Today we have a massive review for you of the complete Honeywell Home Connected Security System. This set includes 6 different smart home security devices (sold separately) from Honeywell that all work together to keep your home safe and secure from threats of all kinds.
There’s really a lot to cover here, so let’s take these products one at a time and first delve into some of their key features and benefits. Rather than giving my own experience and opinion on each product as we go, I’ll cover the set as a whole further down the review.
Also keep in mind that going into significant depth on each item will be difficult with so many different pieces to cover, so I’ll try to hit the most relevant points of each item. We’ll begin right away with the one device that ties the rest together—the Honeywell 1080p HD All-in-One Security Camera.
Honeywell Home Connected Security Bundle
First up is the integral component of the entire Honeywell Home system. It’s the Honeywell 1080p HD All-in-One Security Camera with Voice Control, and what I mean by “integral” is that every subsequent product we’ll discuss requires this camera as a sort of hub through which to perform its functions. Thus, no Honeywell All-in-One Security Camera, no Honeywell home security period. Â
Among the major features of this camera are its ability to live stream HD video directly to your smart phone via the Honeywell App, its 147 degree horizontal viewing angle, it’s 1080p resolution (at 30fps), its motion detection sensor that automatically triggers the recording of a 10 second video clip (which in turn gets sent to your smart phone via an instant alert), and its full night vision capabilities. But we’re only just scratching the surface.
Additional features include 2-way audio (for talking back and forth with intruders, your spouse, whoever!), access to the Amazon Alexa voice assistant for easy and convenient control, compatibility with all of the other Honeywell Home security products we’re discussing here today, and secure cloud based storage of all your recorded clips going back over a 24 hour period. It even offers facial recognition so that recognized family members won’t trigger an endless flood of alerts.
Clearly this product does a lot of very cool and useful things, but, once again, the above list is certainly not exhaustive. Even so, I think we better give some time to the wide selection of peripheral products that can be used along with this powerful camera…
The first peripheral product I want to discuss is the Honeywell Wireless Window/Door Sensor, which is placed along a window or door to monitor its opening and closing activity. For instance, if a window with the sensor installed is opened even slightly, the sensor will know and will alert you via the Honeywell App. Similarly, if you leave on a trip, you’ll be able to relax in peace knowing that if any of your protected windows are tampered with, you’ll be the first one to know about it, giving you ample opportunity to call the police or a friend or family member to go and check on your home. It’s an excellent product for anyone that values peace of mind, although one unit is certainly not enough.
Next, we have the Honeywell Wireless Outdoor MotionViewer—an outdoor security camera with built-in motion detection capabilities and an intruder deterrence system. This camera gives you a live 90-degree view of whatever part of your yard it’s facing, providing complete peace of mind whether you’re at home or away. Its motion sensor can detect movement from as much as 7m away and will send you an alert whenever motion is detected. It will even record a 10-second clip of whatever caused the alert.Â
Another always-on-duty peripheral in this home security bundle is the Honeywell Wireless Indoor Motion Sensor. This device provides around-the-clock security through infrared motion detection boasting a solid 12m range. If and when motion is detected, you’ll receive an app alert to let you know about it, but you won’t get any unwanted alerts triggered by your pets. This sensor is specifically looking for bodies that are larger than 36kg so kitty won’t be activating this one. With a 3-year battery included and installed, there are no wires to mess with here either—it’s just simple and convenient 24-hour home security.
Another motion sensor for indoor use is the Honeywell Wireless Indoor MotionViewer, which doesn’t just detect motion, but also captures it with its built-in video camera. Featuring infrared motion detection (with a 10m range), night vision capabilities, live video streaming, a 90 degree field of vision, and instant app alerts (including sending you a 10 second recording of whatever set it off), this camera has everything you need to keep your home under constant protective surveillance—and all in a convenient wireless form that’s lightweight, unobtrusive, and easy to install and maintain. It’s even pet friendly (keeping an eye out for bodies larger than 36kg) and includes a 2 year battery life.
Finally, there’s the Honeywell Remote Control Security System Key Fob, which allows you to come and go as you please without having to find your phone and use the Honeywell App. It’s basically an easy access system that offers one-touch control over your base station camera and a 5-year battery life. It allows you to switch between the different modes of your Honeywell Home security system at the quick touch of a button (home, away, and nighttime), and is a handy way to let visitors, kids, yourself, etc. into your home easily without triggering any alerts or frantic alarms. Initially, I wasn’t too impressed with this product, but I have since come around and now find it quite useful.
My Honeywell Home Experience and Opinion
Setting this system up was not a difficult process, but it did take a bit of time to complete, and much, much more time for me to get the full hang of (in fact, I’m still learning).
Having 6 different devices to install all at once certainly complicates matters. You begin by setting up the main camera base station, which first involves downloading and installing the Honeywell App.
