Description
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Build Quality
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Performance
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Ease of use
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Features
Summary
Snuza Hero baby monitor is a wearable device which attaches to your baby’s diaper and monitors your baby’s abdominal movements. The Hero detects the slightest of movements and will alert you if abdominal movement is weak or less than eight movements per minute. If the Snuza Hero detects no abdominal movement for 15 seconds, it will vibrate in an effort to rouse your baby to resume abdominal movements. Often the vibration is enough to rouse the infant and Hero will revert to monitoring mode. However, after three vibration/rousing incidents, a Rouse Warning will alert you that movement has stopped for 15 seconds on three occasions. If an additional 5 seconds of no abdominal movement is detected a sharp audible alarm will sound. Overall, a highly recommended monitor that will give you a lot of peace of mind.
User Review
( votes)Snuza Hero (SE) Baby Movement Monitor
The Snuza Hero SE Baby Movement Monitor is a small, portable movement monitor that attaches to the baby’s diaper. Its super-sensitive sensor senses movement and breathing patterns and alerts you in movements stop. It is the same size as the Snuza Go and functions in a similar manner but it has a cool vibration stimulus designed to wake up or stimulate your baby from deep sleep to encourage movement without the need for a loud in nursery alarm. In addition to the vibration feature, the monitor will alarm if it doesn’t detect motion after a set amount of time, and this feature is crucial for any parent. The Hero may not actually be the best choice for parents who want to limit false alarms because of where it needs to be placed. We experienced more false alarms with the Hero than the mattress sensor options because the sensor lost contact with the baby’s abdomen. This monitor is more expensive than the Snuza Go and some of the other monitors we reviewed, but its portability and stimulus feature will give you peace of mind. It is an excellent choice for parents who need a simple wearable they can rely on.
Performance Comparison
The Snuza Hero SE Baby Movement Monitor performed well compared to the competition, but its tendency to arrive new with a dead battery and the higher occurrence of false alarms hurt its overall likeability for some online reviewers.
Reliability
In general, the diaper attachment monitors are not as reliable as the mattress sensor pads. The Hero suffers from the same drawbacks as the Snuza Go when it comes to reliability. False alarms were minimal with children under 6 months of age, but the incidents increase markedly once babies start moving and rolling over as the sensor becomes removed from the abdomen causing false alarms as it can no longer sense baby’s movement. A one-piece sleeper with the sensor in direct contact with the abdomen can reduce false alarms but this makes the monitor more difficult to turn on or off, covers the indicator lights, and muffles the alarm sound. The Hero does over an audible “tick” with every movement which is designed to provide peace of mind to parents (if you can’t see the indicator light) but it also seems to be disruptive to sleeping babies making it a poorly designed feature for light sleepers.
Unlike the Snuza Go, the Snuza Hero SE Baby Movement Monitor has a vibration stimulus feature that emits a gentle vibration when a 15 second period without movement is detected. The vibration is designed to stimulate little ones out of deeper sleep and encourage movement/breathing without fully awakening them or causing crying from a loud in nursery alarm. If the monitor detects movement following the vibration, then the alarm will not sound. If three vibration stimulus incidents occur, a “rouse warning” (one beep every 2 seconds) will sound to alert the parent. The rouse warning only works in its preset programmed mode, but you can turn it off, so it functions in the same manner as the Go. It does not have the ability to be programmed to alert at different time intervals like the Snuza Go. All other features and functions are the same on the two monitors.
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Ease of Use
This monitor comes ready for use with the battery installed, though many online reviewers remarked that the batteries were dead on arrival in new monitors they purchased. The monitor has no setup required and works simply by turning it on and attaching to your baby’s diaper. It has a more complicated interface than the Snuza Go thanks to the vibration stimulus feature, but it isn’t as challenging as the mattress sensor pad monitor or those with a parent unit. We experienced that is nearly impossible to attach the monitor without waking your baby if they are already asleep. This means that inevitably, you’ll need to make it part of your routine clipping it on prior to the baby falling asleep.
Portability
The Snuza Hero SE Baby Movement Monitor is small enough to be stashed in the diaper bag and comes with a hard case to protect the sensor. You can use it in any stationary location where it is safe for baby to nap with no modification necessary. This is a great choice for parents who travel or babies who spend a significant amount of time away from home.
