Harbor baby monitor review: Pros, cons, and the bottom line on connection quality

The Harbor baby monitor promises a reliable and consistent connection. And while this may seem like the bare minimum, you’d be surprised how many other wifi monitors struggle in this department. Bringing both wifi and closed, direct connection capabilities to the scene, we feel like Harbor has the potential to set a new standard in the world of baby tech.

We’ve been using this baby monitor for five months (and counting) with our now-five-month-old infant (who is, of course, the light of our world)… needless to say, our standards our high. In this Harbor baby monitor review, we’ll chat about whether or not we feel like this new brand delivers on their promises, including a bottom line on how much we truly rely on Harbor’s connection (TLDR: We keep Harbor turned on even when trying out other monitors, because we know it has our back).

Read straight through for the whole picture, or skip to what you need:

• What makes the Harbor baby monitor different from other wifi monitors?
• The pros
• The cons
• Bottom line on connection quality
• Pricing and where to buy
• Final verdict

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What makes the Harbor Baby Monitor different from other wifi monitors?

Positioned as a direct competitor to Nanit, Harbor promises to outperform other wifi monitors with a connection that doesn’t fail. They back this promise up with two distinctions from other popular monitors:

• Most wifi monitors rely on your phone or tablet to act as the “parent unit” (i.e., the device you use to see and hear your child). With Harbor, you can use your phone, but Harbor also supplies a large, high-resolution, dedicated unit.

• Although Harbor is primarily a wifi monitor, it can automatically switch to a closed, direct connection (i.e., not your internet) if your wifi goes out. No matter what happens to your internet, you’re always connected to your child’s camera!

So, is the Harbor seaworthy? While it wasn’t smooth sailing from the get-go, we’ve come to rely on this monitor as one of our personal favorites. Even when we use our other monitor (the CuboAi), we leave the Harbor on as backup, because we know we can rely on its connection.

Harbor baby baby monitor review

Here are the pros, cons, and the final verdict:

Harbor baby monitor pros

High-quality hardware

From the beginning, we could tell it was quality hardware. With packaging similar to how Apple packs its products, the care for the product was apparent when opening the box.

Easy setup and app installation

Setup and installation was a breeze and took less than 5 minutes (i.e., much shorter than getting a baby to sleep so we could use said monitor).

Picture quality

The picture quality is terrific on the app and not too shabby on the tablet. We love the size of the tablet because we can set it up far away and still have a clear view so we don’t always have to have it right next to us.

Customizable notifications

The ability to receive actually helpful notifications to your devices is, in my opinion, one of Harbor’s best features. At first, our notifications were overly sensitive and picked up random noises like our other daughter singing the entire Frozen soundtrack a capella in her room next door. However, after some tinkering in the settings, I was able to set up specific notifications based on noise level and duration. So, if our precious little baby child is crying softly for 30 seconds we get a notification. If she is crying loudly for 5 seconds, also a notification. You can easily set up multiple different notifications to fit your preferences.

The notification settings also determine when the tablet automatically lights up and transmits audio. You can set it a “smart” feed, and you will only hear noise if the alerts are triggered. This is great if you want to block out white noise when you’re trying to snooze yourself. But if you’d prefer to have a constant audio feed, you can opt for that. We loved the ability to toggle between the two options.

Battery life

The battery life on the Harbor tablet is incredible! We are not known in our house for remembering to plug things back up. In fact, as I type this my partner’s Apple Watch is dead and in need of a charge but cannot because my phone is also on low battery and in need of a charge. Needless to say, having a tablet with a long lasting battery is quite nice.

Harbor baby monitor cons

Non-wifi expectations vs. reality

We had originally wanted to use the monitor without our wifi, but found out that the direct connection feature was primarily meant for wifi outages and/or traveling purposes with a limited range of 50 feet. Naturally we decided to connect to wifi–this improved the monitor’s functionality considerably.

Note: How much is 50 feet? We live in a 1,800-square-foot house. If my baby is sleeping upstairs in her nursery, and I’m downstairs in our kitchen, we’re about as far away from each other as you can get in our house. The direct connection (i.e, no internet) is spotty at this distance. If we’re both upstairs, it works. This is good news, because if our home’s wifi goes out overnight while we’re asleep, Harbor’s closed connection works just fine (all of our bedrooms are upstairs). So, it works as intended. But if you’re hoping to not use your wifi, this may be a struggle depending on the size of your home… for now. Word on the street is that the direct connection range will be improving to up to 150 feet pretty soon.

Wall mount vs. bird’s eye view

The Harbor monitor only comes with a wall mount, so there’s no option for a bird’s eye view. Even though we feel Harbor is more reliable, we prefer the view we get with something like the CuboAI (editor’s note: Harbor is releasing an adapter that can be used to attach the camera to a standard floor stand… we’ll be testing this soon and will report back!).

Some connection issues at first (resolved with updates)

When we first received the Harbor, we had some connection issues (more on that below). We have also had some instances where updates occur at inopportune moments. This is a double-edged sword, though. With each update, the quality of the Harbor monitor has improved, which is nice. However, when the update comes mid-nap it is not nice. Most of the time we are able to put off the update for a better time, but once or twice we ran into a snafu.

Bottom line on connection quality

The Harbor’s whole shtick is superior connection quality.

Straight from the Harbor website: We started Harbor after Nanit failed us. We learned the hard way, apps on phones are not baby monitors.

We had our hands on a Harbor basically as soon as they’d ship one out (so very, very early). They quickly released updates to get their connection capabilities in line with what they promised. Now, Harbor is the monitor we never turn off, because we know if another monitor we’re trying fails, the Harbor will have our back.

A note on the remote night nanny program

I didn’t feel like I could write a review on Harbor without mentioning their remote night nanny program, but the honest truth is that we didn’t use it. For an additional cost, this feature grants temporary, secure, remote access to an actual and credentialed human who will monitor your child and alert you if you’re needed.

My wife and I didn’t feel totally comfortable with this, but I’ll admit it is a super unique feature. I’ve also seen genuinely positive reviews. One that stood out to me involved a mom who used the service when her partner was traveling. She was happy to have an extra set of eyes on the baby, and the service worked well for her.

Pricing and where to buy

Harbor actually changed their pricing model after we received our model. Instead of offering different subscription tiers, everyone now pays one flat fee for the camera, parent unit, and all the features (for life!). This change was made in response to customer feedback, and honestly, we’re here for it.

Here are the details:

Harbor baby monitor price: $599

This includes the following features for life (no need to renew in a year):

• 1 camera
• 1 tablet
• Desktop and mobile app (currently compatible with Mac and iOS)
• Record & Rewind
• Always on Failsafe Notifications
• Smart Audio
• End-to-End Encryption
• 30 Days of Moments
• On Device Storage
• Access to Remote Night Nannies (additional charge)
• Streams up to 2k
• Split Screen Views (up to 4 kids)
• Control Volume/Zoom Across Cameras
• Customized Guest Schedules
• Apple® Watch Notifications
• Complimentary Care Text Line

You can purchase the Harbor directly from their website or from Amazon.

Harbor Baby monitor final verdict

The tablet, reliable connection (that seems to only get better), and straight-forward pricing make this monitor a yes for us. We’re crossing our fingers for a solid future for Harbor… and maybe a floor stand 🙂

Looking for more baby monitor reviews?

Here at Fathercraft, we pride ourselves on being baby gear experts. We’ve tested the best of the best and (let’s be honest) the worst of the worst when it comes to baby monitors. Looking for other resources? Check out our checklists, product reviews, and our guide to the third trimester.