Our Verdict on the Angelcare AC517 Baby Monitor
The Angelcare Baby Movement Monitor AC517 has an impressive 5” touchscreen with one of the best image quality available at the moment. The built quality is excellent and the baby monitor comes bundled with a whole range of useful features, such as room temperature and remote pan and zoom.
But the Angelcare is much more than just a baby monitor. The AC517 comes together with a baby movement and sound monitor to track your baby’s breathing through the night and alert you in case there is a problem. That’s what most parents will be interested in.
Overall, the Angelcare Baby Movement Monitor is a great package. But it’s now facing serious competition from smart baby monitors, such as the best-performing Nanit Plus camera. If you’re worried that your baby might be at risk during their first few weeks of sleeping alone, the Angelcare AC517 is the best option on the market for you right now.
Continue reading our review of the Angelcare AC517 for the in-depth results.
Our Rating: 9.1 / 10
Summary
We like:
- Excellent overall video quality.
- Large display with touchscreen.
- Movement monitor works well and provides reassurance.
We don’t like:
- Can’t play lullabies.
- Doesn’t support multiple cameras.
Where to buy it: check price on Amazon
Alternatives:
- The Eufy SpaceView is the best Plug & Play monitor on our list at the moment. It comes with a dedicated parent monitor, a high-resolution video quality, and the prettiest design (check price).
- The Nanit Plus Smart Camera if you want the best WiFi video baby monitor with high-resolution video quality and personalized smart insights to help improve your baby sleep (check price).
- The Lollipop camera if you want a budget-friendly WiFi monitor with great video quality. It’s one of our favorite monitors of the year as well (check price).
Overview: Angelcare AC517 Baby Monitor
Health & Safety
9/10
Privacy
9/10
Range
8/10
Audio Quality
8/10
Video Quality
9/10
Battery
7/10
Features: Angelcare AC517 Baby Monitor
Infrared Night Vision
YES
VOX
YES
Multiple Camera
NO
Two-Way Talk
YES
Play Lullabies
NO
Room Temperature
YES
Humidity
NO
Remote Pan and Tilt
YES
Remote Zoom
YES
Nightlight
YES
Video Recording & Snapshot
NO
Our Hands-on Review of the Angelcare AC517 Baby Monitor
The Angelcare AC517 is the second most expensive baby monitor on our list. It packs a lot of great features that we’ve come to expect from premium baby monitors, but what really separates it from the rest is the baby movement monitor.
So let’s start with the movement monitor. It’s a sleek wireless sensor pad that you need to slip under your baby’s mattress that will track movement and breathing. An alarm will immediately ring on your parent unit if no movement is detected after 20 seconds.
While it can’t prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the Angelcare Baby Movement Monitor AC517 will help you make sure that your baby is alright. This is especially important if your baby tends to sleep on their belly and doesn’t have enough strength in their neck yet to fully turn their head around while sleeping.
Note that Angelcare says that the baby movement monitor is intended to provide peace of mind to parents. But monitoring of a premature baby considered to be at risk should be carried out only under the supervision of a doctor or health care professional. The AC517 is not intended to diagnose, treat, mitigate, cure or prevent any disease or condition. And in particular, the baby movement monitor should not be used to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Once your child is a little older, you can of course continue to use the Angelcare AC517 without the movement monitor, keeping only the camera active.
Audio and Video Quality
The audio quality with the Angelcare AC517 is excellent. You’ll hear your baby clearly and the monitor will pick up the faintest of sound in their bedroom.
The video quality is equally excellent. The 5” touchscreen gives you a crystal clear picture of your baby at all times.
You can of course adjust the volume and brightness of your display easily. The touchscreen interface is straightforward and easy to get around. And you can completely turn off the video picture on your display when you go to bed if you want. Since the Angelcare has a voice-activated (VOX) function, it will automatically alert you if your baby cries even with the screen turned off. And you can adjust the sensitivity of the VOX to avoid unnecessary triggers.
The camera on the Angelcare AC517 offers infrared night vision so you can see your baby even in the dark or low light. The camera will automatically switch to night mode if the light is too dim in your baby’s room.
The camera unit is using magnets to plug into its base, so it is easy to take off the stand if you prefer to hang it on the wall. You can also adjust the angle of the camera manually or remotely with your touchscreen if needed as it tilts and pans on both axes.
Signal Strength
The range on the Angelcare AC517 is normal. It’s not the largest coverage that we’ve tested (that crown goes to the Eufy SpaceView, a great option if you have a large house), but it’s plenty enough to cover a normal size house.
The baby monitor uses a wireless 2.4 GHz FHSS signal that can reach up to 820 feet / 250 meters outside, but realistically 150 feet / 45 meters inside with up to four walls separating you from your baby. We didn’t experience any signal drop in our tests.
