SimpliSafe 7 Piece Wireless Outdoor Camera Home Security System – Optional 24/7 Professional Monitoring – No Contract – Compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant

Great product system, easy set up, works amazing
Overall, I love this system. Higher upfront cost, but lower monthly cost than other companies systems. I bought this kit (keypad, sensor, base station, 2 outdoor cameras), plus a doorbell camera, 12 door/window sensors, a siren, a glass sensor, and a motion sensor.Mounting:Everything was extremely easy to install. Everything has the option of screws or command strips. If you use screws, everything has a removable mounting plate that you can remove, screw to the wall, then mount the product to the plate. Or you can just use the included sticky command strip mounts. You literally cant mess it up.Setup:Setting up each device is extremely easy. The app has a really good UI for it, this is what I recommend using to set it up. But you can also do it without the app using the included keypad. All you need to do is press the button on each device, and add it in the app. Its extremely easy and intuitive.Cameras:The cameras mount to almost everything and swivel freely, and also can be mounted upside down. I knew in advance that the camera battery life would be bad, and I wanted the cameras to have high sensitivity, so I ran power cables for them. I highly recommend planning this in advance, and doing it, as you never have to worry about them again if you do this. If you have an attic, just mount the cameras near an attic vent on the roof overhang, and then running the cables is super easy.Camera connection:My house is about 1700 sq ft single story, and I had one wifi router near the middle of the house. It was able to reach all the cameras with the 2.4ghz signal, and it worked well enough actually. That said, the connection quality for the one of the cameras wasn’t the most stable, as it was in front of the garage door. To fix this, I ran a cat6 cable to the garage and put a secondary wifi router in the garage (“poor mans mesh wifi”). Make sure to set it up properly so the 2nd router bridges to the first. Now the camera has a great signal. If I had a bigger house and more cameras, it would be a simple process to add more routers for the different cameras.That said, I do wish that at least the cameras and base station had options for ethernet hookup. I have cat6 cables running all over my house, and I could easily run more cables if needed. It would be nice if I could have a stable power-over-ethernet setup that would never drop connection. The base station wifi connection is fine, but again, having a hard wire connection for the base station would be nice as extra insurance. I believe the older model base stations do have an ethernet port, and Im not sure why they removed this on the new ones.Ease of use:The whole thing is stupid easy to operate. You can control everything from the keypad, app, and key fob. I keep the key fob in my bedroom as its 1 button to turn the alarm on if I forget to earlier. No need to even open the app. If Im at work and I forget to turn the alarm on, I can do it easily from the app. Literally no complaints here.Alarm:One thing thats cool is for 3 days after you set it up, theres a trial window where you can mess around with the alarms and trigger them without having SimpliSafe call you or the cops showing up. Because of this, I was able to test the loudness of the system. The base station is decently loud on its own, however its located pretty far from where I want the alarms to be the loudest. Its probably 100% usable on its own, but I wanted something louder, so I also got a siren. The siren is extremely loud and I had to cover my ears standing near it.Price:Initial setup cost is high, and will probably be higher than most other security systems out there (ADT, Vivint, etc). My whole setup cost a bit over $1000. But it will cost less than a professionally installed power-over-ethernet CCTV setup, or even a DIY kit for that. That said, you get a LOT of stuff for that much money, and other systems might not have things like sensors on every single window and door for example. But then theres the monthly cost. You can run this for as low as $0/month, without professional monitoring. With professional monitoring, and all the other options, it maxes out at $30/month. Other companies will have lower initial costs, but then will sell you the cameras on a loan for a higher cost per month. One company quoted me $75 per month with like $100 initial. Id rather buy it all outright and not pay as much per month. All Im paying for with SimpliSafe now is for them to monitor it. And theres no contracts or anything.Another thing I should mention is that because of the modularity, you can buy what you can afford now and add more devices as you go. This kit is one of the more expensive kits (because of the cameras), but there are others that cost a lot less. And then you can add some more sensors here or there, and eventually end up with a complete system. Because of this, Id recommend SimpliSafe to anyone. Maybe not this exact kit, as not everyone will want cameras, but any one of the kits that someone may want.

Nice system for the price on Black Friday
I just needed the outside cameras , but it was a no brainer to just get the complete system for the price. Always great prices near Black Friday !!!!

Simplisafe outdoor camera, an unfinished product that is still needs a lot of works on.
This review is mainly about the Simplisafe Outdoor Camera, the included sensors work and operating just like the other home security systems, nothing is new and exciting about.First off, the good:1. Picture quality is good, I don’t expect 4k HDR quality, but it is definitely good and smooth video quality (when it works) for a truly wireless security camera.2. Color night vision with spotlight is a nice feature when it is installed in a poorly lit area.3. Setup and installation process is easy and simple.Now, the bads:1. Have to buy or use your own usb charger to charge up the battery, no charger is included.2. Pricey hardwiring option. They purposely design the micro USB port with 2 bumpers on the side so that the only USB cable that’s fit are the ones from simplisafe and they are selling the hardwire kit for $50. A usb charger and micro USB cable for $50? Are you kidding me?3. The battery does not last 3-6 months as advertised. My two cameras only last a little over a month and it needed to be recharge. So I spent another $100 for their hardware kit. So $440 just for 2 outdoor security cameras. Just for comparison, Costco is selling a 4K Ultra HD 8-Channel DVR Security System (wired) for $399.99.3. Launching live view takes an advage of 10-15 seconds. Sometimes it would takes 30-40 seconds. 1 out of 10 times it does not work at all and showing connection problems and have to relaunch live view or the SimpleSafe app. I have Verizon 5G Home internet with speed of 1 Gbps download and 100 Mbps upload. My internet gateway is about 10 feet away from the cameras and no wall in between. When comparing to the Simplisafe indoor camera. It only takes an average of 1-3 seconds to launch live view and no connection drop. Also, internet gateway is about 10 feet away and no wall in between.4. Motion detection is nearly unexciting. A person walks by the driveway, no motion alert, no motion video records. A car moves in and out of a driveway, no motion alert, no motion video record. I have to set it to high sensitivity and to all motion and it still misses movement in majority of the time.5. Two of my outdoor camera stopped working out of nowhere. The camera is definitely turned on with 100% battery and blinking blue light. No matter what, live video can not be viewed. Always stuck on the “waking up the camera” screen then shows connection problem. Tried to reset the camera and can’t locate the reset button. After searching on Google and yes there’s no reset button and many others are having the same problem. Tried to remove the camera from the app and redo the pairing process and now the camera can’t connects to Wi-Fi even I have to correct Wi-Fi setting and password.5. Simplisafe did replace my faulty cameras at no charge but after a month or so, the replacement cameras having the same problem again, the blinking blue of death. I just give up on this system and return it.

A great choice for home security
After 3 weeks of research I chose SimpliSafe to secure my home and out buildings. There are a number of good DIY easily configurable systems available on the market today. This one had the features that worked best for my needs. I installed a very large system with over 68 pieces to suit my specific needs. Features important to me: No long term contracts. Easily installed / replaceable components. Excellent software. Fast availability of components. Good camera and motion detector choices. After a month of use and testing I am very satisfied and would recommend this brand and equipment as a great option for the DIY owner. Although I am a degreed professional engineer, my wife (not technical) enjoyed doing the installation.