If you own an indoor security camera, there’s a fair chance you actually have it pointed outside. That’s what Nest found when surveying its customers: 30 percent were using the company’s cameras to keep an eye on the front porch from the foyer.
Outdoor cameras can be a bit of a pain to install, but Nest thinks it’s solved the problem with its new Nest Cam Outdoor. “It comes with all the features Nest indoor cam has,” Nest product manager Mehul Nariyawala told Digital Trends. That means Wi-Fi connectivity, 24/7 streaming, 1080p high-definition resolution, 130-degree views, night vision, and two-way audio. You’ll be able to yell at the neighbor kids to get off your lawn without leaving your recliner.
To make setup easier, the water-resistant camera ships with an outdoor adapter and a 25-foot cable, because the camera isn’t battery operated. It’s always on, instead of kicking to life after a motion alert. However, the motion alerts will trigger the camera to snap a picture and send you an alert. If you just buy the camera and don’t sign up for cloud storage, those are the only kind of alerts you’ll get, and you won’t be able to go back and review old footage.
Spend $10 or $30 a month for Nest Aware (10 or 30 days of cloud storage for your videos), and you’ll start getting “person alerts” later this month, with a new Nest app update. “Motion alerts are dumb,” said Nariyawala. “It doesn’t understand that a branch moving is not a relevant motion.” Person alerts are Nest’s attempt to weed out these false alarms by letting you know when it thinks it saw a person (if they were partially hidden by a bush, for example) or if they definitely saw a person.
All Nest Cam owners will be getting an app upgrade too. If you have multiple devices, they’ll all show up in one view, as will information about other Nest products, like the thermostat and smoke alarm. You’ll also be able to share access to your feed with a friend or neighbor, if you want someone to keep an eye on your home while you’re on vacation.
The outdoor version of the Nest camera is currently available for pre-order for $199 and will be out this fall.
Update 7/14/2016: Updated to correct when person alerts will be available.
Outdoor security cameras are not always practical if you live in an apartment or rental. Drilling into an exterior wall may be off-limits, while pointing a regular indoor camera through a window can create another problem once reflections start showing up after dark.
Baseus is trying to solve both issues with the new PrimeSentinel W1, a $69.99 security camera designed specifically to monitor the outdoors through glass. It mounts directly to a window without drilling and uses a 4K Starlight sensor with an F1.0 aperture for full-color monitoring during the day and at night.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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