Buy Vivint Camera
The camera itself was sleek, modern, and minimal in black and white, which seems to be the trend nowadays. While the base and outside of the camera were a shiny white, the face of the camera was black, square with rounded edges, with the round camera lens dead center.
buy vivint camera
With Smart Sentry, whenever the camera detected someone lurking within our property for too long, the LED ring lit up and the siren played a warning tone. Simultaneously, we got a clear thumbnail image of the person it detected sent directly to our phone, which made it easy to monitor our home.
Now, we installed the camera outside our Brooklyn apartment, facing a moderately busy street. Naturally, Smart Sentry activated a lot; one time, it activated when a man stopped to tie his shoe in front of our apartment. Luckily we were in complete control of the Smart Sentry feature.
Of course, the Outdoor Camera Pro is an outdoor camera, so it needs to be able to withstand wind, rain, sunshine, or snow. To ensure durability, we checked its IP ratings, a two-digit number that represents how susceptible an electronic object is to solids (the first digit) and liquids (the second digit).
As we said before, the camera had a speaker and microphones, which allowed for two-way audio. We could scare away intruders, say hi to our neighbor when he was walking past, or haggle with a Girl Scout over cookies, all from the comfort of the Vivint app (more on this later).
Vivint users rate the app with flying colors, with a 4.6 rating on the Apple App Store and a 4.4 rating on the Google Play store. We found it super easy to control our Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro using the app, which is an essential component of any good smart security camera.
The Nest Cam Battery is a $179.99 indoor/outdoor Nest camera and the latest camera from Google Nest, since the Nest Cam IQ Outdoor has been discontinued. For starters, it has person detection built-in, as well as facial recognition if you add a Nest Aware subscription to it. The facial recognition option instantly puts it ahead of the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro in terms of artificial intelligence, as the Vivint camera lacks facial recognition.
The kit includes a camera and a hub with 64 GB of local storage, which is necessary to the system. The system also requires a subscription to LiveSentinel, which costs $60 a month for one camera, $100 for three cameras, and $160 for six cameras. So when it comes to subscription costs, Deep Sentinel is more expensive than Vivint.
On the exterior, the Outdoor Camera Pro Gen 2 closely resembles its predecessor. The camera uses the same white enclosure, as well as an identical ball-joint mounting arm and base that give it 360 degrees of rotational freedom. The device sports an IP65 weatherproof rating and measures 2.8 by 2.8 by 5.9 inches (HWD). For comparison, the much lower-cost Wyze Cam V3 ($35.98) offers the same level of durability.
The latest iteration also retains many of the same imaging capabilities as the Gen 1 camera: Its 4K HDR sensor captures video at 1080p, offers 3X HD zoom and 10X digital zoom, and shows a 140-degree field of view. The Gen 2 also sticks with the same 85dB speaker and dual far-field microphone array for two-way audio. An LED ring encircles the lens, while infrared LEDs enable black-and-white night vision recordings out to around 40 feet. Meanwhile, the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera offers 2K recordings, 12x digital zoom, and a wider 160-degree field of view.
The Gen 2 camera doesn't work with Alexa or Google Assistant voice commands, nor does it support the Apple HomeKit or IFTTT platforms. But other devices that are part of your Vivint security system are fair game, including door locks, thermostats, and light switches.
The camera uses the same mobile app (available for Android as iOS) as every other Vivint device. It appears on the Cameras screen in a panel along with its last image capture, name, a button that toggles the Smart Deter feature, and a play arrow that launches a stream of its live view.
At the top of the video screen, there's another button that toggles the Smart Deter feature. Rewind, Locks, Talk, Photo, Light, and Events buttons reside lower on the screen. Use the Rewind button to scroll through a timeline of recordings. Tap the Locks button to lock and unlock any connected door locks. The Talk button initiates two-way audio. The Photo button takes a snapshot of the camera's current view. The Light button illuminates the Spotlight Pro (if you set one up with the camera). Finally, the Events button lets you view, download, or share video clips from a thumbnail gallery.
To set up integrations with other Vivint devices, tap the three bars in the upper left corner of the Cameras screen and select Custom Actions. Here, you can create rules for a light to turn off when the camera detects a person or for the camera to start recording when someone locks or unlocks a door (these are just a couple of examples).
