doesn’t prevent SIDs or anything else, it does provide me with peace of mind. However, it is essentially a very basic camera at a high price point.
Features
Okay, let’s talk about features.
-temperature
-is a camera
It doesn’t move, which is fine for while he is a baby, but once he is bigger and can move around more, I prefer a camera that I can move within the app.
Another thing I don’t love, is that it is only in the app. If I don’t have the app open, I don’t have any access to what is going on in that room. No notifications if he cries if the app is closed. I know a lot of cameras at a similar price point have this feature, so I was disappointed that the Owlet Cam does not.
Functionality issues
We bought the camera on Black Friday. Understandably, because of the high demand, it took longer than normal for us to receive the camera. And when it arrived, we had a hell of a time getting it set up.
You are supposed to be able to share the camera feed with up to 5 different devices. Right away, we had issues with that. I got it paired to my phone, but the camera would NOT connect to my husband’s phone. In order for him to connect to his phone, it disconnected mine. This went back and forth like this for an entire month.
I contacted customer support about this multiple times. Everything they suggested either did not work, or would work temporarily, but everything would return back to the way it was the next morning.
I wouldn’t even be able to tell you what specifically fixed the issue, because after over a month of this, and uninstalling and reinstalling the app dozens of times, updating both of our phones, and repairing countless times, we were able to get both of our phones to stay connected to the camera.
But the other huge issue we have had with it is that the camera itself rarely works. It will just load and load forever. I would say this could be user error, but we have 1Gig wifi in our apartment, so I know it isn’t because we don’t have the available bandwidth to support the camera.
I was really disappointed by this camera. At this point, it functions on a basic level but I feel it is an incredibly basic camera and you could find something for $100 less that does at least the same functions at the same quality.