The SpotCam Sense ($159) is a sleek-looking home security camera that packs numerous features into its slender frame.
In addition to 1080p video, it offers motion and sound detection with alerts, two-way audio, free and paid cloud storage, and support for IFTTT.
It also offers access to SpotCam's Video AI services that will identify human, pet, and vehicle movement and let you know if a valuable item goes missing, but you have to pay a monthly fee for each detection service.
The camera is easy to install and delivers sharp night video, but daytime video appeared a bit too dark in our tests and some of the camera's features did not work properly.
The iSmartAlarm iCamera Keep Pro provides a much better overall picture and offers pan and tilt and motion tracking capabilities, remaining our Editors' Choice.
Honest, Objective Reviews
Daxdi.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services.
Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.
Design, Features, and Plans
The SpotCam Sense is a 5.8-inch tall white cylinder that measures 1.8 inches in diameter and has a glossy black lens enclosure.
It sits on a round swiveling base and can stand upright or be mounted on a wall using the included screws and anchors.
The camera captures 1080p video at 30fps, has a 155-degree field of view, and uses 12 infrared LEDs for night vision.
In addition to a microphone and speaker, the camera is equipped with motion, temperature, and humidity sensors, an internal siren, and an illumination sensor that will send an alert when the room's level goes above or below your thresholds.
You can access the camera using the SpotCam mobile app (available for Android and iOS) or via the web interface.
The mobile app opens to a screen that shows your installed cameras by name with the last image as a thumbnail.
Tap the play arrow to launch a live stream with buttons for muting the sound, sharing access to the camera by sending an email, two-way talk, and playing back the last 30 seconds of video.
Just below these buttons is a timeline with colored bars that indicate triggered events.
Move the timeline using a swiping gesture to rewind the video to any point in time.
Below the timeline is a button for searching for an event by date and another for searching by hour and minute.
The film button takes you to the My Film screen where you can view all time-lapse recordings, and the icon that looks like an SD card takes you to a screen where you can create time-lapse recordings and export video to My Films.
At the very bottom of the screen are more buttons: Go Live takes you back to the live stream, Events takes you to a screen with all recorded events by date and trigger (Motion, Pet, Human, Illumination, Audio, etc.) where you can tap any thumbnail to play the video, the Talk button is for two-way audio, and the Vitals button takes you to a screen with graphs that show a history of temperature, humidity, illumination, sound, and motion activity levels.
The gear icon in the upper right corner takes you to the settings screen where you can turn the camera on and off, change the image quality, enable night vision, and rotate the image.
The Alerts menu is where you go to configure email and push settings, set an alerts schedule, enable the siren if an event takes place, adjust microphone and speaker volume, and subscribe to one or more of the AI service plans.
The SpotCam comes with free cloud storage for the last 24 hours of video.
For access to the last three days of video, it costs $3.95 per month or $39 per year.
There's also a 7-day plan that goes for $5.95 per month or $59 per year, and a 30-day plan that costs $19.95 per month or $199 per year.
There are six AI Detection Service plans available: The Missing Object plan goes for $3.95 per month or $39 per year and will alert you if an object that is normally in the camera's field of view is no longer there.
The Virtual Fence, which costs $5.95 per month or $59 per year, lets you assign boundaries and will send an alert when the lines are crossed.
The Human Detection plan will let you know when motion alerts are triggered by an actual person, and the Pet Detection plan filters out all motion events other than those caused by your pets.
Both go for $5.95 per month or $59 per year, as does the Vehicle Detection plan which lets you know if a car pulls up to your property.
The most expensive option, the Fall Detection plan, goes for $9.95 per month or $99 per year and will send an alert when it detects that a person has fallen down and does not get back up quickly.
Installation and Performance
Installing the SpotCam Sense is easy.
I downloaded the mobile app, created an account, and clicked Add SpotCam in the menu bar (you can also install the camera using the web console).
I chose the SpotCam Sense from a list of devices, plugged the camera in close to my router, and when the LED began blinking yellow, I tapped Next.
I went to my phone's Wi-Fi settings, selected the camera's SSID, returned to the app, and hit OK.
I then selected my home Wi-Fi SSID, entered my password, and switched the camera to client mode using the button on the back.
