Today we will decide if Netatmo Smart Indoor is a better HomeKit camera than Logi Circle
2.
Disclaimer.
I purchased Smart Indoor three and a half years ago.
Circle 2 was given to me for testing last year.
This, of course, did not impact my opinion so let's move right into comparing the two
starting with their HomeKit-based features.
Keep in mind that if you want to use Logi Circle with HomeKit, you will need to purchase
one of their wired mounts.
From the Home app, you can quickly view all of your cameras.
The view you see here is not live, but it is updated often.
You can see when it was last updated here.
The feed itself is displayed quickly with little lag between what's shown on the app
and what's happening in real life.
From the home app, can only stream one camera at a time which you can do by clicking on
the camera you want to view.
The live feed pulls up quickly and includes audio.
You can adjust the audio volume by using the slider on the bottom of the screen.
You can also initiate a two-way conversation while streaming your Circle camera.
You simply press to talk and listen, which is an improvement over the Circle app which
requires that you press to talk and release to listen.
Smart Indoor doesn't have a two-way audio option because the camera lacks two-way audio,
but it does have an additional Siri command.
Instead of just being able to ask Siri to show my security camera, I can also say, "Hey
Siri, is there someone at home?"
Checking on things.
The Office is not occupied.
The Vacation is not responding.
There you go.
While the response is semi-useful.
It is a little disappointing considering that the camera offers facial recognition.
This ability, unfortunately, doesn't tie into HomeKit at all.
Next up, HomeKit enables automation.
When you add Smart Indoor to HomeKit, it will show as a camera, a motion detector, and as
an occupancy sensor.
Circle 2 will show as a camera and a motion detector.
When using HomeKit for automation, there are two paths two automation: Scenes and Automation.
Scenes is a way to trigger multiple devices to respond to one command.
The cameras and their sensors, unfortunately, do not work in Scenes at all.
If you want to use HomeKit for automation, you will need to use the Automation option.
And here we need to pause.
HomeKit can be a hub-less system, but if you want to use the Automation feature, view your
cameras while you're away from home, or set up push notifications through the Apple Home
app, you will need a Home Hub.
With a Hub in place, you can create IFTTT-like rules from the Automation section of the Home
app.
There are five potential triggers for Automation.
This one, "when people arrive," does not tie into Netatmo's occupancy sensor, but it should.
The only option that works is when 'Sensor Detects Something.'
For example, you can create a rule that says, �If Logi Circle 2 detects motion at this
time, then do this."
To finalize your rule, you'll set an action.
There are several actions that you can choose from but missing from the list is any action
involving either security camera.
So the final HomeKit feature we're going to talk about is push notifications, which is
another feature that requires the Home Hub.
Push notifications can be tied to the cameras' motion detector and Smart Indoor's occupancy
sensor.
You can limit them based on time and presence.
Measuring performance of the motion detector was confusing because Circle 2's push alerts
were fairly fast before adding the camera to HomeKit.
After adding Circle 2 to HomeKit, alerts from the camera's app slowed down big time.
Netatmo's alerts were all over the place before and after HomeKit.
Unfortunately, the camera doesn't send a push notification right away.
Instead, alert speed is tied to the length of the event.
Using the Home App for Netatmo alerts, speeds things up considerably.
As far as comparing their HomeKit features, that's it.
The two are fairly neck and neck thus far so let's move on to battle two which is video
resolution.
Both cameras offer a Full HD, 1080p resolution.
Smart Indoor has a 130-degree field of view while Circle 2 has a wider 180-degree field
of view.
If that's too wide for you, you can adjust this setting using the Circle app.
Both cameras also offer night vision.
In my opinion, Circle 2 is the clear winner in this category.
Next up, storage.
HomeKit doesn't offer a storage solution.
In fact, it strips away the ability to take snapshots.
I tried several times and no matter what I did, the footage was blacked out.
If you want to record videos and actually view those videos, you will need to swap over
to the cameras' respective apps.
And here, Smart Indoor takes the lead as it offers a greater variety of storage options.
The camera ships with an 8GB class 10 MicroSD card in place which you can swap out for a
larger card.
If you want cloud storage, you can attach the camera to your Dropbox account.
You can also add your own FTP server.
Smart Indoor also lets you control who is recorded.
From the app, you can click in to manage user profiles choosing between always record this
person, only on arrival, or never.
The camera can remember up to 32 people.
Circle 2 includes 24 hours of free cloud storage.
If you want more storage, you will need to pay.
Paid plans start at $3.99, but Premium is Logitech's recommended plan, and it's $9.99
per month and adds 31-days of cloud storage, person detection, motion zones, and custom
smart time-lapse day briefs.
Final verdict?
I'll say this.
Though Netatmo Smart Indoor and Circle 2 made my list of best HomeKit security cameras,
I don't think that they would have made any other list.
In fact, I'll link to a video I did below comparing Circle 2 to five other security
cameras, and of all that I compared, I liked it the least.
If I had to pick one camera, I would give the win to Netatmo, and there's four reasons
for that.
First of all, free facial recognition.
Second, appreciation for local processing.
Third, better storage options.
Fourth, Netatmo supports an indoor and an outdoor HomeKit-enabled camera as well as
non-camera products.
That said, Smart Indoor's notifications were so slow so if you're going to buy that camera,
you will probably need to rely on the Home app for notifications.
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Next up, we're going to take a look at abode iota, assuming that it ships on time, which
ironically is another camera that will eventually have HomeKit integrations.
So we'll take a look at that, and I will see y'all then!