Owlet Smart Sock 2 Baby Monitor

Every time a new baby product is introduced it impacts the world of parenting in a unique way. In 1975 the car seat was introduced and it completely changed the way we view safety for infants. The makers of Owlet want their product to be just as impactful as the car seat has been since it’s an introduction. Kurt Workman is one of the founders of the Owlet Smart Sock Baby Monitor. His wife nearly died as an infant due to a heart condition, she was saved by her mother’s intuition. When Kurt’s wife became pregnant, he knew he didn’t want to rely on intuition alone, especially with the potential of a hereditary heart condition lingering over their child. By using the technology we already possess and creating a way to bring that technology into the home Kurt has dedicated his time to provide a way for parents to know their children are ok based on actual science and not just intuition. In 2013 Kurt and his cofounder began to build the smart sock by 2015 the first product was in the market and very quickly Owlet won three awards for the best baby monitor in 2018.

The Owlet Smart Sock 2 Baby Monitor has an incredibly unique and innovative design that is engineered to provide simple and understandable information about your child while they sleep.
The sock design has some significant improvements since the first generation of the product. The sock not only wraps around the baby’s heel but it has extra security by wrapping over the foot and velcroing together where the strap first starts. This design makes it significantly more difficult for a child to kick or pull it off during the night which means no false alarms will go off and cause unnecessary anxiety. The sock comes in Owlet’s signature mint color which is gender neutral. At this time the package only includes the mint color socks and you would have to purchase different colors or designs separately.
The brain of the Smart Sock is a white sensor that goes inside the sock. Each sock has 2 clear windows that allow the red pulses to be sent into your child's foot and read the heart rate and blood oxygen level.
The base station is the main device that gets the information from the sensor in the sock and emits a signal from that actual station but also sends the reading to your smartphone via the free app. The top of the base has Owlet’s sweet owl logo in white and the bottom is the signature mint color. On the side, there are two micro USB input plugs that allow for the base station to be plugged in and charging and the other allows you to charge the actual Smart Sock. On the bottom of the base, there are two small light indicators to tell you if wifi and the sock are connected to the base. There is also a transparent ring around the top of the base station. That ring is where the colored lights are emitted to tell you what is going on with your baby and with the socks. The green light means everything is connected and your baby’s heart rate and blood oxygen levels are normal. The white light means that the sock sensor is connected and charging. If the base loses connection to wifi that light will turn blue and chime to the song Hush Little Baby. If the sock cannot get an accurate reading the light will turn yellow and chime to the same song again. The light will become red and an alarm will sound if your baby’s heart rate or blood oxygen levels are either too high or too low to be normal at which point you would check on your little one immediately.
The light is fairly bright, especially in a completely dark room. If you want to dim the light just press on the top of the base for a few seconds and the light will automatically become less harsh.
Overall the design of the Owlet Smart Sock is very innovative, smart, and helpful to provide important in a way that is not difficult to understand.

The Owlet Smart Sock Baby Monitor features safe materials that are healthy enough to be used on and near your little one. The whole system is certified and tested to be BPA, lead, and latex free so you can feel good about what materials are near your little one. The sock is not an actual sock but is instead is a fabric device that wraps around your baby’s foot to keep the sensor in place. The sock is a soft fabric that can be hand washed with cold water and allowed to air dry. The materials used are safe and healthy for your baby to have on their skin and near them.

The Owlet Smart Sock Baby Monitor is designed to provide you with crucial information to help keep your baby safe, but first, let's discuss how that information is transferred and how safe that process is. The SMart Sock uses EMF and Bluetooth signals to send information from the sock to the base station and from there to your smartphone. There is not a lot of information known o whether EMF signals are dangerous to babies, but in general limiting, as much exposure as possible is the best choice. The Bluetooth signal emitted from the Smart Sock is significantly lower than the signal used by traditional video or audio monitors. This means that the Smart Sock is hardly intrusive at all and much safer to have around your baby versus a regular baby monitor.
The actual features f the Smart Sock is designed to give you the vital information you can use to keep your little one safe. The baby’s heart rate and blood oxygen levels are monitored via a sensor in the sock using pulse oximeter technology which is clinically proven to be noninvasive and safe. It is what your doctor uses to take your vitals at regular checkups. The technology used is more than safe for your baby to be exposed to. The accuracy of the readings is also important when it comes to safety because you want to know the readings are close to the same your doctor would be getting. When compared to pulse oximeter at a pediatricians office the Smart Sock comes fairly close. However, accuracy wains when considering the normal ranges. The Smart Sock reads normal from 60 to 220 beats per minute for a baby but those ranges are not necessarily accurate for what is normal.
Overall the Smart Sock is fairly accurate for an at-home device that is not FDA approved and provides good and useful information. The device itself is also plenty safe t be used on your child.

Odds are your baby who doesn’t sleep in only one place in your home. The Smart Sock connects to the base station and the connection has a range of 100 ft or 30 meters between the base and the sock if the signal is unobstructed by objects like walls. A more realistic range is about 50 feet or 15 meters which is still plenty enough range for the base to be in a different room than your baby is in. Some actual people have reported being able to connect easily all over their house. The sock is small and doesn’t affect baby’s mobility really so your little one could wear the sock when napping in a playard or a crib or a bassinet. Really the Smart Sock is very portable. Plus if you wanted to take it with you on a trip all you would need is wifi or a hotspot to keep your connection and it can follow you anywhere to provide peace of mind anywhere you go. The battery life is also fairly decent so you know the monitor will last all night without dying.

The Owlet Smart Sock 2 Baby Monitor costs around what a traditional baby monitor set up would cost. It does not have video or audio monitoring though. The Smart Sock is difficult to compare price wise to other baby monitors because it provides completely different information and is geared towards a different population. The price is not out of the world for something that could give you information about your child. Your child’s health and safety are priceless versus a monitor that can give you crucial information all night long. The features the Smart Sock provides makes it worth the price. Parents who have a premature child, or face a hereditary disorder or other medical problems may be more inclined to find this monitor worthwhile. Owlet does have a 45 day love it or return it policy so if you were not sure if this was the right fit for your baby you could try it risk-free. Many of the parents who purchased this monitor say that it has helped them feel reassured more than anything else, and there a lot of stories you can read about how Owlet saved a life. Overall the Smart Sock is a good investment for parents who want more in-depth information than an audio or video monitor could provide.

The Owlet Smart Sock 2 Baby Monitor is not a traditional baby monitor in any way it does not provide audio or video monitoring. Instead, it provides actual information about what is happening inside your baby. It uses a pulse oximeter to give you a reading on your baby’s heart rate and blood oxygen levels. The design features materials that are completely BPA, lead, and latex free. The sensor uses very minimally invasive technology that your doctor uses every day to provide a considerably accurate reading on your baby. The base station uses wifi to connect to both the sensor in the sock and your smartphone. It flashes 5 different colored lights to inform you on what is happening including, green for normal, red for abnormal, white for charging, yellow for no reading, and blue for a disconnection in the signal. The included app which is free to download on apple or android devices provides a real-time reading on your baby’s heart rate and blood oxygen levels. When tested versus an actual pulse oximeter used in a pediatric office the Smart Sock was very accurate. The bottom line about the Smart Sock Baby Monitor is that it provides critical information that can help you feel reassured as a parent and can provide information that is important to know for the health and safety of your child. It is an expensive investment as it costs the same as a full monitoring system, but many parents who us it says that it is well worth every penny.