Once the LED began blinking blue I hit Next and the camera was connected.
I unplugged the camera, placed it in my living room facing my front door hallway, gave it a name, updated the firmware, and was done.
In testing, the SpotCam Sense delivered sharp daytime video, but the image appeared a bit too dark around the edges.
Night video, on the other hand, was well-lit and showed good contrast.
AI detection performance was also spotty.
I received Human, Pet, and Vehicle detection alerts, but every so often my dog would trigger a human alert and even triggered a vehicle alert at one point.
That said, the Virtual Fence service worked perfectly, as did the standard motion and sound detection features.
Push and email notifications arrived immediately, as did recorded clips, and every email notification contained a snapshot of the trigger activity.
I created an IFTTT applet to have a lamp plugged into a Belkin Wemo Insight Smart Plug turn on when motion was detected and it worked like a charm.
I also created several time-lapse videos, but when I tried to watch them on my iPhone, they all were marred by a green bar that took up the bottom half of the screen.
I tried watching them using the web console and was able to view one video, but the other two would not play at all.
Moreover, two-way audio was choppy and cut out several times during testing.
Conclusions
With the SpotCam Sense, you can keep an eye on activities in your home and monitor temperature and humidity levels with a single camera that interacts with other smart home devices.
It delivered sharp 1080p video in our tests with excellent night vision video, but daytime color video appeared too dark.
Motion and sound detection worked wonderfully, but performance for the fee-based AI detection features was hit or miss, and two-way audio was choppy.
Additionally, time-lapse video was impaired by the presence of a thick green bar that took up half of the screen.
For $40 more, the iSmartAlarm iCamera Keep Pro offers a much brighter picture and cleaner time-lapse video, as well as motion tracking and pan and tilt capabilities.
As such it remains our Editors' Choice for home security cameras.
Pros
Sharp 1080p night video.
Multiple sensors.
Free cloud storage.
Supports IFTTT.
View More
The Bottom Line
The SpotCam Sense is a home security camera that also monitors temperature, humidity, and illumination levels, but its two-way audio, time-lapse, and AI detection features need work.
The SpotCam Sense ($159) is a sleek-looking home security camera that packs numerous features into its slender frame.
In addition to 1080p video, it offers motion and sound detection with alerts, two-way audio, free and paid cloud storage, and support for IFTTT.
It also offers access to SpotCam's Video AI services that will identify human, pet, and vehicle movement and let you know if a valuable item goes missing, but you have to pay a monthly fee for each detection service.
The camera is easy to install and delivers sharp night video, but daytime video appeared a bit too dark in our tests and some of the camera's features did not work properly.
The iSmartAlarm iCamera Keep Pro provides a much better overall picture and offers pan and tilt and motion tracking capabilities, remaining our Editors' Choice.
Honest, Objective Reviews
Daxdi.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services.
Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.
Design, Features, and Plans
The SpotCam Sense is a 5.8-inch tall white cylinder that measures 1.8 inches in diameter and has a glossy black lens enclosure.
It sits on a round swiveling base and can stand upright or be mounted on a wall using the included screws and anchors.
The camera captures 1080p video at 30fps, has a 155-degree field of view, and uses 12 infrared LEDs for night vision.
In addition to a microphone and speaker, the camera is equipped with motion, temperature, and humidity sensors, an internal siren, and an illumination sensor that will send an alert when the room's level goes above or below your thresholds.
You can access the camera using the SpotCam mobile app (available for Android and iOS) or via the web interface.
The mobile app opens to a screen that shows your installed cameras by name with the last image as a thumbnail.
Tap the play arrow to launch a live stream with buttons for muting the sound, sharing access to the camera by sending an email, two-way talk, and playing back the last 30 seconds of video.
Just below these buttons is a timeline with colored bars that indicate triggered events.
Move the timeline using a swiping gesture to rewind the video to any point in time.
Below the timeline is a button for searching for an event by date and another for searching by hour and minute.
The film button takes you to the My Film screen where you can view all time-lapse recordings, and the icon that looks like an SD card takes you to a screen where you can create time-lapse recordings and export video to My Films.
