Owlet Dream Sight Baby Monitor Review

About the Owlet Dream Sight

• Price: $99.99 for the Dream Sight; $379 for the Dream Duo
• Video: 2K HD with night vision
• Other features: Temperature and humidity readings, two-way talk, 256-bit encryption, and white noise (with an Owlet 360 subscription)
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi only, with in-app monitoring
• Compatible with: Dream Sock, Owlet ecosystem, Dream app
• Design: Sleek and low-profile, with limited mobility and no remote movement

The Dream Sight is a smart video baby monitor from Owlet, the company famous for its wearable baby vitals monitor, the Dream Sock.

The Owlet Dream Sight camera has a 130-degree wide-angle lens with 2K HD resolution and night vision, offering a clear picture for both naptime and overnight use. It also includes temperature and humidity readings, two-way talk, and a white noise generator for Owlet 360 subscribers.

The design is sleek, low-profile, and aesthetically pleasing. It's made for both tabletop and wall-mount use, with mounting hardware and ASTM-certified cable guards included in the box. Owlet also sells a compatible floor stand for added flexibility around the crib or bed.

The Dream Sight is a fully Wi-Fi–based monitoring system, for better or worse. It has no dedicated monitor—all monitoring happens through the Owlet Dream app on your phone or tablet.

Owlet offers a subscription service called Owlet 360 that unlocks additional features and analytics across its products. A subscription costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. If you use the Dream Sock, this service is Apple Health for your baby and lots of fun for data lovers.

Beyond the white noise generator, the Dream Sight gains no additional features with an Owlet 360 subscription. However, the company bills the Dream Sight as Future Ready, implying firmware and app updates are always in the works.

Note: For testing, Owlet sent the Dream Duo 3, which includes both the Dream Sight camera and the Dream Sock. This review focuses on the Dream Sight camera but also includes a handful of references to the Dream Sock and to how the two products work together within the Dream app.

How we tested

My wife and I have four rambunctious boys, ranging from seven months to six years old. When it comes to keeping an eye on our kids, we'll take all the help we can get.

A baby monitor is code for peace of mind. Being able to check in on our little ones while we get on with our daily tasks is vital.

I've been on the hunt for the best baby monitor for a long time and have test-driven many brands, including Owlet's other products. A quality baby monitor should sit at the perfect intersection of functionality, features, and value. Above all, it needs to do the simple things well without much fuss—the last thing we need is more fuss around here.

When the baby is screaming, you need things to just work.

My wife, Jessa, is a stay-at-home mother and the engine that keeps our house running. She graciously helped me put the Owlet Dream Sight through its paces over many nights and naps, offering invaluable insight into how well this monitor fit her busy daily life and brought her that peace of mind all parents are after.

Together, we tested the Owlet Dream Sight around the crib of our 7-month-old son—a sleep battleground that is the stuff of song and legend in these parts.

I know the ropes. I have my own scars, so to speak. I know what it's like to just want to keep the baby safe and somehow snag a few hours of peaceful sleep for yourself.

What we like

Design & video quality

Right out of the box, the Dream Sight looks great. The design is sleek and low-profile. It doesn't scream baby monitor and could be mistaken for an ordinary indoor camera.

The camera is fairly lightweight and easy to mount or place in many positions. It rotates on its base and pivots slightly forward, back, and side to side, giving it some extra flexibility, though I'll talk about my issues with that flexibility shortly.

As a camera, the Dream Sight punches above its weight. When the Wi-Fi connection is strong, the 2K HD picture is as clear as you can hope for from a baby monitor. As my wife put it when we first connected it: "Wow. You can really see how messy it is in here."

Such is life with four kiddos.

The camera has no hardware zoom, but the high resolution makes in-app pinch-to-zoom useful. Even in a pitch-dark room, the picture was surprisingly clear. That clarity adds an extra layer of peace of mind when you're checking in on your little one, and it was by far the most impressive aspect of the Dream Sight.

The app is simple and useful

There's no standalone monitor with the Dream Sight camera, so the user experience is only as good as the app. Fortunately, Owlet's free Dream app is easy to use, customizable, and informative.

The app offers plenty of customization options to fit your needs, including sound-detection thresholds, temperature/humidity alert thresholds, and automatic video recording when it detects sound or motion. We use white noise machines in the house, so fine-tuning the sound-detection thresholds was crucial for getting the most accurate push notifications.

The app sends push notifications for motion, sound, crying, or any combination you prefer. If you're as distrustful of push notifications as I am, you can also turn on the background audio feature, which keeps your phone in audio-monitoring mode after you leave the Dream app and lets you use your phone normally. However, this feature was less than perfect; more on that shortly.

The app sings when paired with the Dream Sock. It can become slightly addictive to check in on your sleeping baby and scan the real-time analytics, including heart rate, oxygen levels, and current sleep cycle.

An Owlet 360 subscription unlocks even more fun analytics and patterns to dive into, but keep in mind that they're features for the Dream Sock, not the Dream Sight. The only notable Owlet 360 feature for the Dream Sight is the white noise generator.

