Y-cam YCHMI01 cloud HomeMonitor review

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If you've ever had clients wanting to monitor their home over the Internet, only to run into problems opening router ports which resulted in paying BT for an external IP address, then this neat piece of kit may well be for you. The Y-cam YCHMI01 HomeMonitor cloud security camera is a desktop or wall mountable night vision security solution, designed with simplicity and ease of set up in mind. So just how does it fare?

Y-cam YCHMI01 HomeMonitor: Build and Installation
The Y-cam is small at 85 x 85 x 30mm (w/h/d); the housing is tough moulded plastic with a metal L bracket. Included in the box are a power supply, network cable and quick start guide. Follow this and you won't go far wrong. The first step is to get the camera onto your wireless network, achieved by plugging the LAN cable into a router and accessing the camera's set up page in a browser. The first screen which is displayed is the registration screen, where you input a username and passkey, followed by the unique serial code which comes with the camera. The HomeMonitor then looks for your Wi-Fi connection. Enter your passkey and hey presto the camera is Wi-Fi ready.

There are two ways to receive a picture externally from the home; any Internet browser with at least a 3G connection, and dedicated HomeMonitor apps available for iOS and Android devices. Logging onto the browser or app you have four radio buttons which operate the camera on or off, motion recording, alert notifications and camera settings. If you've installed more than one camera in your house, they're listed in order by the names that you gave them in setup. In the old days you had to have expensive switchers to do much the same job. If you want to watch the camera on your TV this can be done via a Roku box, just search for the HomeMonitor channel.

Y-cam YCHMI01 HomeMonitor: Features
The Y-cam features PIR detection integrated with auto recording and email alerts. Helpfully, the camera emails you if movement is detected. One feature I do like is the seven days of free cloud storage, which is triggered from the PIR. Some rivals, like the Samsung Home Camera, come with YouTube recording, but I prefer the cloud recording method offered with this Y-cam. When detection triggering has occurred, you receive an email with an embedded link that takes you to the recording feed. At this point you have the option to grab your baseball bat and head for home, or ring the police before the thief steals your TV!

A smartBuffer allows the internal memory to start recording 5 seconds before motion is detected. If extra storage is needed for your recordings you can upgrade to 30 days unlimited storage for a one off annual fee of £29.99. Incidentally, an external camera version of this package is also available.

Y-cam YCHMI01 HomeMonitor: Performance
Over a two-week audition period, the pictures from this modest cube were consistently clear. Even with the monitored room in near darkness, the camera returned good images to a tablet. It's also reassuringly easy to set up. Not having to delve into router menus to open ports is a great leap forward. This particular camera has a resolution of 640 x 480 with a horizontal viewing angle of 60 degrees and 45 degrees vertical angle. The sensor is a 310,000 pixel ¼-inch CMOS, with 30 infrared LEDs for night vision. I sometimes I had to refresh the app to get a streaming picture, but on further investigation this niggle proved to be an issue with slow 3G coverage.

Y-cam YCHMI01 HomeMonitor: Verdict
Overall, we really like this amiable Y-cam. It's a reliable and scalable security solution that can be installed by an integrator in minutes, and more importantly used by a client without complication or stress. Sure you can get cheaper cameras but the features on the Y-cam package are tempting enough to pay the extra. As a package we give the YCHMI01 top marks for performance and setup. Priced at £150, it's also something of a steal.

For more information, visit www.y-cam.com.