Worth when reviewed

$149.00

Finest costs at the moment: Notion Starter Equipment (3 sensors and bridge)

5-year-old Notion has change into a totally mature member of the good dwelling neighborhood, to the purpose the place Comcast acquired the corporate in 2020. Surprisingly, Comcast by no means included Notion gadgets in its personal Xfinity safety providing, and the 2 safety manufacturers proceed to function independently.

In actual fact, not like the aftermath of most company takeovers, Notion has continued to enhance its choices. Its newest addition: the Notion Professional monitoring service, which may monitor your entire Notion tools for $10 per thirty days, with the primary three months obtainable as a free trial.

This assessment is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the very best good dwelling methods.

Notion’s monitoring plan is cheaper than most, and that is in all probability intentional, as a result of Notion’s sensor gadgets are easier than most. Notion’s {hardware} revolves completely round its multi-function sensors, every of which features as a door/window movement detection sensor, a water leak sensor, a fireplace/CO alarm relay that listens for sound an alarm and a temperature/freeze sensor. sensor. A pluggable bridge connects these sensors to your Wi-Fi community.

Notion

If one thing goes mistaken, you will get a push notification within the Notion app in your cellphone. Nothing appears to have modified (a minimum of not in look) concerning the sensors or the bridge because the final main replace in 2018, and even the app appears to be like practically equivalent.

I can say that the setup course of and operation are extra environment friendly and steady than previously. Earlier experiences with Notion have typically ended with damaged battery tabs, app crashes, and community connections disappearing, however this time I encountered none of these points. Setup requires a fast scan of a QR code on the again of every sensor together with some primary setup within the app, after which you are prompted to decide on which sensor you are monitoring and the assorted sorts of sensors you are enabling. (Every sensor might be configured to observe as many or as few sorts of occasions as you want.)

Notion

I by no means encountered any operational points throughout my exams, though water leak detection felt sluggish, taking a couple of minute for the sensor to acknowledge that it was submerged in water earlier than sending an alert.

As talked about above, the novelty of Notion is the skilled monitoring system Notion Professional, which I subscribed to utilizing a bank card within the software. It is very important be aware that Notion Professional is just not the identical for everybody. Several types of occasions spawn various kinds of responses, which you could find described on the Notion website. The primary distinction is that door or window sensors, in addition to fireplace alarm detection occasions, might be configured to inform emergency providers, whereas water leaks and frost warnings can’t be configured.

I attempted Notion Professional simulating a water leak at Notion’s suggestion, to stop the police from displaying up at my door, and located that it largely labored as marketed on their web site. Inside a minute of receiving the push notification from Notion, I acquired a textual content message notifying me of the leak. After one other minute, a second textual content message arrived. A minute later, I acquired a cellphone name from somebody who recognized himself as “NATO Professional” and requested if I wanted any assist. He was thorough in investigating him, however was lastly glad with my rationalization that I did not do it.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Notion specifies that you’ll solely obtain one textual content message, not two, and that the primary cellphone name ought to arrive after two minutes, not three; however except for that, and the little bug from the cellphone service, who clearly labored for lots of various monitoring providers, I used to be typically happy with the response, though issues appear to take a very long time to scale in comparison with different monitoring providers. If my Vivint safety system goes off, the cellphone often rings earlier than I stand up from my seat.

The third-gen starter equipment reviewed right here is $149 and contains three sensors and a jumper (in comparison with $199 in 2018). Notion is just not solely simple to make use of, it is also reasonably priced. The corporate additionally sells a 5-sensor starter equipment for $199 and an 8-sensor equipment for $279. The three-sensor enlargement kits can be found for $39 every, and the $10-per-month professional monitoring plan feels honest. It’s value noting right here that first era Notion merchandise are not suitable with the Notion app and third era sensors is not going to work with the second era bridge. You they willNonetheless, function 2nd and third era sensors collectively so long as you buy a third era bridge ($59).

The notion is just not and by no means would be the foundation for sturdy safety operation, however for customers with easier wants, and no real interest in messing round with a dozen sorts of cameras, management panels, and numerous sensors, it will probably get the job performed. Skilled monitoring will increase the extent of safety with out including an onerous quantity of price, or actually something in the best way of complexity.