Mark celebrates national home security month with a Myfox review
If I was handing out accolades purely for design and style, the Myfox Home Alarm and Security Camera would be heading for glory. I can imagine Apple’s Jonathan Ive would gush over them (if they had an Apple logo on them, obviously).
Starting with the camera, this is a gloss white and silver cylinder, about the size of a small French soft cheese box. It sits cleverly on a magnetic foot that allows wide range of vertical angles and is powered by the same micro-B USB connection that most phones use. It will also operate on batteries if the mains power is cut off for up to one hour.
But what makes this camera special is that when not in use, it appears to be some elegant objet d’art, revealing the lens only when brought out of privacy mode. And other than the looks, that’s the big selling point here, because in this increasingly paranoid age, we reasonably wonder who might watch us through our own technology.
The sliding door mechanism is elegant, like something from a movie, and even though the camera is only 720p, this is a highquality sensor that provides exceptionally sharp images in both night and day mode.
In terms of what it does, the Myfox Security Camera does it very nicely, even if some rather obvious features like panning are not part of its repertoire.
As you’re probably expecting, the camera is accessible via a smartphone app (iOS and Android), so you can check on those at home while you're out shopping, and even have a conversation through a built-in microphone and speaker.
A motion sensor can activate the camera, or it can be set to record 24/7, sending the video feed to a cloud service that you can access remotely. The catch with doing this is that you only get this recording feature for £3.99 a month for 24 hours of continuous recording or £7.99 for weeklong retention.
That seems excessive given the £169 cost, but Myfox presumably thinks its technology is worth an ongoing financial commitment.
The Myfox Home Alarm system seems better value to this writer, even if it initially costs even more than the camera.
The system operates independently of the camera and is aimed more specifically at securing your home from intrusion by providing alerts and an alarm.
Styled like the camera, the biggest part of the kit is the siren, a sandwich-plate-sized device that contains hardware capable of making a genuinely ear-shattering 110db noise should the system conclude you are being invaded. Like the camera, it has a battery backup, so a power cut won’t stop it alerting you.
Along with the siren, the alarm kit comes with an IntelliTAG door/window sensor, a special smart key fob, and a small wireless Link device that connects all these features into the broadband wi-fi.
A big selling point of the door/window sensor is that it's they are intelligent, in that it can work out the difference between a ball hitting a window and someone trying to break in, sounding the alarm before the intruders get inside, hopefully.
Equally smart is the key fob, as it effectively tells the system when you’ve left home, activating the alarm and disabling it on your return. That you only get one is a little disappointing, because unless you're a complete recluse you’ll need at least two, I’d suggest. Once everyone has one, the phone app can also be used to remotely check who is home.
That phone software is rather critical, because you can use it to sanction access to your friend’s phone so they can deactivate the alarm to feed the cat or whatever.
And you can buy extra sensors and key fobs as you need them. Each tag is £39.99 or £169.99 for a pack of five, and each Key Fob is £24.99. You can also accessorise the camera with a magnetic wall mounting for £24.99.
A better aspect of the Home Alarm is that it isn’t linked to a monthly subscription service, ringfencing the cost. That said, a typical four-person family with a least a few doors and windows to protect could easily spend £500-600 – or more if they want a camera alongside the Home Alarm. I guess it all comes down to how concerned about your home and possessions you are, and if you can afford this, then they’re probably worth protecting.
As much as I’m keen on the whole IFTTT (If This Then That) and Internet of Things technology, it needs to be more affordable than this to achieve wider acceptance.
While Myfox did an admirable job of designing these products, what they do is relatively simple in IFTTT terms, so they seem a bit limited for the high cost. Mark Pickavance
Great looking technology that’s just too expensive.