If your present home monitoring camera gives you false alarms occasionally, then try out this new gadget called Netatmo Welcome. Designed for smart homes, this smart camera not only claims to recognize you well, but also to give you streaming video effectively when you are away from home. Let us check how far these claims go in your favor as a user.
Usefulness
Netatmo Welcome home surveillance camera can help you in the precise monitoring of your home for any new entrant except you and your family members. It is good at facial recognition and person spotting. This is the reason it gives you less number of false alarms than you would get from other cams in the market. On the other hand, it will take time for you to teach it to recognize a face. With time, it keeps going better.
The cam can recognize up to 16 different faces, which seems sufficient enough for a domestic requirement. However, it is also sensitive toward fresh faces and makes it a chore sometimes for you to identify and flag faces it shows. Still, it is a handy device to use conveniently for home monitoring purposes.
Value for money
Priced at $199, Netatmo Welcome gives you a competitive rate in the market. With its pros and cons against other popular cams, it could depend more on individual users how worthy it is to buy this one and not a competing device.
Appearance
This security camera is in the shape of a cylinder with the height of 6 inches. It is made of aluminum with a gold finish. Its end has a plastic cap but it hardly blend in the overall design. There is a black plastic slit placed longitudinally where the monitoring cam is fixed at the top. At the back, you can notice a slot for a microSD card that usually comes preloaded.
You will also find an Ethernet port here, as well as a microUSB for power. The overall look of the device is elegant, but you will not find many places to hold it properly. It can be put either on a shelf or on table. Still, it remains fixed at least.
Performance
Netatmo Welcome connects well with your iOS and Android devices through an app, but you can also connect to it using your computer. It supports Wi-Fi b/g/n on the 2.4GHz band. However, you cannot support it on the 5GHz band.
The app of this device also runs effectively and shows you options for live feed and events or sightings. While photos are stored efficiently on cloud, videos are kept in the microSD card. However, it would have worked better had the company integrated it with a third-party backup service.
For now, you cannot backup the stuff on its memory card automatically. Further, the streaming lag exists when you watch the footage from your home on your device, depending on upload speeds at your home.
While the footage quality is satisfactory during the day and night (supported by LEDs at night), streaming lag is actually a compromise on the quality of the device. Another low point is that this cam deletes your old footage if the space runs out.
Ease of use
This security camera is simple to set up and operate. It can be turned upside down to allow it to connect with your smartphone through Wi-Fi. Using the app, you can easily view the live feed, as well as the recordings of events on a simple tap on the relevant button.
