REVIEW – Home security is all the rage today. Yi, maker of the Yi Home Camera 3 standalone security camera is jumping into the full system fray with their Kami product.

What is it?

Kami is a modular do-it-yourself home security system.  I was sent the base system that includes the base station, three entry sensors and a motion sensor as well as their wireless HD camera.

What’s in the box?

More correctly, what’s in the boxes – there were seven in total.

Box 1 – base station

• Base station
• USB power adapter
• USB power cord with Ethernet adapter
• Ethernet cable
• Wall mounting kit
• Instruction guide

Boxes 2,3,4 – entry sensors

• Three identical boxes that contain:
  • Entry sensor base (larger)
  • Entry sensor remote (smaller) with adhesive pad attached
  • Adhesive strips for base
  • Base mounting screws
  • Reset pin (not pictured because it’s under that square cardboard piece – doh!)
  • Installation guide

Box 5 – motion sensor

• Motion sensor
• Adhesive circle
• Battery
• Reset pin (pictured this time!)
• Installation guide

Box 6 – another base station

• Exactly like box 1
• Can be used to set up different zones with different home/away or schedule profiles

Box 7 – wire-free camera

• Wire-free camera
• Magnet base
• Rechargeable battery
• Mounting plate
• Mounting screws
• Emergency number magnet
• 2 x Kami video surveillance warning stickers
• Welcome guide
• Installation guide

Box 8 – wire-free camera battery charger plus a spare battery

• Battery
• Charger
• USB power adapter
• USB cord

Hardware specs

Base system

1x Kami Smart Security Base Station:
Wired Network: RJ45
Wireless Connection: 2.4GHZ Wi-Fi
Operating Temperature: 0-45° Degree Celsius / 40°-115° Fahrenheit
Power input: DC 5V/1A

3 x Kami Entry Sensor:
Battery Type: CR2450
Operating Temperature: 0-45° Degrees Celsius / 40°-115° Fahrenheit

1x Kami Motion Sensor:
Battery Type: CR2450
Operating Temperature: 0-45° Degrees Celsius / 40°-115° Fahrenheit

Wire-free camera system

1 x Kami Wire-Free Camera:
Infrared night vision: 18 feet
Camera viewing angle: 113° degrees (H), 59° degrees (V), 140° degrees (D)
Video specification: 1080P / 20fps
Operating temperature: 14-122 Degrees Fahrenheit

1x Kami Smart Security Base Station:
Wireless connection: 2.4GHZ Wi-Fi
Operating temperature: 32-113 Fahrenheit

2 x Battery:
Rated capacity: 1600mAh/11.84Wh

1 x Battery charger:
Rated power: 9W

Design and features

The Kami system is designed to be modular – you add what you need for your specific installation.  Let’s take a  look into the setup.

Setup

Base station

The first thing to do is to download the IOS or Android Kami Home app from the appropriate store.  Once installed, set up a Kami Home account.  This is where I ran into an issue.  As a Yi Home camera user, it turns out that the Yi Home and Kami Home accounts are the same things.  So, I simply logged into Kami Home with my Yi Home credentials.

Now, to get a base station installed. The base station must be plugged into a router.  Luckily, I had a couple of ports available on one of my eero remotes.

Design flaw here:

The Ethernet adapter/power cord combo plugs into the end of the USB power puck, creating a two-inch-long monster that is impossible to hide behind furniture without moving said piece quite a distance from the wall.

To start the setup, choose what it is you are installing.

After getting everything plugged in, Yi’s usual, excellent, voice prompts from the device lead you through pairing.  In the app, I chose to add a base station.  The app found the base station immediately and paired as expected.

The base station is very small.  Here it is sitting on top on my eero router.

Entry sensor

Again, set up is pretty simple.  Choose to add an entry sensor in the app, and the app leads you. Open it up, install the battery – battery orientation is pictured in the app, place it near the base station and scan the QR code inside the cover.  Then the app prompts you to push the reset button with the included reset pin. There is a little green light to the left of the reset hole.  Once flashing, confirm that in the app and the base station reports verbally that the sensor is paired.

