Home is the most comfortable zone for any living being. It is the place we value the most, create memories, and put the emotionally attached things most of the time. So, it is one of the top priorities to secure all of these when we are away. A home security camera is the gadget that needs to install for peace of mind in this case. It could alert you if anything suspicious is detected so that you can take steps accordingly. A home security camera can help to prevent any theft by alerting everyone around with a siren.
You can do everything I said, even more than that, with the Kent HomeCam 360. It’s a home manufactured security camera from the home appliances leader, arrived on the market recently. It packs all the modern security camera features like 360-degree view, motion detection, night vision, cloud-based recording, and so on. The pricing is Rs.3,999 and is available on Amazon IN, Flipkart, and TATA Cliq. I got a chance to explore this next-gen security camera, and here’s what I found.
Features :-
The Kent team have added every possible feature you can expect from a home security camera. You just need to name it. Look at the list –
- Up to Full HD recording
- 360-degree panorami view
- Wi-Fi connectivity
- Offline mode recording
- Night Vision
- Motion detection
- 2-way calling
- Cloud based recording
- MicroSD card support
- Alexa support
- Automatic privacy mode
- Siren alarm
In the Box :-
In the box, you will get –
- The Kent HomeCam 360
- A power adapter
- Cable
- Warrenty card
Setup Process :-
To install the HomeCam 360, all you need is a plain surface, a power socket near that, a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network, and the Kent CamEye Application in your smartphone. First, plug in the adapter, connect it to the camera with the cable, place the device on a plain surface, then turn the power on. Next, let the cam perform some checks with a horizontal and vertical movement and come back to the default position. You will hear a request to scan a QR code. Post that, you need to follow some easy steps. As it’s a review, not a setup guide, I’m skipping the full process. You can go through the full manual from here.
Design and Build :-
The Kent HomeCam 360 gets a tower shape from the design team. The body is made up of hard, premium quality plastic with a slight matt finish so that it will catch less dust. The main body is placed on top of a flat platform, based on which the camera rotates. The MicroUSB power port is placed in the platform itself.
In the front, you can see the camera lens in the movable ball. Just below that, there is a LET indicator and the Kent CamEye branding. The MicroSD card slot, reset button, and mic are placed below the camera body, and the speaker is in the back.
The overall design and the white colour are perfect to match any of your home decors. So, you can utilise the high-tech offerings without compromising your in-home beauty. Other than placing it on any flat surface like a table, you can also install it on a wall and ceiling. But the accessories you need to purchase separately.
Image and Video :-
The Kent HomeCam 360 houses a 2MP wide-angle camera that allows you to capture footage in three resolutions – Low (360p), Medium (720p), and High (1080p). You can choose the quality as per the memory left in the allocated memory card. My recommendation is to use at least the Medium (720p) quality. Please compare the below images to know the reason.
The camera captures the live footage and stores it either on the cloud or memory card. But from the Kent CamEye, you can take images as well. There is a “Take Photo” button for it.
The camera sensor covers a broader area in one shot. In good lighting conditions, it is capable to captures good quality footage. All the objects in the frame can be identified quickly, and any movement can be figured out, which is the main thing for a home security camera. As the covered angle is wide, the camera needs to move less to scan other room corners.
With good lighting conditions, almost every sensor can perform well. The struggle starts for a security camera in the dark. In low lights, it should work well. I didn’t notice any struggle for HomeCam 360. It uses six IR sensors and processes the frames to produce a clearly visible area. This camera performs seamlessly in a completely dark environment too. At the time of testing, the room was completely dark and you can see the final output below.
Controlling :-
Except for power and network, all the other controls of your HomeCam 360 will be in your palm. Thanks to the Kent CamEye application. When you tap on your camera icon in the application, a remote pops up in the frame, along with the live footage and multiple queek options. You can easily control the movement of the camera head with the remote. You can go manually or there is a dedicated 360-degree scan option. The Recenter option besides that, helps you to bring the frame back to its initial place. You can unmute the camera mic and also enable or disable the speaker from the same window with a single tap. There is a full-screen option to see the monitoring area clearly.
The application gives you complete control over all the other smart features, including enabling Privacy mode, Siren Enable, and obviously the gallery and other settings.
The application experience is good in its initial stage. The only required thing is optimisation. That is because whenever I tried to view the recording or live footage on full screen, the app got crashed. And some of the actions in the app, like enabling or disabling the night mode manually, take a bit time to reflect on the camera. I have already provided the feedback on it and hope it will be resolved very soon.
Adanced Security Features :-
I already mentioned this home security camera packs so many advanced features that you can expect.
Motion, Noise, and Human Detection – In the Alerts section, the CamEye application segregates each and every footage mentioning what it detects there. I saw three types of alerts there – Noise Level where it detects some noise, Motion Detection are the clips with some movement of any object detected, and lastly, Human Detection for the videos with any human movements.
The process works perfectly. It is able to detect even small moments as well and mark them properly.
2-way calling – It’s a very helpful feature if you are assigned this cam to monitor any senior person of your family or a baby from another room, or even keep your eyes on your pet in your absence. You can directly talk to them at any point of time. You just need to enable the mic and speaker from the app on your smartphone. Yes, there is a condition, the cam should be connected to the internet.
Both the mic and speakers are good. The microphone catches the sound from a good distance and the speaker is loud. Overall, I can assure it’s one of its most useful and quality features.
360-degree coverage – You may already get an idea about it from the above videos. I can monitor each corner of the room easily with the remote. Just make sure you place the cam in the proper place. In my case, I missed to place it correctly (in the provided video). I have checked it separately later. The 360-degree coverage is not a gimmick.
Alexa enabled – The voice control makes the HomeCam 360 more attractive. Post connecting it with the internet and Alexa, it is fully controllable over voice commands.
Automatic Privacy Mode – This smart camera really knows how to respect your private moments. When it detects you are at home, enables the privacy mode automatically. This process is quick and accurate. However, you can manually enable or disable this feature from the app.
Pros & Cons :-
| Pros | Cons |
| Full HD video recording | The application needs more optimisation |
| Super night vision camera | Actions in the app reflect late in camera |
| 2-way calling | |
| Both offline and online working ability | |
| Alexa support | |
| Cloud-based storage option | |
| Up to 128GB SD card support | |
| Complete control from the Kent CamEye app |
Verdict :-
The new Kent HomeCam 360 home security camera with up to 1080p recording capacity, 2-way calling, top-level night vision camera, a wide-angle view, both cloud and SD Card storage option, and Alexa support becomes one of the best quality home security cameras available in the market at present, under Rs.5,000.
The full control from smartphone and 2-way calling gives peace of mind from all the ways. Yes, there are some cons, and all are software specific and can be fixed easily with the next updates. So, if you are looking for a home security camera for the long run, the Kent HomeCam 360 is definitely a must recommendation at Rs.3,999.
Buy Link: https://amzn.to/3w8qswe
