iSmartAlarm's new camera will follow you wherever you may go
iSmartAlarm offers up a new security camera on Indiegogo -- the "motion tracking" iCamera Keep Pro.
Watch iSmartAlarm's iCamera Keep Pro pan to follow motion activity.
The majority of today's DIY home security cameras come with fixed wide-angle lenses. That means you can't pan or tilt them to capture motion happening outside of a specific field of view. But what if you want your camera to actually follow the action?
iSmartAlarm might have your fix. The security company is in the midst of an Indiegogo campaign for its latest device, the $200 iCamera Keep Pro -- an updated version of iSmartAlarm's first-gen iCamera Keep.
Available for preorder now on Indiegogo for the reduced price of $79 in the US and roughly £80 in the UK, iSmartAlarm expects to ship the earliest batches of iCamera Keep Pro's to US backers beginning in March 2017 (April for folks in the European Union).
Here's a rundown the iSmartAlarm iCamera Keep Pro's basic specs and features:
- 1080p live streaming
- 30 free 30-second cloud video clips
- 30-foot motion detection range
- 30-foot night vision range
- 140-degree lens
- 350-degree pan and 40-degree tilt capabilities
- Activity zones that let you designate custom motion detection areas
- Time-lapse of events
- MicroSD card slot for local storage (card not included)
- Companion app for Android and iOS
- Sound detection (can supposedly "hear" smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and alert you)
- Compatible with Amazon's Alexa
- Compatible with IFTTT
- Works with broader iSmartAlarm security system
Everything in this list looks good, but iSmartAlarm certainly isn't the only company offering this sort of camera. Traditional internet protocol (IP) camera brands like Foscam have offered pan and tilt functionality for years.
The newer 360-degree Zmodo Pivot cam is also fairly similar to the iCamera Keep Pro. At $150, Zmodo's Pivot has 360 degrees of built-in motion sensors that detect activity even when the lens isn't pointed in the right direction. That's where its 360-degree panning capabilities come in -- the camera rotates to the right spot and records activity.
Interestingly, iSmartAlarm's Indiegogo page says, "The iCamera KEEP Pro is the first DIY smart home security camera to offer Motion Tracking." Its original iCamera Keep had the same pan and tilt capabilities as the new Pro version, but it wasn't able to follow activity automatically. That makes the Pro's motion tracking a first for iSmartAlarm, but I don't agree that it's new for the broader DIY security industry.
There's still a month left on iSmartAlarm's iCamera Keep Pro campaign and the team has already nearly doubled its original $50,000 funding goal. I've asked iSmartAlarm for a model to test out, so check back to see how it compares to Zmodo's Pivot.