Spy Review

On the home monitoring theme again, rather than pay a service to keep an eye on your home or business, you could do it yourself. MyHome247 offer a range of home monitoring solutions that allow you to monitor what’s going on in your home.

The XG1000 gateway is a neat piece of kit that creates a standalone home monitoring system by using box to act as an interface with your camera and your internet connection. The XG1000 gateway box essentially removes the need to have a computer powered on all the time at your home, saving a considerable amount when it comes to electricity bills.

The other very cool thing you can do is add a range of sensors to the solution, such as a wireless door and window entry sensor, wireless keypad kit, wireless temperature sensor, wireless motion detector and more. A really useful and novel feature is you can also get a wireless water sensor. Having a water sensor is a great early warning system if you live in a flood-prone area or your cellar is prone to getting a bit wet.

The suite also allows you to have remotely controlled devices, like lights and other mains equipment. There are many different wireless controls that are completely compatible with the system. You just customise the package to suit your needs. I can’t see if there are any limits on how many devices you can use either!

For alarm notifications, you can get SMS notifications, but this requires an SMS bundle and therefore costs a little extra. Sadly, you do need to pay a subscription fee to own the standalone system too. This might push it out of a few people’s budget. If the system was a complete package with just a one-off fee, then it might be attractive to even more people.

However, the suite it certainly comes packed with features, so its probably worth the extra expense for a range of accessories that integrate seamlessly. Playing around with the demo system is a good insight into how you can see how all the different sensors and controls work together.

It’s not a cheap bit of kit, but it goes a long way to making it easy to adding a remote control and surveillance system in your home.