SimpliSafe wireless outdoor camera
RRP $ 170.00
"The SimpliSafe outdoor surveillance camera is a long-awaited, but slightly flawed addition to the product range."
advantages
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Great video quality
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Impressive display in night mode
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Responsive motion detection with activity zone adjustments
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Support from Alexa and Google Assistant
disadvantage
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Unreliable live view and buggy app
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No standalone options (starter kit required)
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Expensive if all you want is a camera
Smart outdoor security requires multiple levels of ingenuity and protection, as Mother Nature, UV rays, and other suburban and urban variables are forces that indoor technology just doesn't (for the most part) have to deal with. Fortunately, many smart brands are beyond that and offer bespoke home security products in the form of cameras, floodlights and video doorbells for your garden, patio or outdoor area.
SimpliSafe, a leader in the smart security market, has long offered a variety of home security technologies that encompass almost every element of a comprehensive surveillance system, from cameras and smoke detectors to temperature and glass break sensors. One area in which the company lagged (a little) behind the competition was in outdoor products – but no more.
The new SimpliSafe wireless surveillance camera for outdoors is the company's first dedicated outdoor offering, a relatively small camera that we were happy to test.
Unpack and set up
If you're looking for an outdoor camera that you can buy cheaply, pair it with your WiFi, download an app and get started right away, the SimpliSafe way may not be for you. To use the SimpliSafe wireless outdoor camera, you need to buy one of the SimpliSafe starter kits. Know that even the simplest starter kit (with the add-on for the outdoor camera) costs around $ 250. Compared to competing outdoor cameras like the Nest Cam ($ 180) and the Ring Spotlight Camera ($ 199), if SimpliSafe is the brand of your choice, you'll invest a little more from the start.
For my setup, I decided on the bare essentials – a base station, a keyboard and the wireless outdoor camera. Activating my system and getting it online was quick and painless. All you really have to do is download the SimpliSafe app and follow the on-screen instructions to configure a system for the first time.
Once your base station is live, adding the outdoor camera is easy too. Just tap the hamburger drop-down menu in the top left corner of the home screen, select Set up your camera, and follow the on-screen instructions. A wise word is that you should allow a reasonable amount of time to actually charge the battery of your outdoor camera (SimpliSafe recommends five hours for a full juice charge).
draft
From an aesthetic point of view, I love the look and feel of the outdoor camera. If you keep it simple, you can tell that it is a sturdy piece of hardware. The outdoor camera is an IP 65 certified device that withstands heavy rain, snow and wind and offers comprehensive protection against dirt, debris and insects. You don't have to worry about the temperature either, as the outdoor camera can withstand temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius and temperatures as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
The 140 degree lens offers an impressive view.
Visually, the cream-colored housing and black lens housing blend in pretty well with most outdoor decorations. During the installation and assembly of my grandmother's Blink outdoor camera, sayings filled up as I kept trying to snap the camera housing into the bracket lock. So you can imagine how much I loved SimpliSafe's super simple magnetized mount. Just two screws in the vinyl siding and you can put the camera on.
Quality and performance
The wireless outdoor camera handles up to full 1080p recordings and live views, with options to scale down to 720p or 480p (both of which put less strain on your internet connection). Real-time recordings and event clips look great. The images I experienced were bright and clear, with super-accurate colors and contrasts – I suspect that's because of the camera's built-in HDR support.
The 140-degree lens also offers an impressive view. From the porch of my apartment on the second floor, the camera captured a near-perfect wide-angle view of the entire parking lot and the building across the street – with little to no pixelation. When a person came into view, the camera followed their every move with minimal delay.
While the camera lens lacks an optical zoom, you get an 8x digital push-in to snap into place distant people or objects. To use this function, all you have to do is start the live view of the camera, tap and drag on the image with two fingers. The results are useful, but not surprising. Similar to the zoomed-in quality you can get from a simple point-and-shoot camera, pixelation and distortion appear pretty quickly, but key shapes and colors remain intact.
Full 8x digital zoom with the outside camera.
Such a feature may not help authorities too far in figuring out what a distant culprit looks like, but it is still useful for identifying the make and model of a car parked across the street, for example.
One of my favorite functions of the outdoor camera is the ability to choose between two different night vision experiences. Standard is the default setting (better battery life) and displays images up to 9 m away in black and white. Then there's Spotlight (harder on the battery), a mode that balances the camera's built-in spotlight and HDR to display a colored night view up to 10 feet away.
