We have been testing out the fantastic WatchBot 3.0.
The WatchBot 3.0 is a camera that has multi-purpose uses - it can be used for indoor CCTV home security, pet monitor and/or as a baby monitor. For this review we placed it in Summer's bedroom and have been using it as a baby monitor, however when we go away on trips and holidays we will using it for home security.
WatchBot contents
The attraction for me is the function that gives you access to a live feed from your smartphone, so if we are out and about and I want to check on Harvey for example, I can open the WatchBot app on my smartphone and get an instant live feed, or if we are away on holiday abroad, I can log in and check the house to give myself piece of mind. It also has a monitor sensor and if triggered it sends an alarm notice to your smartphone and captures the image of what set it off.So how complicated was setting up this fantastic CCTV camera in our home? Not complicated at all, it was pretty straight forward, especially with the how to step by step guide card it came with to help you, and the detailed instructions booklet:
The installation was quite daunting at first, I followed the instructions however for some reason I couldn't initially get it to work on my smartphone, as I kept getting an 'invalid' error message. So I scraped the smartphone app and proceeded with the set up on my laptop, which was a lot easier and worked straight away. Afterwards I returned to my smartphone app to try and figure out the problem, and found that the 'invalid' message wasn't there anymore and it was working! So I would suggest you set it up on your PC/Laptop first, and then set it up on your smartphone or tablet. (I really was not sure what I did wrong, but it worked itself out in the end).
The WatchBot has to be connected to your modem and it does come with a supplied Ethernet cable, and then it streams wirelessy to your laptop, PC, tablet and/or smartphone. I connected both my laptop and my iPhone to our WatchBot.
You can only access the life feed for your WatchBot on an authorised smartphone/tablet, which the smartphone/table can only be authorised by scanning the QR code on the bottom of the WatchBot itself, so this process gives you piece of mind that not anyone can tap into your WatchBot and stream the pictures.
When you do have it set up and working, you can log into your smartphone app and/or PC to control the WatchBot. You can move the camera angles using the control system with a wide vast monitoring range, you can record live feed, take snapshots, turn on the microphone so you have two way audio, night vision and it automatically switches between day and night vision, depending on the light in the room. You can add up to 9 cameras to monitor, and of course it has the motion sensor alarm, which when triggered it will send screen shots of what it has detected direct to your smartphone.
Positives:- Night vision - it automatically switches between normal vision to night vision
- Motion sensor alarm.
- Position control - you can set several points of position in which you click on one button and the camera will automatically reposition itself to the desired saved point.
- Sound - 2 way audio function.
- Ability to view remotely, from a phone, tablet or computer.
Negatives:
- The lead to connect to the modem was far too short.
The WatchBot website has extensive 'how to instructions' with lots of tutorial videos to help you and a UK contact number in case you need to call them.
Disclaimer: I was sent a WatchBot 3.0 for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.