The app shows devices as they are added.

And, the app provides mounting instructions:

That last item – align with the mark – refers to marks on the two parts of the sensor that need to be matched up.

Motion sensor

Setup for the motion sensor followed the same steps as the entry sensor.

Start by twisting the back off.  I couldn’t do it.  Then, I saw the lock indicator.

After I twisted it to the unlock position, the back came off easily.

Here is a view of the green LED I mentioned above that flashes after hitting the reset button, indicating it is ready for pairing.

Each device confirms when it pairs.

You can set a location tag for each device.

Camera

Camera set up is essentially the same as the other devices. Pop off the back to access the door lock for the battery compartment.

Swinging open the door, we find the battery compartment.

The battery drops in and immediately powers up the camera.  Its voice prompt tells you it is powered up.

After closing the unit and placing it on the base for stability, place it by the base station, press the main button on top and the app leads you through automatic pairing.  Both the camera and base station’s voice prompts report that the pairing is complete.

One note – the camera is an indoor/outdoor camera, so you can use this to monitor your outdoor spaces.

Battery charger

There is no setup for the battery charger – just plug it in and pop in a battery to charge.  Four LEDs report charging progress.

Performance

After installing an entry sensor, I moved the entry sensor parts apart and back together to test operation.

The app recorded each event.  When the system was in away mode, the base station started audibly alarming minutes before I received an alert in the app.  Eventually, I got an alert and was able to see the alert and silence the alarm.

I also tested the motion sensor.  It picked up motion successfully, but looks like they sent an old battery!

After adding the camera, it produced good quality video and images.

The camera does not have an SD card slot, meaning that you cannot save any video without subscribing to the Kami Cloud recording service.  Pricing runs from $66 to $199 annually depending on how long the videos are saved and whether it records full-time or only motion activated recording.

There are two modes, home, where alarms are silenced and away, where alerts trigger the base station alarm and app notifications, To change to/from home and away mode,  you slide the icon to the right to activate away mode and to the left to activate home mode.

After just a few days, the battery in the camera died.  I was surprised how quickly it died, but it probably really wasn’t fully charged.  Still, there was no notification from the app.  If there was from the camera, it happened at night or when I wasn’t home, so there was no way to know.  I only discovered it when I looked in the app and saw the camera was offline. Speaking of notifications, the app seemed to regularly sleep and notifications from motion would only come in sporadically, and then, in groups.

Finally, after the battery died in the camera, I expected to drop in the other battery and be back in business. Nope. I put in the battery and got the verbal welcome message. I checked the app, expecting to see the camera back online. Nope. The camera didn’t come back online after I put in the battery.  I tried it multiple times with the camera right next to the hub.  Nothing.  I finally deleted the camera from the Kami hub and went through the pairing process again.  Still nothing.  I followed the procedures in the app exactly as I did for the initial pairing and I could never get the camera to pair again.

What I like

• Simple set up
• A comprehensive set of sensors for a reasonable price
• Good quality camera

What needs to be improved

• The alarm is somewhat quiet
• Phone alerts are slow and inconsistent
• The entire system is in home or away mode – no mode for home, but still armed, like a night sleep mode
• No SD card in the wire-free camera, so no recording without paying to subscribe
• Wire-free camera wouldn’t come back online after the battery died
• No options for central monitoring – alerts are audible from the base station and in the app

Final thoughts

Overall, I am not impressed with this DIY security system.  The setup and installation are simple and the sensors and camera all work well until the battery dies.  The alerts take some time to reach your device and the only other alarm is a somewhat muted alarm at the base station.  With no options for central monitoring, it is limited to audibly alerting inside your home and on your phone. Plus, you are required to pay for cloud recording, since there is no SD card option on the camera. It is not documented in the app, but it does include six months of cloud recording.

