i’ve been thinking a lot about home security as i embark on the daunting journey into home ownership, so when i was offered the chance recently to test out the canary all-in-one home security device i was really keen to see how it all worked.
i’ve never had a security camera in my home before and, along with all the obvious benefits for, uh, personal security, i was also hugely drawn by the clean contemporary look of the surprisingly small device, which i could see easily fitting in inconspicuously in my home. available in black or white, the sleek cylindrical device could easily be mistaken for a designer speaker system, don’t you think?
despite its compact size though, the canary packs a full hd video camera with night vision mode, 90db siren, cloud storage for your video footage and a clever privacy feature that can disable the video recording whenever you walk through your front door.
despite experiencing a few initial hiccups with the set-up myself, the actual process is fairly simple: just choose your position, plug in the device, download the app (available free on the google play or the apple app store) and sync.
the position of the device in your home is fairly crucial and the app suggests a few (common sense) locations such as the hallway, main living area or by the back door. it is worth remembering though that while the camera has an impressively wide field of view, the lens is fixed so you’re not able to pan around the room as you might with other devices.
the smartphone app has a number of clever features, including the ability to tag video clips, message your housemates about suspicious activity detected, as well as monitoring the temperature, air quality and humidity in your home.
and if you need to, you can decide whether to activate the ear-shattering siren remotely to ward off intruders, or connect with your local police right from the app. thankfully i’ve not had to test that one out..!
so far the main drawback i can see are the cloud storage plans required to ensure your video footage is stored longer than the 24 hours allocated on the free subscription. that said, for peace-of-mind while you’re away on holiday, upgrading to $9.99 month-long subscription is not too much of an outlay.
i love that fact that i don’t need to worry about switching the device on or off as i go about my day, as connection with the smartphone app means that canary can ‘sense’ when i come and go, and automatically changes modes. you can also set the privacy levels to completely shut down the camera and microphone at any time, which certainly negates that slightly off-putting ‘big brother’ feeling i thought i would feel with a security camera installed in my home.
so what do you think guys; do you have – or would you consider – a home security system such as canary?
the canary all-in-one security device is available in the uk from john lewis or amazon.
[icon name=”handshake-o” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] the canary home security system was gifted for the purpose of this review, but all thoughts and imagery are my own.
One Response
Es sieht wirklich modern :) und es verbindet sich mit modernen Interieur der Wohnung.