A Truly Integrated Smart Home Experience
TechRadar calls Vivint “one of our favorite home security options” and says its “among the best we’ve seen.”
Read the full article below or at www.techradar.com.
Vivint Smart Home Security System
One of the first companies to provide a truly integrated smart home experience.
By Darcy French, TechRadar
If you’re looking for the best home security system, you’ll want to know all about Vivint Smart Home packages. Although they are priced well and truly at the premium end of the market, Vivint’s systems are integrated, intuitive to use, and effective. 24/7 monitoring, comprehensive ongoing support, and free installation are just three reasons why the company will appeal to homeowners who want a highly secure and automated home security network.
In our evaluation of Vivint’s systems, we look at the platform’s strengths and weaknesses to help you decide if it’s right for you.
Vivint Smart Home: Plans and pricing
As a personalized and non-DIY provider, Vivint costs more than many of its competitors. However, the end-to-end customer support and included installation, not to mention the benefits of an integrated security ecosystem, make the company a compelling choice for many customers.
The upfront costs of a Vivint Smart Home system range from approx $500 to around $2,500. The exact price is dependent on several factors, including the design of your home and the number of optional extras purchased.
Vivint Smart Home: How it works
The first step in installing a Vivint Smart Home System is to book a consultation with a sales representative, which will take place either in person or over the phone. This will give you the opportunity to discuss your family’s individual security needs. It will also enable the Vivint representative to better understand your home’s unique characteristics and how they can be leveraged to create a cohesive smart home system.
After the initial consultation (and if you choose to proceed with a Vivint system), a team of professional installers will set up the security system in your home and provide you with a rundown of the system’s operation, including both hardware and software components.
Vivint Smart Home: Features & Services
Vivint provides an impressive range of hardware devices and enables customers to choose a selection that best suits their security needs.
These include standard home security devices such as window and door motion sensors, doorbell cameras, wireless deadbolts, indoor cameras and motion sensors, and outdoor cameras with infrared capabilities.
However, Vivint also offers a range of innovative and bespoke security devices such as wireless thermostats, smoke detectors, flood detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors. These features go well beyond simple theft protection and protect you and your loved ones against many threats.
The best part about Vivint’s extensive product range is that all devices are controlled through the Vivint Smart Hub and the Vivint mobile app.
The Vivint Smart Hub is elegant and feature rich, and is one of the best home security control panels we’ve seen. We also like that the Vivint mobile app and the Smart Hub use the same interface, making it easy to switch between the two devices when managing your home security system.
The power of the Smart Hub is that it enables you to control all your Vivint and smart home devices from one central location. Doors can be locked or unlocked, cameras can be monitored, and the 24/7 monitoring center can be contacted.
The Vivint App operates very similarly to the Smart Hub, with the added benefit of being operable from anywhere. This is a handy feature when you need to lock or unlock doors remotely, investigate a tripped alarm, or monitor live video feeds.
Also included in all packages are a suite of useful management features such as role-based settings, enabling the customer to grant different users different levels of permissions. For example, you would be able to grant a cleaner permission to disarm the system only between the hours they work in your home. Likewise, children could be allowed to disarm the system with a unique code, but not to alter settings.
Vivint Smart Home: Support and customer care
Another benefit of using an end-to-end premium provider is ongoing customer support. If any issues arise in your use of a Vivint Smart Home system, the company will send out a representative to help troubleshoot the problem, free of charge.
All Vivint systems also come with 24/7 monitoring. This means that anytime an alarm is triggered in your home, an employee in the monitoring center will have access to your camera feeds and other data, and will try to contact you to ensure you and your family are safe. In an emergency situation, they can also contact emergency services on your behalf. 24/7 monitoring can also be accessed directly from the control panel or the mobile app if assistance is required.
The competition
On a like-for-like basis, Vivint’s closest competitor is ADT Home Security. They are also a premium home security company that includes installation, 24/7 monitoring, and ongoing customer support. However, ADT’s smart home capabilities are less developed than Vivint’s, and it is generally more expensive, so we give Vivint a slight edge.
If you’re looking for a more affordable option than Vivint, we recommend DIY home security solutions such as Abode or SimpliSafe.
Final verdict
Vivint Smart Home security systems are among the best we’ve seen. Not only is there a wide range of hardware options, but the Smart Hub is feature rich and incredibly intuitive to use. Top-notch customer service is another selling point, while the addition of total system control via the Vivint Mobile app makes this one of our favorite home security options.
Although it may be expensive, you certainly get what you pay for. However, if you’re looking for a home security option on a budget, there are DIY options that may suit your needs better.