With spotty alerts and problems when battery-powered devices lose power, I can’t really recommend this system.

Price: Base system: $99.99; Wire-free camera system: $109.99
Where to buy: Amazon – base system and wire-free camera system
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Yi Technology.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Home Security

Kami home security system review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 27, 2019 at 11:00 am.

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REVIEW – The Quick Shelf Safe, sold by the Home Security Superstore, is a wooden shelf with an RFID activated locking mechanism which grants access to a small hidden storage area within the shelf useful for hiding valuables, important documents, or firearms. The shelf, priced a bit high at $233.97, is well-built, stealthy, and useful, but it does have a few design shortcomings.

What is it?

The Quick Safe Shelf is a wooden shelf about 19″ long, 6.5″ wide and 1.75″ deep. To the uninformed, the shelf looks like a normal wall decoration, but with the use of pre-programmed RFID keys and a hidden battery-powered locking mechanism, the shelf opens up to reveal a small storage area. When the shelf is closed, one assumes the bottom portion, which contains the hidden storage area, is made of solid wood.

The Quick Shelf Safe arrives in a sturdy box featuring a picture of a family enjoying a happy moment while comforted by the knowledge that they’re able to safely store their valuables and firearm right out in the open with no one the wiser.

What’s in the box?

• The Quick Safe Shelf
•  Four RFID keys
  • One key fob
  • One small round tab
  • Two key cards
• External battery pack
• Mounting screws
• Instruction manual

Design and features

The shelf itself is pretty unassuming. For my review, I chose the unfinished version of the shelf. The shelf is also available in Walnut, Black, and Grey. The seller includes a small removable sticker to indicate where on the shelf the RFID key needs to be placed in order to activate the locking mechanism.

The internal locking mechanism is powered by four AA batteries, which are included. In the eventuality that the internal batteries fail, an external battery pack is included to power the unit and unlock the shelf in order to replace the internal batteries.

Two plastic anchors and four mounting screws are included for mounting your Quick Shelf to the wall.

Four RFID keys are supplied to unlock your shelf. There are two credit card sized plastic keys, one small round plastic tab, and one key fob. Any of these keys will open the RFID-enabled lock.

The key fob is the most convenient to use and it looks like a typical car alarm fob.

To unlock the shelf, simply pass any of the keys across the top of the shelf near where the internal RFID reader is located, indicated on my shelf by a removable sticker.

A small blue LED will flash and a loud electronic unlocking tone will play. I question the logic of the loud tone unlocking though. If this is being marketed as a stealthy way to store my firearm and if in some scenario I am retrieving my firearm in the middle of the night to, let’s say fend off a home invader, wouldn’t I want my shelf to open as quietly as possible? Unfortunately, there’s no option available to disable the sound.

After the locking mechanism disengages, the shelf opens slightly. I was a bit disappointed here because, again, I’m imagining some scenario where I would need quick access to a hidden firearm, like say zombies are crawling in through my windows and are about to overtake my old blind cat, Chino. In this case, I would want my Quick Shelf Safe to “quickly” pop open and give me access to my firearm so I can dispatch said zombies and rescue my kitty. Unfortunately for Chino, the few extra seconds I will need to open the shelf after it unlocks may spell his doom.

The problem is this little spring-loaded piston. It’s too small and not under enough tension to push the shelf open quickly. A few seconds after unlocking the shelf, the locking mechanism will automatically reengage if you haven’t opened it fully. So the piston serves only to push the shelf open just enough so the locking mechanism doesn’t reengage. The housing for the piston also holds the pin that the locking mechanism latch bolt engages to keep the shelf locked and secure.

The interior of the shelf is spacious enough to store a moderately sized firearm along with some smaller valuables or cash. The locking mechanism itself takes up a good portion of the storage space, so larger items need to be placed to the right of the mechanism. There’s a patterned rubber mat that lies loose on the inside the shelf.

The mat is spongy rubber and seems to be there to keep your items from sliding around, but it isn’t secured to the bottom of the shelf at all, so the mat itself slides around. A few drops of hot glue on the corners could’ve fixed this easily.

