Looking to set up home security with monitoring, cameras with recording, movement sensors, etc. What are people’s thoughts in terms of: - self setup - price for monitoring and recording - reliability - equipment - other relevant topics? Thanks!
Is it possible to record/upload other events such as movement? Let’s say that there is a camera on the driveway and I want to record every time that someone walks by, or walks up to my door. Really appreciate all the info!
I’m still figuring out the ins and outs to the system right now, but I think the answer is yes with the right equipment/setup. It definitely allows you to create “secret alerts” for a specific piece of hardware which will trigger recording and alert your phone but not cause an alarm. For instance, when my alarm is off I have all the door sensors set to secret alerts so even if the alarm is off I get alerted on my phone and the cameras record when a door is opened. You could set something similar up with one of their motion sensors or other sensors. I believe the cameras will save a clip if they detect motion when they are engaged, but SimpliSafe keeps them off/covered when the alarm system is off or set to home by default.
I like Arlo because the basic plan is sufficient for my needs and it's free
Nest. My ring became very slow off late making it almost useless. I very often get "connecting to device" and the wheel keeps spinning forever. And when it finally connects, the person at the door must've left. The latency is becoming painfully bad. I've checked my internet speeds during the latency and they are well enough (150+Mbps) for ring to connect. And now I have to have a paid subscription. They used to offer a 7 day free subscription. With 3-5 cameras around the house this could become really expensive
Abode + Wyze + Blink + Nest Abode Iota as a central security system. It was pretty easy to setup and very reliable. It came with a year of monitoring, but it is pretty awesome even without paid monitoring: you can monitor yourself over WiFi. Unlike other security systems (simply safe) where you have to pay for monthly monitoring to use their app. Abode has support to integrate with a lot of third party devices - I use it to connect to my nest doorbell and LIFX bulbs. They also have on demand monitoring, so if you are going out for a couple of days, you can purchase monitoring only for those days. Wyze: Indoor cams. $20-$30 cams with pretty awesome functionality and free cloud storage. They even have local storage support with sd card. Blink : Outdoor cams, I don’t have to pay monthly subscription to have cloud storage. All these can be linked using IFTTT to arm and disarm. I have automations written so all I do is set state in abode and everything picks up. More importantly, I was going for some self sustaining security systems and avoid high monthly monitoring | cloud storage in the long run.
Neither. Wyze and amazon cloud cam are free.
I have 2 Amazon cloudcams that i picked up for $60 on prime day. They're great. As for privacy? I routinely go shirt-cocking in front of the cameras just in case an Amazon e.pliyee decides to snoop! Bad boiii!! Embrace your exhibitionism
I’m a big fan of nest products including the cameras, but I was not happy at all with the nest security system (false alerts / Wifi connectivity issues). I recently switched to simply safe and would highly recommend considering them. I don’t have any experience with Ring myself.
Thanks! Do you have cameras? What is the cost for recording and upload to the cloud?
I have 3 nest cameras that store 5 days of history for $12 per month. I have one SimpliSafe cam which doesn’t cost anything extra beyond the SimpliSafe monitoring fee for security, but it works a bit differently. It only records a clip during security events (so when a door is opened, alarm is triggered, etc) but it stores the clips for 30 days. I’ve found it pretty useful though to be honest. I also like that it has a physical shutter that covers the lens automatically when the camera isn’t engaged.