In my tests, the Outdoor Camera Pro Gen 2 performed better all around than its predecessor. The motion detection feature worked more accurately, with virtually no false alerts. And I had no issues zooming into video recordings, something that didn't work on the Gen 1 camera. I saw crisp details when I zoomed into live video feeds, as well. Daytime recordings appear colorful and of high quality, while black-and-white night video looks sharp and sufficiently bright.
My neighborhood has been experiencing a wave of catalytic converter thefts recently, so I set up Smart Deter to alert me of any potential thieves between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Sure enough, I received an alert at 11:30 p.m. one evening. I ran out to see the camera's LED flashing and hear a loud whistling sound from the speakers. But, as it turns out, the camera had just detected my neighbor changing a flat tire. Nonetheless, the feature works as intended. I only wish it let me set a custom tone with voice recordings.
Integrations with other Vivint devices are seamless. A rule I created for my back door to lock when the camera detected a person worked every time. And another I set up for a light switch to turn on when the camera captured motion played out fine as well.
If you own a Vivint security system and want to keep tabs on everything that goes on outside your home, the Outdoor Camera Pro Gen 2 is a smart choice. It smoothly integrates with other Vivint devices and can even let intruders know that they are under surveillance. The camera also produces detailed, colorful 1080p recordings and offers excellent zooming capabilities. But the Outdoor Camera Pro remains expensive given that it requires professional installation and doesn't work independently or support the most popular third-party platforms. If you want a more affordable, full-featured outdoor security camera that works with the Alexa and Google Assistant platforms (for voice controls and streaming live feeds), the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera is a better bet.
Like all Vivint cameras, the Outdoor Camera Pro comes with infrared LED night vision and HD resolution. But one unique feature is its 4K image sensor, which makes it possible to zoom in up to 10 times (3 for full HD quality) and still see distinct facial features or license plate numbers. The Outdoor Camera Pro also has a 140-degree lens so even conniving burglars have trouble avoiding detection.
Vivint Systems & Services System supports up to six cameras subject to sufficient WiFi speeds. Without a Vivint services plan, product and system functionality is limited (including loss of remote connectivity). Speak to a Vivint representative at the phone number in this offer for complete equipment, services, and package details, including pricing and financing details. Products and services in Louisiana provided by Vivint Louisiana Commercial Certificate #58280. See Vivint license numbers here.
A while ago, we published a very thorough review of Vivint Smart Home system, which helps consumers understand the details of the company's professionally installed and monitored smart home security system. Our Vivint installers helped us do a deep dive into the company's system, understanding how its technology worked, how to use the devices to secure our home. Recently, the company added a new 4K HD security camera with artificial intelligence (AI) to its product line up, so we decided to test it against our current set-up and here is what we found.
Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro is an 4K high definition outdoor security camera which works with Vivint smart home system. The camera has 1080p video resolution, night vision, 140-degree field of view, two-way communication and an 85db siren built-in as well. This latest security camera comes with Smart Sentry technology, the company's new motion detection technology.
Smart Sentry allows customers to customize how long the camera should wait before alerting people that someone who is on their property should be. You can set this tracking capability to go off between one to 90 seconds through the Vivint mobile app, and also choose the area you want the camera to track.The camera can also distinguish between pets and people. This is similar technology to what's on many smart video doorbells and flood lights, but we've yet to see it on a standalone outdoor 4K HD security camera. It's a solid feature if you plan to install the camera on the outside of your house, where it's facing a highly trafficked area.
Vivint comes to install the camera, as it does all of its devices. Our installers, Bam Babalola and Enrique St. Rose took great care, and Babalola had assisted in our previous Vivint installation, so he knew our house. One nice add: every time they walked in the house, they put on their slippers to make sure not to track in any dirt. You would be surprised how many installers of smart home device or security systems don't do this.
The 4K HD camera is a wired-in device, key for sending large video files, or clips, to an app or hub. All of Vivint's cameras connect to their power source via Cat 5 cables, which are connected to "powerline converters" or PLCs via an Ethernet connection. This type of set up is different from other smart home systems that use either a battery-powered or a standard AC-powered cameras, which use a wireless signal to transmit video clips to the cloud and then your app. That kind of connection can cause a delayed response between an event occurring to when it appears on a smartphone or smart speaker assistant like Amazon Echo Show. 041b061a72