We were quite taken with Blacksumac's $239 Piper home security system during our recent review. It was one of the very first DIY products of its kind to grace Indiegogo and actually become a living, breathing preorderable product. As of today, Piper is available for general purchase in the United States -- that's an impressive turnaround for a crowd-funded project.
Piper is similar to the $199 Canary security system. In fact, Canary's Indiegogo campaign started about a month before Piper's and earned a whopping $1,961,862 compared with Piper's $309,119 (both had a $100,000 goal). Still, Piper has managed to get out in front of the whole all-in-one security game and present a completed product far ahead of Canary (whose preordered units aren't expected to ship until July 2014).
We aren't just impressed with Piper's turnaround, though. It's also an intriguing product that offers video quality nearly identical to the that of the $199 Dropcam Pro, and motion and sound sensors like the $199 iSmartAlarm, the $199 Oplink Security TripleShield, the $229 Viper Home, and the $229 SimpliSafe -- except everything is consolidated into a single hub. In addition, it can act as a Z-Wave hub to tackle your home automation needs.
Head to the Piper Web site to learn more. One unit costs $239, you can get a three-pack for $649, and you can get a Piper with various Z-Wave accessories for anywhere from $359 to $849. Piper's free iOS app is available for download now too, with the Android version expected to come out in mid-February. And, if you like the idea of an all-in-one DIY system but aren't sold on Piper, we should have a full Canary review for you soon.