At the very bottom of the screen are more buttons: Go Live takes you back to the live stream, Events takes you to a screen with all recorded events by date and trigger (Motion, Pet, Human, Illumination, Audio, etc.) where you can tap any thumbnail to play the video, the Talk button is for two-way audio, and the Vitals button takes you to a screen with graphs that show a history of temperature, humidity, illumination, sound, and motion activity levels.
The gear icon in the upper right corner takes you to the settings screen where you can turn the camera on and off, change the image quality, enable night vision, and rotate the image.
The Alerts menu is where you go to configure email and push settings, set an alerts schedule, enable the siren if an event takes place, adjust microphone and speaker volume, and subscribe to one or more of the AI service plans.
The SpotCam comes with free cloud storage for the last 24 hours of video.
For access to the last three days of video, it costs $3.95 per month or $39 per year.
There's also a 7-day plan that goes for $5.95 per month or $59 per year, and a 30-day plan that costs $19.95 per month or $199 per year.
There are six AI Detection Service plans available: The Missing Object plan goes for $3.95 per month or $39 per year and will alert you if an object that is normally in the camera's field of view is no longer there.
The Virtual Fence, which costs $5.95 per month or $59 per year, lets you assign boundaries and will send an alert when the lines are crossed.
The Human Detection plan will let you know when motion alerts are triggered by an actual person, and the Pet Detection plan filters out all motion events other than those caused by your pets.
Both go for $5.95 per month or $59 per year, as does the Vehicle Detection plan which lets you know if a car pulls up to your property.
The most expensive option, the Fall Detection plan, goes for $9.95 per month or $99 per year and will send an alert when it detects that a person has fallen down and does not get back up quickly.
Installation and Performance
Installing the SpotCam Sense is easy.
I downloaded the mobile app, created an account, and clicked Add SpotCam in the menu bar (you can also install the camera using the web console).
I chose the SpotCam Sense from a list of devices, plugged the camera in close to my router, and when the LED began blinking yellow, I tapped Next.
I went to my phone's Wi-Fi settings, selected the camera's SSID, returned to the app, and hit OK.
I then selected my home Wi-Fi SSID, entered my password, and switched the camera to client mode using the button on the back.
Once the LED began blinking blue I hit Next and the camera was connected.
I unplugged the camera, placed it in my living room facing my front door hallway, gave it a name, updated the firmware, and was done.
In testing, the SpotCam Sense delivered sharp daytime video, but the image appeared a bit too dark around the edges.
Night video, on the other hand, was well-lit and showed good contrast.
AI detection performance was also spotty.
I received Human, Pet, and Vehicle detection alerts, but every so often my dog would trigger a human alert and even triggered a vehicle alert at one point.
That said, the Virtual Fence service worked perfectly, as did the standard motion and sound detection features.
Push and email notifications arrived immediately, as did recorded clips, and every email notification contained a snapshot of the trigger activity.
I created an IFTTT applet to have a lamp plugged into a Belkin Wemo Insight Smart Plug turn on when motion was detected and it worked like a charm.
I also created several time-lapse videos, but when I tried to watch them on my iPhone, they all were marred by a green bar that took up the bottom half of the screen.
I tried watching them using the web console and was able to view one video, but the other two would not play at all.
Moreover, two-way audio was choppy and cut out several times during testing.
Conclusions
With the SpotCam Sense, you can keep an eye on activities in your home and monitor temperature and humidity levels with a single camera that interacts with other smart home devices.
It delivered sharp 1080p video in our tests with excellent night vision video, but daytime color video appeared too dark.
Motion and sound detection worked wonderfully, but performance for the fee-based AI detection features was hit or miss, and two-way audio was choppy.
Additionally, time-lapse video was impaired by the presence of a thick green bar that took up half of the screen.
For $40 more, the iSmartAlarm iCamera Keep Pro offers a much brighter picture and cleaner time-lapse video, as well as motion tracking and pan and tilt capabilities.
As such it remains our Editors' Choice for home security cameras.
Pros
Sharp 1080p night video.
Multiple sensors.
Free cloud storage.
Supports IFTTT.
View More
The Bottom Line
The SpotCam Sense is a home security camera that also monitors temperature, humidity, and illumination levels, but its two-way audio, time-lapse, and AI detection features need work.
