Having no other features was just the nail in the coffin for this basic product. The limited buttons on the LectroFan interface are frustrating as the fan sounds and pitches are hard to tell apart from one another, making it difficult to find your favorite settings if you unplug the machine. This option is not a baby-centric product, and while it has lullabies and a nightlight, it isn't cute or something little ones can play with. We love the cute chicken under a half-shell design and the semi-disguised buttons on the back that kids may not notice for a while. The buttons are big and easy to use, and it includes a helpful timer that can run for up to an hour before it shuts off. Yogasleep says it can run "all night long" on a single charge. It also sports a nightlight with varying levels of light. I haven't tested its battery life, but we've had no battery life issues when we leave home for a few hours. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. This cute little monkey comes with a nightlight and has various sound options with timers and two attachment methods to keep it nearby. Is your little one struggling to fall asleep or stay asleep? Copyright 2012 - 2022 BabyGearLab LLC The VTech Myla The Monkey is a great option for travels away from home and offers both night light and sound machine functions, all wrapped up into one. He graduated from Colgate University in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in history. We especially loved the thunderstorm setting and found it so soothing we left it on for days and could almost smell the rain; it was so realistic. Our baby is particularly resistant to sleep, and she sometimes wouldn't nap even with the machine. Almost nothing is easier to use than the Baby Shusher as it has two twisting parts, one that gives you the timer and the other the volume. It runs on a built-in rechargeable battery, which I preferred over models that use disposable batteries. We welcome your feedback. Overall, we think it has truly useful features. To find the best sound machines and white noise makers, we started by researching the top and most popular products available. Keep your baby close in a bedside bassinet. Our Editors independently research, test, and rate the best products. We tested quality, features, ease of use, and more to find the best choices for different goals and budget concerns. To be clear, the Yogasleep Hushh Portable White Noise Machine isn't a miracle machine. I even used it during a power outage when our usual white noise machine was left powerless. And, we combine our review work with gobs of expert parenting advice. We were able to use the Yogasleep Hushh Portable White Noise Machine instead, and our baby was none the wiser of the incredibly ill-timed power outage. We like that you can choose your favorite nightlight color and that there is a song, fan noise, or nature nose for everyone, including the ability to adjust the white noise pitch level! You can purchase logo and accolade licensing to this story here. Email us at [email protected]. The sleepyMe might be adorable, but it isn't the easiest option to use. The included clip is a thoughtful accessory that lets us clip the white noise machine to our stroller or crib, or anything else such as baby carriers and car seats. We also like that the unit remembers the previous settings if you leave it plugged in. Probably the biggest downside is it doesn't tell you what setting you are on, so you might have to go around the bend more than once to find what you want. It's just a white noise machine designed to help babies who like white noise while sleeping. We used each product for at least two nights each and assessed any features from the variety of sound or musical options to timers or nightlights if they offered them. Also, the projector control doesn't seem to work well as the dimmer results in only minor changes. To assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. The MyBaby Soundspa On-The-Go is a portable sound machine that runs on batteries. Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. Got feedback? This monkey is super cute, and little ones like the sweet face and glowing cheeks. Also, the sounds are somewhat painful to the ears depending on the settings, and a few even caused dog howling in our test area. Alternatively, the V-Tech Mila Monkey has super easy-to-use touch-friendly buttons and presses easily. No ads. Learn more. For some reason, possibly sleep deprivation, I never thought about a portable white noise machine until it randomly occurred to me. The Housbay has a friendly user interface and a glowing round body that makes it suitable for little ones who like a nightlight. We tested the top sound machines to find the best options for every family depending on your needs and budget. The LectroFan White Noise Machine is a basic white noise machine intended for a broader range of users than babies hoping for continuous sleep. But we did notice that she went down much more easily with the machine than without it. We like the easy-to-push buttons and the simple, intuitive interface that we could sort out without using the instruction manual. It is also rechargeable, so there are no pesky batteries to change or keep on hand. This simple sound machine has various sound features, including three white noise, three lullabies, three fan sound effects, and five relaxing natural sounds. We like that it has different timers or can run infinitely. Alternatively, the Skip Hop Owl has almost every feature a parent might want, including a nightlight you can dim, a ceiling projector with stars, lullabies, nature sounds, and timers. Myla the V-Tech portable sound machine has a nightlight, lullabies, nature sounds, and timers all in a portable, adorable little monkey. