Flare (BuddyGuard) Home Security on Kickstarter

I know… Yet another smart security system.
This one got my attention as it checks a lot of the boxes other products have been missing.

HD camera (~170field view), IR motion detector, accelerometer, temperature sensor, speaker, siren, 3G module and Wi-Fi (talk on comments about adding zwave due to requests they received)

Based on comments I have seen on other products thought some of you may be interested. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/361114850/buddyguard-intelligent-and-discreet-home-security/description

What are your thoughts? (Other than typical Kickstarter risks). Before backing I am waiting to here what photo/video storage limits/price (should have decent free tier or let me use google or other cloud) and if they will include option to also store video on local microsd card (not deal breaker but like sd + cloud).

It’s an interesting idea, but biometrics are a pain to get right with current technology, which is why they’re not being used hardly anywhere.

The odds of their having biometrics that would work in my house (one Asian American, one Latino, one non Anglo European) are very small, especially at that price point.

Also–expected battery life of two to three weeks is honest, but not appealing. Plus I bet the battery life goes down when it switches to cellular.

And it’s being made in Europe, so I wouldn’t expect US Zwave any time soon if that’s influencing your decision.

This is one where I’ll wait until it comes to market and see how well it really works before putting any money in. But it’s an interesting project, I wish them luck.

Dang… You’ve really handcuffed me with that constraint on my thoughts! You have a much greater risk of losing money on Kickstarter than of a home burglary. Particularly when the Project Creators are obviously naive and incompetent, or outright deceptive, by setting a full scale production date of only 7 months from now.

You’re hoping for free or very low cost cloud and video storage. So how do you expect the company to make money? Hardware isn’t profitable, especially if the company has to run any substantial back-end infrastructure (facial recognition, push messages, support). Recurring service subscriptions and data sales are the expected revenue model despite anything said to the contrary in marketing materials.

The concept is great, but is very close to several other products (some still in development, of course). Thus it is important to focus your analysis on the incremental features.

If these specific features (e.g., facial recognition) are the selling point to you, then go for it… But, Kickstarter risks aside, I think that particular feature will be very challenging to implement (or easy for a competitor to replicate).

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A common problem with this type of all-in-one alarm systems is lack of physical security. Because the camera and the motion sensor are integrated with the alarm, it has to be placed in open, unobstructed place and therefore is easily noticeable. Being also quite flimsy, it will not stand a chance against a hammer blow.

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Big laugh here… funny because it’s so true. I “invested” in a fancy coffee mug almost 18 months ago - no mug yet. There are no guarantees.

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