Miku Pro Review

Miku's singular focus on baby monitoring using a camera and algorithm to monitor a baby's breathing while providing video and sound with features parents want. Miku is comprised of parents and engineers who worked together to create something they hope creates a "safer world for babies."

Performance Comparison

Range

As a WiFi-connected monitor, the Miku should have connectivity anywhere, but the box makes claims that by using 2.4 Ghz it will have increased range but slower speeds. If your home is larger or has more than 4-5 walls between the nursery and parent device, you might need a WiFi monitor as a dedicated option may not work.

Audio / Visual

For a camera this expensive you like have expectations of excellent sound and video. Along with the previous model, this Miku had trouble keeping up wit the competition in either metric.

While none of the video monitors offered impressive sound, the Miku was disappointing compared to much of the competition, with a score just below the average. The vocals are relatively crisp, with occasional faint echo and metallic sounds. The sound seems to go in and out like the Miku is being moved in the room when it is stationary. There is quiet fuzz most of the time. When we tested with the white noise machine in the nursery, you can't hear it on the parent device, which is nice if that kind of sound might keep you awake.

The daytime images for the Pro have a fairly decent crispness and clarity with a broad range of colors. However, the video is very bright with little contrast, and the shadows and main visuals are brighter than in real life. While it has a huge field of view, the image isn't as true to life as we expected or as the other WiFi competition.

The night video is even less impressive than the day videos. Overall, it is a blown-out image with a major hot spot that prevents clarity of images in the center of the field of view. It is so bright in the middle that seeing details n our baby was difficult. Outside of the bright bubble, it was better, but you'd have to do some trial and error finagling to put the camera off center to see your little one's face. Our camera disconnected during testing for night images, creating frustration in monitoring that made us feel uncomfortable that the baby is really being monitored.

Ease of Use

With all these bells and whistles, the menu interface and setup are a little more convoluted than a straightforward monitor. This Miku is harder to use than its predecessor, and given the price tag, this feels like an extra bummer to us.

The packaging and marketing for this monitor are slick, and you do feel like you've bought something special that is worth the money. If they had invested as much in their app as their packaging, it would have been a better move as it is barebones and requires a little tooling around to navigate comfortably. You can monitor while on a call, which is nice. The user interface includes tabs for general settings, setup, device settings, shared users, notifications, monitor, analytics, Care+ (a preview page), activity, and settings (whew). If the camera is unplugged (or if the Wifi goes down), it sends an email update to notify you that it went offline. This feels really unhelpful as you aren't checking your email in the middle of the night.

During testing, the Miku app updated itself; it took over and disrupted monitoring and our ability to use it at all. This update took over 13 minutes and prevented any monitoring at a less-than-ideal time. Two hours later, it did another update! Also, using the app for the first time in each monitoring session was a hassle in our tests, and connectivity is not ensured. We experienced dropped signals and waiting for the app to load (after downloading and setup). The monitor lost points for ease of use because the updates are not controllable, last too long for useful monitoring, and each time we turned on the app to monitor, we had connectivity issues. As a sleepy parent who just wants to go to bed, it can be hugely frustrating to be messing with an app and camera that just won't work properly.

Battery Life

The Miku relies on a smart device of your own to pair for monitoring. We recommend using a device that is not your primary phone so you don't have problems with competing calls and apps and potential battery draining that can happen with constant monitoring. The Miku scores well for battery life, but only based on the assumption that you will use a phone or tablet that is not your primary phone, and it will be used only for monitoring to limit battery use.

Features

The Miku Pro is full of features, and it is hard to say they could cram any other features in it. If you want a baby-centric monitor and think all of this information is useful, then the Miku Pro has much to offer.

• 2-way talk to baby
• Temperature/humidity sensor
• Track breathing/Movement detection
• Sound activation
• Zoom
• Movement detection that indicates breathing
• Sleep reports
• Music and "sleep sounds"
• Installation kit

Electromagnetic Field (EMF) Levels

The Miku has lower EMF readings than most of the competition, with an average reading of 0.24 V/m when tested 6ft from the camera. Given that the high for the group is closer to 1.8, this is good in comparison.

Security/Privacy Concerns

Using a WiFi camera connected to the internet has more opportunities and potential for hacking than a dedicated monitor. While we did not find any information on hacking concerning the Miku, there are other cases of hacking with other WiFI cameras, and parents need to make a decision based on their personal comfort level with privacy and security. Miku provides slightly more transparency on security than much of the competition. On the Miku website, they say:

Should You Buy the Miku Pro?

We can see the appeal of this one-and-done monitor that offers everything from sound and video to movement monitoring of infants. And while it does some things well, it fails at other things, like the troubling app that underwent multiple updates at random times, disrupting monitoring. So should you buy it? It is not one we'd recommend, but it is better than other monitors that try to do it all. However, if you can afford this monitor, we think you may be better off purchasing a video monitor that is better rated and a separate wearable movement monitor if you feel you need one, which is likely to save you some money and frustration.

What Other Video Monitor Should You Consider?

We think choosing a great WiFi video monitor is fairly straightforward if you aren't looking for a jack-of-all-trades option. The Google Nest Cam 2nd Gen and the Wyze Cam V3 are both simple cameras that can get the job done for less money and have a simpler interface because they lack all the bells and whistles. If you think you simply must have all the bells, the Nanit Pro is a better baby-centric option that does it all and scored higher in our tests, making it the one-and-done we'd choose over the Miku Pro.

Manufacturer Video