IN this day and age home security devices are becoming more and more popular and often necessary.
External cameras to be able to see who or what may be coming down your path are a great addition to any home security setup, but the downside is that these systems are not usually consumer-friendly and require a contractor to hardwire them into your mains supply thus incurring extra expense and delay.
The Moobox ProXT 1080p wireless, weatherproof, outdoor security system with PIR camera and DVR/Hub however is such a friendly kit, and other than drilling two holes in your brickwork for a mount, involves a fairly straightforward and quick setup.
The kit comprises a cordless and weatherproof (IP65 rating) 1080p HD Wi-Fi home security camera with a 120° wide angle lens, two-way audio, PIR motion sensor and infra-red night vision to 16 feet as well as a DVR. The Moobox ProXT cam has a rechargeable battery so can be installed virtually anywhere, so there's no wiring holes to drill and thanks to the extremely low power consumption, the manufacturer claims the battery can deliver up to four months usage running on one charge. There's a hub in the box, as well as a metallic sphere fixing mount, allowing the camera to be positioned at the required angle.
Setting the hub up is relatively easy. Simply connect it to a port on your router or home hub, connect the power and wait a few seconds for the LED light sequence to go out. Then connect the camera to the hub via the USB charging cable, press the button on top of the camera for a few seconds and the camera charging will begin.
Once fully charged the camera requires syncing to the hub, achieved by pressing the hub main button and the camera button. When the LED light sequence has finished the two devices are connected and you can install the Moobox app on your iOS/Android device and follow the simple in app guide to complete the setup. It takes about three hours to fully charge the battery.
With the PIR motion sensor, as soon as movement occurs, the Hub records 10, 15 or 30 second video clips to the built-in DVR (pre-installed with a free 16Gb micro SD card) and also sends copies of those clips to the Moobox cloud servers. There are no subscription fees or extra charges with free seven days rolling cloud storage, meaning movement notifications are instantly sent to your phone, so you instantly aware when something happens. Together with the DVR, this allows for potentially weeks and weeks of footage.
Using the app, it is possible to view live, playback clips from the cloud account or Moobox DVR, control, manage and schedule PIR activation, control video stream quality, enable two-way talkback, take live snapshots and select video recording duration. The app is also backed up by a dedicated UK-based tech support team and users can click “Help” in the Moobox Cam app to get one-to-one support when required.
In my opinion the system works well, with excellent HD images and footage, but there are a few minor niggles and a few things future versions of the app may be able to improve upon.
As the magnetic camera is mounted to a metallic sphere, cameras could easily be removed by anyone - so it's imperative that you mount well out of the average person's reach. As long as you trust your window cleaner or any other ladder-carrying workman, you should be ok. The magnetic connection is strong enough to keep the camera mounted and won't blow away in high winds, but some users might find it difficult to mount the camera facing up or horizontal as the device's weight is a little too heavy for the magnetic attraction.
Fortunately I was able to mount mine just outside a bedroom window, so I wanted mine pointing downwards anyway. There's also the ease of being able to easily reach the camera by opening the window and carefully removing when it requires recharging.
Talking of recharging, the manufacturer states that it MUST be charged via the hub, rather than a phone charger or computer, which is worth bearing in mind when siting the hub.
While the no-frills app is simple to use, I would have liked to have seen a few more choices when receiving notifications. It seems all or nothing when choosing how to receive notifications.
The hub is able to support up to four Moobox cameras which are available for just £69.99 each (from Amazon). For further cameras, multiple hubs can be added to a single Moobox account to grow a home security system to 5 or more cameras.
The ProXT is available for just £115.99 from Amazon at the time of writing and, remember, no additional monthly costs to pay.