- So the first rule for do it yourself
home security, maybe is this, okay.
Don't tell the entire world about
your own home do it yourself security.
I'm about to do that now, obviously.
So this brings us to the third in the series
that has been sponsored by Lowes Home Improvement.
You know Lowes, we all know Lowes, we all love Lowes.
You know how this works, right?
They sponsor the video, I review the thing,
just like I always would and everybody's happy.
So the first two videos in the series,
Google Home Hub, you've seen it, you know it,
you love it, highly recommend it.
And yes, the Nest Thermostat, I use it everyday.
And now it's time for some do it yourself
home security with Nest Secure.
I've been using this thing for a long time now
and it's finally time to talk about it.
Ready? Let's go.
So this is the Nest Secure.
The basic system, which costs $400, comes with three parts.
So first, there's the Nest Guard.
It's exactly what it looks like, okay.
It's a keypad for arming and disarming
the Nest Secure system and it also serves
as a motion detector, which is kinda cool.
So you plug it into a wall
and need to keep it in a relatively central location.
As you're coming and going, this is the main way
you'll probably be arming and disarming the system.
We'll talk a little more about this in a minute,
but know that it also has a backup battery tucked inside
so if the power does go out, you've got 12 hours of use.
You also get two Nest Detect wireless sensors.
These things are battery powered and they're pretty cool.
And you've got a few options with them.
You can stick them on a door or window
and once they're up there, it'll monitor
either whether the door or windows open and closed.
Or, if you want, you can stick them
on a wall and it turns into a motion detector.
Really easy, really cool.
And finally, it comes with two Nest tags.
So these are little keyring fobs that make it super easy
to arm and disarm the system, just tap it to the keypad.
So that's everything that's here
in the Nest Secure starter pack.
You can absolutely buy more if you need to,
I had to buy a little extra.
But you can pick and choose as you go,
so you're not spending a whole lotta money
on things you don't actually need.
That let's you be strategic about things, right?
Do I really need to have sensors
on every door and every window?
Maybe, maybe not, it really depends on where you live
and your situation and exactly what you want.
The setup for this kind of thing is really easy.
If you've ever used another Nest device before,
you pretty much know what you're in for.
Everything has a key or a code on it
that you'll scan with your phone, each Nest Guard,
each Nest Detect Sensor, every Nest tag.
So figure out where you want the Nest Detect sensors
to go and then follow the instructions as you stick em
to the wall or the door or the window or wherever.
As you're setting things up in the app,
they'll all be registered with a Nest Guard
base unit and start talking to each other.
That actually brings up a really interesting question.
So this all ties into your Wifi,
so you can control it with your phone
and check on it when you're not in the house and all that.
But what happens if your Wifi goes down?
Does everything just stop working?
No, actually it doesn't.
And there's a really cool reason why.
Nest Secure uses something
that's relatively new, called Weave.
Now, that's nerd protocol
for a thing called a thread network.
Here's the plain English version, okay.
So, instead of each sensor having to talk to the internet
and then coming back and talking to your phone,
they all actually talk individually to each other.
So the Nest Detect in the garage talks to
the Nest Guard keypad over here
and it doesn't have to go through the internet first.
That way, if the internet goes out,
everything keeps working.
Someone breaks in and there's still power
to the whole system, we're good to go.
So, what's Nest Secure actually like to use?
Alright, to be fair, this is the only alarm system I've ever
actually used, but I have been more than happy with it.
Let's talk about arming the system.
There are two modes here.
There's away and guarding and that's what
you're gonna use when you actually leave the house
and it arms the doors, it arms the windows,
it arms all the motion sensors.
Or, there's home and guarding
and that will turn on the doors and the windows,
but leave the motion detectors off
so you can still roam around the house.
Now Nest is really cool in that it can tell
when you're home and when you're away.
It uses your phone and talks to the app and all that stuff.
If you're gone and you forgot to turn the alarm on, it'll
actually remind you and say, hey do you wanna turn it on.
It takes one touch, turn on the alarm, you're good to go.
Same thing for when you return home.
It'll say, oh looks like he just got home.
And you might not even be in the door yet
when you get the little notification.
You can turn the alarm off before you even go inside.
Or, if you prefer, you can just turn things off
at the Nest Guard keypad, either with your passcode
or with the Nest tag, totally up to you.
But, maybe my favorite, is that I actually
have mine rigged up into a Google routine.
So, at the end of the night, I say, "Hey Google, go to bed"
and it turns off all the lights in my house and sets
the alarm automatically all in one fail swoop, very cool.
So if the alarm does go off, a couple things happen.
First, it'll turn on any Nest cameras
you might also have in the house.
That's really cool and it helps you figure out,
maybe it was a false alarm, it happens.
If that happens, you can turn it off
right here, from your phone.
In the meantime, an 85 decibel siren
is going off from the Nest Guard itself.
It's pretty loud and it'll keep going
for 10 minutes or until you turn it off
or until the cops show up, whichever happens first.
So those are actually kinda just
the basics of Nest's Secure.
What about kinda the random stuff?
So if you've got pets who weigh less than 40 pounds,
there's an option in here for that
and that should keep them from setting off the alarm
when the motion detectors are turned on.
You're gonna have to kinda play with that
though and figure it out yourself.
The door and window sensors have bypass buttons, if you
wanna open them up but not actually turn off the alarm.
Just push it, it turns green,
you can open the door without setting things off.
Now there's also the option to hook Nest Secure
into professional monitoring from Brinks.
That costs $19 a month with a three year commitment
or $29 a month if you just wanna play things by ear.
That also activates a cellular backup
so they'll be notified even if the internet goes out.
Again, that's all optional though.
Totally up to you whether you wanna use it.
If you just wanna rock things on your own, go for it.
Oh, one more thing okay and this is maybe my favorite thing.
If you have a Nest Yale lock on a door,
typing in your passcode on the door lock
can actually shut off the alarm at the same time.
I love this for my kids.
They don't have to carry keys anymore.
They just have to know their passcode
and then they don't even have to worry about
turning the alarm off when they get home from school.
So that's it for Nest Secure.
I tell ya, I've been using it
for a long time now, I love it.
And it really expands as much as you need it to.
Only buy the parts you need.
This has been a pretty high level look, I get that.
So if you've got anymore questions,
hit me up on the comments, hit me up on the socials.
I'd be happy to answer them for ya.
Thanks again to Lowes for sponsoring this video.
I've got links down below to buy things from them.
Be sure to go watch the other videos in this series as well.
That's it for now. Thanks for watching, we'll see ya later.