Y so good?
When a Y-Cam product
appears on this site, it is usually in the form of a WiFi security camera. Today, however, we're taking a look at something new from the
British company, as they have diversified and brought out the Protect
Alarm; a smart home security system.
The Y-Cam Protect Alarm
kit consists of a base unit, a motion sensor, a door/window sensor,
and a control fob. The base unit, or hub, looks quite like WiFi
router in itself, being boxy and square. It plugs directly into your
actual router with a cable – not by WiFi – so needs to be placed
somewhere relatively close to it.
As with other security
systems like this that we've reviewed before, you can then – using
the iOS and Android app – add elements such as the motion and door
sensors. This is a pretty simple job of inputting codes printed on
the devices themselves, so setup of the whole system only took about
ten minutes. And, just like other systems, when the alarm is
triggered while armed, be it from the motion sensor, or from the
door-window contacts separating, you'll receive an alert on your
phone via the app.
However, where the
Y-Cam Protect Alarm differs greatly from anything we've seen before,
is in the kit's 'Triple Layer Security'. The base unit contains a
battery which will keep the system powered for up to eight hours,
just in case your home loses power. Also, you get a SIM card included
with the kit, and – so long as you sign up to Y-Cam's paid service
– the system will still send alerts and texts when your house
internet is down. Basically, even after a total shutdown of all your
home's other systems, the Y-Cam Protect Alarm will keep functioning.
So although the Triple
Layer uniqueness is dependant on a paid monthly service (the cheapest
being £5.99 a month) the advantages of doing so are pretty good,
especially if you own other Y-Cam products. The 'Plus' service not
only includes use of the Y-Cam Protect Alarm's SIM capabilities, but
also lets you upgrade your camera cloud storage of clips from the
standard one week to 30 days. The paid service also unlocks an
activity log in the app, so you can look back over the previous month
to see when and how the alarm was triggered. All in all, it's pretty
good value.
In use, the Y-Cam
Protect Alarm works excellently, but you shouldn't expect overly
sophisticated sensors. The Motion sensor can't differentiate between
human and animal movement (or rather the app can't) and the
door/window sensors don't register vibration. None of that is much of
an issue, but if you have a pet that stays at home during the day you
could expect a few false alarms.
That it is worth it
though, because overall this is a great security solution. We like
the Y-Cam app for being so clean and user-friendly, while the sensors
reported incidents nice and quick, with alerts popping up on the
connected phone within a few seconds. The physical control fob is a
nice idea, and means you can arm and disarm the system without having
to pull out your phone and open an app.
When used in
conjunction with an existing Y-Cam camera, this is even better,
combining to make one of the best smart security systems we've seen
in a long time.
£149.99
