Wyze announced its new Home Sensor System today, Wyze Sense, which is a $20 system of motion sensors for your home. And these work with Wyze’s already available – and also $20 – security camera. Giving users a full security system for under $50.
Wyze Sense comes with two contact sensors, a motion sensor, and the ‘Wyze Bridge’ for $20. The Wyze Bridge is essentially a hub that is used to connect these sensors and the cameras together, and have them talk to each other. It’s necessary, and also included for that $20 price tag.
These sensors can be paired with Wyze’s cameras, allowing you to see what’s going on in your home, even when you aren’t there. The sensors will alert you to movement, and it will also alert the camera to start recording. Seeing as security cameras are generally not recording 24/7 anymore – to save battery life on wire-free models, and storage on those that use the cloud – this is an important feature. The sensors will work well on doors and windows, as the system can tell you how long a door or window has been opened. This can be useful for when your kids come home from school, as you’ll get a notification when they open the door. Knowing that they are home safely is a great thing.
The Wyze Sense is essentially a piece-meal home security system that users can make as robust as they want, without breaking the bank. Being able to get a security camera, as well as a few motion sensors for your home, all for under $50, is pretty impressive. Considering most security cameras alone are almost $200 these days.
You’ve probably heard the saying “you get what you pay for” and that is true with Wyze’s products. These are very inexpensive, and that’s because they are not as robust as something you might get from Nest, Ring, or even Arlo. For example, Wyze Sense does not come with a keypad or an alarm. So you can only get notifications when motion is detected. The system won’t actually do anything to deter whoever is in your house (that shouldn’t be there). If you’re looking for a full security system, then the Wyze Sense and Wyze Cam combination is not going to be your best bet, unfortunately.
Wyze has become pretty popular for offering some inexpensive security cameras – priced around $20. These aren’t the best security cameras on the market, but they do their job, and do it pretty well. Not that Wyze is expanding its portfolio, it’s going to be interesting how well the Wyze Sense does for the company. It’s a good idea, but many people that are looking to use motion sensors in their home, are likely wanting to replace an alarm that they pay monthly for (to a company like ADT or even Comcast). So Wyze is hitting a market that doesn’t really exist. Though, we’ll find out how big that market is, come May when the Wyze Sense actually ships.
So far, Wyze is targeting its existing companies with Wyze Sense, since it does require the Wyze Cam to work. The Wyze Sense is on sale beginning today, and available through its mobile app. It will start shipping on May 7.