The placement of a doorbell usually doesn’t matter when it’s a regular doorbell. But when you replace the old model with a video doorbell, the placement determines when and how well you can see people approaching your door. Using the Homono Adjustable Angle Mount with the Ring video doorbell, you’ll be able to fine-tune the orientation of the doorbell to see people as they approach and as they stand at the door.
I just got a Ring 2 doorbell, and I ordered the Homono mount with it. My doorway is at the end of a long, straight hallway, so I’d see – and probably be alerted to – everyone who gets on or off the elevator on my floor. And because my doorbell is placed far to the side of my door, I wouldn’t be able to see the face of my visitor unless he moved to stand in front of the doorbell itself. With the Homono mount, I should be able to angle the Ring so it doesn’t see the elevator doors and has a better view of someone standing at my door.
Homono makes mounts in black or white and sized to fit the original Ring, Ring 2, and the Ring Pro doorbells. The Homono Adjustable Angle Mount for Ring doorbells start at $16.00 at Amazon.
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At my old house, I had a security camera on my front porch. It was nice to have, but it required an electrical connection. When we moved to the condo, I couldn’t have a camera by my door because there is no electrical outlet nearby. The Reolink Argus 2 security camera would work perfectly by my condo door, because it operates on a rechargeable battery, so no electrical connection is required. It can also be powered by the optional solar panel seen in this image.
The camera also uses 2.4GHz WiFi, so you don’t need any cabling to get connected to the internet, either. Because it is completely wireless and waterproof, you can place the Argus 2 anywhere you like, indoors or outdoors. You’ll access the camera with the Reolink app on your smartphone or tablet. With the app, you’ll be able to see what’s happening outside your door, and with two-way audio, you’ll be able to talk with anyone who comes to your door – no matter where you happen to be at the moment.
Features of the Reolink Argus 2 include:
PIR smart sensor that activates the camera and sends instant app push notifications, email alerts, and sound alarms (siren) when motion events are detected.
Card slot for optional SD card; when installed, recording will be activated when motion is detected.
Full HD 1080p camera; 130° wide viewing angle; Sony Starlight CMOS sensor for clearer night vision, up to 33 feet.
Live view available any time on your smart device, and recording when motion detected available with optional SD card
The Reolink Argus 2 wire-free, rechargeable security camera is available for $129.99 and the optional solar panel is $29.99 now from Reolink and will probably be added to their Amazon store soon.
Remember watching the Jetsons as a kid, with their video phone, video doorbell, and flying car? Well, of those three, the flying car is the only one that’s not already sitting on store shelves waiting for you to take one home. Anyone with a smartphone has a raft of video chat clients at hand. There are several video doorbells on the market. In fact, we were offered one from Wisenet, née Samsung Security. It’s called the SmartCam D1 and is installed in place of your existing wired doorbell. Follow along on my adventure to the future.
Note: Photos may be tapped or clicked for a larger image.
Hardware specs
System Requirements
Internet Connection: High Speed Internet, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Mobile: iOS 8 or higher, Android OS 5.0 or higher
Requires an existing hard-wired doorbell
Requires wiring to a 16-24 VAC doorbell and transformer
What’s in the box?
SmartCam D1 Video Doorbell Camera
3 Interchangeable Faceplates
Power Stabilizer Kit (For existing chimes)
Power Extension Kit
Screws and Anchors
Screw Driver
Quick Start Guide
Warranty Card
Design and features
This item had come into the queue and I had taken possession of it just around Halloween. I was procrastinating installing it, after skimming through the instructions. All it took was a break-in at our home two weeks before Thanksgiving to put it on the front burner. After getting into the specifics, it’s far easier than I was imagining.
Setup
The kit itself comes with everything you will need except a drill and a ladder, and the drill is optional. There is a power stabilizer that attaches onto your existing chime, and three trim rings (silver, black, and brass) to best match your door, and all manner of screws and terminal clips. Let’s take a look at how it worked.
According to the manual, the first thing is to cut power. With a light-enabled doorbell, this is pretty easy – have someone watch the doorbell light while you flip breakers until the light goes out. “That’s the one!”
The next step is to unhook two leads from your chime and connect the little harness for the power stabilizer. This is as simple as it sounds: disconnect two wires, connect them into single terminal blocks from the kit, and screw the other wire back to the chime terminals. It took me longer to compose and type out that sentence than it took to do it.
