Dropcam – Super Simple Video Security For Home Or RV

As RV’ers, we’ve always wondered, and I suppose worried a bit too, about what’s going on in our home while we’re away. We’ve often wished we could just check-in somehow to have a look and make sure everything’s o.k.

Now, thanks to Dropcam, a simple yet powerful video security system, we’ll be able to do just that no matter where we happen to be as long as we have Internet access – and, that goes without saying!!

With Dropcam’s wireless high-definition live streaming, night vision, two-way talk and mobile apps, it’s simple to stay connected with the place you call home whether it be your stix ‘n brix or your RV.

I’ve been researching and looking for a good, home security camera for quite a while now. I wanted one that ran on our home’s WiFi network, was simple to setup, had excellent night vision, 2-way built-in talk, streaming video that could be accessed 24/7 from my smartphone, iPad or laptop and, most importantly, one that would send me alerts and email messages whenever the system detected either motion or sounds in our home while we were away.

Major features of the Dropcam Video System

The Dropcam fit the bill on all counts. I bought a Dropcam Pro yesterday for $199 and once I had it home it was setup and working perfectly within 15 minutes! The video feed is as clear as a bell and covers a wide area. I downloaded the Dropcam apps to my iPhone and iPad and they allow me to do everything with the camera including turning it on and off or scheduling it to come on and off at specific times.

The Dropcam Pro gives a wide, clear 130 degree view of our living room

I was anxious to test the Alert system so after setting the camera up in our living room as shown in the above photo, I walked out of my computer room (the far doorway) just to see what would happen. I was pretty far away so I was really curious to see if the Motion Sensor on the Dropcam would work as advertised.

Within a few seconds of walking into range of the Dropcam, I received both an Alert on my iPhone and an email warning me of detected motion as shown in the above image. In real life, if I were thousands of miles away, I could actually check my ‘live feed’ using my iPhone or laptop and see exactly what was going on. If it was an intruder, I would be able to shout at him “This is Alarm Guard, we are watching you and the police are on their way” – or something like that. As well, we could phone the local RCMP detachment and tell them what was happening. Pretty amazing.

When Motion or Sound are detected, it sends Alerts and Emails to me

If you happen to be one of those people who are really bothered by Google, then beware, because after Google bought Nest, the maker of WiFi thermostats and smoke alarms, earlier this year for $3.2 billion, Google went out and bought Dropcam for its Nest division for a paltry $555 million in cash. Software engineers Greg Duffy and Aamir Virani founded Dropcam in 2009 in San Francisco and will continue to develop Dropcam as part of Nest – just one big happy, rich family!

Dropcam Pro has very good night infrared vision

So, maybe you’re wondering how this works and how exactly does live-streaming get from your home in Milwaukee, WI to Yuma, AZ? Every Dropcam comes with free live streaming service. When Dropcam is turned on, your camera sends encrypted video to the cloud for motion and sound detection. The cloud then securely streams video to your devices. Bank level security encryption.ensures only you see your footage.

Like many Internet operations, Dropcam offers extra options at a cost. In this case it’s called Continuous Video Recording (CVR) which securely records up to 30 days of footage for you to review after it's happened. f you have CVR service, your footage is stored securely on cloud servers so you can access it anytime, anywhere. It’s pretty costly though at 7-Day recording for $9.95 a month or 30-Day recording at $29.95 a month. I don’t intend to get either. As long as my camera is turned on, motion and sound detection remain active and I’ll receive all Alert messages.

Many Dropcam users are hoping that with Google’s deep pockets and massive server farm storage capacities that they just might give away 30 days of storage for free some day. Maybe. But, for RVers here’s the thing – 24/7 streaming of live video to the cloud would use about 70GB of bandwidth. That blows a giant hole in 5GB plans. Casual checking of your feed on a daily basis or when you get an alert results in very minimal use of bandwidth so for most of us it’s probably the best option.

Thanks for visiting!