Talli Baby Tracker review: Convenience for new parents — but at a cost

You may or may not have noticed, but I was gone for the last two months of 2021, and for good reason! Early November, my husband and I welcomed our new daughter into the world. Needless to say, it's been quite a hectic few months for us, to say the least.

Since this is our first child, I've been learning how difficult it is to be a parent. Some days I don't even know how I'm holding it together, to be honest. I never really saw myself having to keep track of when another human being has to eat or take a poop, but now I'm a new mom and here we are — tracking feedings, pees, poops, baths, medications, and anything else relating to a baby.

So if there are any products out there that are aimed at making the parenting life easier, well, sign me up! I mean, any little bit helps, right? I stumbled on the Talli Baby Tracker from either an Instagram or Facebook ad at least a couple of weeks before my daughter was due. I felt like this would be an invaluable tool to have in our nursery, so I decided to give it a shot. If you are a parent, you'll understand how nice this little gadget is.

Talli Baby Tracker: Price and availability

Talli Baby is only sold directly on the Talli Baby website. Each tracker costs $100, but if you have two children, you can purchase a two-pack for $170. The company also sells reconditioned trackers at a slight discount for $70.

Reconditioned trackers are units that have been returned due to families' changing circumstances, or devices that were not sold at full price because of cosmetic flaws. However, reconditioned trackers have all been tested and work just the same as a brand new device — if you get reconditioned, it has the same return policy as a new one.

Talli Baby Tracker: Convenience for a hectic schedule

The Talli Baby tracker is a simple device. The body consists of a white plastic on the top and a faux wooden material for the bottom half. It's like a small box with rounded edges. There are eight buttons on the surface: Bottle Feed, Solid Food, Wet Diaper, Dirty Diaper, Sleep, Nursing, Pumping, and Miscellaneous, which is a multipurpose button you can customize in the app. There is also a Wi-Fi LED indicator, which lets you know when data is being transmitted to your Talli account via Wi-Fi, or if there is a problem with your Wi-Fi connection.

Talli Baby tracker runs on four AA batteries, which you insert into the bottom of the base. A screwdriver is needed to get the cover off though. I like that it uses batteries, honestly, because it's one less thing to remember to recharge. With fresh batteries, the Talli Baby tracker should last around 4-6 months with regular use. Optionally, there is a micro-USB port on the side of the tracker, which can be used to power the device. However, this will not recharge it. Using the micro-USB port for power will extend the battery life, but Talli says that the device is designed to run on batteries. Plus, no micro-USB cable is included.

There are two ways to use the Talli Baby tracker: you can keep it portable, or mount it on a wall with the slots on the back/bottom of the device. I personally have kept my Talli portable, because it makes it easier to move from room-to-room, and whoever is babysitting can also have quick access to it wherever. Of course, since this device connects to your home Wi-Fi, you won't be able to use it outside of your network's range.

When setting up the Talli Baby tracker, you basically have to pair it with both your home Wi-Fi network and your Talli account at the same time. That's because it needs to know which account and child to send events to once they're logged. I mentioned it already, but one Talli Baby tracker can only be linked to one child, so if you have multiple kids, you need to have a tracker for each one. The device comes with a detailed instruction sheet for setting it up with your Wi-Fi network, and it's an overall straightforward process.

While many may wonder why someone needs this, let me tell you — it's incredibly hard to get to your phone when you're holding and comforting a baby or having to deal with a poopy diaper. It's much easier to just push a single button while you're dealing with all of that at the same time. I mean, I don't want to get poop or spit up on my iPhone 13 Pro screen, you get me? With Talli, all I need to do is push the right button(s) and move on with what I need to finish doing. After you push a button or two (for example, a mixed diaper that's both wet and dirty needs you to push both wet and dirty at the same time), the Wi-Fi indicator will turn green. When it's transmitting the data to your account, it flashes green and won't take any more button presses during that time. The next time you open up the Talli Baby app, your tracked activity should show up.

Speaking of the app, it's quite simple to use and allows you to customize certain events, such as Miscellaneous. The Home view lets you see your child's data at-a-glance, which means when their last logged events were. You could also manually add data from this screen, which is useful if your Talli Baby tracker is not working because the Wi-Fi is down. Each event is color coded, making it easier to see in the other views.

The Daily List is just that — a basic list of all activities that have been logged for each day. You can also see what events happened during the night and day, according to what you set it as. I find the Daily List view to be one of my most used sections, as it gives me a good overview of my daughter's progress every day.

