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Gabe: Welcome to "Security Baron."
This is Gabe, and today we're looking at the Canary Flex.
Are you wondering about the magnetic 360 degree swivel?
Do you wonder if it's really weatherproof for outdoor use?
Do you wonder if it can actually catch HD at night?
We're going jump into that and see if the Canary can really flex on the competition.
Let's get going.
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Gabe: If you like to see a list of our favorite cameras, Google Security Baron, best security
cameras.
If you have a question about today's video, leave us a comment below, and we'll get back
to you.
Let's talk about what Canary says right on the box.
They claim that the Flex is the world's most versatile HD camera.
They talk about its magnetic 360 degree swivel base, its weatherproofness for outdoor use.
It's crystal clear audio.
It's WiFi setup with no hubs attached, and its high-definition night vision.
Before we get into all of that, let me give you my initial thoughts on its design.
First off, it's all black, which I love.
It's got a black cord, black mount, black base.
Henry Ford, "You can have any color you want as long as it's black," and that really works
out here.
It comes in a capsule form.
It looks a little bit like a pill you would take, like a large one.
Taking it from bottom to top, it has this great magnetic base.
Of course, we have the mount attached here.
The face is glossy, whereas the rest of the Canary Flex is actually matte.
The glossy face has everything flush except for this button that allows you to sync it
and do other things.
The matte backing is great.
At the top, you've got the speaker.
On the back, you've got the Canary insignia and the port for charging it.
This does have a battery in it, so you can actually recharge it directly from here.
Just note that this is not something you can replace with anything other than a Canary
charger, because there's no micro USB, so you definitely need to make sure you hold
onto its adapter.
Overall, I'm really into this design.
Those are my initial thoughts on the Canary Flex.
To give you a comprehensive perspective on the Canary Flex, let's put it to the Security
Baron's Necessary Features Test which includes video quality, two-way audio, night vision,
local and cloud storage, smart platform integration, artificial intelligence, value, and convenience.
Stellar video is a Security Baron necessary feature.
The Canary Flex lacks a little bit in this department because it defaults to 720 for
optimal video quality.
It is capable of 1080p, but it's going to depend on your actual streaming capabilities.
It doesn't seem like you can actually set it within the app.
On top of that, it's over 30 degrees narrower field of view than its big brother the Canary
All-in-One.
The Canary All-in-One has 147 degrees, which is great.
You can see a lot of what's going on, but the Canary Flex comes with only 116 degrees
field of view.
If you have this outside, you're really going to want to be able to see more, and the Canary
Flex kind of brings you less.
Of course, it's not the lowest field of view we've seen.
We have a camera that has only 95 degrees field of view.
On top of that, the Canary Flex does come with digital zoom.
Overall, we give it full marks for the Security Baron necessary feature of stellar video.
A Security Baron necessary feature is two-way audio.
You can talk and see what's going on with anyone in a room, and they can talk back to
you.
The audio on the Canary Flex is clear, some might even say crystal clear, but you cannot
use it unless you pay for the Canary membership.
It is not a standard feature.
You have to pay either 9.99 a month or $99 a year to use it.
However, because it does work, we still give it full marks for two-way audio.
Night vision is a Security Baron necessary feature.
The Canary Flex night vision is not exactly the same as the Canary All-in-One because
it does have fewer infrared LED lights, but, considering it's an indoor and outdoor camera,
it's definitely more than adequate.
We give it full marks for the Security Baron necessary feature of night vision
Cloud and local storage is a Security Baron necessary feature.
The Canary Flex, like the Canary All-in-One, does not come with any local storage capacity.
However, right out of the box you get 24 hours of clip storage and unlimited live streaming.
If you upgrade to a Canary membership for 9.99 a month or $99 a year, you can get unlimited
saving of clip and 30 days of cloud storage.
When it comes to the Security Baron necessary feature of local and cloud storage, we give
it half marks.
Smart platform integration is a Security Baron necessary feature, and the Canary Flex does
really well here with its Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant integration.
Of course, it has not yet cracked Apple HomeKit, but very few cameras have.
You can arm, disarm, schedule your camera, all through your smart platform.
When it comes to the Security Baron necessary feature of smart platform integration, we
give to the Canary Flex full marks.
Artificial intelligence is a Security Baron necessary feature.
While we've read some reports from people that say that the Canary Flex doesn't learn
fast enough for them, we do think that the incremental strides that it takes over time
to eliminate false alerts for its person detection.
Just the fact that it has package detection because we all have that stressful feeling
where we're like, "Oh, my goodness.
I really need to get this package, but I'm not home.
Is it going be there?
Can I ask my neighbor to grab it?
When it's going to arrive?"
The fact that it has something like package detection, and it's increasingly learning,
over time, your habits, allows us to give the Canary Flex full marks for the Security
Baron necessary feature of artificial intelligence.
Value is a Security Baron necessary feature.
When it comes to the Canary Flex, it's about 180 bucks, which it's a little bit on the
spendy side, especially if you think that, just to get one of the other necessary features
of two-way audio, you have to pay for the Canary membership.