Battery Life
In our testing, the battery life on the Angelcare AC517 was on the low, probably because of its high-resolution touchscreen display. It’s enough to be used unplugged during nap time and until you put your baby to bed in the evening though. So about 5 to 6 hours in total with the screen on. You can bump that up to 8 hours with the screen on standby. The battery takes about 5 hours to be fully charged, so you can do that once you go to bed yourself. Your monitor will start beeping when its battery is almost spent.
Two-way Communication
The Angelcare AC517 has an option to talk to your baby through the camera’s speaker if you want. The two-way talk function can easily be accessed by pressing and holding the microphone icon on the touchscreen.
Security: Angelcare AC517 Baby Monitor Hacking
Because the Angelcare AC517 uses an encrypted FHSS radio signal, risks of hacking and security breach are minimal. It’s impossible for someone to hack into the Angelcare via your WiFi connection, they would need to be within signal range. They would also need to be able to decrypt the secured signal.
Angelcare AC517 Health and Safety
The Angelcare AC517 camera connects to its parent unit through a wireless 2.4 GHz FHSS connection. It means that an electromagnetic field (EMF) will be constantly emitted from the camera to the monitor in order for you to receive an audio and video feed. We recommend that you read our article on electromagnetic field if you want to understand what it means in terms of health and safety for your baby.
In our testing, the Angelcare camera produced a similar EMF reading than the other baby monitors on our list when placed 6 foot / 1.8 meters away from our baby’s bed. This is the minimum approximate distance for most baby monitor cameras. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends that you limit your exposure to 0.5 mG to 2.5 mG at a time. The further you place the camera away from your baby, the less EMF they will be exposed to.
Note that the parent monitor also emits EMFs. Most parents will sleep with the unit on their bedside table, but we recommend you move it further away.
Angelcare AC517 Baby Monitor: What’s in the box
Wondering what’s in the box? Here’s everything that will be included in the Angelcare AC517 package:
- 1 x Baby monitor unit
- 1 x Wireless movement sensor pad (with battery)
- 1 x Parent monitor unit
- 2 x Power adapters
- 1 x Tabletop stand for the camera
- 1 x Flat cable (camera)
- 1 x Double-sided tape (for flat cable)
Angelcare AC517 Price
Check for the latest price for the Angelcare AC517 on Amazon.
Another baby monitor from Angelcare AC517
- Angelcare AC1300: very similar to the AC517 but slightly older and with smaller display size. The main difference is that it uses a wired sensor pad instead of the wireless option of the AC517. It’s currently $35 more expensive than the AC517 on Amazon and we don’t think that the higher price point is justified.
Alternative Options
- The Eufy SpaceView is the best Plug & Play monitor on our list at the moment. It comes with a dedicated parent monitor, a high-resolution video quality, and the prettiest design (check price).
- The Nanit Plus Smart Camera if you want the best WiFi video baby monitor with high-resolution video quality and personalized smart insights to help improve your baby sleep (check price).
- The Lollipop camera if you want a budget-friendly WiFi monitor with great video quality. It’s one of our favorite monitors of the year as well (check price).
Angelcare AC517 Baby Monitor: Most Frequently Asked Questions
- Question: Can I talk to my baby through the device?
Answer: Yes. You just need to press the microphone button in the app on your phone to speak through the device in your baby’s room.
- Question: Can I use more than one camera at a time?
Answer: No. The Angelcare Baby Movement Monitor AC517 can only be paired with one camera.
- Question: Does the Angelcare AC517 have an iPhone App?
Answer: No. The AC517 is not a WiFi baby monitor, so you will need the parent unit to see and hear your baby. Have a look at our review of the best WiFi baby monitors if you want to be able to pair it with your iPhone or Android phone.
- Question: Can it be voice-activated?
Answer: Yes. The Angelcare AC517 supports VOX mode.
- Question: Can I pair one camera with two receivers?
Answer: No. You can pair up to four cameras with one receiver, but not the other way around.
- Question: What is the Angelcare Baby Movement Monitor warranty?
Answer: he Angelcare AC517, comes with a standard one year warranty. We recommend you contact Angelcare if you experience any issue with your model after purchase.
- Question: What is Angelcare’s customer service number?
Answer: If you’re calling from the US, you can contact Philips Avent by phone: 877-281-8827. You can also email their support team from anywhere in the world at ac.cnicedc@eraclegna. Their email support center should get back to you within 24 hours.
Angelcare Baby Movement Monitor AC517 User Manual
You can download the Angelcare Baby Movement Monitor AC517 user manual from here.
Samantha is a busy mother of four, who loves finding the best products to help in raising children. She graduated from BYU in Marriage and Family Studies. When she isn’t writing or testing new products, you can find her playing board games with her kids and teaching them creative strategies.
