Levana Astra Baby Monitor How to Adjust Peep Mode

Reviews with images

Top reviews from Canada

Reviewed in Canada on December 28, 2017

Verified Purchase

The movement is useful as the radius for the night vision can be a bit small. One major problem is during the afternoon it's between night vision and daylight, so the camera is completely useless. As an audio monitor it's fine during these times, but sometimes I would like to force night vision.

The wifi can also cut out sometimes, for a second, which isn't a problem, except at night when the screen will flash white right into your eyes when you check on the little one at night.

The battery has been fine, and the battery saving setting is great for this. It makes it so we only recharge every couple days.

Reviewed in Canada on December 13, 2016

Verified Purchase

This dedicated, non-WiFi, camera has all the features I need and more plus a reasonable battery life if you use sleep mode. It is user-friendly with a slight learning curve for turning on menu options. Ultimately, the reason I gave it 4 stars is the lack of a temperature gauge which other cameras offer and in low light situations like around dusk (night time is fine) the image can sometimes be a gray blobby mess.

Pros:
- Sleep mode
- Mute function
- Colour coded noise display (light noises make a green ring while loud noise make an orange ring light up on the display)
- Night vision
- Large pan/zoom function
- Two way communication (able to talk to baby)
- Coloured screen (in daylight)
- Extra features (lullabies, etc.)
- Good reception (works in two story home with minimal interference from our home WiFi signal)

Cons:
- No temperature gauge
- Low light situations can make the image blurry and unrecognizable
- Battery may not last long if you leave the screen on
- No mounting screws/supplies

Reviewed in Canada on November 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

Works well, but wears out quick. Ours isn't even 2 years old and the battery is dying, the picture is getting fuzzy, and the power button barely works.

You've been warned. We like the battery life given by the peep mode though, so we bought a second one (which will probably also break on us). If you find something more reliable, let me know.

Levana customer service is incredibly unsympathetic about how quickly their products wear out.

Reviewed in Canada on October 5, 2018

Verified Purchase

Love and hate this. Works great sometimes but not others.

whenever a Bluetooth device is near the parent unit it looses signal. I live in a small apartment and constantly loose signal in the evening (probably people's devices interfering)

When it does work it works great but I am glad my son still sleeps in my room at night because it it lost signal the way it does in the evening I would have no way of knowing if he is up or not

(Sound sometimes makes loud noises on parent unit although it is quiet in babies room)

Reviewed in Canada on December 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

It loses connection but never for very long and it doesn't bug me much . The battery life is outstanding which I'm happy with because my last monitor always had to be plugged in. Picture quality isn't the greatest and the night vision is very sensitive.. Night vision won't kick on if you have a nightlight on for your kid and the bad quality makes it impossible to see anything as all you can see is the night light and the rest is black. We moved it above my daughters bed and above the nightlight which fixed the problem but I wish it weren't a problem to begin with. Overall the monitor gets the job done but I will be replacing it as soon as I can afford a better one.

Reviewed in Canada on December 10, 2018

Verified Purchase

This product is garbage. Don't purchase it. When I contacted customer service they told me I have to ship them the monitor first then they will look at it. After that they will send me a new one. I told the rep that even though the night vision is broken we still use it to hear if our baby is breathing fine in his crib. The reps response was " then buy a new one and then ship the old one back to us and then we will send you back your money if we deem this product defective" lol is this company serious??? So we shipped it where this monitor belongs... in the garbage... worest amazon purchase I ever made..

Reviewed in Canada on September 10, 2018

Verified Purchase

This product was simply horrible. The image quality was something that I would expect from a child's toy. The daytime images were very pixelated and the dim or nighttime vision was nonexistent - I literally placed the camera 1 foot away from my child and could not see anything. I scored it a one because zero and a negative scale are not available.

Please do not waste your time with this "camera"

Reviewed in Canada on September 14, 2019

Verified Purchase

This is the second purchase I made of this product as I had my kids close together. It is a good quality monitor and has a great picture in the day and at night. Battery life is decent. I find the signal can be wonky though and makes the monitor turn on and off sometimes.

Top reviews from other countries

4.0 out of 5 stars La resolución no es la que esperaba

Reviewed in Mexico on July 30, 2018

Verified Purchase

A una distancia de 3.6 mts se ve borrosa la imagen. Puede mejorar una pila integrada a la cámara para soporte en caso de que no se tenga electricidad en casa.

