Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My Nucleus story, aka "Why I'll be a fan of this startup for life": We purchased a Nucleus 3-pack after my mom fell and suffered a skull fracture and brain injury. She lives in Massachusetts and my siblings and I are spread throughout the country, and while we've been able to make some trips to see them, it's impossible to be there for her full recovery. Mom's pretty tech-savvy for a 78-year-old, addicted to Facebook and accustomed to Facetiming her kids and grandkids often several times a day. Her 89-year-old husband Ray is another story: the iPad intimidates him and he often forgets to even hang up the cordless phone. While mom was in the hospital Ray couldn't go visit her because he's so susceptible to infection. We often had difficulty connecting with him because he'd forget to hang up the phone and the battery would die. To help the family stay connected my husband and I purchased the Nucleus. It has transformed the way we've been able to communicate at this difficult time and into the future. At the push of a button on our Nucleus or its mobile app, the Nucleus in mom and Ray's house turns on and we can see and speak with him and make sure he's okay (priceless when the phone is dead and we're thousands of miles away, worried about his safety). The "always on" setting is incredibly handy for this purpose. With the mobile app--also priceless--mom can also connect with him from the hospital or rehab, which has given them both tremendous peace of mind and has brought their stress levels down considerably. We also sent one to my husband's parents in PA and while they were accustomed to FaceTiming us, they really appreciate the ease and convenience of having a dedicated terminal for this purpose. Gone are the days where they have to root around or race up or down stairs looking for the iPad when they hear FaceTime ringing. The quality of video on recent calls has easily been on par with Facetime, though the wide viewing angle makes it easier to fit more people in the framing. We had one instance early on where the video and audio weren't in sync, with video hanging up occasionally, but it hasn't happened since. On the contrary, twice in the past 24 hours we've been unable to connect via FaceTime due to bandwidth or other issues but able to connect using Nucleus. The product is new and they're still working out some kinks (we've had to reboot a few times), but customer service has been extraordinary. How extraordinary? After we set up our account the head of their product team emailed me and asked for feedback on our experience. There was a real person at the other end of that email, and when I described how we were using Nucleus to stay in touch with mom and Ray after her fall, he offered best wishes for her recovery and then asked for her address,saying the team at Nucleus wanted to send her something. The next day a bouquet of flowers arrived from the Nucleus team wishing her a speedy recovery. Have you ever seen such customer service? How could you not love--and root for--this startup? Nucleus is a new product, and there's a small but clearly passionate and hardworking team behind it. Their tech support team was on top of any issues we've run into, and the product has been critical in keeping our family connected during this difficult time. With its wide-angle camera and "always on" feature I've also loved using it to spy on my dog during the day. It'd make a great baby monitor too. And with the mobile app, all my siblings can connect without investing in their own unit (though I suspect they'll be buying one soon as well). Whether you have tech-challenged older people in your life living a thousands of miles (or even a block) away or just want to keep an eye on kids playing in the next room, we highly recommend it!