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. We narrowed our selection to those we felt had the most potential to impress during testing. The Baby Shusher is a small portable noisemaker that emits a soft shushing sound almost akin to a rainmaker stick. One night, the Yogasleep Hushh Portable White Noise Machine paid for itself when our power went out at home right around my baby's bedtime, and our usual Lectrofan was powerless. Sign up for Insider Reviews' weekly newsletter for more buying advice and great deals. While they all come with only a handful of buttons and icons that seem intuitive, most of them require toggling through all the options in a rotation, so you have to flip through the sounds multiple times to find what you want. Little ones like the owl design, but be forewarned, this design might increase demands to hold it as they get older, and it isn't intended for holding. A familiar sound machine can help your little one fall asleep and stay asleep even in new environments. Our experts have tested thousands of baby and kids products to share key performance, health, and safety findings. We could only afford quick jaunts outside within our baby's two-hour awake window before she needed to go down for another nap. When you click on links to buy products we may earn money to support. This wallet-friendly option has a ring attachment and a simple user interface. We spent hours researching products before buying and using them side-by-side to find the absolute best options in each category for every kind of family. While it doesn't offer a light show, you can find that in a separate product that focuses on making projections well instead of trying to do everything and failing. This simple sound maker is travel-friendly and has shorter timer options. We had difficulty with the buttons being something you don't push but only touch, and they only work part of the time. From there, we bought the top 10 competitors for testing. BabyGearLab is reader-supported. We only make money if you purchase a product through our links, and we never accept free products from manufacturers. This option has no nature or lullabies with ten different pitches for white noise and fan sounds. Let us know! Everyone wants different features depending on their goals for using a sound machine. Before joining Business Insider, Antonio was a consumer-electronics analyst at PCMag. Every baby is different, and it turns out that my baby likes white noise to go to sleep. We operate independently from our advertising team. We bought the Yogasleep Hushh Portable White Noise Machine, and it's been an integral part of our happiness ever since. It also has a design that children will find boring, which can be a blessing if you want to prevent little ones from playing with it. The shell has a star pattern design that projects on the ceiling and has three color options or rotating colors. The user interface is intuitive, and the buttons are easy to press. The SleepyMe Smart Sleep Soother is a very baby-centric sound machine /soother with four sounds and six lullabies from which to choose. How can we improve BabyGearLab? Little ones find the lights mesmerizing and most of the sounds soothing. and has so many lullabies and noises that you can listen to something different almost every night of the month. However, this simplicity also translates to limited features with one sound and only two timers, so if you want all night or a sound other than white noise, then forget it. Senior Review Editor, Wendy Schmitz, mom of two, led the noisemaker team with a long history of using fans and other white noise generators for blissful sleep. It also has a nightlight and timers and comes with a wall plug, something not included with all competitors. While the primary goal of a sound machine is to help create a peaceful environment conducive to sleep, that doesn't mean you need to settle for a dull white noise maker with no bells and whistles. We have the details you need to find the device that best meets your needs. In fact, we disliked the basic noise machine in this lineup, not for its lack of features but for the harsh pitches of its sounds. When you buy through our links, Insider may earn an affiliate commission. This machine has a button for everything, and better yet, they tell you at a glance what is happening and are super easy to use; no instructions necessary. We were mostly bound to the confines of our home, as she had difficulty going to sleep anywhere without white noise. However, during testing, compared to the competition, we felt this option didn't do anything very well. You may not know what it is or how to get back to it should the sound be changed at any given point. It has three different timers or can run unchecked until you turn it off. A good sound machine can help babies fall asleep and stay asleep by providing a constant sound in the background that is both soothing and blocks out other sounds to help prevent startling noises from disrupting sleep. The interface is user-friendly and straightforward so that you can skip the manual. Skip Hop Baby Sound Machine: Moonlight & Melodies, tested thousands of baby and kids products. You can contact Antonio with tips and cool tech via email at: [email protected], Yogasleep Hushh Portable White Noise Machine, Learn more about how our team of experts tests and reviews products at Insider here, Learn more about how we test tech and electronics. We thought these sound machines would all be relatively easy to use. Wendy and her children used each product in this review to give you the details to find the right one for your family, needs, and budget. We like the simple look and basic features and think adults might like this easy, straightforward choice. The buttons on the SleepyMe aren't really buttons and are hard to press or use. This product has multiple timers or can be left on until you turn it off, making it ideal for background noise or restless sleepers who need all-night distractions. It helps her go down for a nap when we take walks, run errands, or visit friends.