Fácil de conectar
Software fácil de navegar
El sonido no es muy claro, pero es bueno
Si hay varios aparatos conectados a la red, pierde inmediatamente la señal o las imágenes en el monitor terminan siendo lentas y borrosas
El sensor del sonido bien

La duda que me queda es: Si el sensor del termómetro está calibrado.

3.0 out of 5 stars Great system if you only need ONE camera

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2015

Verified Purchase

I loved this camera system when I only had one camera and my children were small.

When I first purchased this camera system I only had one child, and therefore, only a need for one camera. When I only had one camera and one base I loved this system. I did a lot of searching and this camera had all of the features that I was looking for.

When my little girl was smaller this camera was perfect. However, as she has grown we've run into some issues. When she was little (and in a crib), the camera was fine to sit on the edge of a dresser near her bed. As she has grown out of her crib and into her big girl bed I needed to mount the camera on the wall for safety reasons (to get the cord out of her reach) and so that I can see the whole room since she is able to get up and move around the room. The issue is that when you mount the camera the orientation of the camera doesn't change. Consequently, the receiver shows the feed from her room sideways. I moved the camera all over her room looking for the "right" place to mount it. There is only ONE spot that you can mount the camera from and not have the orientation end up sideways. Unfortunately, I can't see her bed then. So.... I started thinking of what else I could do. I went to the hardware store and had them cut a little shelf that I was going to mount to the wall and set the camera on. I thought I was really smart. Unfortunately, with the camera sitting on a shelf up high, I can't pan the camera down low enough to see her bed. So - fine... I deal with the orientation on the camera being sideways.

THEN - we had a second child. This is where my real complaint comes in to play. I incorrectly assumed that with a second camera added to the system all of the same features would still work. Obviously, that isn't the case. When I just had my daughter, I would leave the camera on "peep" mode. The camera would go to "sleep" after one minute of silence in the room and then pop back on if there was a noise in the room again. What I assumed was that if I added a second camera that the peep mode feature would work the same with two rooms. So, for example, if both rooms were quiet for a minute the receiver would shut off and then if a child made a noise it would pop back on to that room. It doesn't do that.

So here's what has happened. When our newborn was little I would set the camera on peep mode to his camera only. In the middle of the night our three year old woke up with nightmares and I didn't hear her crying for several minutes. This is a problem. The only work around that I've found with this is to select the option where the receiver cycles through the cameras. So, it will show me my daughters room for a few seconds and then switch to my sons room for a few seconds. The receiver never shuts off. This drains the battery faster and is annoying as all get out during the night.

Additionally (I know that many people have commented on this) there is a low humming sound that comes from the receiver. This wouldn't be an issue if I could use the peep mode.... but I get to listen to that sound all night long.

If you only need one camera - go for it! If you need a whole system.... reconsider.

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything I wanted and more!

Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2014

Verified Purchase

I have previously owned 2 older Levana monitors and loved everything about them. However, after many years of daily use causing one's battery to no longer hold a charge unless plugged in, and the other being involved in an unfortunate incident that won't let it charge at all, we were looking to upgrade with #3 on the way. I researched monitors for hours and hours and finally decided to just try the Astra based off of the features and price.

The main feature I absolutely loved about our original Levana monitor was the VOX feature. Basically, you can put both the camera AND audio to sleep when the child is quiet in the middle of the night. Most other brands of monitors let you turn off the video screen but it leaves the audio active with no way to silence it other than to turn it all of the way down. My 2 year old sleeps with music and an air purifier on and I don't want to listen to that all night but if I turn the audio off, I won't be able to hear her if she cries. It seems as though Levana's new monitors no longer have VOX but instead have "PEEP," however it was unclear if they were the same thing. Even an email to customer service, while returned in a timely manner, didn't really answer my question.

If others are also confused by this, let me clarify that they are the exact same thing. With the Astra monitor, when you put the unit into "PEEP" mode, if the child is quiet then the screen is dark and the unit is COMPLETELY silent. You can put it right up to your ear and you will not hear even the faintest amount of static. In fact, one of my tiny complaints is that you have no way to know if the unit is actually turned on by just looking at it since it is silent and no lights are on. Other reviewers have mentioned a bright blue light that stays on in PEEP mode, but Levana must have listened to the customers and changed that since the lighted ring only lights up as a noise indicator when the child actually makes noise.

