SECURITYCAMERAS
102 AUGUST 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 378
JUSTLIKETHEArlo Pro 2, the DCS-2802KTis
asecurity camera system that comes in two
parts: ahub that connects to your router,and
the camera itself,which can be placed around
your home and report back to you when
there’s movement or sound. Twocameras, in
fact –the basic DCS-2802KTkit includes two
cameras forafew pounds less than asingle
Arlo 2and its hub unit. The cameras are
IP65-rated weatherproofand powered by
rechargeable batteries, and the system is very
easy to set up forDIYers.
It’s possible forthe hub to support up to
four cameras at once,and if you want to
expand on the initial two,this works out much
cheaper than the Pro 2aswell: standalone
cameras are £135 apop,compared to £237 for
each add-on Pro 2camera.
What’s more,the main £300 pack
includes ayear’s subscription to Premium
cloud storage,making it akeenly priced
offering by high-end standards. However,it’s
also not quiteasfully featured as Arlo’s kit.
Unlike with the Pro 2, the DCS-2802KT
cameras can’t be plugged intothe mains,
and there’s no support forconstant video
recording (CVR) footage.
STUCK INSIDE
These cameras also lack the removable
batteries of the Pro 2’s, meaning that there
will always be downtime when theyneed
charging; with the Pro 2, you can avoid this
just by keeping aset of charged spares to
hand. Lastly,while both systems support
motion detection, only Arlo’s allows you to
mark out specific parts of the view formotion
detection to prevent false positives.
Still, there’s alot to like here.The two
cameras that come in the box are easy to set
up,and they’re very effective once up and
running. They’re charged via Micro USB, and
pop magnetically on to ahalf-ball mount that
can be screwed intothe wall.
That maysound like adream design for
burglars, but even if theydomanage to pop
the camera off the wall, footage of them
doing so will already be in the cloud and ready
to view on your phone.
Downtime while charging won’t be such a
major problem either,asthe cameras rarely
need to be recharged. After afull 21 days, the
battery gauge on one camera had dropped by
11%, and the other by 15%. Scaling that up to
the least optimistic estimatemeans you
should be looking at charging every three-
and-a-half months or so.
D-LINK
DCS-2802KT
★★★★★
£300 (twin pack)•From http://www.amazon.co.uk
VERDICT
TheDCS-2802KTisaflexiblesystem,butif
youwantthebestfeatures,Arlohastheedge
The downside is that, as the battery can’t
be removed, the camera will have alimited
lifespan: once the battery is exhausted and
can’t hold auseful amount of charge any
more,you’ll have to throw awaythe camera.
CLEARVIEW
Forthe most part, however,you can just
forget that they’re there.You can watch a
livestream on your phone –although in our
experience it takes alot of buffering before
anything shows up,ifitdecides to at all –but
the real appeal is the motion and noise
detection. Any time anything moves within
its field of vision, the camera snaps ashort
bit of video and logs it, with an instant
notification so you can check it right away.
These clips are recorded in crystal-clear
1080p and at 24fps, which is plenty smooth
enough. There’s anight vision mode,too,
which works impressively and has along
effective range of 7.5metres.
Footage is stored in the cloud fora
certain period of time depending on how
much you’re prepared to spend in terms of
asubscription. Youdon’t need to decide
right away, as ayear’s worth of the
Premium plan is included in the box, which
gives you unlimited clips from up to five
cameras, stored fortwo weeks.
After your year is up,you’ll revert to the
free plan, which drops the maximum number
of connected cameras to three and holds on
to captured footage foramere 24 hours.
The Basic plan ups this to seven days of
storage for£2per month or £22 per year,
which is pretty reasonable,oryou could
continue with the Premium offering for£4.49
per month or £44 annually.
If you really want to push the boat out,
the Pro package supports up to 10 cameras
for30days, and comes in at £9 per month
or £88 per year.
Youmight not need any kind of
subscription at all, however,asyou can
download recorded clips to your phone at
any point up to their scheduled deletion.
Given that notifications are instant, this
should be sufficient formost people who
spot something out of the ordinary theymay
need to send to the police.Yet another
alternative is connecting your own storage
drive to the hub via microSD or USB.
Twomore features deserve amention.
First, the hub has avery loud siren built into
it, which can blast out over 100 decibels
when movement is triggered. Youcan set
this to be on or off,depending on whether
you’re at home or not. The cameras also
come with atwo-waymicrophone,meaning
you can speak to people if theyunexpectedly
appear at the other end of the camera.
SAFE BET
Awkward name aside,the D-Link DCS-2802KT
is agreat security camera system that will be
more than enough formost people’s needs.
The price is decent forawireless camera
setup,the batteries last forages and the
year’s worth of premium cloud storage is a
very nice touch indeed.
The Arlo Pro 2offers abit more,but it
does so at aprice and if those little extras –
especially CVR –are super-important to
you, then it maybeworth paying the extra.
Foreverybody else,D-Link offers peace of
mind at amore competitive price.
