office alarm systems
If you live in a small apartment and want to keep tabs on things when you're not home, a security camera can get the job done for a lot less money than what you'll pay for a full security system. Nearly all standalone security cameras connect to your home's Wi Fi so you can see what's going on from your phone or tablet, and most have built in sensors that detect motion and
sound and will send push and email notifications when those sensors are triggered. You can usually tweak the camera's motion sensitivity to prevent false alarms due to pet activity or passing cars if the camera is near a window, and you can create a schedule that turns the sensors on and off during certain hours of the day. A smart lock is typically part of a robust smart home security setup, but you don't have to invest in a full blown system to use one. If you're using a home
automation hub to control things like lighting and thermostats, you can add a Z Wave or Zigbee smart lock to the system without much effort. For example, you can create rules to have the lights turn on when motion is detected, have your doors unlock when a smoke alarm goes off, and have a camera begin recording when a sensor is triggered.Some systems store recorded video locally on an SD card or a solid state drive, while others offer cloud storage.Locally stored video is a good choice for do it yourselfers on a budget, but you have to be careful not to
Lunaoverwrite video you may need later.Cloud
Pandostorage makes it easy to store and access recorded video, but
Alarm Panel it can cost hundreds of dollars per year depending on your subscription.Some
Motion Activated Camerasystems offer both cloud storage and local storage,
Cove Alarm Paneland some provide a dedicated storage drive that gives you DVR capabilities with time lapse recording, which makes it easy to find a video event that took place at a specific point in time.All of the systems we've
Cove Glass break sensortested feature an app that lets you use your smartphone as your
Youtube command center to arm and disarm the system, create rules, add and delete components, and receive push notifications when alarms are triggered.Most apps also allow you to do things like view live and recorded
Appvideo, lock and unlock doors,
indeedchange thermostat settings, and silence alarms.Some apps will even use your phone's location services to
glassdoorautomatically arm and disarm the system according to your physical location.The more expensive systems usually come with a wall mounted
Linkpanel that acts as a communications
Link hub, with a touch screen display that allows you to do everything the app does.The display lets you
Link communicate with a professional monitoring
Link service when an alarm is triggered and view video from any of the installed security cameras.While many systems use wireless components that are installed using double sided tape, some high end systems use components that require professional
Linkinstallation.Alternately, if you don't have a home automation hub, look for a Wi Fi or Bluetooth lock that comes with its own mobile app.
98View at Amazon$58. 97View at eBay?Unfortunately, video captured while the camera is moving looks very blurry. When the camera is still, though, it produces quality video for its sub $40 price. It also has a number of useful features, such as sending you an alert if it hears a smoke or CO2 alarm. Plus, you get 14 days of rolling cloud storage for free — a real bargain. Read our full Wyze Cam Pan review.