Home security has never been more important, so you may be wondering how to get started. Vivint is an end-to-end experience that is easily customizable and is not your average home security. The amazing equipment is at a high price, though. Is it worth it? Yes. Before you buy, though, here are some things to consider.
Vivint is quite different from most top-brand security systems. To start with, Vivint’s smart home security is completely wireless. The company has smart home automation and a 7-inch hub where you can control everything about your Vivint system. There is also an award-winning app by Vivint, and everything is customized to your home. Vivint has both indoor and outdoor cameras you can buy, and monitoring is 100% cellular, eliminating wires which could be cut by criminals. Like everything, Vivint also has its cons, with expensive equipment, long contracts, and installation fees.
When purchasing equipment, you can call and talk with a Vivint representative. The representative will walk you through equipment options and help you choose a monitoring plan. While you can schedule installation for multiple days after ordering your equipment, Vivint has been known to do same-day installations. If that’s what you need, it will not hurt to ask for it.
Vivint’s installation professionals are not outside contractors. Before installation, the Smart Home Pro (the name Vivint gives its installation professionals) will show you through your house, inside and outside, showing you sensitive access points from a thief’s perspective.
Vivint has a cancellation agreement. You are given three days to cancel your service and remove the equipment. In contrast, most companies give their customers 30 days to cancel. This is something to think about. Remember, Vivint’s ideal customer is someone who wants top of the line smart home security and who doesn’t care about price or the presence of contracts.
While the exact length depends on your equipment, Vivint installation takes about three to four hours. When a Vivint Smart Home Pro comes to your home to install your Vivint system, be prepared to be told a lot. It may not be particularly overwhelming, but you should be mentally prepared.
Vivint’s stick-on sensors are not the company’s best-designed item. They are certainly less sleek than one would expect from a premium brand such as Vivint. That said, there is an alternative option of a recessed door sensor, which is practically invisible since they sit inside the door at the edge of the door and the frame.
With entry sensors and a camera, Vivint secures homes well. When the home is armed, and a door or window is open, an incredibly loud alarm sounds. The alarm also plays through the outdoor speakers, which is likely to scare any passerbys. (Which shows it must work.)
Vivint requires professional 24-7 monitoring. There is no self-monitoring option. Depending on the person, this can be nice or annoying. The monitoring is over cellular, rather than with Wi-Fi or a landline. This eliminates wires that could be cut, stopping communication. Also, cellular connection is often faster and more reliable than other types.
In case of an alarm, the Vivint monitoring team waits 30 or so seconds to give you a chance to disarm your system. If you don’t before the time is up, they give you a call. Some people may like this delay, while others may wish Vivint called immediately, just in case there was a real emergency. Every time your alarm triggers, Vivint does immediately sends a text and an email. There are multiple customizations for these alerts.
To customize Vivint’s notifications, go to the app, and open the ‘Device Settings’ dropdown. Then you can choose what you are alerted for. You can be alerted if the doors are opened or closed or if the windows are opened, closed, or left open. That is only a few of the many things you can choose to be notified of.
A neat thing you can do with these notifications is choose what time of day you are notified about certain things. As an example, you can tell the app to notify you when the garage door is left open, but to only notify you if it is sometime between, for example, 10 pm and 8 am. Or you can ask to be notified if your home isn’t armed by a certain time. Another interesting alert Vivint has is a package detection alert that works with the Vivint doorbell camera.
These alerts can be delivered in a variety of ways: push notifications, SMT/text message, or email. You can also have the alerts be sent in more than one way.
How much of this would you actually use? If you aren’t super techy, you might want to consider buying Vivint security products without all the smart features and automation.
The custom actions are where Vivint’s intelligence begins to really show. These actions can be pretty specific, and more than any other company, Vivint is great for automation.
Custom actions help customize a Vivint system to the owner’s actual needs. You can set them up super quickly on the Vivint app. Here are a few examples of custom actions.
Arming and disarming your home can be automized. It can be really easy to forget to arm your house, and with Vivint, you can set a time for your home to be automatically armed at a specified time every day. You can also set a time for your home to be disarmed again, making there be even less to remember. You surely don’t want the alarm to wake up all your neighbors as you go to work in the morning!
Vivint sends notifications when a door is opened in your home. With custom actions, you can also learn who opened the door. How? There is a custom action you can set up which tells the Vivint system to record with the doorbell camera when the front door is opened. You don’t have to have only the doorbell camera record, though. Vivint’s indoor camera or outdoor camera could also record.
These are just a few of Vivint’s many custom actions that enhance the value of the system a great deal. Thanks to Vivint for consulting.
