I recently had the good people from Vivint come and install a home automation system/security system in my home. Vivint provides a ton of options and provides professional installation with every purchase. Read on to see how the process and products have transformed my home.
The Company
Vivint provides smart home solutions using products designed to work together to give customers a seamless automation and security experience. The Vivint system provides professional installation and support with each purchase, and it is not a DIY system. What I have learned through this process is that great care has been taken in the design and development of all of the products so that they will easily work together to ensure the best experience.
A comprehensive system that provides a “magical experience” takes a lot of planning and design work to pull off, and Vivint has done an amazing job of this. While these products work amazingly well together, a human is still needed. Vivint provides a human touch to educate, figure out the customer’s needs, and then they install the system and make it all work. Installation is free, and customers enter into a service relationship with the company for installation, service, upgrades and any other needs. Customer service is always available to solve any issues you might have. You get the Vivint people, not just the products.
Why not DIY
As a DIYer myself, I asked the company why there is not a DIY option for installation and upgrading the system. Installing and tinkering is a hobby of mine, so I was interested in why that was not an available option. The short answer to this is that it ensures everything works together. There are a few third-party products that do work with the Vivint system, but they are carefully vetted to make sure the system plays well.
Once I witnessed their professional installation, I have to say this was a great decision by the company. I have a multitude of smart home products and honestly, there is a constant struggle to keep everything synced together and updated. My Vivint system seems to just work flawlessly — it becomes a part of your home. This could not happen if I were to piece together different products and hubs. You can be assured not having a DIY option will make the customer experience much better.
In case you are concerned with the availability of installers, Vivint is available in 97% of U.S. zip codes as well as a large portion of Canada.
Vivint Smart Hub
After consulting with the company on my needs and home design, we came up with a solution unique for us. The Smart Hub is the brains and will connect you and all of your products. We chose to have the panel as a set-top for our kitchen counter, but it can also be installed onto the wall. The 7″ touchscreen is where you control all of the devices and settings; it includes a two-way talk feature to communicate to the doorbell and ping cameras. I find the panel interface to be intuitive and responsive. A light at the bottom always shows the status of the security system at a glance, which is great as a reminder when I need to arm or disarm.
Every aspect of the Vivint system can be controlled with the Smart Hub. Check the cameras, turn on and off connected devices, and even change the temp on your thermostat. The panel has kind of become the hub of the kitchen. My wife talks to the boys on the ping camera to let them know dinner is ready and we can even use it to answer the doorbell. The best part is that it all works seamlessly and becomes second nature by the family.
The Cameras
My Vivint system is equipped with three cameras. Let me start by saying, I had no idea having cameras would be so useful. The doorbell camera is attractive and will look nice with any style home. The 180-degree field of view shows you everything near the door. My house has a walk-up porch area, and we can see every inch of it on the camera. The camera uses your current doorbell wiring, so the installation should be quick and painless. When the doorbell is pressed, you will now hear the bell on the SkyControl panel and on any other devices running the Vivint app.
When the doorbell rings, a few things happen. All of the devices will have a video with two-way talk available. You can answer your door from virtually anywhere. A great tip, if you are using iOS, is to long press on the notification, and it will give an option to open the app and view the camera immediately. Apple Watch users will also get a screenshot of who is at their door so they can see it without digging for a device to make a quick decision on what to do. The doorbell camera is always on, and it also provides night vision which is really a great feature. I love the fact that my phone will always tell me if I have a visitor and take a clip of what’s happening no matter where I am.
The outdoor camera is an all-weather camera with night vision that helps watch over any part of your home. I am able to check in and see if anyone is near my driveway and check the clips to see if any movement has been detected. There have been several times we wondered where our youngest was, but I could open the camera to see him circling on his bicycle on the driveway. Since we have it installed to see the driveway, we can also get a notification if someone drives up; it also creates a clip if there is movement detected. I find myself looking several times a day, and I have even checked it to see if it is raining at home when I was out of town. If there was another piece I would add to the system, it would be one more outdoor camera, and then I would have just about all of the main parts of my house covered.
The Vivint Ping camera is an always-on indoor camera. With HD wide-angle and infrared night vision, you will never miss anything happening in your house. What makes this camera really handy is the two-way call out. A button on top of the camera will send an alert to your device that there is an incoming call, and you can then communicate with that person. You are also able to press the microphone button on your device and immediately speak from the camera to the room. My youngest likes to talk to us from it fairly often, and we may or may not have been able to tell our boys to “quit fighting” or “leave each other alone” although we were not even home.
You are able to set custom notifications on this camera as well, allowing you to get alerts any time something happens.
This review will be broken up into two parts to give the entire system the amount of coverage it deserves as well as provide readers with smaller portions to research. In the next post, I will discuss the Playback DVR, door locks, thermostat, smoke detector, and other detectors included in the system. Don’t forget to check back soon for the second installment.
As you can see, the Vivint system is a comprehensive solution for smart home and security that will make your home automated and make the components work together while bringing you peace of mind. I have come to rely heavily on the system for monitoring many things. My wife, who is not a geek like me, was hesitant about the system at first, but now she absolutely loves it. The app is simple to use and straightforward, and it will allow most anyone to quickly become an expert on monitoring their home. I highly recommend the company if you are looking to get a similar solution.
Source: Vivint provided review samples and professional installation
What I like: I absolutely love the entire system; Once everything was adjusted how I like it, it has truly become a part of our home: I’m not sure how we went without it honestly
What could be improved: The geek in me would love to be able to add a few third-party items like cameras, but I do understand their theory behind no DIY; I would like to see the iPad app have a landscape orientation