Battery life
As mentioned earlier, allow around five hours to fully charge the outdoor camera battery for the first time. Depending on which settings you have on your Outdoor camera, SimpliSafe promises between three and six months of battery life before a charge is required.
software
The SimpliSafe app (for iOS and Android devices) is a feature-rich controller for your entire SimpliSafe suite and a great (but not perfect) way to access, control, and customize your outdoor camera. We've already covered the finer details of the app, so for this review we'll just focus on what it brings to the camera experience.
When you start the app, a static image from each of your SimpliSafe camera feeds will be displayed on the home screen. Tapping the Watch Live icon will take you to a real-time view of what your camera is seeing. In live mode, you can pull out to digitally zoom, start two-way audio chat, and record video clips. Once you are done recording, you can save the clip to your phone or share it with others via SMS or certain social media platforms. There's also a button to jump to the timeline that takes you to the log of the app's motion-triggered event clips.
The motion event log can also be accessed from the home screen (just tap the timeline in the bottom right). Each recording has its own drop-down box that tells you when the event was recorded and how long it lasted, along with the option to play the video. If you have started recordings yourself via the “Watch Live” screen, these will also be logged here (referred to as “User Recordings”).
Tapping the gear icon in the top right corner of the home screen will take you to the camera settings. Here you can, for example, change the name of your camera, adjust the image quality, choose between night vision modes, switch microphone, audio and sirens on and off and much more.
Another field that has some customization options is motion detection. Tapping this option takes you to a separate motion detection menu where you can set the motion sensitivity and choose whether you want the camera to detect people only or all movement (a handy setting for busy housing developments like my own). Then there's my favorite add-on – a gridded Activity Zone adjuster that lets you choose which areas the camera shouldn't pay attention to.
power
One big and annoying problem I had with the app was getting one of the most basic commands to work at all – starting live view. After I tapped Watch Live, my SimpliSafe app often started buffering like it did on dial-up days. After about 30 seconds (or more) this would result in a “camera disconnected” message. I would then have to try restarting the live view or restarting the app from scratch. On average, I had to try to launch live view at least three times before it actually worked.
To troubleshoot, I even unplugged the base station and moved it to several new points in my living room, which didn't help.
Pricing and Subscriptions
Whether you want to experience the full range of SimpliSafe surveillance functions or just want your camera (s) to be able to record videos, a SimpliSafe subscription is required. There are two memberships to choose from, without a contract and can be canceled at any time for both levels.
Camera Recordings Only – Unlimited HD recordings and real-time recordings for up to five SimpliSafe cameras for 33 cents / day (about $ 10 / month).
The second stage, the interactive professional surveillance around the clock, includes police, fire brigade and ambulance around the clock, integrated cellular data support, water and temperature monitoring as well as unlimited recordings and real-time recordings for up to 10 Simplisafe cameras. It costs 83 cents / day (about $ 25 / month).
Our opinion
If you're looking for a standalone outdoor camera that you can clamp on a bracket, couple to your network and access via a mobile app, the SimpliSafe wireless outdoor camera does most of these things well – except that it's system inclusive.
If you already own a SimpliSafe system and want an outdoor add-on or are building a new intelligent security suite, the wireless outdoor camera is one component that you will likely want to add. Yes, there can be problems every now and then, and some of the touted features (like 8x digital zoom) aren't as good as you'd think, but it's a solid outdoor proposition in terms of overall quality and performance.
How long it will take?
Due to the weather resistance and temperature protection, we doubt that you will experience much of element-controlled hardware errors with the SimpliSafe wireless outdoor camera. For errors that creep in, the company offers a three-year warranty on all of its devices.
Is there a better alternative?
In terms of image quality and reliability, the Arlo Pro 4 is one of our current outdoor camera favorites, offering a 160-degree lens, lots of customization options, and advanced surveillance plans. For a budget-friendly stand-alone option, there is also the Wyze Cam Outdoor – with an IP-65 bite-sized housing with Alexa and Google Assistant support and a practical time-lapse function.
Should you buy it?
If you are a SimpliSafe fan, then yes. The wireless SimpliSafe outdoor camera is a good addition to a complete SimpliSafe system and offers a few eyes (and ears) for the world outside your walls and windows.
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