When comparing Canary All-in-one Home Security vs Nest Cam, the Slant community recommends Canary All-in-one Home Security for most people. In the question“What are the best home-security cameras?” Canary All-in-one Home Security is ranked 1st while Nest Cam is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Canary All-in-one Home Security is:
The Canary has a viewing angle of 147 degrees, letting it see more than competing products. The 1080p resolution is crisp, and allows for digital zooming up to 3X. There are 12 infra-red LEDs that work as part of the night vision to keep recording even after the lights have gone out.
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Pros
Pro Quality video, even when dark
The Canary has a viewing angle of 147 degrees, letting it see more than competing products. The 1080p resolution is crisp, and allows for digital zooming up to 3X. There are 12 infra-red LEDs that work as part of the night vision to keep recording even after the lights have gone out.
Pro Automatic recording
The Canary can utilize your phone's GPS to turn on and off automatically depending on where you are (when you're at home it will enter private mode, but when you leave it will activate). If you live with others, all they need to do is install the app and it won't activate when they're home either.
Pro Air quality sensors
There are sensors which help determine the quality of the air, including: temperature, humidity, and particles in the air. While it can't do anything about these itself, it is a useful tool for monitoring.
Pro Great microphone
The microphone captures crystal clear audio. This is extremely beneficial if there is motion detected, but the subject moves out of the vision of the camera, as you can still somewhat tell whats going on.
Pro Warning siren
The Canary Security System is equipped with a siren which is rated at 90dB (similar to that of city traffic or a subway at 200ft). While not ridiculously loud, it should do the job to scare the heebie jeebies out of anybody not expecting it.
Pro High quality video, even in pitch black
The 1080p resolution allows plenty of detail to be captured, and because it's a wide-angle lens you'll get a wide 130 degree picture. If you need to, you can zoom up to 8X to investigate small details.
The night vision feature works surprisingly well in low light, or even pitch black. There are 8 LEDs surrounding the lens which can illuminate the scene.
Pro Scheduling
You can schedule the camera so it isn't constantly recording your everyday activities, or sending you alerts.
Pro Talk and listen capabilities
While not exceptional quality, you can hear the audio picked up through the Nest Cam play through your iPhone. You can also speak into your iPhone, and have the Nest Cam play the sound.
Pro Integrates with other smart phone appliances
If you own a Nest thermostat, the Nest Cam will automatically turn on when you set the thermostat to 'away'. If your Nest Protect (the smoke detector) goes off, your Nest Cam will activate to show you what's happening although the placement of the cam may or may not be useful.
Nest Cam also integrates with other third party smart home products such as Philips Hue smart bulbs (if the Cam detects motion it can turn these bulbs on). Other products that can work together are: SkyBell (smart doorbell), Mimo (baby monitor), August (smart lock), and Petnet (smart pet feeder).
Pro Recreational use
The Nest Cam can act as more than just a connected security camera. You can take time-lapse videos with it, or use it to capture images or video for social media as well.
Pro Well designed
The camera looks sleek and compact, yet includes all the useful features you would expect from a high end security camera. The base is magnetic, helping to keep it stable (it also has a wall/ceiling mount), and the hinge allows enough movement to make sure you can place it virtually anywhere you'd want to.
Cons
Con No local storage
All of the recordings are stored directly on the cloud, and there is no local storage available.
Con Not mountable
This system will need a table or stand to sit on - there isn't an included wall or ceiling mount. You perhaps could fashion your own, however remember to mount it upright as the camera doesn't rotate.
Con Expensive subscription plan
The free plan is limited - your history will only go back 12 hours, with 5 available bookbarks and you can download 3 videos.
The $5/month ($49 annually) plan increases this to a 2 day history, 25 bookmarks, and unlimited downloads.
For $10/month ($99 annually) you get 7 day history, 100 bookmarks and still get unlimited downloads.
The most expensive plan at $30/month ($299 annually) gives you a 30 day timeline with unlimited bookmarks and downloads.
Con Lacks a speaker
While there is a microphone to listen to sounds, there is no speaker and thus this system lacks the ability to hold a conversation with the person on the other side.
Con Lots of false alarms
The motion detection is very sensitive - so sensitive that it only takes shadows moving or branches swaying in the wind to trick it into sending a false alarm. In the future Canary is going to add a sensitivity slider, however this hasn't been implemented yet.
Con Inconvenient viewing of previous recordings
Previous recordings will be kept in the cloud for up to 10 days (30 days with the subscription), however when viewing these recordings there is no option to scrub through the video, leaving you no option but to view the entire clip.
Con Annoying artifacts makes activity detection less robust
When switching to night vision, the camera momentarily goes all black, causing notifications to get fired. This should be avoidable by software handling
Con False alarms
While not frequently occurring, some false alarms will happen. On a particular windy day, trees blowing in the wind may cause an alarm, and sometimes the sun lighting up sections of a room can also cause false alarms.
Con No local storage
All video is immediately uploaded to the cloud, and there is no local storing happening on the Nest Cam itself.
Con Some features require a subscription
The Nest Aware App has a subscription ($10/month) which unlocks additional features. The subscription promises less false alarms, allowing for more advanced algorithms. It also allows for a history of notifications and alarms as well as continuous recording for up to 30 days.
