The Canary Smart Home Security camera is the latest security gadget for keeping tabs on your home when you're out and about, but is it good enough to be worth buying? We added one to our home and put it through its paces to find out.
The good
First off, considering it's just a security camera, the Canary Smart Home Security camera looks fantastic. It's a seriously nice bit of kit, with an inconspicuous design that blends into the background.
You can't pan or zoom, so you'll have to be mindful of where you place the Canary, but its 147-degree field of view is more than capable of capturing plenty of action.
It also offers up a decent quality camera, so if you need to track down people who break into your house in future, at least you'll know that the Canary can provide images and video that could make all the difference.
The Canary app is handy, elegant and works well, and it can send you alerts if activity is detected. It can keep track of multiple users at home, and use your phones to recognise and deactivate either recording or your alarm, and it also packs in multiple sensor and alarm features.
The integrated alarm is a definite boom, and if you think your mobile activity alert is genuine, you'll be able to sound the ear-splitting 90dB alarm or call the cops to take a look.
If the camera does start recording, it'll automatically upload videos straight to the cloud, keeping clips safe even if a thief steals the camera. It'll only save content to a 12-hour timeline though, and if you want to keep videos for longer you'll need a subscription - for a timeline that lasts for a couple of days and unlimited video downloads, it's $4.99 (£3) a month, with a seven day timeline available for $9.99 (£7) a month. 30 days are available for $29.99 (£20).
The bad
Our biggest gripe with the Canary is that it can be deactivated simply by cutting off the power - and you don't receive a notification when that does happen. Which means thieves can easily deactivate the camera if they do spot it.
We also found setting up the Canary to be frustrating at times- it only connects to 2.4GHz spectrums, and won't work with 5GHz bands, and quite frankly you're better off using the Ethernet port. It also won't play with the likes of Nest or IFTTT, limiting its appeal slightly. Using the app is rather simple to get set up with though, taking you through the steps easily, and instructing you when to pop in a 3.5mm cable from your phone to the Canary to make a secure connection.
The camera is pretty sensitive, and easily set off by false movements, meaning you could end up with your phone buzzing non-stop - and whether that will prove annoying or not depends on how much importance you place on piece of mind.
The bottom line
Solid, beautiful hardware, combined with an elegant app make for a compelling argument to pop the Canary Smart Home Security camera in your home for security, but annoying notifications, a somewhat frustrating set-up process and no easy way to mount it elsewhere do drag it down a bit. For peace of mind when you’re not at home, though, it’s well worth a look.
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