Thinking About a Home Security Camera?

Some innovative home security cameras are on the market right now that are easy to use, and even allow you to connect your smartphone to it. Men’s Journal ranked them 1-10, here are some of the top runners:

1. Netatmo Welcome (Rating = 5)

This camera has facial recognition, meaning that you can set the camera to recognize faces that are welcome and unfamiliar ones through tagging photos. Its drawbacks include not being 100% accurate all of the time, and it has a memory card so videos may not be saved if the camera was stolen or broken.

2. Canary (Rating = 7)

The Canary plugs into your phone’s audio jack and an HD video feed. It sends notifications to your smartphone when some type of noise or movement triggers it. The camera also comes with a free video plan that saves footage for 12 hours. One weakness is that the device is oversensitive to triggers and may send many notifications to your phone.

 

3. Nest Cam (Rating =7)

This camera is part of Google’s Nest smart-home line. It has a very easy set-up, two-way talk, digital zooming on the HD video from your phone. The Nest Cam isn’t overly sensitive and is pretty reliable for remote watching. It stores up to 30 days’ worth of footage.

4. Withings Home (Rating = 8)

Withings Home is a small, mug-sized camera that has a more decorative appearance than your average security camera. It has sensors for air quality, sound, and motion. It records very clear video and has an app that it connects to for changing sensitivity. The downside to this one is that watching videos older than a few days costs about $8 per month.

 

5. Piper nv (Rating = 9)

This camera has a 180 degree lens cap and takes 1080p HD video, with sensors that monitor light, temperature, sound, humidity, and motion. It has a very loud alarm that can be triggered with movements. Its data can be viewed through a smartphone app and even lets you hook it up to light switches. The camera is black and looks like a speaker, so it might not blend in as well with home decorations.