I tested with an AT&T iPhone 4 and the app worked flawlessly. That is a feature unique to the Dropcam HD. There's a microphone on the camera so you can listen to what you see, but no speaker, so there's no talking back to whoever you're spying on. Even in what humans would think is pure inky blackness, the lens can witness plenty. The 750n camera, like the outdoor-focused 750e and competitor Dropcam HD, sees very well in the dark. $79.95), which is much cheaper than adding new 700n cameras to Logitech Alert. In comparison, the Dropcam HD features great motion capture, but doesn't have a fast forward for playback the Avaak VueZone System ($199.95, 4 stars) includes a motion detection camera, but when you buy additional cameras you pay a bit extra to get a camera with motion detection built in ($99.95 vs. Fortunately, you can fast forward at up to 8x speed if there's a lot to see. You can also sit and watch the real-time video feed, or use Playback mode to skip through to the captured sections whenever motion was detected. In this case, only motion video is captured, which saves on disk space. You can also set up zones of view to monitor for motion, so you don't get an alert just because a ceiling fan is spinning. Luckily, you can throttle down both the sensitivity and the timing, so you're not inundated with messages. However, it's only 960-by-720-pixel video running at 15 frames per second-not exactly full motion, but sufficient nonetheless.Įmail alerts can be sent by the software whenever motion is detected. Playback is very good, with no buffering problems. (Additional interior cameras, Alert 700n models, identical to the 750n but sans the dongle for your router are $229.99 each.)The video you record from each camera is stored locally on the camera or your hard drive. You can control up to six Alert cameras at a time. You can also manage the entire system this way, or even share clips and control multiple sites that have the Alert software installed.įeatures and PerformanceThe heart of the system is the Logitech Alert Commander software, which runs on a Windows system on your network. However, you can subscribe to the optional Logitech Web and Mobile Commander service for $80 a year to watch recorded video on your phone or a remote PC. If you're mobile, using an Android, iOS, or BlackBerry device, real-time viewing is always free with an app download, but that's it. You could pay for the Logitech Alert cameras and that's it-local DVR recordings cost you nothing. The only free option for cloud storage with Logitech Alert is to follow Logitech's directions to backup video to DropBox. You can specify in the Alert Commander software how much disk space to use.Īll of this is in contrast to the Wi-Fi-based Dropcam HD ($149 direct, 4 stars), which stores all video data in the cloud. If you go over the 2GB on the camera, you can use your PC's hard drive for additional storage. The company also claims a free Dropbox account, with 2GB of free online storage, could also hold a week's worth of data from one camera. According to Logitech, that's enough for one week of recordings in a typical home. In a nice touch, each Alert camera has a microSD card inside which stores up to 2GB of video. (You can turn them off for added stealth.) Both sport an array of LEDs to provide insight on network traffic. The HomePlug adapter for each camera is almost the same size. But the wide-angle lens easily encompasses an entire room's width, so this isn't a huge problem. If you don't mount it or suction it to a window, it sits in a cradle that doesn't allow position adjustment-there's no tilt, for example. The Alert camera is somewhat bulky, measuring 2.8 by 4.4 by 1.8 inches (HWD). So make sure your home router also has a spare outlet nearby. Note: You also need to connect your router to the power lines, for the camera to be seen by computers as well as for any Internet functions (like watching live video on a mobile phone).
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