Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

No babies in the house, but I bought this for my parents to use as an intercom monitoring system. My parents have a large, ranch style house and my father is recently home from a lengthy hospital and rehab facility stay. I live out of state and cannot be here with my parents full time. The purpose of this monitor was so we could leave the "baby" unit in their bedroom/bathroom, one "parent" unit out in the living areas, and the other parent unit in the kitchen. This way my mom can go about her day without having to run back and forth checking on my dad. We were initially loaned a unit from a friend which didn't have the talk back capability. Although this helped my mom keep tabs on my dad, if she heard something, she couldn't respond without physically running into their bedroom. The "talk back" capability of this unit is what makes this so very handy. If my mom hears my dad moving around, she doesn't have to run into the bedroom to check on him - - - she can just use the monitor to ask "do you need anything?". Since the "baby" unit is the one in their bedroom, he doesn't have to physically have the baby unit in hand - - - he just needs to speak and say he's okay, or ask for help getting dressed. Both parent units are press-to-talk (not open communication), which means they always receive sounds transmitted from the baby unit, but in order to talk to the baby, you have to press-to-talk. Very helpful because if mom is watching tv, listening to music, chatting on the phone etc, there is no worry that any of those sounds in the living areas are being broadcast to the baby unit in their bedroom. The baby base unit reception is incredibly strong. We placed it between their bedroom and their attached master bathroom. It picks up sounds from both bedroom and bathroom amazingly (and sometimes embarrassingly) well. Cannot vouch for the battery life of the parent units, but they easily last several hours, which has been more than sufficient for my mom's use. She takes it with her when she's working out in their garden, and doesn't worry about running in every so often to check on my dad. And, because little things also mean a lot, bonus stars because these units are discreet and don't visually scream out that they're baby monitors. On top of his medical issues, my dad's pride has also taken a hit with his recent dependency needs. If these screamed out that they were for babies, that would be another smack to his pride. We've been calling them portable intercoms, and thus, no dignity issues. The baby unit is about the size of a large lemon, and the parent units are about the size of a small avocado. All of them easily just sit on a counter or table without calling attention to themselves. Super helpful, extremely clear strong transmission. Highly recommended for any household - - -babies and adults alike.