There are plenty of easy-to-use security cameras in the market that are easily mountable anywhere, providing feed to your smartphone. But options become fewer when you start delving into tech details. Recently, we had the KENT HomeCam Wi-Fi PT for review and it gets a few things right.
Setting it up
Out of the box, what you get is the camera, a charging brick and a USB cable of a modest length. The camera can either be placed on a flat surface or mounted to the wall. It’s the kind of device that apartments and small business establishments look for because of the ease of use. A small pharmacy can have one or two of these devices to cover the entire establishment. Or having a few of these spread across the apartment makes sense.
Setting it up is supposed to be easy but there are complications. Once you scan the QR code using the Kent CamEye app and then the machine scans the QR code that appears on the app, Wi-Fi is needed. We had to switch between three Wi-Fi networks before the machine latched on to one and that too to a network it had refused earlier. Plus, it took quite a few minutes to complete the initial process. Once connected, the machine worked smoothly during the six-day review period.
Working around the app
Once the camera is up and running, the app does a good job. Users can select video quality, switching between 360p, 720p and 1080p. It can made to rotate 360 degrees while night vision works automatically (can also be manually switched on) up to 10-odd metres during which six infrared LEDs take over.
Footage can be recorded continuously or event-based to the Cloud (monthly plans vary from Rs 150 to Rs 400) or a micro SD card. Cloud access is free for a few days and we restricted our review to micro SD card (128GB). Setting video to high quality will get you 14 days of footage on the card, video quality set to medium offers 21 days and low can record up to 60 days. There is the option to turn off audio recording.
Some of the features we liked include marking activity zones for alerts. Once you mark an activity zone, if there is motion in that area, an alert is generated and you get an alert on the phone. Motion detection sensitivity can be set to low, medium and high. There is also the option to set a default position, so each time the camera can be automatically brought to that point. Recordings can be made with or without timestamp.
The motion detection and human detection features work well and video snippets of seconds before and after the event are offered. Two other interesting features are home/away assist and camera sharing. With the former you can make the camera stop recording as soon as, say, you reach home. And camera sharing lets you offer access to family members to live streaming, video playback or view alerts (access can be varied). The device is also compatible with Alexa Echo Show and installation is easy.
Should you get it?
There are plenty of options in the market, like Qubo Smart Cam 360, Mi Home Security Camera 360 and Realme Smart Cam 360. The device in question does most of the things well except the Wi-Fi set-up. Otherwise, KENT HomeCam Wi-Fi PT is an effective device to have around. You can strategically place it without having to worry too much about wiring.
At a glance
Kent CamEye app allows access to footage from the security camera
Device: KENT HomeCam Wi-Fi PT
Price: Rs 2,999
High notes
• Video quality is good
• Motion and human detection features work well
• Activity zones for alerts can be marked out
Muffled notes
• Wi-Fi set up takes time and several attempts