Gabe Turner: Hey folks, this is Gabe at Security Baron.
Today, we're reviewing a new affordable home security system, the abode Essential Starter
Kit.
[music]
Gabe: Today's review of the abode Essential Starter Kit, I'll talk about what I got with
the system, how easy it was to install, the professional monitoring options, the customer
support available, and the mobile application so that you have the right information to
know if the abode Essential Starter Kit is right for you.
If you'd like to see the list of our favorite home security systems, Google Security Baron
best home security systems.
If you have a question about today's review, leave us a comment, and I'll get back to you.
Let's begin our review going over each of the components that you get with your abode
Essential Starter Kit.
We'll begin right here with the abode Gateway.
Now just right off the bat, I love the aesthetic here.
I love two-tone black.
I think it's great.
Your Gateway serves as a bridge between your system and each individual component.
Hopefully, it's not a bridge over troubled waters.
The mini door and window sensor are beautiful.
This white, really discreet sensor that you place on your door or your window.
I actually am a big fan of the aesthetics and its functionality.
We've put it up.
I was almost skeptical of how well it could work considering its size, and it worked really
well.
The motion detector takes a reverse design idea as most of the motion detectors we've
seen in the home security space.
It gets fatter towards the top, and it has 110 degree radius out for picking up anything
going on in the room.
The final thing you get in that abode Essentials Starter Kit is your key fob.
Following that same cool black and white two-tone aesthetic, it allows you to use your system
without using your voice or your mobile application.
Those are the pieces you get with the abode Essentials Starter Kit.
Here at Security Baron, we like to add a video element to our home security systems most
of the time.
For going over our abode Essentials Starter Kit, we added the abode Cam.
In order to best evaluate how this cam will work for you and your Essentials Starter Kit,
let's put it through an abbreviated Security Baron necessary features test.
Stellar video quality is a Security Baron necessary feature, and the abode Cam does
really well here with its 1080p high definition video and 152 degree field of view.
When it comes to two-way audio in the Security Baron necessary features test, the abode Cam
does not have it.
They do say that they will update the software in the future, but currently there is no two-way
audio with the abode Cam.
Night vision is a Security Baron necessary feature, and the abode Cam does adequately
here.
It has one infrared LED sensor that provides enough of an IR illumination to give you a
decent shot of what's going on in the dark.
Local and cloud storage is a Security Baron necessary feature, and it's a bit strange
with the abode Cam.
Something we noted is that on the phone, they told us that we wouldn't be able to have cloud
storage with our abode Cam, but that we'd get local storage.
Actually, after a bit of work, we had the opposite experience.
We were able to get our cloud storage on our mobile device in the app.
We could watch 30-second clips after we hit record in the mobile app, and we went to the
web app where we were able to download those clips and watch them on QuickTime.
That was really fortunate, but we still haven't gotten our local storage to work with our
abode Cam.
Smart platform integration is a Security Baron necessary feature.
While the abode system itself does have integration with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant,
we did not have any smart platform integration with the abode Cam itself.
Artificial intelligence is a Security Baron necessary feature, and the abode Cam has no
artificial intelligence.
No person detection and package detection, vehicle detection.
None of that's happening with your abode Cam.
Convenience is a Security Baron necessary feature.
With the abode Cam, contrary to other users, we didn't have any problems getting our live
stream up and running.
Of course, it's not instantaneous, but once we got it going, we didn't suffer from a ton
of lag.
We thought that we had a pretty solid experience when it comes to live streaming.
When you look at the cloud storage option, you can record clips of up to 30 seconds,
and then you can take those and watch them in the web app and download them.
In terms of convenience and watching clips from the abode Cam, we had a pretty solid
experience.
Value is a Security Baron necessary feature, and with the abode Cam that comes in at $149.99,
I'm not certain of its overall value.
If you look at some of its cousins, and I say cousins because they work with the abode
system, like the Nest Cam Indoor, you'll note that the Nest Cam Indoor, it is $50 more,
but does a lot more for you.
The abode Cam, while it does have live streaming and you can save some 30-second clips, it
doesn't boast things like two-way audio yet that would really enhance its value.
Now that we've gone over all the components in the abode Essentials Starter Kit, let's
talk about installing the system itself.
Now, you're going to begin with your Gateway.
Your Gateway is your hub.
When you take it out of the box, you get an activation code and a simple guide on how
to install it.
It's pretty straightforward.
You plug in the power adapter, plug in the ethernet adapter, make sure you have that
mobile application going, and boom, you're ready to go.
That mobile application is how you're going to install the remaining pieces of your system.
You can use the mobile app, and there's even elements of the web app that I found useful.
Beginning with the entry sensors, this goes on a window or door.
You have an adhesive on the back.
You place it up.
It's discreet.
It's easy.
With your motion detector, it's a similar process.
You also have the adhesives that you had on your motion sensor.
