Amazon Links:
ecobee SmartCamera
ecobee SmartSensors
ecobee Door & Window Sensors
ecobee Smart Thermostat
Video Transcript (Sponsored by ecobee)
I’ve always thought of Ecobee as the Tesla of smart home products. Both companies are similar in that they’re all about improving everyday life while creating a more sustainable world. They both make high quality, state-of-the-art products aimed to save money and energy, and ecobee was kind enough to sponsor today’s video and let me review their new SmartCamera and SmartSensors that can turn your home into a Tesla. Sort of. Let me explain.
If you didn’t already know, Teslas have built-in cameras all around the car that will monitor the car when it’s locked, and it will automatically record footage onto a USB drive if it detects motion, and you can watch the footage back to see what was recorded. It’s like a security camera system for your car. Tesla calls this feature SentryMode, and it’s one of the most unique features of owning a Tesla.
Well, that’s basically what Ecobee’s SmartCamera and SmartSensors provide for your home especially when they’re paired with ecobee haven which is their smart home monitoring solution that eliminates the need for any keypads or complex programming.
Like all ecobee products, the SmartCamera and SmartSensors come in very nice packaging, and the setup is really simple. Starting with the SmartCamera, which is a 1080p full HD indoor camera that connects to your Wifi network and it has built-in Alexa voice control and also works with Apple HomeKit. It comes with a nice solid stand that can be used on the bottom for setting the camera on a surface or it can be put on the back if you want to mount your camera on a wall. It also comes with a mounting screw, a power cord, and a quick start guide. Just like with my ecobee smart light switch from a couple years ago, this setup is very easy as well. Just download the ecobee app and it walks you through the entire setup of the smart camera which only takes a couple of minutes. One of the best things about the SmartCamera is its 180 degree field of view which is important for home security cameras. It can easily monitor a large room and will send alerts to your phone when it detects motion. It also has a feature called Smart Focus which recognizes when a moving person enters the frame and automatically adjusts to keep the person centered as they move around. I’ve found it can be a little jumpy when it first detects and tracks a person, but once it’s locked on it does a pretty impressive job following the subject. I really love the activity zone feature which lets you specify an area of the camera frame and it will only trigger an alert if motion is detected in that specific area which I’ve never seen that feature on any other smart home camera. For example this comes in handy if I don’t want to be alerted if someone enters my office but I do want to be alerted if someone tries to get on my office computer. Another thing I really appreciate is the dedication to privacy which is always a big question mark when it comes to indoor cameras. Can you trust it? Well, ecobee says the SmartCamera has mandatory two-factor authentication, and the video is encrypted and processed onboard the device using the 8-core processor rather than in the cloud which is good for privacy and for saving bandwidth. And if you choose to allow it, the SmartCamera uses Wi-Fi and GPS to detect when family members enter or exit the home, and will automatically stop recording when they’re home. And of course, having Alexa built-in you can say your usual voice commands and it will utilize the SmartCamera’s built in microphone and speakers. It also has a two way talk feature so you can talk through the speaker from the mobile app wherever you are. The speakers are pretty loud and you can also set it to trigger a siren if motion is detected which I’ll play a sample right now with the volume lowered so it doesn’t scare you. It also has infrared LEDs for night vision which is nice, and of course the SmartSensors can be paired to the SmartCamera to create a complete home monitoring system without the need for a hub or keypad. The SmartSensors come in two varieties: one is a dual-purpose contact sensor so you’ll get automatic alerts on your phone when entry is detected through a door or window, and the motion sensors will alert you of any in-home activity that it detects when you’re away. The motion sensors are especially handy for me because it allows me to make sure that my automatic cat feeder is still feeding my cats when I’m away. If Louie misses one meal he gets a little crazy. He’s just a hungry hungry boy. The door and window SmartSensors are also very sleek and minimal, completely wireless and very easy to setup. Just scan the QR code and walkthrough the setup on the ecobee app. The door and window SmartSensors can easily be installed by sticking them to any door, window or cabinet and once you do that, the ecobee app will alert you and show you if those doors or windows are opened or closed. The motion sensors are completely wireless as well and are very small and can easily be placed on a shelf or table without being noticeable or standing out. They can detect motion in a 120 degree arc up to 16 feet away which is really nice, and if you have ecobee’s flagship product, the SmartThermostat, the motion sensors can automatically adjust the temperature based on when you leave and enter a room so you can maximize energy savings.
If you want to unlock the full potential of the ecobee SmartCamera and SmartSensors you’ll want to get ecobee haven which is their smart home monitoring subscription that allows you to get alerts, live stream, or re-play events all from the ecobee app starting at $5/month. This will give you some key features like Autopilot (no, not that Autopilot) Ecobee’s Autopilot will arm and disarm the SmartCamera and SmartSensors based on the geolocation of any member linked to your ecobee Family Account. It also fixes one of the few downsides of the SmartCamera which is the fact that without an Ecobee Haven subscription the SmartCamera doesn’t save any videos for you to replay if it detects motion so you can’t go back and view any videos from the past. However, with an ecobee haven subscription you can save and replay any automatically recorded event from your SmartCamera video feed for up to 14 days. I wish the SmartCamera came with at least video recordings up to 7 days for free like my outdoor camera system offers, but unfortunately for the Ecobee SmartCamera you’ll need the haven subscription to access any recorded videos. But ecobee does allow you to try haven out for free and you can cancel at anytime which is good. I am a big fan of the three different home monitoring modes and how easy it is to switch between them depending on your preference. Disarm obviously disarms everything, Arm Stay is for when you’re at home and it will only alert when external doors or windows are opened, and Arm Away is for when you’re away from home and it will alert you of any motion detected by any of the SmartSensors or SmartCamera. I also love the way I can respond to alerts on my phone which lets me quickly trigger the alarm if I want. Louie may not like that though. He hates loud noises.
So far I’ve been pretty impressed with the ecobee SmartCamera and SmartSensors. Like I said at the beginning, ecobee is similar to Tesla. They aren’t the cheapest options on the market, but you get what you pay for. Solid build quality, very attractive design, simple intuitive setup and interface, and at the end of the day it will give you peace of mind when you’re at or away from home. The SmartCamera is currently $179, and the SmartSensors bundle is $99 so you’re looking at about $280 for this setup that I have here plus $5 a month for the optional haven subscription which is all probably worth it for people who want a high quality smart home monitoring system that also takes privacy seriously which is always important. What do you think of the ecobee smart camera and smart sensors? I will link to these in the description below if you want to check them out for yourself. Be sure to subscribe for more tech videos in the future. My name is Andy. Thank you for watching, and I’ll talk to you in the next one.