What he sees next are two guys burglarizing his New York City apartment. It’s happening live in real time. The activity was detected by Danny’s recent purchase of the crowd-funded security device Canary. Danny called the police and spoke with a neighbor who ended up scaring off the burglars.
The 6 inch tall cylinder sets-up in minutes and keeps a watchful eye on your surroundings. Canary’s 147 degree wide angle camera even has night vision and let’s you view live video via wifi whether you are miles away at the office like Danny or upstairs at night like a family in Minneapolis. That’s where Kristi and Robert Fecik were reading in bed with their three kids asleep in another room when an intruder kicked in their downstairs door and yelled “police”.
He was no cop, and the Fecik’s called 911 while activating the built-in 90dB alarm in the canary device. It wasn’t until Kristi yelled down from the top of the stairs that the police were coming that the unwanted trespasser stopped in his tracks. The Feciks could watch live with night vision via the Canary app while they awaited the police to arrive and were able to watch the intruder flee knowing he no longer posed a threat inside their home.
Canary is priced at around $249 and is best placed near the main entrance inside your home. The free downloadable app on Android and iOS guides you through an easy setup and has it watching guard in minutes. I got a couple of questions from colleagues when I was testing the Canary.
Q&A:
Q: Is it possible to turn off the Canary so that it is not recording or watching while you are at home?
A: Yup. Privacy mode turns it into see no, hear no evil device
Q: Does it cost anything for the monitoring service?
A: No and Yes. No if you are good with a 12 hour timeline which currently is included in the device. To keep and access video activity clips longer, there are fee plans that takes it up to 30 days. I don’t feel its necessary myself, but others may want longer recording history. More plan information here.
Q: I have a vacation home in another city, can Canary work there too?
A: Canary works wherever there is power and wifi signal.
Q: Will my cat trigger the device?
A: Canary attempts to filter your pet and according to more recent reviews is getting closer to perfecting a way to include or exclude your pet’s movement.
Next: I unbox the new Nest Cam.