You could place it directly on a wall or, as we tend to do here at Security Baron, you
can even place it on something like a bookcase.
Finally, you're going to install your security camera.
The security camera, I found it a little bit easier to install using the web application.
I used the web app, plugged in my power adapter, plugged in an Ethernet adapter initially,
and was ready to go.
Once you plug in that Ethernet adapter, you can put it on your WiFi.
Overall, the process of installing the various pieces of the abode Essential Starter Kit
and that supplemental abode Cam was pretty straightforward.
Abode does things differently when it comes to their professional monitoring options.
You've got that free option that lets you do self-monitoring and gives you three days
of timeline storage, but what's interesting is that you can also do professional monitoring
on demand.
If you want to go with a more long-term plan, you can do it both with a yearly contract
or a monthly contract.
Monthly, you have two options.
You can do the Connect Plan, which is $10, or the Secure Plan, which is $30.
Both of these plans give you that cellular backup and longer periods of timeline storage.
The Secure Plan is $30 and still one of the most affordable plans we've seen out there,
especially as compared to traditional home security professional monitoring.
That Secure Plan gives you 90 days of timeline storage, cellular backup, and superior customer
support.
We are into the flexibility and affordability of the Abode professional monitoring service.
Hold on.
Quick break.
I was wondering what other smart home integrations you're using in your home.
abode has a ton of automations that can be integrated with this system.
Most people do things like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, but what else are you employing
for your smart home security system?
Leave us a comment below.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Let's get back to the video.
Now that we've covered the professional monitoring options, let's move forward to the actual
customer support.
With a Free Plan, you can contact customer support through their website or an email.
Sometimes, they might call you back or, as in our experience, they'll call you back and
tell you to email them again.
In terms of what you'd get from abode, the customer support options are limited unless
you pay separately.
When we did begin paying for the Connect Plan, and we tried to upgrade to the Secure Plan,
but they didn't let us upgrade to the Secure Plan because we had not yet run out of our
Connect plan.
We were able to get in touch directly with a customer service representative.
They were pretty helpful, but up until that point, we didn't really appreciate the experience
we had with the abode Customer Support.
While my experience with the abode Customer Support Team was a bit of a mixed bag, I wanted
to see what other people were experiencing when they went and talked to them.
I went to the Amazon reviews.
It currently has a 4.7 out of 5-star review on Amazon, with 80 percent of those reviews
being a full five stars, which is really positive.
However, when I went a little bit deeper and looked at the reviews that mentioned customer
support, two-thirds of those reviews were negative.
People seemed to be getting a little bit of the runaround in the same way that I did when
going to customer support, especially when emailing or using the Online Support Center.
The final thing I want to talk about in today's review of the abode Essential Starter Kit
is the mobile application.
In mobile application, you want to be able to easily live stream footage control all
over automations and, ultimately, arm and disarm your system.
Personally, I didn't have too much trouble with that with the abode app, though I will
say that I was using the abode web app even more than the actual mobile application.
What did other people say about the abode mobile app?
In the App Store, it only got a 3.1 out of 5 stars, with a lot of users complaining about
it draining their batteries, which we know is the worst thing that anything can do in
this day and age.
Android users in the Google Play Store had a much more positive experience, it seems.
They gave it a 4.2 out of 5 stars, with a host of those being very, very strong reviews
and something that we wanted to mention.
At 3.1 out of 5 stars in the App Store, and a 4.2 out of 5 stars in the Google Play Store
for the abode mobile application.
Let's jump in to the functionality of the mobile application using my iPhone 10.
Here we are taking a look at the abode mobile application.
If you note, on the very far left-hand side on the bottom, you have Actions.
That's where I wanted to start today.
If I wanted to start a new quick action, I could tap, and you'll note that it says you
need to go to your laptop or desktop computer and the web app to do that.
That gives you an idea about the abode app.
A lot of things need to be done in the web app.
Let's click out of that and go to our status.
Our status is the middle icon, and the very bottom has the i.
If I click on that, you note there's my timeline.
It's a little bit weird that the top of the status has three different elements -- your
timeline, cameras, and devices.
My timeline is just looking at various things that I've captured.
I also want to note here that when you do do a video, it only will capture for 30 seconds.
That is a limitation of the system.
Let's go look at the camera itself now that we've seen some of those things on the timeline.
By the way, it goes beyond just the actual camera.
You can look at when your doors are opening and closed, and that goes on and on.
Let's look at the cameras themselves.
I click.
I get a little bit of a lag, and then boom.
I'm right in there.
I'm looking at the live footage.
One thing to note is that I cannot go into landscape mode.
It appears with the abode app, so you're going to have to check it out as is.
If you want to get a landscape, you're going to jump into that web application.
This is what it looks like.
Below the camera, you have your history available.
I'll click out of that, I go to Devices, and I can look at the devices that I've made.
I decided to make a group of my devices.
If you note, at the top, it says, "Baron Command," and I grouped all my devices there.