I will note that there is no way to keep the audio on while having the video off. I know some reviewers have said it's possible, but I've played around with every setting (PEEP on/off, battery save on/off) and every time the screen goes off, whether automatically or manually, the audio also goes off and I see no way to change this. Since I have no desire to hear every little benign noise my child makes while they sleep, this was not an issue for me whatsoever. If I'm awake to need to listen to every little noise then the screen can be on. When in PEEP mode, if baby makes a one-time loud noise such as a cough, the audio/video turns on but will automatically put itself back to sleep after 60 seconds of the child being quiet.

More about the PEEP mode: You are able to change the sensitivity of how loud the child needs to be to trigger the audio and video to turn on. When I'm standing approximately 5' away from the camera, the highest sensitivity will go off with very low talking, while the lowest sensitivity goes off with regular talking. Obviously the amount of noise needed to trigger the camera will vary by how far away you are from it, but across a 9 foot room the camera was always triggered with a cough or a louder noise such as a cry, even at the least sensitive setting.

Other features:

Handheld unit: Very sleek and lightweight. You're able to lock the buttons to keep curious little fingers from picking up the unit and messing with the settings. There is an easy to use kickstand and the screen is a great size. I don't see a need for a screen to be much bigger, especially if it means losing resolution.

Video quality: Excellent given the price of the camera. The day vision doesn't have super vibrant colors but it's very clear and easy to see what is going on in the room with almost no delay. The night vision is good as well even when the camera is placed on the other side of the room. I can easily see whether my daughter is laying down, sitting, or getting out of bed. When the camera is closer, I'm able to see if her chest rising and falling as she sleeps. I added a picture of the same view with the lights on and lights off (room completely dark), though a picture of an electronic screen doesn't quite do the video quality justice. It's much better in person.

Lullabies: They're OK. They're much harder to access on this unit compared to the older monitor which is a good thing…. You don't want to accidentally turn them on when baby has just fallen asleep. There are 3 songs to choose from (Canon in D, Brahms, and Twinkle Twinkle) and it plays about 15 seconds of whichever song you select before repeating. There is no way to change the volume of the lullabies. It's not super quiet, but it wouldn't startle a child either. The quality of the music is decent. Not stellar, but I doubt a child would notice that it could be better.

Invisible LEDs: Truly invisible! There's no bright red infrared light glaring into your child's face. There is a very small green light on the back of the camera to let you know it's on, but it's not bright or obtrusive at all.

Temperature monitor: There isn't one. Do people really feel this is necessary?

Range: I've had zero issues with this monitor within our 1,900 sq ft, 3 story house (including finished basement). I'm able to take it outside to do yard work in our 0.5 acre yard and it only loses its connection at the very end of our property. I'm not sure why the reviews are so mixed on this… it must just be house dependent.

Talk to Baby intercom: After reading the reviews I was prepared for this to be absolutely awful. While not an amazing quality, it's not *that* bad. It sounds how you might hear someone who is talking through a low static walkie talkie. It might not be perfect to soothe a small baby back to sleep, but it works well for my purposes of telling my daughter to get back into bed when I see her sneaking out.

Pan/Tilt/Zoom: It's virtually silent so would not wake or disturb a child at all. It's quite very responsive and the range is excellent too. If you do pan to its end range the screen will blink, but I only noticed that when I was testing just how far it could go. The zoom is simply a digital zoom so not that great, but that's common for monitors at this price point.

Cost: I had been watching the prices of all of Levana's products for months so I knew when the Astra dropped to $102 on Amazon to jump on it. Be patient and keep your eye on the price as it fluctuates heavily, but for just over $100, this is worth every penny and then some. I'd even pay $145 for it.

Other factors: You can add up to 4 cameras to one unit however for a few reasons my husband and I decided to buy 2 separate Astra units (one for the 2 year old, one for the new baby). First of all, I found out that if you have 2+ cameras on one unit, you can only pick one camera to put into PEEP mode while the other camera(s) would need to be manually checked on. So basically, you have to guess which child is going to be the one to wake up since the monitor isn't set to pick up on anything in the other child's room. I did confirm this with a customer service rep and believe it is how all of their multi-camera units operate. This was a huge issue for me personally since the 2 year often wakes us to go potty so we need to hear her as well as the baby. In addition, we typically share nighttime duties where my husband tends to the 2 year old while I tend to the new baby, so it was much more convenient to have two separate monitors to put on our respective night stands. Also, if the handheld unit should break, you are now out a monitor for all cameras. The price of an additional camera wasn't much less than a whole new set so it just worked better for us to buy two, especially at $100 each. I do like the idea of potentially adding a camera in our basement play room at some point since that wouldn't need to be monitored at night.

