Honeywell has a long history of supplying OEM sensors, control panels, and other nuts-and-bolts parts for home security systems. More recently, it’s gained traction with some pretty good smart thermostats and security cameras , shaken awake in part by the success of Nest. Ahead of spinning its Honeywell Home business off into a new company, Resideo (re-sid-ee-o, rhymes with Presideo), Honeywell has launched a DIY home security system of its own.
The Honeywell Home Smart Home Security Starter Kit is a decidedly simple all-in-one security tool that has a lot going for it. Much of that credit goes to the unit’s hub, which doesn’t lie about being all in one. This single device includes an integrated siren/speaker, a 1080p motion-sensing camera, and Amazon Alexa, all packed into a single, columnar device that manages to be reasonably stylish. As such, it closely resembles a Canary Home Security System , which came out at about the same time as Amazon's Echo (and as such, could not have supported Alexa).For other smart home systems, all that gear could mean installing four different pieces of equipment. You can purchase the Honeywell Camera Base Station by itself for $350 at Amazon.
Setting up a smart home security system can often be a rocky affair, especially for a v1.0 product. Nonetheless, Honeywell hits a rare home run with its setup routine, which is arguably the easiest and fastest I’ve encountered in this industry to date. Just download and install the app, then plug the hub into wall power. (Note that the hub is exclusively wireless; there is no wired ethernet option.) Hold a QR code displayed on your phone in front of the hub’s camera and you’re basically done.
Christopher Null
The fish-eye lens gives you an on-demand wide-angle view of your surroundings.
Up next is setting up sensors. Honeywell doesn’t give you many of these in the base kit: Two window/door sensors and a key fob remote control are all that come in the box. A typical smart home setup means configuring each sensor, one at a time, usually through some combination of typing in codes and pressing hidden buttons. With the Honeywell Home kit, you set up your sensors and other devices all at once. Just pull out the plastic tabs that engage the battery, and the app does the rest.
The only other step I had to take when setting up all this gear was pressing and holding two buttons on the key fob to activate it, as directed by the app. The entire process took less than 15 minutes, including setting up geofencing options and linking the device to my Alexa account.
After the devices are registered, you’re directed to affix your sensors to the doors or windows to which you’re assigning them. Pre-loaded with sticky tape, you’ll note that these sensors are quite large compared to others in the industry―more than 3.5 inches long―though Honeywell does promise that its batteries will last for a full two years.
Once set up, Honeywell’s spartan app presents you with not the usual two but rather three security modes (not including “off”). If you’re accustomed to the typical home/away rubric, this can take a little mental retraining, as Honeywell's three modes behave a bit differently. “Away” works as expected, with all sensors active; “Night” is effectively the equivalent of most security systems’ home mode, where door/window sensors are active and, while motion sensing and video recording remain active, they won’t set off the alarm when tripped. Honeywell’s “Home” mode is somewhere between this setting and off: Door chimes chirp when they’re opened, but all alarms are disabled; video recording, meanwhile, can be turned on or off as you choose.
The hub makes double duty of the lighted Alexa ring to indicate when you’ve changed modes. While Honeywell says it’s still tweaking how these work, you will notice a persistent green ring if the unit is set in Away mode, and a flash of purple when it changes to Night.
Honeywell
The heart of Honeywell's Smart Home Security System―its Camera Base Station―resembles the original Canary Home Security System, but it offers more features.
I tested the Honeywell Home Smart Home Security Starter Kit extensively, including some of the additional gear available as add-ons for the setup. These range from an additional (but camera-less) indoor motion sensor ($49), to the indoor motion-viewer camera ($149), to the outdoor motion viewer camera ($199). The latter two items are essentially remote cameras that can communicate with the hub to offer an additional set of eyes on another part of your homestead. As with all components except for the hub, they’re completely wireless, with a two-year battery life promised. (Pro tip: For best results, set up any additional gear during your initial setup phase, as adding these sensors to the network later is needlessly convoluted.)
In testing, I found that the core features of the system worked well, never missing door or window opens, with the hub’s motion sensing on point. The door chimes are clear and pleasant without being annoying, and the siren, while not all that loud (just 90db), is ear-catching and high-pitched enough to carry through the home. Switching between modes via either the app or the key fob is easy and quick, and the unit gives you a 60-second, chimed countdown before engaging Away mode. There’s even two-way audio built into the hub, so you can use your phone to talk to your kids or cats (or a burglar) if you happen to catch them live on camera.
Christopher Null
These add-on motion viewers let you place wireless cameras indoors or out.
The Alexa features on the unit also worked perfectly in my testing. The speaker is loud and crisp, and it never balked at handling commands to play music, answer questions, or control other devices in my home.
That said, not everything is perfect with this system, and the longer you spend with it, the more nagging problems you start to see. Perhaps the biggest downside to the Honeywell Home Security Kit is that there is no professional monitoring nor cellular backup available. To disable the alarm from sending you notices, an intruder need only unplug your router―though that won’t stop the siren from sounding. The hub does, however, include a backup battery in case the power goes out. But that won’t keep your router powered, as usual, we recommend plugging it and your broadband gateway into an uninterruptible power