Next, disconnect the existing doorbell, and attach the SmartCam. Then, ask the person in the house who will care which trim ring they prefer. Acknowledge the importance of their contribution, and put the other two rings in the box. (This most likely applies only to those in a long-term, committed domestic partnership, but I do my best in that “ensure domestic tranquility” thing the Constitution talks about.)
The instructions at this point say to put everything into place, but I opted to test before buttoning it all up. Your confidence in your ability to follow instructions will determine your path at this point.
Download the SmartHome software, create an account and get to the authentication screen. Flip the breaker back on, and make sure your doorbell is getting power, sign it into your WiFi, and test it. While this sounds simple, this is probably the most tedious part of the whole process.
Once everything is working as expected, screw the SmartCam over the place your old doorbell was and test again. There is a reset button to the upper left of the unit before you install the trim ring, so be sure everything is working before installing the trim ring. There is a small brass set screw that goes into the lower side of the SmartCam tightened with an Allen wrench that is the final piece. This finishes the doorbell and covers all the attachment points and reset buttons. The Allen screw is recessed, and a pain to get to, which is what you want in the link to bypassing your video security doorbell, right?
At this point, you can stick down the power stabilizer and put the cover back on the chime unit. This was the second hardest part to me, because while it’s the size of a book of matches, there isn’t a lot of spare space inside that chime box, and you have to allow the chimes to vibrate, so nothing can touch them.
Once it’s all installed, you can go into the settings and set the notification preferences, sounds, etc. You can also install it on the phones of your housemates, so that they can participate in the joy of remote door answerage. This is left as a challenge to the installer and their communication skill, as well as the depth of commitment in the earlier mentioned long-term domestic partnership…
So, the doorbell was installed, I freaked the dog out sufficiently by ringing the bell and talking to him through the SmartCam, and felt pretty good about it. Having previously been notified from test security camera systems by every single car that passed on the street, I was happy that there are multiple activity areas that can be set up, and thus am spared my neighbors leaving for work at 4 AM causing my alert to activate. The next day at work, however, I got an alert to a human activity at the door. I pulled up the SmartHome software and activated the live view, just in time to watch the UPS truck drive off.
The video record of the delivery showed the entire process, with the delivery person walking up while talking on their phone, placing the boxes on the porch, and trudging off through the leaves back to their truck. I now enjoy hearing that alert, knowing that something has been dropped off. Should a second alert sound, I can immediately check to see if it’s a second delivery, someone wanting to rake my yard, or someone snooping around my deliveries. And I can speak to them, just like Jane and George or the kids, and they don’t know if I’m inside or at Spacely Industries.
Now, about those flying cars….
Performance
I found that the performance is very fast. While raking the leaves last weekend, I finally had to turn off notifications before being vibrated to death. I have been in a neighbor’s yard, showing them the system, and could scream and activate the “human detection” signal. That’s pretty cool.
Positives
Much easier to do install and use than to read directions about
Everything is provided and explained in detail
Software is friendly, has many options, and works as expected
Negatives
There is a registration and on-going fee for video storage. Granted, this is fast becoming an expected thing, but it’s just one more “only $5 a month” service.
Once it was installed and I got a few notices at work, I found it fits into my lifestyle very easily. I get a message on my Apple Watch, check the video, and make sure it’s something I am expecting or need to handle, all without disengaging from a customer on the phone. If my Lovely Bride calls to ask, I am ready to let her know, after checking our expected deliveries and the doorbell video. I’m actually looking forward to salespeople coming by this spring, just so I can turn them away!
Oh, and one last fun thing. You start to really wonder about the attitude of delivery folks. I’ll leave these videos right here without further comment.
Price: $249.99 Where to buy: Amazon Source: The sample of this product was provided by Wisenet.
Kuna has recently announced a follow-on to their Smart Security Light (that I reviewed a few years ago), the Maximus Floodlight Camera. The new Maximus Floodlight Camera can detect motion in a 270-degree arch within a 70-foot range. It has 2400-lumen floodlights (5000K color temp) and a 1080p HD security camera (H264) built into its housing. Like their Smart Security Light, the Kuna Floodlight will have Push-to-Talk, Play Pre-Recorded messages, set Automated Greetings, and sound 100dBA alarm, all via the Kuna smart app. The floodlights can be activated by motion, dusk till dawn mode, via the smart app, and by voice courteous of Alexa. Sadly we’ll have to be patient, the Kuna Maximus Floodlight won’t be available till the summer of 2018. No price as of yet but will be available in black and white.