My Baron Port, which is basically what I named my entry sensor, has that as closed because
my door is closed.
Below that, I have the Baron abode Motion Sensor and the Key Fob, which I did not rename.
Below that, you see the Baron abode Camera, which was what I named my camera.
If I were to take a video clip, I could tap, records a video.
If I wanted to capture a snapshot, I could tap below that, and image successfully saved
in that storage.
If you note, if I go into Settings, there are a host of options.
I can change my monthly plan, update my credit card, enable/disable the touch ID setting
on my iPhone.
You've got your location assistant.
You can add a device if I wanted to add more devices.
As you can see here, there are a host of devices you can add to the abode System.
Look at all of these -- environmental sensors, sirens, home automation sensors.
A lot of options and settings.
Something I appreciate about the abode System is that there are a lot of things you can
do.
I can manage users, emergency contacts, IFTTT.
All of those are options.
Those are what you have in your mobile application with the abode Home Security System.
Now, we're going to jump into the web app for the abode Home Security System because
frankly, it provides a lot more functionality and utility than its mobile application.
Here we are checking out the web app for the abode Home Security System.
We're on the dashboard.
You can see my video capture clips on the right side.
On that timeline, you can see the various devices that I have connected in my group,
which is the Baron Command, the Baron Port, Baron abode Motion, my Key Fob, and my camera.
If I go, I can look at Alerts, or I can even go down to the Live Video, which is what I
want to focus on when showing you this web application.
If I tap here in the Live Video, you can see what's going on.
This is the best way to get that landscape portrait.
Let me go ahead and make this larger for you.
Here, you can see the web app and the actual daytime clarity of the abode Cam.
I've noted that it does seem to be a little bit grainier than it was a moment ago.
We have been pretty impressed with the 1080p high-definition video on the Baron abode Cam.
Right now, it's a little bit grainier than usual.
I will note and point out that there is no zoom function right here in the web app or
even on the mobile application, but if I go ahead and do this test, I could see things
pretty well with the Baron abode Cam.
This is what it looks like on the Baron Abode Cam.
Look directly to the camera, give you a way, and you can see that it looks pretty good.
Here's that night vision on the abode Cam.
It's not too bad.
It's a little bit grainy.
It's not the best that we've seen in terms of night vision, but it does work pretty well.
Once again, you have no zoom, but I do want to point out that you capture a lot of what's
going on in this room with that 152-degree field of view.
That's impressive and does a great job of capturing what's in here.
Once again, using that web cam to look at the night vision on the abode Camera.
As you'll note, here we are watching a screen cast of a live stream because you can only
do 30-second clips with the abode application.
You won't be able to get a long recording.
That's why we're doing this screen cast.
Let me show you how you would download one of those clips.
Come out of this, and I would go here.
If you note, you can download, watch, or even trash your video clips.
That's how you would go.
It's right down the right side, history, and it will go ahead and download a video clip.
If I want to go back to looking at the rest of the web application's functionality, I
want to go back to this left side, where I can look at the history completely.
A host of videos there and even a lot more than that.
I can look at the Quick Actions.
This is where you create a quick action, change system mode, all IP cameras, a host of different
elements to be messed around with.
Get out of that.
Got Cue Automations.
Cue Automations, this is similar to an IFTTT.
It's just a newer version of doing that, and there are a ton of features there.
I can create new ones.
Of course, there's other automations.
We have integrations.
It integrates with IFTTT, Nest, Amazon Alexa, Ecobee, Google Assistant, among other things.
That's our look at the web app for the abode Home Security System, which just gives you
that little bit more of control that we like to see with our home security systems.
We've come a long way in our review of the abode Essential Starter Kit, and I mean a
long way.
At this point, you just want to know, "Gabe, what do you think about the abode Essential
Starter Kit?
Tell me something about it."
If you like flexible contracting with your professional monitoring, then honestly this
is the way to go.
I mean three-day weekend, $8 flexible.
If you want to do a week, you can pay $15, and then you're done with the professional
monitoring.
That's something we have not seen.
On top of that, when it comes to smart home automation, abode has hundreds.
They integrate with everything, and that's impressive to us.
If you need great customer support, then you're going to want to go somewhere else.
We had them tell us just the flat-out wrong thing about products in their line.
When it comes to customer support, it's very spotty with abode.
On top of that, if you're an iPhone user, the app honestly is pretty mediocre.
I found myself really preferring to use the web app.
Now you were saying, "Gabe, what is your personal opinion?"
Really speaking, I have to say that the potential is tremendous for abode, but they haven't
reached it.
The capacity is here and this is about where they are.
That's my real concern for abode, is that I wish they could do everything that they
mean to with their system.
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Gabe: That concludes our review of the abode Essential Starter Kit.
If you appreciate it today's video, gives us the like and hit that subscribe button.
As always, this is Gabe, Security Baron.
Be secure.