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If you’re considering upgrading your home security, you’ve probably come across Roku smart home devices. I took the plunge and found out that I love Roku smart home security. Here’s why you might enjoy it, too.
There Are Tons of Roku Smart Home Products
One of the biggest issues with many smart home brands is that they just don’t offer enough products. The Apple Homepod is a compelling buy, for example, but the fact that Apple only produces a few smart products is a deterrent for some.
That isn’t necessarily a flaw, but owning too many different brands can clutter your phone with proprietary apps and make it more difficult to integrate your smart home. Roku’s selection includes all the essentials, including itsexpandable home monitoring system.
Roku devices do use the Roku Smart Home app, but I don’t have any major complaints about it. The app works well, and most of the important features are available for free. Other features, like advanced event detection, require a subscription.
Roku Devices Are Affordable
Beyond the subscription, Roku devices themselves are also affordable. The Roku doorbell and chime combo costs just $79 for the wired version and $99 for the battery-powered version, and both are easily comparable to the Ring doorbell ($50 wired and $99 wireless, not including a chime).
The best entry-level device to the Roku smart home ecosystem is theRoku indoor camera. More powerful devices are still affordable — for example, the battery-powered Roku outdoor camera costs just $65.
Setting Up Roku Home Monitoring Is Easy
While installing the Roku Smart Home app is inconvenient, the app quickly makes a case for itself with how convenient it makes the process of monitoring your home. Once you’ve installed your new smart devices, adding them to your app is as simple as scanning your Wi-Fi network and pressing the setup button.
You can set schedules or certain triggers for events through the Roku app. If you have the Roku Home Monitoring System SE, you can also pay for live professional monitoring. In my case, I found it unnecessary because the entry sensors already provide a huge amount of information.
The only major drawback I’ve found with Roku cameras involves their motion detection. Specifically, I’ve found that my indoor cameras seem to be particularly good at detecting some things (like the moving shadows of leaves) and fail to detect others (like birds).
Premium devices, such as the Roku doorbell camera, don’t seem to have these same issues. My doorbell camera has detected packages, visitors, passersby, and other events consistently.
Roku Home Monitoring Devices Are Reliable
Another benefit of Roku smart devices is that they’re reliable. Even the cameras, which cost just $27, last for years — and if you break the cable, replacing it is as simple as unplugging it and purchasing a new one. Reliability is one of thethings you should consider when buying a smart home security camera.
Roku essentially fills a gap between the most affordable third-party smart home products and leading name-brand products, because it provides the same reliability as the latter while being more affordable. Depending on who you purchase your Roku devices from, you may also be able to get a warranty.
Roku Supports Impressive Smart Automations
Setting schedules or trigger events in the Roku app is simple. You can create new automations by clicking onAdd ruleon the home page of the Roku Smart Home app.
Once theCreate rulemenu opens, you can decide whether you want to create a shortcut, schedule, device trigger, or location trigger. With these four options, you can create rules to turn on all of your lights simultaneously, turn off the cameras when you arrive home, and more.
Is Roku Smart Home Security Worth It?
Overall, I’ve found Roku smart home security to be worth the cost. The standalone devices provide all the essentials you could want from your smart home, such as smoke alarm detection and smart schedules. If you want additional features, the Roku subscription is affordable.
Unlike with cheap smart home devices, I’ve also found that Roku devices last. Over long periods of time, the fact that you won’t need to replace your Roku cameras or motion sensors will help with your budget — so you’ll effectively save money while enjoying better products.