All in all, this is an excellent monitor with great features for the price as long as you're not the type of parent who wants to hear their child's every movement in the middle of the night. In fact, you'll definitely get spoiled by sleeping in a quiet room and not listening to idle static all night long!

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything I wanted and more!
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2014

I have previously owned 2 older Levana monitors and loved everything about them. However, after many years of daily use causing one's battery to no longer hold a charge unless plugged in, and the other being involved in an unfortunate incident that won't let it charge at all, we were looking to upgrade with #3 on the way. I researched monitors for hours and hours and finally decided to just try the Astra based off of the features and price.

The main feature I absolutely loved about our original Levana monitor was the VOX feature. Basically, you can put both the camera AND audio to sleep when the child is quiet in the middle of the night. Most other brands of monitors let you turn off the video screen but it leaves the audio active with no way to silence it other than to turn it all of the way down. My 2 year old sleeps with music and an air purifier on and I don't want to listen to that all night but if I turn the audio off, I won't be able to hear her if she cries. It seems as though Levana's new monitors no longer have VOX but instead have "PEEP," however it was unclear if they were the same thing. Even an email to customer service, while returned in a timely manner, didn't really answer my question.

If others are also confused by this, let me clarify that they are the exact same thing. With the Astra monitor, when you put the unit into "PEEP" mode, if the child is quiet then the screen is dark and the unit is COMPLETELY silent. You can put it right up to your ear and you will not hear even the faintest amount of static. In fact, one of my tiny complaints is that you have no way to know if the unit is actually turned on by just looking at it since it is silent and no lights are on. Other reviewers have mentioned a bright blue light that stays on in PEEP mode, but Levana must have listened to the customers and changed that since the lighted ring only lights up as a noise indicator when the child actually makes noise.

I will note that there is no way to keep the audio on while having the video off. I know some reviewers have said it's possible, but I've played around with every setting (PEEP on/off, battery save on/off) and every time the screen goes off, whether automatically or manually, the audio also goes off and I see no way to change this. Since I have no desire to hear every little benign noise my child makes while they sleep, this was not an issue for me whatsoever. If I'm awake to need to listen to every little noise then the screen can be on. When in PEEP mode, if baby makes a one-time loud noise such as a cough, the audio/video turns on but will automatically put itself back to sleep after 60 seconds of the child being quiet.

More about the PEEP mode: You are able to change the sensitivity of how loud the child needs to be to trigger the audio and video to turn on. When I'm standing approximately 5' away from the camera, the highest sensitivity will go off with very low talking, while the lowest sensitivity goes off with regular talking. Obviously the amount of noise needed to trigger the camera will vary by how far away you are from it, but across a 9 foot room the camera was always triggered with a cough or a louder noise such as a cry, even at the least sensitive setting.

Other features:

Handheld unit: Very sleek and lightweight. You're able to lock the buttons to keep curious little fingers from picking up the unit and messing with the settings. There is an easy to use kickstand and the screen is a great size. I don't see a need for a screen to be much bigger, especially if it means losing resolution.

Video quality: Excellent given the price of the camera. The day vision doesn't have super vibrant colors but it's very clear and easy to see what is going on in the room with almost no delay. The night vision is good as well even when the camera is placed on the other side of the room. I can easily see whether my daughter is laying down, sitting, or getting out of bed. When the camera is closer, I'm able to see if her chest rising and falling as she sleeps. I added a picture of the same view with the lights on and lights off (room completely dark), though a picture of an electronic screen doesn't quite do the video quality justice. It's much better in person.

Lullabies: They're OK. They're much harder to access on this unit compared to the older monitor which is a good thing…. You don't want to accidentally turn them on when baby has just fallen asleep. There are 3 songs to choose from (Canon in D, Brahms, and Twinkle Twinkle) and it plays about 15 seconds of whichever song you select before repeating. There is no way to change the volume of the lullabies. It's not super quiet, but it wouldn't startle a child either. The quality of the music is decent. Not stellar, but I doubt a child would notice that it could be better.

Invisible LEDs: Truly invisible! There's no bright red infrared light glaring into your child's face. There is a very small green light on the back of the camera to let you know it's on, but it's not bright or obtrusive at all.

