29 Somfy One

Security camera with all-seeing eye

Somfy was a manufacturer of mechanical door closers until, in 2016, it bought smart-home company Myfox. It now sells a wide range of home-automation products, from burglar alarms to motorised curtains. But this is a standalone unit that you can buy on its own to watch your property while you’re out.

One feature that distinguishes the Somfy One from rivals such as the Nest Cam IQ (see our review, Issue 509) and Canary (see Issue 478) is a built-in 90-decibel alarm, which makes a piercing noise either as soon as motion is detected or after er a musical warning. For intruders, finding nding the box that’s making this racket won’t be much of a challenge, but you should get a clear view of them before they unplug it and/or make a dash for it.

The camera shoots 130-degree Full HD video (with night vision), which you can view live from anywhere – with a delay of around four seconds, in our tests – or record to online ‘cloud’ storage. A lovely feature is that when you’re home and you turn the unit off, a mechanical shutter closes automatically over the camera, guaranteeing your privacy.

As supplied, only 10-second clips are stored when movement triggers the camera, and these are kept for 24 hours. Like its rivals, Somfy wants to sell you a subscription to upgrade this: for £3.99 a month it will store continuous video, but still only for a day, while another £4 a month extends this to seven days. At least Somfy offers some free storage unlike rival Y-cam, which now charges you £2.99 a month after a year (see page 8).

You can tweak the five-metre motion detection to avoid false alarms. The unit can also deactivate automatically when any user arrives home with the app, and remind you to activate it when you leave (though you won’t want to unless you’re the last out). It can be controlled by Amazon Alexa, if you have an Echo or use Amazon’s app, and from IFTTT ( www.snipca.com/25462). It also works with Nest products as well as Somfy’s own range, but doesn’t support Apple Homekit.

At the time of writing, the Somfy One was £9 cheaper on Amazon ( www. snipca.com/26512), but buying it for £229 on Somfy’s website entitles you to a free Intellitag window/door sensor or Key Fob control, normally £25-£40 extra.

Unlikey-camitoffers free storage, albeit for only 24 hours