Still, without a subscription, the Dream app is easy to use, does everything you need it to with little fuss, and offers some respectable customization options.

Owlet takes encryption seriously

One of the drawbacks to a Wi-Fi–only monitoring system is potential vulnerability to hackers. While there's no surefire way to keep all peeping eyes out of any network, Owlet says the Dream Sight uses 256-bit encryption, and it earned the first SGS Cybersecurity Mark, which verifies that it underwent third-party cybersecurity testing and met industry standards.

Again, if peace of mind is the name of the game, that added level of cybersecurity goes a long way for this parent.

What we don't like

No dedicated monitor

Maybe it's all about what you're used to, but I found having to use my phone to check on the baby more of an inconvenience than a luxury.

The benefit of a dedicated baby monitor is that I'm not tied to it. I can turn it on, listen out, and continue with my daily life and tasks while the baby sleeps. But using my phone and push notifications added a level of stress that I haven't experienced with more traditional monitors. If you're trying to spend less time on your phone these days, it's far from ideal.

Part of the issue is that the push notifications and background audio functions didn't always, well, function. Several times, the background audio monitoring simply stopped for no reason and wouldn't restart until I reopened the app. Often, I didn't even realize it until I went to use my phone; then I would frantically open the app and make sure everything was all right in the room.

It became a cortisol-conducive experience.

The push notifications usually worked as advertised, but since I work from home, I often keep my phone in focus mode. Of course, that blocked the Owlet notifications from coming through until I unblocked them. That's not a bug or a malfunction, but it is something to be aware of and not something you have to think about with a dedicated monitor.

My wife and I had to use the same login credentials to view the monitor, and only four people can log in to the same account. That could make babysitting situations trickier than they need to be.

Grandma might not want to download an app just to check in on the baby.

Limited flexibility

The Dream Sight has no remote pan-and-tilt control, which is an essential feature for a baby monitor in my book. While the wide-angle lens and tiltable design can get you by in most situations, this camera stays right where you (or a helpful toddler) last put it.

Maybe this doesn't sound like that big of a deal. But if you've ever wrestled a screaming baby to sleep and tiptoed out of the room only to discover your camera is pointing straight at the wall, you know this is a serious drawback.

The only way to move the camera mid-nap is to ninja-crawl up to it and turn it the old-fashioned way. And frankly, I'm getting too old for that.

As mentioned above, Owlet does sell a floor stand for more flexibility in tricky mounting areas, but it costs a whopping $89.99 and offers no remote access or smart functionality.

Wi-Fi drawbacks

While a Wi-Fi–centered system adds range flexibility, the baby monitor is only as reliable as your internet service. If your Wi-Fi drops out, you can't check in on your little one.

Personally, I've always preferred closed-system, non-Wi-Fi monitor solutions over Wi-Fi–based models. I'm not going to punish the Dream Sight for not being what I would prefer, but my experience with this monitor confirmed my own biases.

The Dream Sight has no backup for Wi-Fi dropouts, and its onboard Bluetooth connectivity is only for pairing. For what it's worth, the Dream Sock still sends vital signs to its base via Bluetooth if the Wi-Fi goes out, but that's beyond the scope of this review.

If you're a traveler, consider the potential Wi-Fi drawbacks, too. I tested the Dream Sight at home with little to no Wi-Fi interruption. However, I read stories from other users online who couldn't get the Dream Sight to connect to hotel Wi-Fi networks that required verification—which is most hotels.

That could quickly turn the Owlet Dream into a nightmare.

Missing features

For a smart monitor, there's not much "smart" happening here. For the most part, the Dream Sight is just a high-quality indoor camera that pairs with the Owlet app. Temperature and humidity readings are welcome, but they're fairly commonplace in the baby monitor market these days.

The closest thing to a "smart" feature is the white noise generator, but it requires a paid subscription, and most other baby monitors already offer white noise.

Another missed opportunity is multi-camera viewing. You can add multiple cameras, but I couldn't find a split-screen option, so you'd have to manually switch between feeds in the app if you have more than one child to keep tabs on.

None of these missing features are dealbreakers, but at roughly $100 for the camera alone, without an external monitor, I'd expect a few more bells and whistles beyond a sharp camera and a solid app.

Warranty

The Owlet Dream Sight comes with a one-year product warranty and a 30-night satisfaction guarantee.

Should you buy the Owlet Dream Sight?

Maybe, if you pair it with the Dream Sock and love data

The Dream Sight is a standout indoor camera, but an average video baby monitor.

If you're after a high-quality camera with a user-friendly app, the Owlet Dream Sight (available at Amazon for $99.99) may be exactly what you're looking for. However, if you're searching for the best all-around video baby monitor, the Dream Sight leaves a lot to be desired for the price.

Owlet's top selling point is the Dream Sock and the bevy of data it offers, especially if your little one has any health concerns that need closer monitoring. As an add-on, the Dream Sight is a great companion to the Dream Sock and can simplify and consolidate your monitoring situation.

On its own, the Owlet Dream Sight lacks the features and flexibility to compete with other baby monitors on the market.