Gabe: I heard you like cameras, homie.
Well today, we're going to surround your camera with cameras as we review the Swann 3K Security
System.
Today, we're going to talk about what it's like dealing with Swann customer support,
what it's like to be inside your own command station, and how easy it is to set up the
Swann Security System.
Let's get started.
[background music]
Gabe: If you'd like to see a list of our favorite security systems, Google Security Baron Best
Security Systems.
If you have a question about today's video, leave us a comment below and we'll get back
to you.
I want to give you my initial thoughts on the Swann Smart Security System.
First off, this is just a part of it.
We couldn't have everything on the table because it's just a massive system with lots of components.
There are three more cameras that come with this system, and it's expandable up to eight
cameras.
It is also a wired surveillance system.
All of these pieces that you can see actually connect to other pieces that you'll run through
your home and around so that you can keep things wired.
When it comes to the camera itself, I find it actually gives off an air of professionalism.
A lot of people might see, but, "Oh, these people are taking their security very seriously."
I have a metal and plastic camera.
The only thing that I don't find particularly ascetically appealing is this protruding part
that comes out below the lens.
You definitely have all these Allen wrenches with these bolts so that you can swivel and
move the camera around, and put it in the place and the orientation that you need to
protect your property.
Overall, those are my thoughts on the Swann Smart Security Systems design.
I want to talk about the equipment that comes with the Swann Smart Security System.
Now, with the Swann, you get four cameras out of the box.
You can actually cover a lot of ground, a lot of places around your house.
You can, of course, expand it up to eight cameras.
What is important, really, is the intelligence built into the cameras.
With the Swann Smart Security System, you get motion and heat sensing technology, so
that you can reduce the false alarms.
If you are constantly getting false alarms, you're going to want to not check what's happening
often.
What we want is a system that's smart enough to alert you when something's actually happening,
so that you're not just wasting your time following up on triggers that should not have
gone off.
Now, you also have a two terabyte hard drive.
You can essentially just set the cameras to record and just forget about it.
When something, God forbid, happens, or some type of incident, you can just go back and
see what has gone down.
Finally, this is a wired system.
That is something that some people do prefer when it comes to reliably protecting their
home or business.
Of course, the storage, the heat sensoring, the motion detection, none of that's important
if you can't actually see what's going on.
When it comes to the Swann Smart Security System camera for the 3K series, you'd have
five megapixels.
Swann claims that that is 2.4 times clearer than anything you'll get with a 1080p high-definition
video.
On top of that, they state that it will see in the dark up to a hundred feet.
That night vision is, if we want to move to the metric system, about 30 meters, in terms
of what it can see going on outside.
Of course, you don't have to place these outside.
They're both indoor and outdoor cameras.
That's a pretty impressive claim, if true, for the Swann Smart Security System.
What comes in the box with the Swann Smart Security System 3K Series?
Well, you get an eight-channel DVR with two terabytes of storage, four-five megapixel
cameras, four BNC cables, mounting plugs and screws, a mouse, power adapter and splitter,
an HDMI cable, an Ethernet cable, and theft deterrent stickers.
I want to talk about setting up the Swann Smart Security 3K Series.
It's a little bit like setting up your VCR.
Even better, it's like setting up your home theater system.
I know if you're watching this video, you've probably set up a home theater system.
It is a little complicated, but that only stems from the simple number of components
that it comes with.
Everything is mostly color-coordinated so you can figure it out.
It is four separate cameras.
You have to have them all running directly to this eight-channel DVR hub.
The time to get it up and running is, honesty, maybe 15 minutes, if you want to, initially,
just be seeing an image on your television.
You can plug in a few of the things, couple cameras, and you're up and running.
However, most of the time is going to be spent mounting, and even before mounting, deciding
where exactly you want your cameras to be.
That's a whole another element of setting up your smart security system is making sure
that you're putting your cameras and components in places that are useful, where you will
need to see what is happening.
That is where the real time lies with the Swann Smart Security System.
In terms of actual setup, it was actually very easy.
We just followed the quick start guide that comes in the box, and we're ready to go.
We just wanted to talk about the fact that it is a pretty substantive system, and therefore
will take a little bit of time for setup.
When we're talking about convenience for a system, what we also care about is how well
it works, and how well we can get it to work when something goes wrong.
When it comes to Swann, euphemistically, it doesn't seem like people's experiences are
ideal.
With a lot of security systems, customer support is an immediate selling point because we're
talking about your safety here.
People want to know that their technology, their service is not going to cut out.
If it does, they can get it up and running.
Then they can talk to someone about how to make sure they're doing the right things for
their home or business.
Swann has a real range of experiences that people have had with their customer service
department.
You have things like people being hung up on or not getting an answer.
Swann seems to, at least in the past, have basically been like, "We're selling you this
product, and you figure it out."
I know that Swann has been made aware of some of these concerns.
That they have begun the process of trying to rectify the customer service situation.
