Myfox home security review: peace of mind on holiday

Sharing is caring!

Six years ago, our house was broken into. I was at work when it happened and Mr Tin Box was half way through a six month deployment with the Royal Navy. Thankfully the burglars were tidy and only took our television. But it left me feeling very vulnerable.

As soon as he got home Mr Tin Box went about making our home more secure. He fitted an alarm, door snibs and added a lock to our back gate.

We’ve moved twice since then and our DIY home security system has come with us. However, six years on, there’s much more available on the market to give you peace of mind while you’re away from home. This summer we’ve been given the Myfox Home Alarm and Security Camera to try while we’re on our summer holidays.

Myfox Home Alarm and Security Camera

The Myfox Home Alarm (£279) comes with:

• A siren – this plays a piece of music whenever you send a command to the system, for example, when you set the alarm. It also sounds an alarm if there is a potential intruder.
• A key fob – this has four functions. It sets the alarm, sets night mode (door sensor only), disables the alarm and has a panic button.
• A door sensor – this is attached to an external door and sets off the alarm if it senses a potential break-in. Someone rattling the door is enough to raise the alarm – this is a first in the world of home security.
• A wifi hub – this connects all the other parts of the home alarm to your wifi internet and senses if someone with the key fob enters the house. It then automatically turns off the alarm if you have forgotten to disarm it.

To set up the system you simply download the Myfox Security App to your smartphone and follow the instructions on where to position each part and how it works. The app will also tell you if the alarm has been activated and allow you to switch it off remotely. You can have multiple users, so if you are away from home you can add a friend or relative who can login and check that everything is OK.

The Myfox Security Camera (£169) is an add on that is also activated when it detects motion or when the alarm goes off. It records HD video and has night vision. There’s also a built-in speaker and microphone so you can talk to the room using the Myfox Security App on you smartphone. For times that you are home there’s a privacy shutter so you’re not being recorded all the time.

The camera comes with two video storage options:

• Basic (free) – allows you to see live streaming, sends you notifications of movement, and allows you to take unlimited snapshots from the live video.
• Silver (£3.99 per month) – does all of the above, plus allows you to capture snapshots from recorded video and stores up to one day of video history. An additional £4 per month gets you seven days of video history.

Mr Tin Box is in charge of all things technical in our house, so he set up the system and did it within 15 minutes. The system can be set up in just 10 minutes but Mr TB was held up calibrating the door sensor.

Securing our home on holiday

We used the system for a few days before going away for a lovely long weekend at Ladram Bay Holiday Park in Devon. This allowed us to get to know the system while we were going about our daily routines.

We quickly discovered that we’d not be able to use the camera’s motion sensor while Tin Box Dog was at home without her setting off the alarm. This was despite the motion sensor being at its least sensitive setting. However, when the alarm did go off we were able to view the footage and turn it off remotely. With our previous alarm it would have been going off until we got home. Our neighbours are breathing a sigh of relief!

Another clever function on the camera is that you can switch off motion detection in certain parts of the picture. So, if you have a bird table outside your back window and this falls into view you can set up the camera so that it doesn’t activate every time a sparrow flies in for a snack.

So off on our holidays we went. It’s one thing going away knowing that your house is alarmed and another thing completely to be able to see everything is alright.

Let me explain… Hands up who hears a house or car alarm going off and thinks: ‘I better dial 999’? Nope, me neither. The only people interested in an alarm going off are the people whose house it is. That’s the beauty of the Myfox Home Alarm and Security Camera. When your alarm goes off, the Myfox Security App alerts you and lets you see exactly what is happening live on the camera feed.

I checked into the app a few times while we were away, switching on the camera both during the day and at night to see what was going on at home. The picture was crystal clear – eerily so – and I’m happy to report we had no unexpected visitors. Long may that continue!

You can buy the Myfox Home Alarm and Security Camera online.

Disclosure: we were sent the Myfox Home Alarm and Security Camera for the purposes of an honest review. All opinions are my own and those of my family. Front door and product images courtesy of Myfox.

I love hearing what people think about my blog so feel free to leave a comment below or browse around. You can also find me on Bloglovin’, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, Google+ and LinkedIn.

Sharing is caring!