There are a ton of cloud security cameras on the market. Considering the majority of them store video in the cloud, however, you generally have to pay for a cloud storage subscription or deal with only a few hours of footage at your disposal. Vimtag hopes to change that.
The company has launched three new products, including two new cameras: the M1 Mini Cube and the P1 Smart Cloud camera. Perhaps the most interesting product, however, is the CloudBox video storage device, allowing as much as 60 days of footage to be stored and streamed to the Internet, without the need for additional cloud storage fees.
The M1 Mini Cube offers HD video, motion detection notifications, a wide viewing lens, and night vision up to 8 meters. It costs $120. The P1 Smart Cloud camera offers generally the same specs, but has up to 10 meters of night vision, pans and tilts, and costs an extra $10 at $130. Both of the cameras offer an app that lets you stream video from your phone, tablet, or even your computer. If you want, you could purchase a cloud subscription and pay monthly, though over time that could cost a lot. Alternatively, you could get the CloudBox.
“Compared to current options in the market for similar systems, some of our biggest competitors charge significantly more for their devices while locking in users to subscription-based cloud services per camera if they want to record,” Joseph Sherman, director of consumer engagement at Vimtag, told Digital Trends.
“Vimtag is focused on providing quality, comprehensive end-to-end home security and monitoring solutions that consumers can own outright at the best price. This is why we developed the new CloudBox video storage device.”
Make no mistake — the CloudBox is basically just an Internet-connected hard-drive. It’s not an overly fancy piece of tech. In fact, its decidedly low-tech, but it does help simplify things. You can get the CloudBox with up to 2TB of storage, although if you want to save a few dollars you can opt for the 1TB version instead. Video is essentially streamed to the CloudBox instead of the cloud, after which you can stream the video to your phone or tablet when your on the go. Of course, this does eliminate one of the major advantages of cloud-based storage: If CloudBox is stolen or destroyed, the video is gone. Still, as long as it’s connected to the Internet, it could be hidden in a closet or some place where it’s less likely to be stolen.
The CloudBox costs between $150 and $190, depending on the storage amount.
Of course, there are other home security options with local storage, such as the Samsung SmartCam HD Camera, but the majority of them offer local storage in the form of an SD card slot — that’s hardly efficient for as much as 2TB of storage. Sure, you might not need to store 60 days worth of footage, but if you travel a lot, Vimtag’s new solution might be perfect for you. You can get the new devices from Vimtag’s website.
Updated on 05-05-2016 by Christian de Looper: Mentioned that the P1 pans and tilts.