Home Hi-Tech Android World ,,,,,When we asked Netatmo to try its Presence outdoor camera, we were just back from the second test of its ingenious Welcome camera, capable of recognizing the faces of those entering the house and working in combination with individual wireless tags as a versatile security system. thanks to smartphone reporting and web access even to recordings.
Netatmo Presence follows some of the connection capabilities and also the software with its younger sister but given the type of installation it has specific characteristics that make it very different both for recognition capacity and for materials and technologies used .
Netatmo Presence is actually a multifunction device that combines the surveillance capabilities of a camera that can be connected via Wi-Fi to the rest of the system with a solid LED technology lighting device that must be mounted at a height of about 2.30 meters in correspondence of the house entrance.
The availability of a single color and the rather particular shape could be a discriminating factor for the choice of the product, especially in cases of installation following the choice of outdoor furniture, but Presence is well liked for a whole series of features that we will talk about.
Review
Packaging
Netatmo has now accustomed us to classy and minimal packaging at the same time and even with Presence it is not denied: white cardboard is the master with ample space for recyclable material. Inside the box we find the camera which is a large black parallelepiped in heavy metal and IPX7 protection degree combined with a well-made plastic that protects the SD card on the bottom, and the front with the camera and the lighting body consisting of a double row of LEDs protected by a white shield.
Together with the lamp / camera body we find a bracket (already integral with a screw) and a black plate that will cover and protect the electrical connection with mammoths.
Inside the box we find the instructions for use also in Italian and a QR code that will help us to uniquely identify the camera and complete its installation.
The packaging 
Here are the plate data 
The specifications 
The shaped cardboard box 
The accessories are on the bottom 
Here is the exploded view 
The plate to cover the wires a wall and jaw for orientation 
here it is 
The camera is incorporated in the lower part 
Another detail of the plate
We fit presence and plaque 
Instructions 
how to mount 
The code for installation 
Here it is installed on an entrance
Camera installation
For our tests we obviously could not specifically drill the wall around the entrance to a house and we therefore decided to combine Netatmo Presence with a previously installed lighting body using its connection for power supply and exploiting the connection capacity via Wi -Fi to avoid passing other cables from outside to inside.
The installation procedure is very simple and, as for Welcome, is guided directly by the application that manages the internal and external cameras.
Let's see the procedure in the gallery below, remembering that it is necessary to use the QR code with the shot directly from the Presence lens.
Software and use
We have already analyzed the software dedicated to Netatmo's security in previous tests but here the French company has taken a big step forward and a small step backwards that is linked to the position that a lighting system must have in order not to dazzle the visitor of a home: the body of the device must obviously be placed above the level of the head and it is therefore impossible to collect the data to be analyzed in order to recognize the faces since at most the eyelashes, the nose and the top of your head will be framed.
The Security software allows you to control both Presence (for external) and Welcome (for internal) 
The safety warnings 
Let's start with the search for Wi-Fi 
We use the QR code for pairing 
Pairing successful! 
We set the area to be controlled 
And we adjust the light beam 
Ready to be notified 
Here are the adjustments that will also be useful for Homekit 
A shot of the entrance in full sun 
Here we can play the video – the quality is excellent 
However, this limitation does not prevent Presence from discriminating between human and animal features (we could not, however, carry out the tests with monkeys and the like) and means: in practice, the analysis of movement is able to sound an alarm but at your total discretion and if, like us, you have a dog that frequently stands in front of the front door, you will have no problem preventing his every little move from activating a push message or starting a recording.
The discrimination of the subjects, together with that of the areas to be analyzed, is totally manageable within the control software and once you have chosen the right shot you will be able to specify in detail what are the movements and the subjects that can trigger an alarm. .
The feature that catches the eye is in any case the timeline that unravels vertically in the application and that allows you to quickly control all the events that took place under the eye of the camera. In addition to this, Presence records its data both on a micro-sd card that is provided in the basic equipment, and in individual videos relating to the movements that we will have decided to track on a Dropbox account that you will have set up if necessary: thanks to this trick you will be able to access recordings simply with your Dropbox password from any computer or device connected to the internet.
The “infinite” registration service, as large as your Dropbox folder (which you can also periodically empty by moving the archives locally), is combined with those of the recording on the internal but removable flash card (with difficulty – which in any case better protects your data from theft).
When the camera detects motion, the software decides on your previous indication based on the relevance of recording a movie and alerts you by sending a message in the home of your phone (and also on the Apple Watch screen with a related photo that can also go in the complications) indicating the existence of a video which you can access after a few seconds. Perhaps this “latency” is the most annoying thing about the system: it is clear that it is not an immediate alarm system but an access control system that can be complementary to a more articulated and above all noisy alarm.
A further note deserves the LED lighting that can be activated either by movement or by the arrival of twilight: the power is considerable and the activation of the lamp (which can also be manual) offers a further degree of accuracy to the shooting that however, they are in full HD resolution: on the screen the result is excellent and you get a bit of natural grain by zooming in on the details.
Features
Weight: 1 Kg Dimensions: 5 x 11 x 20 cm Color: Intense Black Voltage 240 volts Components included: Presence camera; Mounting kit; 1 wall support; 1 mounting element; body screws; 2 wall screws; 1 Allen key; Wall Mount Bracket Batteries / Batteries Required: No
Conclusions
We personally liked the camera / lighting body from the point of view of design, ease of installation and quality of the software but it is still worth considering the ability to combine with other pre-installed lighting bodies. If we talk about new projects, it could be interesting to evaluate its combination with other lighting systems with consistent colors and design unless you plan to mount it at the entrance of condominium apartments with a reserved access to a common staircase.
It would be desirable for Netatmo to think of at least two other versions with white and silver livery to better match other lighting fixtures on the market and maybe even experiment with different shapes.
Update May 2018 : Netatmo Presence is now compatible with Homekit and the framed scenes can be viewed within the “Home” application.
Pro
Very convenient app user interface, web consultation and video recording on Dropbox at no additional cost. Construction quality of excellence. LED lighting feature that allows you to save on an additional lighting body.
Cons
Very modern design that may not fit with the rest of the outdoor lighting fixtures in the house. Missing Ethernet port.
Retail price
Netatmo Presence is distributed in Italy by Nital. It can also be found in large retailers, in Apple Premium resellers and on Amazon at the full cost of about 299 Euro including VAT – (check any offers by clicking on the link). It is also possible to find it from certified sellers eBay at 269 Euro + 4.90 shipping.
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