The Hands On Review: Honeywell Lyric C1 Wi-Fi Security Camera highlights an intriguing option to add an effective smart home IoT piece of tech to your home or office without being tied to a smart home system.
As a security camera, the Lyric C1 packs a punch for $119.
The IoT product’s name encompasses exactly what it does: the Honeywell Lyric C1 Wi-Fi Security Camera is a wirelessly streaming security camera that joins your smartphone via the Lyric App.
Honeywell has long been a leader in home technology, like thermostats.
And a major upside to this entry into the smart home field is that the Lyric C1 Security Camera requires no contracts with a security company monitoring service.
Alarm company plans are often expensive when they include smart security cameras, but the Lyric C1 does not require any help from an alarm company to do its job.
In short, she is sexy and not in any way resembling the antiquated and intimidating security camera look of menacing circular eye shaped pieces that often have your cat Cosmo hissing as he walks by it.
What exactly do you get with the Honeywell Lyric C1 Wi-Fi Security Camera?
The Lyric C1 includes a free 8 GB SD card in the box for storing videos and still shots, as well as up to 24 hours of free cloud storage in case you need to play back the video and see exactly how Bowser your Dalmatian puppy was able to open the fridge, remove a slice of pizza, and flip a huge piece of peperoni up and onto the lamps hanging over the kitchen island.
The unit is small, as is the book of directions and the AC power adaptor needed to power this bad boy.
It can be mounted on a wall or sit upright on a counter or shelf and the 135 degrees of viewing for the camera and the two-way audio all give the user a lot of options as to where and how to use this smart device while you have open the Lyric App on your phone.
Setting up the App is an easy and painless process of opening the App and syncing it to your device, Honeywell has a 256K encryption on the Lyric C1 so that any video taken or stored is protected against hackers (something too many IoT devices seem to forget about).
And then there are the advanced features within the smart home security camera itself, like night vision along with its 5x zoom, Intelligent Sound Detection, Adjustable Alert Zones, and Geofencing.
The Intelligent Sound Detection is very accurate and picks up your smoke detector’s sound and yet discerns that and weeds out the many barks from the pooch trying to get at the alarm to eat it.
The Lyric C1’s Adjustable Alert Zones make for incredibly adept motion sensing.
Simply set up one or two zones that cut out ceiling fans or wrestling thirty pound cats and then the camera will not turn on unless something twelve inches above the ground and below the ceiling goes past its sensors.
The convenience of the Geofencing is also quite a plus as the Honeywell Lyric C1 Wi-Fi Security Camera can be programmed to automatically turn on after your iPhone leaves the house and then turn off when you enter back in.
The only downside I can see with the Honeywell unit is that there is not currently an option to sync this with any smart home system – yet – but a recently funded IndieGogo campaign has it poised to join up with the Honeywell Smart Home Security System, and after an update the Lyric C1 can sync with Google’s Alexa and utilize some of its smart home settings in Alexa Control.
For what it is, the Lyric C1 is an exceptional security video camera in a portable and aesthetically pleasing design.
And it does this for a lot less than the typical $200 attached to smart home cameras and doorbells with 720p HD video capabilities.
