There are countless baby products out there that you don't really need and are ridiculously overpriced, but this isn't one of them.

While I was initially skeptical about Ottocast's Cabin Care in-car child monitoring camera — mainly because Instagram has definitely identified me as a new dad and is constantly bombarding me with ads for the gadget — I assumed it would end up being one of those nice-to-have baby gadgets that isn't totally necessary. Surprisingly, after only a few days of using the Cabin Care, I'm entirely hooked.

The Cabin Care is a pretty simple device. There's a USB-A wireless CarPlay receiver that plugs into your car and connects to your phone via Bluetooth, alongside the actual camera. What the gadget offers is a simple way to make wired CarPlay wireless and an infotainment overlay that lets you view the rear-seat camera feed directly on your vehicle's infotainment system.

Price, specs & availability

Ottocast's Cabin Care features a USB-A wireless adapter with a sync button, a rear camera in a cute owl-shaped case, an extra-long 8ft USB-A cable (a USB-A-to-C adapter is included, too), a clip-on camera mount, and a strap camera mount.

The 1080p camera offers a 150-degree wide view and infrared night vision. It's available directly on Ottocast's website for $151 (on sale from $251) and on Amazon for $160. Ottocast's Cabin Care only works with CarPlay, and your car needs to also support wired CarPlay. It should work on vehicles that offer both wired and wireless CarPlay, as long as you plug the adapter into the USB port for wired CarPlay. In my case, my Ioniq 5 only features wired CarPlay, so this wasn't an issue for me.

About this article: Ottocast sent XDA the Cabin Care for review. The company had no input on the contents of this article.

Setup is easy and straightforward

Even mounting the camera only takes a few minutes

Getting Ottocast's Cabin Care up and running was surprisingly easy and took me less than 15 minutes. I plugged the wireless adapter into my Ioniq 5's front wired CarPlay USB-A port. I didn't need to use the included USB-A-to-C adapter since my car only offers USB-A ports. Next, I used the lengthy 8ft USB-A cable to plug into my car's rear USB-A port and the actual camera part of the Cabin Care. If you don't have a rear USB port, you'll need to run the cable to one at the front of your car (thankfully, the cord is pretty long — I ended up bundling it and tucking the extra cable between my car's backseat cushions).

It's a little disappointing that, like many dash cameras, the Cabin Care doesn't have a built-in battery and needs to be plugged in, but it would also be frustrating to have to charge it constantly. When you have a kid, you already need to remember so much all the time, and keeping the Cabin Care constantly charged would just be yet another thing to add to that sprawling list.

The mounting clasp that attaches to your vehicle's headrest rails might look like it won't fit at first, but its mechanism stretches quite a bit and easily latches. I haven't tried the double strap that runs around the headrest, but it looks more complicated than the clasp mount. In theory, it should just elastically wrap around any headrest relatively easily. I recommend using the clasp if it fits, and placing it directly behind your child if they're in a rear-facing car seat (you can mount it wherever you want, though).

Next, I screwed the cutesy owl camera into place on the mount and pivoted it to the right angle, so I had a full view of my son in his car seat. If you hate fun, you can take the camera out of the fun owl case (my son loves it and has spent several drives staring directly at it, trying to figure out what it was). The camera was already synced with the wireless adapter, so the dual-function screen appeared within roughly seven seconds. Future boots are slightly faster, but you should expect to wait between five and 10 seconds for the camera's overlay to appear on your car's infotainment system.

The Cabin Care offers a smooth CarPlay experience

Sometimes, wireless CarPlay adapters can be a bit finicky

When the Ottocast Cabin Care first boots up, you'll need to connect to your phone via Bluetooth. Once that process is complete, you should be good to go. From the launch screen, you can select Apple CarPlay or Camera. I usually open the camera, then tap the split-screen option in the bottom corner to show CarPlay on the left side of the screen. You can also view the camera feed in full-screen or picture-in-picture mode, but I find the clear split down the middle the most useful.

CarPlay runs within the Cabin Care's operating system, sort of like an overlay. Thankfully, there's really not that much lag. CarPlay is snappy and responsive, though changing songs with my steering wheel controls takes an extra second or two. On the camera side, the feed feels nearly instant, with only a few milliseconds of delay. The camera offers a clear 1080p feed and adjusts quickly to varied lighting conditions, even in the blaring mid-day sunshine.

I haven't used many CarPlay apps through Ottocast Cabin Care yet, but both Spotify and Waze work very well in my experience. I was concerned that Waze might be too laggy or that signal issues would cause my route to disappear or lag, but that hasn't been the case so far.

The peace-of-mind is priceless

The camera is leagues better than using a backseat mirror

I've always disliked keeping an eye on my son with my car's rearview mirror and a backseat headrest-mounted mirror. I find it's too difficult to get both positioned to keep an eye on his rear-facing car seat. With the Ottocast Cabin Care, that's no longer a problem. I know the camera is securely locked in place, and I'm confident it will power on when I start my car, so I don't need to spend time messing with it.

You'd think that a constant stream of your child on your infotainment screen would be more distracting than a mirror, but that hasn't been my experience. The Cabin Care means that I don't need to awkwardly crane my neck or constantly look in my rearview mirror to watch him shove a random object into his mouth. Instead, I quickly glance down at the split-view, make sure he's good, and continue with my drive.

If you're looking for a decent wireless CarPlay adapter that also doubles as an in-car backseat monitor for your child, the Ottocast Cabin Care is a great option.