The Detailed view gives you a graph view of all logged events in a time frame that you pick. The range can be just today, or you can go back as far as 30 days. Another option is setting a custom time frame, in case you want to go even further back. The Averages section is like the Detail view, but you see the average stats instead. Again, you can pick a time frame just like Detail.

When you're in the app and manually add or edit an entry for Bottle Feed or Miscellaneous, you can also set defaults for each. For example, I have my default bottle set to four ounces, and Miscellaneous has things like Bath and Medication. For the latter, you can change the default event at any time. And if your child doesn't exactly finish the default amount for a bottle, then don't worry — you can always go in and manually edit events too. I've done it a few times myself, and it's easy enough. And if you have the best Apple Watch, the Talli app can send you reminders too, because parent brain can forget things.

As someone who can worry a little too much, I find it necessary to track everything when it comes to feedings and diaper changes. This way, I can ensure that my daughter is doing alright and everything appears normal. I find things like naps harder to keep track of since my daughter likes to sleep randomly, but I love that Talli can keep all of these events in one place. While the app and service is free and can be used by anyone, the physical tracker device streamlines everything. Because seriously, it's hard to get to my phone when I'm juggling my daughter and bottles or diapers at the same time.

Talli Baby Tracker: You're certainly paying for the convenience

While the Talli Baby tracker has a mostly easy setup process, I did encounter some issues on my initial setup. I was getting some error messages and it looked like the Talli "network" wasn't showing up on my iPhone when I was in the Settings. Eventually, it showed up and I was able to get everything going without a hitch. But that could also have been just a network problem with my Wi-Fi, so I'm not entirely sure what's to blame.

One thing I did notice with the app, however, is that if there is an outage with Talli's servers (I believe it uses AWS), then all of your data is inaccessible during that time. This has happened about two times since I started using Talli early November, and both times I could not view my data at all, nor could I log any new events. Instead, I had to manually keep track of feedings and diaper changes in something else, like the Notes app, and then add them to Talli later. Honestly, I was pretty surprised by this — I believe that past data should at least be available locally and offline. There is an option to export your data from the Talli app, but really, having your stuff offline should be a no-brainer.

Another annoyance with the Talli Baby tracker is the fact that it can only be connected to one Wi-Fi network at a time. So if you want to bring it to another family members' home to use, you'll have to set it up with their Wi-Fi, erasing your home network in the process. Each time you want to use it at a place that isn't home, you'll have to re-connect it to that new network. However, Talli claims that they are working on the ability for a tracker to save more than one Wi-Fi network, so it can just connect to whatever network is available at the time. There is no estimate on when that will come, though.

Lastly, Talli does feel a bit expensive for what it is. I mean, it is $100 for some buttons to push to track events and activities relating to your child. And if you have more than one child, it's even more expensive since you need a device for each kid. There's no doubt about it — Talli Baby tracker is more of a luxury than a necessity. But as a new mother myself, I can't deny the convenience that it provides. Whether that advantage is worth $100 is entirely up to you.

Talli Baby Tracker: Competition

Honestly, there doesn't seem to be a lot of products on the market that do the same thing as Talli Baby tracker. But there are certainly other smart baby related products out there, like the Hatch Baby Grow Smart Changing Pad and Scale. This is a changing pad that can track your baby's weight gain between doctor visits and even measures how much your baby drinks in each nursing session.

But if you're looking for something like Talli, then it won't be easy — it's definitely unique.

Talli Baby Tracker: Should you buy it?

• You value convenience and ease of use
• You are a new parent
• You want to track events like feeding, diaper changes, etc.

• You don't have a child (duh)
• You don't think convenience is worth $100
• You would rather just track via an app only

If you are a new parent and want a quick and easy way to track your child's daily events (whether for you or your pediatrician), then Talli Baby tracker gets the job done. The app itself is free and can be used by anyone, but the physical device with the buttons makes the hectic life of a parent so much easier. It's straightforward to set up, intuitive to use (just press a button or two), and you can keep it portable or mount it on the wall — out of the reach of children. Plus, if you have frequent babysitters or other caregivers, this gadget streamlines the logging process for everyone.

Of course, the Talli Baby tracker is a little expensive for what it is, especially due to the fact that you can log everything in the Talli app without the device. However, it's a convenient luxury that is designed to make life easier, and as a new parent, isn't one less thing to worry about always a plus? I just hope that Talli implements offline data and a way to save multiple Wi-Fi networks sooner rather than later.

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