Despite the unsecured mat, craftsmanship of the shelf is impressive and the internal adjustable brackets are firmly attached. Adjusting these brackets allow you to set how far down you want the shelf to open when unlocked. There are two pre-drilled holes in the back of the shelf for mounting.

The internal battery pack, locking mechanism, and RFID reader are attached to the inner top of the shelf. When a RFID key is place over the reader, the locking mechanism retracts a small latch bolt away from the holding pin and the shelf unlocks. As I mentioned before, after a few seconds, the latch bolt automatically extends so the shelf can be closed and locked.

The battery compartment is held closed with a small Phillips-head screw. I had to use a very short full-sized Phillips-head screwdriver to open the compartment because of the tight confines of the shelf interior. The included batteries are said to be good for 3000 activations. If the batteries do fail for some reason, the external battery pack will save you from having to take a hatchet to your expensive new shelf.

Two red and black power wires extend from the battery compartment to a small hole on the bottom of the shelf.

The wires are hotglued to hole and on the other side of the shelf you can see that they are attached to a small power port. The external battery pack (batteries not included) plugs into this port to provide power to locking mechanism allowing you to open the shelf. I’d advise keeping this battery pack and one of the RFID cards in a safe place, other than the Quick Safe Shelf obviously.

The overall aesthetics of the shelf are pleasing and not so ornate that they would draw attention.

The woodworking craftsmanship is good quality for a mass produced item. All of the gaps, seams, and corners are tight and the hinges work as they should.

Performance

I test mounted the shelf in my garage since I plan on painting it and mounting it in my apartment later on. I used the supplied plastic anchors and four mounting screws. I drove two mounting screws through the pre-drilled holes into the anchors and used the two extra screws to add support by driving them through the back of the shelf as well.

Once mounted, the shelf functioned as advertised, but even with all four screws properly positioned, the shelf did not feel 100% sturdy hanging empty on the wall. When I engaged the lock and pulled the shelf down to open, I could see the bottom edge of the shelf pushing back against the wall as the lower half opened. The more times I opened the shelf, the less sturdy it felt. I worry about the weight bearing capability of this shelf being secured into a wall with four screws on such a narrow plane. If I do install this in my apartment, I plan on adding two L-shaped brackets to the top of the shelf to add support.

Because of the lack of stability after mounting the shelf, I do question the safety of using this shelf to store firearms. It became clear to me that if someone did suspect this shelf contained valuables or a firearm, they could simple rip it off the wall and break it open. Due to this security hole, I take issue with naming this item a “safe” and advertising it primarily as a way to store firearms. Gun safes are usually very secure, and utilize many different means for thwarting access to their contents. If firearms are secured in this shelf, the owner should most definitely employ other means of gun safety and security.

What I like

• Nice appearance of a normal shelf
• Shelf hardware and wood craftsmanship are of good quality
• Cool way to hide valuables

What needs to be improved

• Shelf does not spring open after unlocking, has to be opened by hand after unlocked
• Loud electronic sound during unlocking sequence
• Does not feel sturdy on wall while opening
• Shouldn’t be referred to as a safe since it isn’t 100% secure

Final thoughts

Quick Shelf Safe, sold by the Home Security Superstore, is an interesting way to secure some valuables and possibly a firearm. The shelf is a bit expensive for what it is, and it shouldn’t be referred to, or thought of, as a safe in the traditional sense since it can easily be pulled off of a wall and broken into. Also, since it isn’t as secure as a true gun safe, any firearms stored in this shelf should have additional trigger locks or other security. It does works well as a place to hide non-lethal items that you wouldn’t want people to find. Additionally, I do have some concerns about the weight-bearing sturdiness of the shelf once mounted on the wall using the included hardware.

Price: $233.97
Where to buy: Home Security Superstore
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Home Security Superstore.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Home Security

Quick Shelf Safe review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 26, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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