Uniden Guardian App Cam review – keep an eye on your home from anywhere

Security is something home owners are becoming more conscious about and product that are providing peace of mind are wireless internet cameras like the Uniden Guardian App Indoor Cam 26 and Outdoor Cam 25.

Uniden has responded to the demand for this added security at home with these two plug and play models.

They can be used to monitor inside or outside of your property to check for intruders, keep an eye on your kids or your pets or your office or holiday house.

Cameras installed in homes and offices is nothing new but installing them was quite a chore and monitoring them was only possible on dedicated screens that could run into the thousands.

But it’s a different story today and the Uniden Guardians are excellent examples of what’s possible today to achieve the same surveillance results easily and affordably.

Uniden’s Guardian App Cam 26 and 25 are indoor and outdoor cameras respectively and they utilise your wi-fi connection to be able monitor your premises using a dedicated app on your iPhone, iPad or Android smartphone or tablet.

The Guardian App Cam 26 is a wireless indoor camera located on a swivel base that can sit on a surface or hang from a ceiling or wall.

Even though the Cam 26 is designed for indoor use – you’d still get away with having the device under cover on a front or back porch.

The Uniden Guardian App Cam 25 is high definition (720p resolution) weatherproof camera that’s barrel-shaped and also offers easy plug and play ease of installation.

Each camera has built-in wi-fi so they be controlled and viewed wirelessly from within your network and remotely from outside your network from anywhere you have an internet connection.

Set up is pretty straightforward. First step, once the cameras are plugged into power, is to link wirelessly to each camera’s network using your smartphone or tablet.

For our reviews the cameras’ networks showed up on our devices and we were able to link with the generic passwords (don’t worry you HAVE to change these later).

Next step was to add the camera to the Uniden Guardian app. Here you can give the camera a name.

Users have the option of connecting the camera wirelessly or with a cable – there’s an Ethernet port on the back of the camera.

But considering the places you’re likely to want to position the camera there’s probably not going to be a modem or Ethernet switch close by.

So you’re best option in this situation is to connect the camera to your wireless network.

In terms of installation it is easy to mount either camera wherever you want with the included bracket (Cam 26) or mount (Cam 25).

The only issue users will face is the fact that the cameras need to be connected to a power point with the included adaptor.

Now with the camera positioned high up in the corners of a room inside and in difficult to reach places outside you’ll have to think about extending the reach of the nearest power point or installing a power point near by and then concealing the cables.

If you need to do this it will increase the set up cost somewhat but, on the upside, it will mean your camera is always powered up day or night.

And speaking of day or night they can capture clear video at any time including at night thanks to Ultra Night Vision courtesy of the InfraRed LEDs around the lens.

Each camera has a microSD card slot so recordings can be locally stored and viewed later on a computer.

Through the app, users can watch live or recorded footage or they can choose to receive push notifications or emails if any movement is detected.

The Cam 26 indoor camera has a couple of added features that you won’t find on the Cam 25 outdoor model.

One is the ability to pan and tilt the camera so you can scan even more of the area where it is installed. It can pan through 270 degrees and also tilt through 110 degrees so you’re not going to miss a thing.

We found this a handy feature when we wanted to keep an eye on our two Dalmatians. They don’t always sit right on front of the camera but we were able to scan the backyard with the pan and tilt function to see exactly where they were.

Another feature is the walkie-talkie functionality which makes it possible to communicate through the camera to the app and vice versa.

The quality of the video is very impressive and you can also capture good quality still images as well.

The Cam 25 outdoor camera has a weatherproof rating of IP66 so it can handle being outside in a downpour.

And you can rest assured the wireless stream from the cameras is digitally encrypted so no one can hack into your system.

VERDICT

Anyone looking to set up wi-fi security cameras for added security at home should consider the Uniden Guardian App Cams inside and out.

They are easy to set up and link to the free app on your smartphone or tablet to monitor your place from anywhere in the world.

There is a bit of work involved finding or even installing a power point to power the cams in those hard to reach places but it is well worth it to keep you, your home and your family more secure.

Uniden Guardian App Cam

Price: Cam 26 (Indoor) $199.95; Cam 25 (Outdoor) $149.95.