5 tech gadgets that will beef up your home’s security

By Brandt Ranj, Insider Picks From Business Insider

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Home security has been a hot spot for gadgets even before the internet shook the industry up a decade or so ago. The market is flooded with all sorts of high-tech solutions to help keep you and your loved ones safe.

The products on this list will help monitor your home when you’re not around, and notify you instantly if something seems out of the ordinary. A majority of them are “smart” versions of products most people have as a part of their house, like a doorbell, garage door, or deadbolted lock.

Not only will these products give you data to help keep your place more secure on their own, but they’ll lower risks associated with typical problems, like how to securely let someone into your home.

Like I said, the market is flooded with home security products, and these are some of the best.

August Smart Lock
Amazon
August’s Smart Lock will make your home more secure, not by being a superior lock, but by having features that cut down on unsafe habits.

The August replaces the deadbolt side of your lock, letting you lock and unlock your door using an app, or, if you’re an iOS user, through Siri. Because it only hooks onto one side of your lock, it’s not going to do much good if a thief picks the other end, but it does have three features that can make your place more secure:

The first is that you can create virtual guest keys, giving certain people access to house on a multi-day, multi-hour, or time-of-day basis. This means you won’t have to leave your key under a mat, rock, or other location where it can be found by would-be intruders. The second is that the lock makes a smart geofence around your house, so if you leave in a hurry and can’t remember whether or not you locked the door, you don’t have to worry, it’s automatically locked. Finally, through the August app, you have a list of who entered your house at what time, so if something sketchy happens, you know who to ask first.

Reviews of this lock are pretty positive, Amazon reviewers praised its easy setup and reliability, with the main complaints being its voice activation features being iOS only.

August Smart Lock, $228.95, available at Amazon.

Vimtag P1
Amazon
I’m currently testing this camera, and my full thoughts will be on Insider Picks soon, but my interest was piqued because, in a crowded space, Vimtag seems to have made a product that people like, and has all the features I want.

The camera itself is capable of 960p HD footage with a night-vision mode, detecting motion, saving footage to an SD card, and letting me monitor my home through the cloud. That’s a tall order, and a far cry from black and white security cameras saving crummy-looking video to a VHS tape.

The only major downside to this camera appears to be its built-in app, which is mentioned in reviews on Amazon and has a low rating on the iOS App Store. Most people who didn’t run into software trouble find the P1’s picture quality excellent, and other features working as advertised.

Vimtag PI Security Camera, $94.99, available on Amazon.

Ring Video Doorbell
Amazon
Like the August Lock, the Ring Doorbell is taking a previously “dumb” part of your home, and making it smarter and more secure.

During setup you have two options; you can hard wire the Ring into your home, or have it run on battery power. If you already have a powered doorbell, it would probably be wiser to hard wire the Ring in so you don’t have to worry about having to disassemble and charge it every few weeks.

The built-in camera automatically detects motion and can send you a notification when those sensors are triggered. Some reviewers have complained that these sensors are a little too sensitive, and only the Ring Pro model gives you granular controls over a zone’s size.

Like the August Lock, the Ring Doorbell connects to your home WiFi network, and has an accompanying app. The video taken from the doorbell’s camera can be viewed live through the Ring app, or stored in the cloud. Keep in mind Ring’s cloud service comes with an additional cost.

Ring Video Doorbell, $198.69, available at Amazon.

Chamberlain Garage Door Opener
Amazon
If you’d prefer a set of smaller, more discrete internet-connected cameras around your place, I recommend Blink.

Unlike most security cameras, Blink’s run for up to two years on two AA batteries; this gives you the freedom to put the cameras around your property without strining wires through your walls.

Blink cameras are connected to (and controlled by) an free app. The app notifies you whenever one of the engaged cameras senses motion, so you can watch what the camera is seeing in realtime.

Blink Home Security Camera System (3-pack), $229, available at Amazon

You can read my full review of Blink at link below

1byone Wireless Driveway Alert
Amazon
Compared to the other picks on this list, this motion detector set is kind of lo-fi, but will come in handy if someone tries to get into your home in the middle of the night. This set has two components: a sensor and receiver. The sensor has a range of 20 feet, and when motion is detected it’ll send a signal to a receiver plugged inside your house. The receiver will sound a chime that will alert you that motion has been detected so you can act accordingly.

The chime is user configurable with 36 different sounds and three levels of volume. The only recurring complaint I’ve seen is that the motion detector can be a little too sensitive, so you might have to pick the spot and angle the motion sensor carefully.

1byone Wireless Driveway Alert, Infrared Motion Sensor, $19.99, available at Amazon.

This article was originally published on 6/22/2016.

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suburban neighborhood street Flickr / Pink Sherbet Photography

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