When comparing Icontrol Networks Piper NV vs Nest Cam, the Slant community recommends Icontrol Networks Piper NV for most people. In the question“What are the best home-security cameras?” Icontrol Networks Piper NV is ranked 2nd while Nest Cam is ranked 3rd.
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Pros
Pro IFTTT functionality
Pro Built-in siren
The siren is very loud - rated at 105dB (louder than a snowmobile or motorcycle). It's loud enough to scare off virtually any intruder.
Pro Tracks the weather
With a temperature and humidity sensors on-board, the Piper NV can give you a good idea of what the interior 'weather' is like. It can also track outdoor temperature, and will warn you of local weather alerts.
Pro Great Android/iOS apps
The apps are simple to use, and designed to make sure the most important stuff can be accessed the quickest. Any important actions will give you feedback from the Piper NV itself so you can rest assured each action goes through.
Small details are included in the app as well - from adjustable motion sensitivity (for shadows, animals, and other small movements) to a trusted circle of contacts that will be notified each time an alert is triggered.
All features worked as advertised, notifications were delivered quickly, and the camera is very responsive to actions performed in the apps.
Pro Talk & listen supported
The Piper NV has both a microphone and speaker, letting you have a conversation with a person in front of the Piper while you are elsewhere with your phone. This can be handy for conversations with babysitters, deliverymen, or even talking with your children when you're away.
Pro Great video quality
The 1080p camera allows for up to 10X digital zoom. Without zooming, the picture is very crisp and clear which is immensely helpful when figuring out who is on the camera and what they're doing. The digital zoom will reduce this clarity, but allows for a close-up inspection of any small details.
The device can also tilt and pan - unique features that let you get the best angles of view.
Pro Night vision tracks even in pitch black
The NV in Piper NV stands for night vision. This product included infra-red LEDs that illuminate pitch black rooms so that the camera can still see (although human eye's can't detect this light).
Pro Wide-angle lense
With a full 180 degrees of vision, this camera can be placed on a wall and see everything around it. Because its fish-eye design, the edges of the image will be slightly warped, however this is required for such a high field of view.
Pro Can be set up to control light within a household
Z-Wave controller is built in.
Pro Built-in motion detector
Has a proper IR motion sensor, so does not image analysis to detect motion. This is very useful as it avoids the false alarms that many other camera are subject to when clouds change the lighting conditions.
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 IFTT NO LONGER SUPPORTED
They cancelled all their IFTT integrations and hung all their customers out to dry.
Con No web app
Web apps can be handy if your phone is dead or misplaced at the time. They also allow access from any computer using just a login and password, which can be useful if you've run out of data on your phone and are out of Wi-Fi range. This also means that Windows Phone or Blackberry devices won't be able to control the Piper NV.
Con No removable local storage
There is no removable local storage available on the Piper NV - all media is immediately uploaded to the Piper cloud. This online storage is free, but is limited to 1000 clips before it starts overwriting old clips. If the camera is offline when a clip recorded, the video is stored on the device and uploaded once online again.
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.