- Last week we unboxed a huge kit from Lorex
with a bunch of goodies inside.
There were motion sensors, contact sensors,
and the Smart Home Security Center
to watch all your cameras.
Now it's time to share how it all went down.
The Lorex Home Center is a smart speaker
and a hub designed to collect all of your Lorex pieces
into one place.
From it you can check all the different live feeds
around your property
and sensors associated with that Lorex system.
Need to check for a package on the porch?
Just ask Lorex.
You can get a Lorex Home Center on its own
or in a bundle
with a bunch of different combinations of gear.
Indoor, outdoor, doorbell cameras,
they all work with the smart hub.
We had a Lorex Home Center, a 2K indoor camera,
a contact sensor, a motion sensor, a sensor hub,
plus our Lorex 2K outdoor camera from a previous review
that you can watch right up here.
So here's a look at how it all worked together.
Once you power it up
and get it online the Home Center basically installs itself.
We used a wired connection from the ethernet cable
but there's also a wireless option
through a 5 gigahertz network.
But most devices, like cameras, use 2.4 gigahertz band.
So while 5 gives you more bandwidth
to stream multiple cameras
you might need to create a new network for the hub too.
Once the hub was up and running, I set up face recognition,
a PIN code, and connected all the sensors.
While the outdoor camera worked and connected quickly,
adding the indoor camera didn't go as planned.
At least not at first.
It turns out the indoor cam in our kit
was a test unit from a previous life.
So we have, oh, uh-oh.
This came out of its wrapping a little bit.
And whatever those tests did,
two calls to tech support
and a lot of troubleshooting wasn't enough
to bring it back to life.
Just as I was about to cut my losses
Lorex surprised me with a brand new replacement unit.
Now I had two working Lorex cameras
and I could see multiple feeds from the home center.
Now let's focus on the Smart Home Security Center itself.
This device is basically a command center
for all your Lorex cameras and accessories.
You can watch multiple live feeds,
save and record clips from your cameras,
watch past clips and control device settings.
Just like the Google Nest Hub and Echo Show,
it has an AI voice assistant built in for quick control.
Hey, Lorex.
(Lorex dings)
Go to sleep.
This lets you see what's going on anywhere with a camera
without touching your phone.
I will say the AI does need a little more improvement.
You'll need to be really precise
with how you word your requests.
Say "Lorex" to wake up the device.
"Hey Lorex."
"Show me the front camera."
- [Lorex] Sorry, I can't find that device.
- It can handle basic commands like show me all the cameras
or turn off notifications for,
but you might wanna check the hub manually
to make sure the command went through.
On the device itself, you'll find a few familiar buttons
similar to those on an Echo Show
or other smart speakers with screens.
There's a mute button, volume buttons, a power button,
and a privacy slide that blocks the onboard camera.
You can also customize things like the hub screensaver
and privacy settings for face ID and PIN codes too.
And the device itself has almost 60 GBs of storage.
Along with the home center
I got two sensors and a sensor hub to add to my system.
I really like the size of both of these devices.
They're teeny tiny,
making them really easy to place anywhere.
I had issues in the past with contact sensors
bumping into each other, but this wasn't an issue for Lorex.
Just like a home security system
you can arm and disarm the Lorex Home Center.
So when one of these devices are triggered
the hub will sound an alarm. (alarm beeping)
But since this is a self-monitored system
only you will be alerted to any triggers.
Another advantage of linking your Lorex cameras
to the home center is that audible motion detection.
Whenever my camera outside sensed motion,
(sensor chimes) it would chime.
You can adjust this if it becomes too much
but I recommend leaving it on
for cameras in low traffic areas
so you know when there's movement where it doesn't belong.
And in true Lorex fashion,
all the video clips you save on the Home Center
are stored locally.
No cloud storage fees and no access for hackers to get into.
I only spent a short time
with the Lorex Smart Home Security Center
but it was long enough to experience
a fair share of quirks and perks.
Setup was easy,
but this might have been the first time I encountered
a device that runs on a 5 gigahertz band.
I opted for the wired approach, which was easy enough.
It just means that you'll have to set up either
the 5 gigahertz network at home
or keep the Home Center really close to your router.
Next up, there's no professional monitoring from Lorex.
This isn't too surprising
since the system is so camera focused
but it's a bit of a double edged sword.
Without professional monitoring,
you might miss an event which means trouble at home
but this also means no monthly fees
or contracts to worry about.
And finally, there's the voice assistant.
It won't set a timer for you or play trivia games,
but it can do basic stuff like pull up the camera feed
or arm your system.
But it takes some practice to know exactly
how to ask for what you want.
I was able to get the Lorex Home Center
up and working in only a few minutes
and connecting my sensors and cameras was a breeze.
If you want a multi-camera system like those from Lorex
you'll wanna process that you can repeat
without too much of a headache.
So many times I've gone to check my phone
to see a camera's live feed or changed the settings
and got distracted
by something totally different on my phone.
And that's just the nature of having everything on an app.
That's one of the biggest perks of the Home Center
is phone-free and distraction-free monitoring.
If traditional security systems aren't your thing,
self-monitoring might be the option worth considering.
Lorex doesn't offer pro-monitoring
for any of their products,
so you're free from monthly fees with any of their stuff.
That said,
this means that you'll have to be really responsive
to any notifications you get from your system.
But if that's worth cutting the cost,
this might be a good place to start.
The Lorex Smart Home Security Center is really convenient,
especially for Lorex loyalists out there.
And after Lorex's quick response with my defunct camera
I might become one myself.
The Smart Home Security Center is an easy way to keep track
of multiple cameras around your home
without ever pulling out your phone
every time you're curious.
But I hope that future versions will improve
on the voice assistant
and add stronger self-monitoring features
for homes out there.
So unless you need more than one security camera
at your home, this isn't really a must have.
More like a nice to have.
I'd like to thank Lorex for sending us
all of the gear for this video.
And if you wanna learn more about Lorex's cameras
like the 2K Pan and Tilt outdoor or the 2K indoor camera,
check out the links at the end of this video.
That's it for me on the Lorex Smart Home Security Center.
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Thanks for watching and stay safe.
Thanks for watching.
And if you want more safety, head over to safewise.com
and you can find reviews
and our lineups of best home security systems,
best wireless cameras, and more.
Stay safe.
(relaxing music)