The Dropcam HD offers live and recorded video monitoring on Apple and Android devices. I’ve always wondered what my cat did while I was away from home. Did she devour the leaves of the plant in the living room or merely nibble them? How often did she jump up on the kitchen counter to forage for food? Did she dash out through the open window to patrol the ledge from four stories up?
Plenty of video monitoring cameras offer home surveillance solutions, but they are either expensive or the video resolution is low. At $150, the Dropcam HD aims to hit the middle ground, serving as a decent child monitor or home security camera. As I was getting ready to head out of town on vacation, I was eager to try it out.
The Dropcam HD was easy to set up. I was able to connect it to my home Wi-Fi and have it up and running in less than a minute. After that, I downloaded the Dropcam app so I could view my living room from my iPhone (the app is available for Android devices, too). With the camera’s 720p resolution, the image was clear, although hardly high definition. The colors were muted, but the sound was good. The real test, however, would come when I was 3,000 miles away on the West Coast.
While I was out of town, my neighbor promised to feed my cat. Through live feed on my phone, I was able to view him stopping by the apartment and giving the kitty her daily kibble. We could even communicate via two-way audio, although a three-second delay made conversation awkward.
I checked the Dropcam at night, too, and the infrared vision showed me a quiet, still apartment.
But I couldn’t check the Dropcam every moment. To help with that, the camera has a DVR function that records events, marking them on a timeline of the last seven days. You can check each event and skip the hours of motionless void. Real-time viewing is free; the DVR service starts at $9.95 a month.
Now I know what my cat is up to while I am away. As it turns out, it’s the same thing she does while I’m there: sleep.
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