Honestly, that's probably where its true value lies when you have all of that together.
However, even in its base form, you get indoor and outdoor capabilities and almost all of
the functionality that comes with the Canary All-in-One home device.
When it comes to the Security Baron necessary feature of value, we give the Canary Flex
full marks.
When it comes to convenience in the Security Baron Necessary Features Test, the Canary
Flex has all the right moves.
It was really easy for us to set up.
In fact, it was even faster because we'd already done the Canary All-in-One.
If you think of this as a supplemental camera, we already have the app, we already have the
account, and we simply set it up right in the app.
It was super easy.
Had it done in less than 10 minutes.
When it comes to the Security Baron necessary feature of convenience, we give the Canary
Flex full marks.
Of course, any home security camera is only as good as its app, so let's take a look at
the Canary mobile application.
Here we are jumping into the Canary app.
If you look at the live feed, it's hard for me to tell, but I don't think it's shooting
in the 1080p that we're used to.
We'll go ahead and compare it directly to the Canary All-in-One, but the Canary Flex
definitely, very immediately visible that there is a narrower field of view.
Here I am in the app, and you can really just see a lot less than what the Canary All-in-One
would see at the same exact view.
On the bottom part of the screen, you've got Siren, so you can scare away an intruder or
scare someone in the room.
You've got the Talk button for the two-way audio.
You've, of course, got the Emergency Call button, which allows you to alert the authorities
if you see something happening.
If I go out of this live screen and go back, in the bottom I can see where I am.
I can change it to Away Mode or Night Mode.
In Away Mode, it will actually start to record.
Right now, it's not recording because I, the user, I'm actually at home.
It's not an issue for privacy, so you don't have to worry about that.
Additionally, I can go into Night Mode, which will allow to start to record when I am asleep.
If I jump out of that, I can show you the Safety button, but that's something you don't
want to actually hit, unless there's an actual emergency going on.
It says, "Feeling unsafe?
Canary members can dispatch emergency services at the touch of the Safety button powered
by Noonlight."
It gives you a bit of a breakdown of how that works.
If I want to view the timeline, I can go and see everything that I've done in the day,
what's happening, where I've been.
It even will show you who it's seen.
You've got Person in Away Mode, very similar to what we've seen with the Canary All-in-One.
Everyone who comes in a room, I can look at.
It'll spot each person, and that's really useful.
Now we're giving you a look at the Canary Flex on the app.
As you can see, it's only got 116 degree field of view.
If you compare it to the Canary All-in-One with 147degrees, you can see it's a much narrower
field of view.
It's got good quality video, but definitely not at the level of many of the other cameras
that we've seen.
You can do digital zoom, so you can see what's happening on the screen.
Despite this being on the same network as our Canary All-in-One, you may note that there's
a lot more lag on the Canary Flex.
It maybe has something to do with our particular Flex or our particular room, but we did want
you to note that.
That's our look at the day vision on the Canary Flex.
Let's jump into the night vision.
Here's the night vision on the Canary Flex.
Honestly, it looks pretty good.
It's almost the same as what you get on the Canary All-in-One.
You can see what's happening.
It does have the infrared LED light, which it's what we like to see on all of our cameras.
You will see that it's actually picking me up pretty well.
Come in, look at the camera.
You can see what's going on.
Overall, we're a fan, though we do note that, as soon as you get too far away from the camera,
it does become more difficult for to pick up.
All in all, the night vision on the Canary Flex is more than adequate and it looks pretty
darn good.
Let's provide an overview of how the Canary Flex performed on the Security Baron Necessary
Features Test.
Stellar video full marks.
The Canary Flex is capable of 1080p, but often defaults to 720p when streaming.
Two-way audio, full marks.
The Canary Flex has great two-way audio, except that you have to pay for it in the Canary
membership.
Night vision, full marks.
The Canary Flex has more than adequate night vision, though it can sometimes be a little
weird between indoor and outdoor.
Local and cloud storage, half marks.
The Canary Flex doesn't have any local storage options, but it has various options on the
cloud front.
Smart platform integration, full marks.
The Canary Flex works really well with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Artificial intelligence, full marks.
The Canary Flex has package detection, person detection, and it gets better over time.
Value, full marks.
The Canary Flex is a little bit on the spendy side, but when you think about its indoor
and outdoor capabilities, we think it's worth it.
Convenience, full marks.
We had the Canary Flex up and running within 10 minutes.
At the end of the day, we want to know whether or not the Canary Flex is right for you and
your home security needs.
If you need constant 1080p streaming and wider than 116 degree field of view, then you may
want to look at another camera.
However, if you need a supplement to the Canary All-in-One and a camera that can go both indoor
and outdoor, then you want to try out the flexibility of the Canary Flex.
That's our review of the Canary Flex.
If you appreciated this video, give us a like and hit that subscribe button.
As always, this is Gabe at Security Baron.
Be secure.
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