Would you believe me if I told you that you can have a home security camera that is priced at only $19.99 per camera AND there are no monthly subscription or cloud storage fees required? Yes, I’m serious. Let’s check out WyzeCam.
What is it?
WyzeCam is a small 1080p home security camera that’s crazy inexpensive but still has all the features of the big guys like Nest and even some features they don’t have, all for only $20 per camera.
What’s in the box?
WyzeCam
Steel disk w/3M adhesive
USB cable (5.5-foot in length)
AC adapter
Hardware specs
2.8mm focal length
110 degrees wide angle lens
1920 x 1080 resolution
8x digital zoom
10fps recording
Night vision
2-way audio
Design and features
The WyzeCam is a small 2-inch white plastic cube with a grey base and a camera lens and IR sensor on the front.
On the back of the camera is a speaker, a Type A USB connector, and a micro USB connector.
In a standard setup, you would connect the included micro USB cable into the micro USB port on the camera and then connect the other end into the included AC adapter. The Type A USB connector allows you to daisy chain the cameras so that they can share one power connection. To do this, you would connect one WyzeCam the standard way and then connect the included USB cable with a 2nd WyzeCam into the back of the first WyzeCam.
The base of the WyzeCam has a QR code that is used during setup.
The base unfolds so that you can customize the viewing angle of the camera.
The base of the WyzeCam is magnetic, so you can attach the camera to any steel surface or you can use the included disk to mount the WyzeCam on a wall.
When you unfold the base, it also reveals the micro SD card slot that you’ll use if you want the camera to capture video 24/7. Note that you have to supply your own micro SD card. There’s also a button on the bottom of the camera that is used during the setup procedure.
Setup
The Wyze camera is one of the easiest security cameras that I’ve ever installed. All you do is install the mobile app, add a camera, power up the camera, and follow the screen and voice prompts. I had the first camera up and running within 2 minutes which I think is a record. Adding additional cameras is just as easy.
The WyzeCam app is similar to most other security camera apps. It gives you the ability to see a live view of the camera and customize settings.
The WyzeCam can notify you via your phone when it detects motion, sound, and even a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm in your home.
This camera can also record motion detection clips locally on a micro SD card (not included), or you can set it to continuously record to the card.
When motion is detected, the camera will save a short clip to the cloud which you can view through the app from anywhere in the world. These clips are saved for 14 days on the WzyCam servers and you’re not charged anything for that service.
The camera’s image quality is very good, as is the viewing angle.
You can record action manually or snap an image by clicking the onscreen buttons in the live view window. You can also listen in on what is happening and have a two-way conversation using the built-in microphone and speaker.
However, night vision is a little fuzzy compared to other security cameras that I’ve tested. but it’s not bad enough to be a deal breaker.
In addition to watching a live stream from the cameras from a remote location, you can also watch past events if you insert a micro SD card into the camera. The WyzeCam even has a time-lapse feature that you can use to condense an entire day down to a few minutes. This is a feature that you have to schedule and you can only view the time lapse when you’re on the same network as the camera.
Time-lapse video example
What I like
There’s not much that I don’t like about this camera. It’s small, the price is affordable for anyone, it has good image quality, alerts you when it detects motion, sound, smoke alarms, CO alarms, provides two-way conversation feature, and is simple to set up.
What needs improvement
There are only two main things that stand out for me that Wyze needs to improve. One is that the application is a little flakey. When I launch the app, 7 times out of 10, it will freeze or not connect to the camera until I kill the app and restart it.
The other improvement that I’d like to see is with motion detection. Sensitivity even when set to the lowest setting is pretty high resulting in motion alerts for things like tree limbs moving or shadows from the sun. I would also like to see a motion trigger zone feature.
And one more that really isn’t an improvement as much as it’s a wish… It would be great if they come out with a water and weather-resistant camera for outdoor use.
Final thoughts
WyzeCam security cameras are an inexpensive way to outfit your home with live streaming cameras that will alert you to motion, sound, smoke, and CO alarms. For only $20 a camera, it’s an obvious choice to go with WyzeCam over other security camera brands that cost 10x as much and lock you into a monthly fee to use their cloud services.
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Wyze. Please visit their site for more info. Amazon also sells them, but for some reason, they are more expensive than buying them right through Wyze.
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