not a 100% convinced we need a baby monitor

until you wake the baby up by breathing too hard when you walk in their room to check on them...

It's really been a stress reducer to be able to instantly click the screen on when the baby makes some sort of noise.

This one is awesome. I did a screen image compare (in store) and this one was super awesome compared to others. I know it's a little pricey, but the pan/tilt came in handy when they start rolling around in the crib (out of sight of the mounted camera). Also, my wife really liked the zoom feature because she could see him breathing as he laid there. http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-MBP36S-Wireless-Monitor-3-5-Inch/dp/B00M2F0OYS/ref=pd_cp_ba_2

What sort of range do you need? We go to hotel-based conventions with our kid, and use the previous generation of this monitor so we're not trapped in the room, but it's not WiFi (setting up hotel WiFi on a baby monitor is, shall we say, not cost effective).

It does have a temperature sensor (no humidity, but the temp display turns red if it goes too hot or, IIRC, too cold) and remote pan/tilt/zoom, plus the walkie-talkie and night vision, and the ability to have up to four cameras and two parent units. It's always-on, lets you know when you lose signal (loudly!), and has decent video quality. (If you want, I can PM you a couple photos and a video I've taken of the monitor over the years, both day/night.)

We've found that the range easily extends through our entire house (~3000sqft), and outside it without trouble. Haven't tried it from inside the neighbours' houses, but I can walk past our nearest neighbour and still get signal most of the way past their house.

At hotels, where there's more interference and significantly different wall construction, we can easily get down the hall and to a public room where we could sit and play games with friends. Call it 40-50 feet.

My only gripe is that now, 4yrs later, the OEM charger is busted and the parent unit can't hold a charge. We'll have to buy one of the current generation for this new kid and future travel.