Netatmo's Tags give the Welcome camera eyes in the back of its head
Netatmo smartens the Welcome with a new accessory and a new partnership.
The Welcome and a Tag.
Netatmo's security camera wants to get to know your home a little better. Starting today, you'll be able to purchase Netatmo Tags that sync with the Welcome camera and attach to your doors and windows -- adding an extra touch of security to places the camera might not be able to see. The Tags will work up to 260 feet from the camera.
The waterproof sensors know whether a door or window is open or closed so you can check on its status remotely with the iOS or Android Netatmo app. You can also tell the system to send you a push notification if the sensor moves or is shaken.
The Netatmo Welcome already had a lot of smarts. It recognizes faces with some success and keeps track of who it has seen lately so you can use the app to see which of your family members are around and get a notification if a strange face comes into view. With the Tags, the Welcome should help you monitor areas of your home outside of its 130-degree field of view.
Security cameras: What you need to know
You can buy a pack of three Tags today for $100 from Netatmo's site as well as from Lowe's, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Amazon. You'll need the Welcome to use them, which sells for $200 from the same venues. In the UK, retailers include John Lewis, Argos, Currys, Dixons and Shopdirect. The three-pack of Tags costs £90. The camera costs £200. The Tags aren't available in Australia yet, but the US price of the Tags converts to roughly AU$130. The camera's price converts to AU$270.
Netatmo also announced a new partnership with Dropbox today. The Welcome includes a memory card, letting you store recorded clips after it senses motion or sees a stranger. Now, you can back up your clips to the popular cloud storage service for free.
We liked the Welcome when we reviewed it last summer, but the camera was a little too slow to be widely recommendable. We'll see if these new updates do enough to make the Welcome the new smart-home camera to beat.