Aqara Digital camera Shield Equipment Y100 overview: Entry-level dwelling safety

The Aqara Digital camera Shield Equipment Y100 bundles the corporate’s flagship Digital camera Hub G3—a Zigbee and Matter bridge—with a door and window sensor, a Movement Sensor P1, and a Vibration Sensor T1 for a strong entry-level safety system at a discount asking worth of $140 ($120 avenue).

However earlier than I get too deep into this overview, remember that Aqara doesn’t supply any skilled monitoring service, the place somebody in a central workplace displays your safety system and may dispatch first responders within the occasion of a break-in, fireplace, or medical emergency. Whereas such plans are all the time paid subscriptions, its absence right here can be a deal-breaker for some (Aqara does manufacture a Zigbee sensible smoke detector if self-monitoring is all you’re on the lookout for).

The digital camera is a pan/tilt mannequin with 340 levels of pan, 45 levels upward tilt, and 15 levels downward tilt. It has a stationary discipline of view of 110 levels. Whereas I can’t think about anybody establishing a sensible dwelling hub outdoors the home, the digital camera does boast an IP65 weatherization ranking. In keeping with our IP code information, which means it’s impervious to mud ingress and that it’s protected towards water projected in jets from any course.

Every of the bundled sensible dwelling elements comes from the manufacturing unit pre-paired to the hub, so the system works virtually instantly after you’re taking it out of the field. Matter compatibility means it may be built-in into any of the main sensible dwelling platforms, together with Alexa, Apple House (together with help for Apple’s HomeKit Safe Video), and Google House.

There’s additionally help for House Assistant, IFTTT, and SmartThings. The hub itself helps the Zigbee sensible dwelling protocol, and it connects to your property Wi-Fi community by way of both 2.4- or 5GHz spectrum (with help for WPA3).

Patrons additionally stand up to 7 days of cloud storage for video recordings, 24/7 native recording to a user-provided microSD card, and full distant entry, all with out paying for a subscription. Aqara’s optionally available HomeGuardian service gives a extra intensive set of options, together with as much as 90 days of cloud storage for video recordings.

Set up and setup

Set up was extremely easy and took lower than 5 minutes. I rotated the camera-hub’s withstand reveal the microSD card slot and inserted one among my very own (Aqara doesn’t embrace one, however the digital camera can help playing cards with capacities as much as 128GB). You need to take into account these options when looking for a microSD card for a house safety digital camera.

As soon as I plugged within the digital camera, the Aqara iOS app walked me by way of including the unit to my dwelling’s Wi-Fi community, and I used its setting to regulate the monitoring and alarm capabilities for the preconfigured House, Away, and Evening profiles.

James Barber/Foundry

Establishing the door/window sensor, vibration sensor, and movement sensor was simply as straightforward. The app gives solutions as to the place to position these units, and the batteries come preinstalled. As soon as I pulled out the plastic strips and made the batteries lively, every of the sensors was robotically added to the community.

Customers can activate or disarm any of these profiles from a pane on the app’s dwelling display. Just under that pane is the live-camera view. Scroll all the way down to see panels that show the standing of every of the equipment’s 4 units.

Actual-time utilization

The Aqara Digital camera Shield Equipment Y100 appeared excellent for a small house, so I set it up in my dwelling media room. My canine assisted within the testing, taking part in the position of intruder.

James Barber/Foundry

Over the course of a few weeks, I realized simply how a lot time he spends snoozing on my ottoman. The system alerted me every time he nudged the door open (triggering the door/window sensor), nudged a cupboard door (doing the identical with the vibration sensor), and bolted out and in of the room (because of each the digital camera and the movement sensor).

The digital camera’s 2K video recordings (encoded as MPEG4 recordsdata) have been clear when the room was lit, and its evening imaginative and prescient was equally good when the room was darkish. After I had the system in Away mode, the piercing sound triggered by the tripped sensors despatched the canine scrambling from the room.

Made for enlargement

When you have exceedingly modest home-security wants, the Aqara Digital camera Shield Equipment Y100 is perhaps all you want; most individuals, nevertheless, will wish to avail themselves of the big variety of appropriate add-on merchandise which are additionally accessible. And people expenditures can add up shortly.

Most individuals’s properties have each doorways and home windows, for instance, so if you wish to monitor a number of entry factors, you’ll must spend $30 for every further door/window sensor or $20 for every further vibration sensor. An alternate technique of safety can be to put in a movement sensor in a room with a number of home windows, however then you definately won’t be notified of a break-in till an intruder is already in the home.

James Barber/Foundry

It’s also possible to transcend fundamental dwelling safety to construct out a whole sensible dwelling system by including the Matter-compatible Aqara Good Lock U200 ($270), Aqara LED Bulb T2 shade LED sensible bulbs ($23 every), the Aqara Water Leak Sensor ($20), and/or the Aqara Local weather Sensor W100 ($40).

You can begin with the Y100 equipment and develop one sensor or complementary product at a time in the event you determine you want them. I’m positive I may cowl my total home with an added funding of $200 for added door/window and vibration sensors, whereas persevering with to depend upon my doorbell digital camera to see what’s happening outdoors.

Customers can buy a HomeGuardian subscription from throughout the app. For those who’re utilizing a single digital camera, the “restricted supply” worth is $4.99/month or $49.99/yr (marked down from $6.99/month or $83.88/yr. HomeGuardian additionally helps an infinite variety of Aqara cameras for $9.99/month or $99.99/yr (marked down from $14.99/month or $179.88/yr).

With that subscription, you get 90 days of cloud storage for event-triggered recordings (in 2K decision); plus, logs of safety occasions and digital camera recordings for a similar interval. Subscribers in North America and choose international locations in Europe will even obtain safety alerts by way of SMS and e mail. A 30-day free trial is included along with your buy.

James Barber/Foundry

One of many a number of issues I like about Aqara’s providing is that I don’t suppose I’ll ever want the HomeGuardian plan after putting in a 128GB microSD card within the digital camera (that’s the max supported capability, by the way in which). I get alerts on my cellphone when something journeys the sensors, so I don’t suppose I would like the SMS/e mail safety alerts that include that plan.

With out the automated again up of video recordings to the cloud, I’d lose the digital camera footage in a fireplace or a flood. I don’t suppose making these backups can be high of thoughts throughout that sort of catastrophe. And if a burglar steals the digital camera, I received’t have any proof of the crime to supply the police. So, having a subscription is greater than a easy matter of comfort.

Must you purchase the Aqara Digital camera Shield Equipment Y100?

Aqara has created a bundle that’s extremely straightforward to arrange and even simpler to make use of. Most customers will discover they’ll use the well-designed app with minimal and even no tweaks required. 

This overview is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the most effective DIY dwelling safety programs.

I’ve beforehand tried a Ring Alarm Professional system, and that have concerned watching lots of set up information movies at the start and ended up with what appeared like limitless tweaks to unreliable door and window sensors. The Aqara sensors have labored precisely as marketed, and the digital camera’s video high quality is great.

Aqara’s help for Apple House, Amazon Alexa, and Google House means this safety setup can develop with an proprietor’s curiosity in sensible dwelling expertise. Anybody who’s taking their first steps into dwelling safety will discover the Aqara Digital camera Shield Equipment Y100 a robust solution to begin.