Temperature monitor: There isn't one. Do people really feel this is necessary?

Range: I've had zero issues with this monitor within our 1,900 sq ft, 3 story house (including finished basement). I'm able to take it outside to do yard work in our 0.5 acre yard and it only loses its connection at the very end of our property. I'm not sure why the reviews are so mixed on this… it must just be house dependent.

Talk to Baby intercom: After reading the reviews I was prepared for this to be absolutely awful. While not an amazing quality, it's not *that* bad. It sounds how you might hear someone who is talking through a low static walkie talkie. It might not be perfect to soothe a small baby back to sleep, but it works well for my purposes of telling my daughter to get back into bed when I see her sneaking out.

Pan/Tilt/Zoom: It's virtually silent so would not wake or disturb a child at all. It's quite very responsive and the range is excellent too. If you do pan to its end range the screen will blink, but I only noticed that when I was testing just how far it could go. The zoom is simply a digital zoom so not that great, but that's common for monitors at this price point.

Cost: I had been watching the prices of all of Levana's products for months so I knew when the Astra dropped to $102 on Amazon to jump on it. Be patient and keep your eye on the price as it fluctuates heavily, but for just over $100, this is worth every penny and then some. I'd even pay $145 for it.

Other factors: You can add up to 4 cameras to one unit however for a few reasons my husband and I decided to buy 2 separate Astra units (one for the 2 year old, one for the new baby). First of all, I found out that if you have 2+ cameras on one unit, you can only pick one camera to put into PEEP mode while the other camera(s) would need to be manually checked on. So basically, you have to guess which child is going to be the one to wake up since the monitor isn't set to pick up on anything in the other child's room. I did confirm this with a customer service rep and believe it is how all of their multi-camera units operate. This was a huge issue for me personally since the 2 year often wakes us to go potty so we need to hear her as well as the baby. In addition, we typically share nighttime duties where my husband tends to the 2 year old while I tend to the new baby, so it was much more convenient to have two separate monitors to put on our respective night stands. Also, if the handheld unit should break, you are now out a monitor for all cameras. The price of an additional camera wasn't much less than a whole new set so it just worked better for us to buy two, especially at $100 each. I do like the idea of potentially adding a camera in our basement play room at some point since that wouldn't need to be monitored at night.

All in all, this is an excellent monitor with great features for the price as long as you're not the type of parent who wants to hear their child's every movement in the middle of the night. In fact, you'll definitely get spoiled by sleeping in a quiet room and not listening to idle static all night long!

Images in this review

2.0 out of 5 stars (Used to be) the Best Monitor of 4 we tried

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2016

Verified Purchase

Seriously good monitor! I haven't seen the Levana brand name many places but I have tried other well know brands and this monitor has been so much better than the others. The battery life is AMAZING and the screen stays on the whole time (with the option to turn it off and it will automatically turn back on when your child makes a sound - very handy feature when YOU are trying to sleep. Picture quality is good and the design of the monitor is very intuitive and easy to use and adjust. If you are considering the Motorola along with this one - Please trust that the Motorola will disappoint.

Update: The one problem we have had with our 2 receivers - both antenna broke easily right at the pivot/hinge where it attaches and now just dangle from the monitor. The graininess that others have mentioned seems to be a defect in their 2nd generation of this product. I can agree that the monitor has a bit of "noise" in the image but compared to the overall quality of other monitors this is a minor issue.

Update 2: Battery seems to be failing. Screen indicates only 2 bars of 4 after full 12 hour charge. Now the monitor is useless as you have only 30 minutes of time before battery beep. Too bad I really thought it was great - aside from the weak antenna mount.

1.0 out of 5 stars this is not the droid you are looking for

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

it has some really annoying features:

1. no instructions, just a bunch of icons. comes with wall mount screws but not a single mention of them in the manual.
2. it plays a lullaby, but only like the first half of it. super annoyingly cuts off right in the middle of a verse
3. it can't look downwards very far, so for us it can't see the entire crib
4. at certain times of day, or if there is a dim lamp on in the room, the picture is completely grey, at all contrast settings, making the video feed totally useless
5. even at the lowest volume setting it has a loud staticky feedback on the receiver

Levana Astra Baby Monitor How to Adjust Peep Mode

Source: https://www.amazon.ca/Levana-AstraTM-Digital-Intercom-32006/dp/B00AAJNHA6

Share this post