(light music)
(doorbell ringing)
The Kami Doorbell Camera is a great starting product
for newcomers to smart home gear
and doorbell cameras in general.
For around $100, you get AI powered,
human detection, clear video,
and affordable cloud storage options.
What Kami does right is its huge range
of installation options.
In the box, you'll find everything you need to hardwire it
to your existing doorbell
or power it with a battery or use the USB cable.
No matter what your home setup looks like,
Kami makes it super easy to get your smart home started
at your doorstep.
Plus, Kami works with Cove Home Security
to protect your home beyond the front porch.
Join me as I install one myself,
test out its features, and go through the pros and cons
of the Kami Doorbell Camera.
Oh, and stick around to find out how you can be one
of the three lucky people to win a Kami doorbell
of your own.
(light music)
Other than the power drill,
you'll find everything you need to install your new doorbell
right in the box.
The Kami comes with all the gear needed
to hardwire your doorbell to a traditional chime.
Or, if you're like me and you don't have one,
you can use the battery pack included in the box.
Many video doorbells come with both options,
but the real kicker from Kami is the USB power cable
you can use instead of the battery or hardwiring.
If you have an outdoor outlet or means to plug in
your Kami with this cable, it's the best of both worlds.
Continuous power without the hardwiring.
In addition to the three power options,
Kami comes with three mounting back plates
for the back of your camera.
This ensures that you get a good angle of your front porch.
Installing the Kami starts like any other IP camera.
In the app,
select the doorbell camera in the app,
insert the battery or plug in the USB cable.
Once it's on, you'll scan a QR code
and connect it to your Wi-Fi network.
The rest is all hardware.
I measured, drilled two pilot holes,
secured the back plate, then secured the doorbell
with little screws included in the box.
Once the cover was back on the doorbell,
I secured it with a screw to keep it tight.
Then I was done and ready to test it out.
The Kami has a lot of features,
and I tried to test them all.
First, I looked at video quality.
Here are a few clips from my front porch
over the first couple of days of testing.
It has a really wide field of vision,
160 degrees to be exact.
And it was able to see almost up to a block away.
You can see delivery drop offs,
neighbors, passing vehicles,
pretty typical front yard stuff.
You might not be able to catch every face going by,
but for casual use, that's probably not necessary.
The night vision's pretty sharp too.
The Kami has six infrared lights around the camera
that make night vision possible.
You won't see as far in low-light conditions,
but faces and details show up just as clearly in the dark.
I also tested the two-way audio.
The speaker on this camera is kind of quiet.
So I miked it to get this clip.
The two-way audio (inaudible).
Talking into it can be a little tough
because you get feedback through the app
of what you're saying,
but this is pretty normal for cameras like this one.
And it just takes some practice.
This is what the two-way audio sounds like
from the recording on the Kami.
Can you hear me?
You can also record messages to play automatically
when someone rings your doorbell.
Here's one I recorded.
One moment, I'll be up in a second.
A few of the smart features I tested in the Kami doorbell
include person detection, face recognition,
and the motion features like motion detection,
and motion zones.
Person detection correctly labeled humans going by,
but it also labeled vehicles as people on a regular basis.
Because of this, I ended up with a handful of false alarms
and even more notifications.
Thankfully, this is an adjustable feature.
So I turned down the sensitivity to cut distractions.
Kami offers face recognition as a premium feature.
When this doorbell sees human faces,
it stores them in a face library.
I guess calling it Facebook is off limits.
But you can see here how it caught my face.
From that face library, I was able to label each person,
mostly me, and store it as someone familiar.
And finally, I tested the motion detection sensitivity
and motion zones.
Overall, the Kami's motion detection is pretty sensitive.
Even turned down and limited to my doorstep,
it was able to pick up activity.
I like the way the Kami sets up motion zones too.
You'll see the screen carved up into quadrants
with the largest at the bottom for your front porch.
Kami Cloud comes in three flavors,
and you can pay yearly or monthly.
I opted for the free trial of the basic plan
that lands around a whopping $30 a year.
But even at its most expensive,
Kami Cloud Plus costs only $130 per year
and comes with some bonus features
like 30-day video history, captures of every alert,
support for up to five cameras,
and premium customer support.
Even with my basic plan,
I was able to save videos and get short clips from alerts.
It was a worthy investment,
but we've seen sweeter deals from other services.
One of the coolest parts about the Kami Doorbell Camera
is that it's compatible with Cove Home Security.
If you have Cove,
I recommend connecting your camera through the app
before mounting it.
But once it's connected,
you can see feed from your doorbell
right through the Cove app.
I mentioned a big giveaway at the beginning of this video,
and now's your chance to get in on the action.
We're giving away Kami doorbells to three lucky winners.
Check out the link in the description
to enter to win a Kami Doorbell Camera
of your very own.
We are taking entries until December 31st, 2021.
And I will be going live to announce the winners
on January 5th, 2022.
So be sure to subscribe to catch the big announcement.
Overall, what are the best and worst parts
about the Kami video doorbell?
Here's a quick rundown.
After using the Kami for a little over a week,
I have to say I loved how easy the installation was.
I was new to the whole process
and able to finish it in about 20 minutes.
And that's with filming.
Kami does a great job of providing
tons of installation options in this tiny box
for as many people and as many homes as possible.
I also really liked the cloud storage,
face library, and prerecorded messages
for the doorbell as well.
Its video quality is clear enough to watch events live,
night or day.
But I wish the settings in the Kami app
were a little more advanced.
Kami has a ton of cameras to choose from,
and the settings felt more uniform to fit all their products
rather than the doorbell specifically.
I wasn't able to turn up the volume on the camera's speaker
or adjust the video quality, for example.
And the person detection needs some improvement.
It was really sensitive, which is a good and a bad thing.
So, while the Kami caught lots of action,
it was about a 50/50 shot
whether that personal alert was actually a person
and not a passing car.
So, while Kami isn't the end all be all
of video doorbell cameras,
it's a great setup for beginners
and anyone curious about what goes on in their front yard.
The cloud storage is worth springing for,
with its extra features and low annual price.
And the setup is almost guaranteed to fit your home,
whatever it looks like.
If you already have Cove Home Security
or you're thinking about getting it,
the Kami doorbell is a surefire way
to watch your front porch
and protect the main entrance to your home.
Speaking of Cove,
we'd love to send a big shout out to them
for sending us the Kami doorbell to test.
And don't forget to catch our live stream on January 5th
when we give out brand new Kami Doorbell Cameras
to three lucky winners.
You can sign up for that giveaway in the description below.
Thanks for watching, and stay safe.
(light music)