When it comes to baby monitors, you have two camps: products that use the internet and your existing devices for monitoring video (like smartphones, tablets, or even your TV), and those that skip the internet for a direct wireless connection between the camera and an included monitor. The $159.99 Papalook BM1 Video Baby Monitor is solidly in the latter camp. (Very few, like the Motorola ConnectView65 Plus, do both.) Eschewing the internet isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're not good with tech, and the Papalook BM1 has a solid build, excellent video quality, and is super simple to set up. If you want smart features or remote monitoring, you'll need to look elsewhere and be prepared to spend more. But if you want a low-tech monitor that's easy to understand and use, the BM1 is worth checking out.

Cute and Basic

Like other direct-connection monitors, the Papalook BM1 consists of two items. First is the 4.88-inch tall, 2.76-inch-wide pan/tilt camera that looks like a little mouse or bear, complete with blue ears and a temperature-sensing tail. The second is the portable handheld monitor. It measures 3.75 by 6.25 by 0.62 (HWD), with a 5-inch, 1080p (1,920 by 1,080 pixels) color screen that receives the wireless signal directly from the camera.

The Papalook camera has only one lens. That's unlike the similar Infant Optics DXR-8 Pro, which can accommodate a separately purchased 2x optical zoom lens to improve its 720p video. But with the high-quality video of the Papalook BM1, you don't need a zoom lens. The digital zoom activates with the touch of a button on the monitor and is perfectly adequate for a quick look at your baby.

The monitor has a 3,600mAh battery that the manufacturer claims will last through 15 hours of standby time, or 10 hours of active time, though in our tests, it ran down after only seven hours of active time. You navigate functions through buttons and a D-pad on the right side. The D-pad is used to pan (a full 355 degrees, so if it's in the center of the room, you'll be able to see everything) and tilt (160 degrees up and down) the camera. That's a lot more coverage than the DXR-8 Pro's 135-degree pan and 95-degree tilt. The D-pad is also used for navigation around menus and to quickly adjust display brightness and volume. A kickstand and a short antenna on top can be adjusted as needed.

The monitor supports up to four BM1 cameras, but there doesn't appear to be a way to buy the camera individually from either Amazon or Papalook (nor under that company's real name, which appears to be Shenzhen Aoni Electronic Co. Ltd.).

Inside the box are two identical charging blocks, but the cables are specific to each device: The 3.25-feet USB-C cable is for the monitor, and the 2-meter micro USB cable powers the camera. It doesn't come with any mounting hardware, though it has a tripod-threaded hole in the bottom. A separate wall mounting bracket sells for $9.99.

As mentioned, like the DXR-8 Pro, the Papalook BM1 doesn't use the internet. There is a closed system for the camera that sends a signal directly to the monitor, with almost no lag time. The wireless connection uses the 2.4GHz frequency range, so it could be subject to interference from other devices, including your microwave oven and most Wi-Fi products. It's rated for a range of 900 feet.

You can record video, but only if you insert a memory card (not included) into the monitor. All the documentation says to use a "Class 4 TF card up to 256GB." If you've never heard of a TF (TransFlash) card, you're not alone. That's an obsolete term coined by SanDisk years ago for what the rest of us now call a microSD card.

The playback interface on the monitor is poor, allowing only a search by date and by camera; it expects you to find clips based on a time stamp, then fast forward or reverse by tapping buttons (it isn't a touch screen). Trying to fast forward on incredibly large video clips caused the playback to reset a couple of times, making it more of a hassle than it was worth. The recording feature is only effective if you take the microSD to your PC for viewing clips. Think of it like the memory card in a car dash cam: It's only accessed for the most amazing or egregious events caught by the camera. If you're mainly looking to get video clips, you're better off with a cloud-based system like the one for the Nanit Pro that includes motion and audio sensing (with a subscription).

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Testing the View

Installing the camera involves nothing more than plugging it in and selecting a spot for it. Power up the monitor with a five-second push on the power button, and it finds the signal instantaneously. (There is a reset button on the camera that can help if you don't get a lock.)

Placed on a shelf in my son's room, it offered an instant view of everything. Parents with a crib are probably going to want the extra bracket to get a downward wall-mounted view.

While there are warnings in the small manual about not dropping the device, both the camera and the monitor are solidly built. They feel like they could withstand some abuse, unlike the chintzy feel of the portable view screens on some other baby monitors, including the DXR-8.

I was able to pan and tilt with ease using the D-pad, taking in corners and walls I'd never think (or need) to look at. The 2x digital zoom in and out is instantaneous with the center button on the D-pad.

The daylight view on the monitor is crisp. This is no OLED smartphone screen, but it doesn't really need to be. The night vision kicks on instantly, thanks to the "sensillum opticum" light sensor on the camera. Six infrared lights make the night vision crisp enough to see everything. The two-way audio that let me talk to the room via a microphone on the monitor, then listen for a response from the camera, worked fine; both have big indicator icons on the screen.

A must for any baby-watching system is background audio that runs even if you turn off the monitor's screen. The Papalook has it, but you do need to reactivate the screen to change the volume, which is very faint when the screen is off. I couldn't find a way to mute it completely even while streaming the video. This means bringing the monitor into the room with the camera can start an audio feedback loop, which you can only stop by deactivating the screen.

The system has some built-in alarms. One is for temperature. It only provides warnings below 64 degrees and above 88 degrees Fahrenheit, and you can't adjust the range, though you can set Fahrenheit vs. Celsius and turn the alarm off if you desire. The sound alarm lets you set a low, medium, or high sensitivity for noises that can activate a slow-beeping alarm. High sensitivity will detect normal speech; low sensitivity will only warn at the level of a "shouting cry." You can also set feeding interval warnings, which can be important for newborns; intervals go from 2.5 hours up to 5.5 hours. Warning: The beep for the alarm is pretty shrill. You won't want it playing in the room with a sleeping kid.

As is common for baby monitors now, the Papalook BM1 has music for soothing your child. It consists of just eight tunes that sound like they're played on bells, including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and, uh, Jingle Bells. You can play them on a loop if you want. In our tests, some of them cut off abruptly. The better option is to put a smart speaker in the room to handle all white noise and music requests.

A Simple Alternative to Smart Monitors

Baby monitors like the Papalook BM1 have their place for simple viewing and nighttime monitoring. With the exception of the medicore video recording option, the BM1 brings more to the table than similar devices like the DXR-8 Pro. The video signal is clear, the night vision and digital zoom are effective, the field of view is excellent, and it's convenient to have extras like temperature sensors, two-way audio, and lullabies on a loop. That said, I'll always recommend a smart monitor like the $300 Nanit Pro first, especially for new parents. The extra expense is worth the peace of mind brought by checking for a lot more than some crying—the Nanit Pro also tracks breathing, growth, sleep, and more. But using the Nanit Pro isn't nearly as simple as using the Papalook BM1, and not everyone wants or needs a smart monitor. If that describes you, the BM1 is a solid, simple alternative.