We just want to go out there and say that the customer support for the Swann Smart Security
System may be lacking.
Of course, Swann has a host of products.
Each product is different, but across the board they don't seem to have the track record
of a company that is particularly geared towards providing the best customer support.
A lot of security system companies bring professional monitoring services as an element of having
that particular security system.
However, Swann works differently in that they're, essentially, providing you the equipment for
your own CCTV room.
In the movie, you see a screen with a lot of things going on.
Everyone's watching, and you're recording, but there is not someone doing that function
for you anywhere else.
It's important to understand when you buy a Swann that there are no professional monitoring
services, and that this is simply for you to be able to watch and record.
See what's happened, and see what's going on in real-time.
That is for you to have, and for you to do, because there is no professional monitoring.
Now that we know that you're the one in control, let's check out what the Swann Security System
looks like inside of the mobile app.
Let's take a moment to go through all of the different possibilities inside the HomeSafe
View app from Swann.
If you note, my live view of this beautiful fall day is right here.
I've got all four of my cameras that come with the 3K system set up.
There are all five megapixel cameras.
To begin, let's just look at them individually.
Here we are, going through each of the cameras, my backyard and the hallway.
I've been doing some work in there, so a little bit cluttered.
You'll have to excuse me for that.
You see what's going on.
I have cameras mounted in different areas to check out what's happening in the front
of my home.
If you look in the bottom left-hand side, there's a digital camera icon.
That allows you to take photos of any particular camera that you have.
You have these images and you can take pictures, or if you note in the middle of the screen,
the bottom middle of the screen, it says capture all.
Watch what happens when I tap on the top left camera.
It flashes.
That lets you know that I've taken a picture.
Let me look at the top right.
Flash, take a picture.
Bottom, flash and flash.
If I want to capture all, hit the capture all, and chu-chu-chu.
Now, I've taken a ton of photos of that.
If I want to record video, I look at the video camera icon.
I click on that.
Let's just take, once again, the top left corner.
I can record a video here.
Now, I'm recording.
That will pop up in my records later, in the top left corner.
Here we are.
I can go into the right corner, record there.
If I just want to record all at one time, I hit record all.
Now I'm recording from the live screen from all of my cameras.
Then I just hit stop all, and they all stop recording.
Just to do that again, I can just hit any individual icon, like in the bottom left right
now, I'm recording my backyard.
That's a cool feature of the Swann System.
Now from the live screen, you'll note that I can actually zoom and focus from any particular
screen.
Now let's take a look at what I just recorded, just now in the app.
You note that I'm in this record all, stop all, screen, but I go to the top left corner,
I click, and I go down to record.
I hit baron command.
Now I can look at all the videos that I just recorded.
Sounds pretty cool.
That's the backyard.
That's the last video that I took.
I did some record alls, and so I have the hallway.
I've got the front from the two different angles.
This is a useful thing, because you know exactly where your records are of the video.
If I go back to live, I'm back in the original spot.
Now if you note, in the bottom right-hand corner, there is a couple of screens with
an x.
Now, we're in the live view.
If we go down to the bottom, and we tap on that, it stops all recording.
If you needed to stop recording for some type of privacy reason, or you just didn't want
to be live streaming at that moment for whatever reason, you can tap on that, It will stop
all of your streaming.
If I hit it again, all my cameras are back on.
Now we're once again live, and I can hit record or do whatever I need to.
Let's go and look at the options in the top right corner.
You got your cast, as I talked about, we can cast to a nearby device.
If I were at home, I would be able to cast to my television at home.
Now that I'm in the office, I don't have a device set up right now for this to stream,
too.
In addition to the casting button in the top right-hand corner, I can also hit this little
device button that gives me options to add more devices to either baron command, or the
HomeView Swann app itself.
Well, now we're back on the home page.
That's our look at the HomeSafe View app by Swann.
Now you've seen how Swann works inside the mobile app.
It may be useful to think about whether or not the Swann System as a whole works for
you.
Now, to start out with, the customer support for Swann is definitely lacking.
There's also no professional monitoring.
You have to think about how handy you want to be when you're putting together the Swann
System.
However, if you are ready to roll up your sleeves and jump into setting up the system,
there's a reason why Swann is a leader in the industry.
It's very straightforward, they color code everything for you, and it's a pretty good
value.
Now the system that we have is around $300.
Swann has systems that start from $200 and go all the way to over $2,000.
They're likely to have something that would work for you, if the goals that you have are
simply to watch.
Here, with this system, a mouse is included.
I can go through the hard drive, find the footage necessary, but once again, that is
footage that you will have to find.
Overall, in terms of just capturing video, using the motion detection, using the heat
sensing, and being able to throw it on to my television just using Google Assistant,
Swann does all those things well.
[background music]
Gabe: That's our review of the Swann 3K, 5 Megapixel Security System.
If you appreciated today's video, give us a like, or hit that subscribe button.
As always, this is Gabe at Security Baron.
Be secure.