Below is our original review, updated in March 2017 whenY-Cam launched a third-generation Outdoor HD Pro. It’s still a 720p camera, but it has a new lens with a 100-degree field of view that lets you Add extra HomeMonitor™ cameras to your account anytime. You can even add cameras from different locations to one account so you can control, manage and view your home, garden, office, driveway, holiday home - wherever! Our User Manual is an essential read to get the most out of your Y-cam and learn about all of its extended features. Only HomeMonitor™ allows you to truly connect you to what is important on all your favourite gadgets including iPhone, iPad, Android smartphones and tablets plus now your TV through Roku and AirPlay.

Moving the wireless router to a different position may help. Try walking around with the router while monitoring the signal strength to get the best signal. This is a problem if you have pets. A dog or cat can easily set off the motion sensor. To combat this, the HomeMonitor enables you to select “detection zones” – rectangles you can drag to cover the areas you’re most concerned with. For example, if you have it point at your front door you can choose for it to trigger only when something at least two-feet high comes in, while at the same time having another zone covering a front window. Useful stuff, unless you live close to a gang of limbo-dancing thieves.As of 3 October 2023, the above cameras will no longer provide a live stream, and (if applicable) record video on motion detection. Therefore, it is necessary to give you six months’ notice that your Y-Cam service will be ending. Y-Cam has made a few tweaks to improve image quality – you can see the difference in the screengrabs below. We’re also told that a firmware update for all Outdoor HD cameras is on the way. This will include a much more sophisticated detection algorithm – hopefully much like the The Y-cam Plus subscription provides a whole host of additional benefits to help you monitor and secure your home. Y-cam Plus will record 30 days of video activity logs and fully managed 30 days video storage when using Y-cam indoor or outdoor cameras. The alarm can be set to create two different zones allowing you to arm one or both zones. This can be especially useful if you decide to split the upstairs and downstairs of a property into two zones. While away from the property you would activate both zones and during the night you could activate only the downstairs zone. Another handy feature is on-demand recording which provides a record button on the live feed view so you can capture what’s going on right then. You can also grab a still image, and this is also saved to your phone’s camera roll.

Every motion detected by HomeMonitor is immediately stored in your account ready for you to view and review whenever you need to, from wherever you are. The new Alexa skill is great to see. Using just your voice, you can set the alarm; and you can disable it, too, speaking out a PIN that you set. Inside your home, this feature is possibly less useful, and using the keyfob or app probably make more sense. But, if you’re using Y-Cam Protect for an external building (my garden office is protected with one), Alexa integration is a smart way of being able to turn the alarm on or off. Should I buy the Y-Cam Protect Alarm System? Not every wireless antenna has the same range of coverage, try moving it and adjusting the angle to see if the signal improves. The camera controls aren’t the most advanced available, but they’re still pretty decent. You can set a specific motion zone to monitor, decide if it will activate and push an alert when it detects a loud noise, and choose if it will capture footage in HD or standard definition.The Y-cam Plus subscription provides a whole host of additional benefits to help you monitor and secure your home. With a Y-cam Plus subscription, the integrated sim card is activated and will ensure that your alarm remains connected when your internet is down and will also send text and phone call alarm notifications. Y-cam Plus will record 30 days of alarm and video activity logs and fully managed 30 days video storage when using Y-cam indoor or outdoor cameras. This older version of MultiLive supports Mac systems from operating system 10.4 (Tiger) and upwards. Supports up to 8 cameras.

You can access all of the alarm settings and features via the Y-cam App (available for iOS and Android). The system can be activated and deactivated using your SmartPhone.** If you had an active subscription on your account, you can access your account, to review stored video clips via the Activity menu. Your cameras will no longer be accessible. The Y-Cam app is one of the most intuitive I’ve used. The app’s central home screen features a grid user interface with dynamic icons to every Y-Cam camera connected to your network. A slide-out panel offers shortcuts to your account settings and recording library. The small rectangular key fob looks great and is nice and light, so you won’t notice it on your keyring if you carry it around all day.

Upgrading to Plus is well-worth it. Home broadband isn’t hugely reliable and you’d be surprised at how often your Hub loses connection. With mobile data, you know that your home will remain protected and that you’ll definitely get alerts. And, once you’ve upgraded, you get the 30-days of cloud storage from your cameras, which largely negates the fact that Y-Cam withdrew its free cloud storage offering.