It is becoming more and more common for people to install security systems for their home, business and other places of interest, to protect themselves, collect evidence and allows them to report any suspicious activity. We have been wanting to get a security system for our home for peace of mind and as a deterrent for any potential criminals.
We are delighted to review this Swann WiFi HD Security System Kit from Maplin. This system is four channel, 1TB and includes two cameras which you can connect wirelessly to the NVR. Since this is four channel, it allows you to add an additional two Swann WiFi cameras to give you maximum coverage of your home or property while you are at work or on holiday.
Once unpacked, I did a quick set up of the cameras to make sure it worked. Luckily I did that as one of my cameras disconnected after 5 minutes! I had to restart it each time. I phoned up the Swann help desk and they suggested I swap the cables around and that seemed to fix it. I’ve no idea why swapping the cables around works, but I’m happy that it does!
Before I fixed the cameras permanently, I checked the rest of the connectivity and did some testing. First, I connected the antennas, power cable, mouse, HDMI line and Ethernet port into the NVR machine. As this security system relies on Wi-Fi, it is important to have the Ethernet line connected at all times to enable you to view the live feed from SwannView Link app on your smartphone or tablet. The HDMI line can be disconnected if you didn’t want to view it via your television.
Once this was set up, I connected all the power cables, power adaptors and antennas onto the cameras. Then I started the system setup wizard which took us over 40 minutes to set up. It was not too complicated but there were a lot of typing of email addresses, passwords, configuring the motion detection zones and many more. For some reason, it did pick up the right time and date but we did have to adjust to Daylight Saving in order for it to work. Once you have connected correctly, you are able to see the live view.
Next we downloaded the free app via App store or Google store. There are quite a lot of Swann apps in the store so make sure you download the correct one! Then put in your passcode and configure your device.
Each camera captures footage in crystal clear 1080p HD resolution with a wide angle view of 75 degrees. This means you will be able to record all activity in a large room or driveway in high definition. However, I am not very impressed with the picture quality at all. The 1080p HD is equivalent to about a 2 megapixel image. Most smartphones will take better quality video than this. In bright conditions, it looks fine, just slightly pixelated but for any duller days, the picture quality is very poor. I think in near future, I would probably upgrade the cameras to at least 4 megapixels.
The IR cut filters provide powerful night vision of up to 65ft/20m in low ambient lighting. So far the image and motion detection works very well. The built-in microphones on each camera allow you to listen in while you are away from home via the SwannView Link app on your smartphone or tablet.
Swann offers installation by their recommend installer. They are not cheap and can range from a few hundred pounds but if you don’t have wall drills or any power tools, then it is best to get some expert help!
The cameras comes with thick cables so you will need to drill a sizable hole through the wall and feed the cable through. This main cable for the power so before you start drilling, you should plan on where you can plug the power adaptor in.
This NVR has a huge 1TB hard drive which is capable of recording continuously for up to 48 days. I love that this records onto the hard drive and not to the cloud. There are systems on the market that require a monthly subscription fee. Also at a later date, you can physically increase the hard drive up to 4TB if you find that 1TB does not provide enough space.
Overall this security system does what it says on the box such as it is easy to connect, provides motion detection and many more. It is only that the picture quality is not ideal or up to my standard. This security system is available to buy from Maplin.
Disclosure: We received the sample for the purposes of writing this review, however all thoughts and opinions remain our own.