Once you’ve done that (and set up your Honeywell account), you can plug in your base station and allow the app to find it. This you can do anywhere you have an electrical outlet. You will have to link the app to your home Wi-Fi network, though, and that requires inputting your home Wi-Fi password (a process I never enjoy due to it’s length, it’s odd, jumbled nature, and never being able to find my record of it).
Once this was all complete, the app went to work finding my base station. At this point I was informed that updates were needed that would take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes to download. This proved to be accurate, so I just had to wait it out.
I should note at this point that the app itself is relatively simple and intuitive. I had no difficulty whatsoever figuring it out, and I even had a little fun with it when I used it to contact my wife (who was at home) to see if she needed anything while I was out on an errand.
Of course, she nearly had a heart attack at first when she heard me talking and I wasn’t actually there, but, after the initial jolt, we both found it very useful to be able to communicate in this way (via the base station’s built-in 2-way audio system).
Once the base station was up and running successfully, I set to work adding in the various peripherals, which was mostly a straightforward process, though successfully connecting them to the base station was no guarantee of an easy time later on.
In any case, the Honeywell App literally asks you if you have anything else to add and then walks you through the process of doing it, which is mostly just a matter of pulling a red piece of plastic from the device and holding it near enough to the base station to sync up.
Beyond the initial setup, I have had some difficulty getting everything to work together properly. Some of the sensors don’t want to send me alerts when they should, and I can’t quite figure out why. The instructions with these products are extremely limited and not overly useful, so there’s some trial and error involved if you don’t wish to call Honeywell’s troubleshooting line.
Since I was testing these products for the benefit of all of our blog readers, I did call the troubleshooting line to ask a few questions when I needed a bit of help. And I really must say, I got through to an actual human being almost immediately and found the representative to be extremely helpful.
I was probably on the phone for no more than 3 minutes in total and had learned how to use one of the products I was having difficulty understanding just like that. I still think that the instructions themselves should be more complete, and I should probably call again about those pesky sensors, but one issue at a time!!
Thus far, the best product of the bunch has been the base station camera, though even it has not captured 100% of the incidents that it should have captured. When I set the camera up to capture and record any movement that passed in front of it, it didn’t always engage and record those incidents. I’m not sure why.
The success rate was still pretty high though (I would say somewhere in the 80-90% range), so I’ve actually been quite happy with it. And when it works properly, it is very impressive! The images have been crystal clear, and the alerts have come through quickly.
Basically what happens is that when someone comes into the camera’s view, motion detection picks them up and the camera begins recording. An alert with a 10 second clip is then automatically sent to your phone for immediate viewing. You can also view a live feed of the camera at any time (and from wherever you might be located) and snap still images at will via your smart phone.
I tested this by aiming the camera at the always open door to my little studio room/spare bedroom from the inside looking out towards the hallway. This way I would expect a recording to take place whenever I or my wife passed by as we went down the hall. What I found was that most of the time it worked perfectly, though occasionally nothing would happen. Perhaps at times we were just walking by too quickly for the sensor to detect us?
In any case, when it did record, which it always did when I actually came into the room, the images were exceptional. This was true both day and night, and I was very impressed with the camera overall.
As for the various peripheral devices (and on a somewhat scary note), the success rate hasn’t been good on them thus far, but I am still learning their intricacies and hope to have better results as time goes by and I get more knowledgeable about placing and using them.
The bottom line with these products is that there’s always room for improvement, but that there’s certainly a lot to like about them as well. The devices themselves all feel very sturdy and well made, and as I learn more about them, they seem to perform better and better.
I think that trying to learn everything all at once probably led to some mistakes on my part initially, but that given some time to learn their quirks and intricacies, along with a little bit of patience on the part of any given user, this bundle can be a truly exceptional home security system for practically anyone.
Final Thoughts and Recommendations
My recommendation for this security bundle is to not overwhelm yourself by buying the entire set at one time. I personally found it to be quite a chore trying to figure everything out all at once, and I suspect that just having the camera and one’s favourite individual peripheral device initially might be a better strategy.
By beginning with the camera and one additional device, you’ll have the opportunity to learn all about the camera itself right in the very beginning and to see whether or not your peripheral of choice works with the camera to your complete satisfaction.
As the peripheral devices did give me some issues and were often frustrating in testing, I think it would be best to try them out one at a time and really learn all about how each one works individually before adding in more devices. I would then suggest adding just one additional device at a time until you fully get use to each one successively.
In any case, I think that the Honeywell Home security bundle does a number of very useful things extremely well, still has a ways to go with respect to some of its other useful functions, and overall has great potential to be the complete home security package it aims to be.
I know that I will be continuing to learn all about my own Honeywell Home system in the coming weeks and months in an attempt to get the absolute most out of it, and I’m sure it’s going to be a fun and educational process. If you opt to employ Honeywell Home as your security bundle of choice as well, I hope it meets all of your expectations and keeps your home and family safe and secure for many years to come. Good luck!
