Camera/floodlight combos are terrific as a result of they supply residence safety by way of each lighting and video surveillance. But you’ll discover higher executions of this idea than the Momentum Aria.
Selling for lower than $170 at Amazon and Home Depot, the Momentum Aria is a bit cheaper than extra established opponents just like the Maximus Camera Floodlight (our present high decide on this class) and the Ring Floodlight Cam, however that doesn’t make it a powerful worth.
The Aria feels so flimsy that I took its aluminum housing for plastic, however Momentum assures me plastic is used solely within the digicam physique (to stop Wi-Fi interference; all the things else is constituted of solid aluminum). I additionally discovered the Aria tougher to put in than both of the Maximus or the Ring.
The Aria’s digicam delivers 1080p video with a 140-degree area of view.
The ball joints that join the LED lamp hoods and the digicam to the unit’s base depend on friction to carry them in place. They are very troublesome to regulate and so they don’t transfer far. I additionally would enterprise to guess that years of publicity to daylight will loosen these as much as the purpose the lights and digicam gained’t keep aimed the place you level them.
If you’re contemplating incorporating the Aria into your sensible residence, you’ll wish to know that it helps Google Assistant, however Momentum at present doesn’t supply an Alexa ability for it. You can instruct Google Assistant to regulate the floodlight, activate the siren, and activate the digicam.
Buggy software program
You’re supposed to have the ability to program the app with guidelines for when the floodlight comes on and when the digicam data video, however creating something however the easiest of guidelines is an train in frustration. Unless you’re at residence 24/7, you most likely need the digicam to document video each time one thing strikes in entrance of the digicam. That’s straightforward sufficient, simply create a rule with one component that claims (basically) when movement is detected, document video and ship a notification to the app; a second component that signifies you need this rule to be in impact Monday by means of Sunday; and a 3rd component that signifies this rule must be in impact all day.
Michael Brown / IDGThe Momentum app’s residence display screen is within the middle. The screens on both aspect illustrate how guidelines are outlined.
In most instances, you’ll need the floodlight to be turned on when it’s darkish, however making a rule to perform that purpose is way more problematic. First, you’ll be able to’t create a rule that activates the sunshine when movement is detected. You can solely program it by the day of the week and the time of day. In most elements of the nation, it’s darkish twice every day: At night time and early within the morning. But the Momentum app depends strictly on clock occasions, there isn’t any dusk-to-dawn setting.
The app gained’t can help you set a time vary that spans from someday to the subsequent—say, from 8:00 at night time to 6:00 the next morning. It does can help you create two time ranges for every day—6:00 am to 7:30 am, after which 8:00 pm to 11:30 pm, for instance—or at the very least it’s speculated to. This completely didn’t work for me. No matter what occasions I set for the second time vary, the app would change it to one thing else once I saved the rule. My work-around for this drawback was to create two separate guidelines, one for the morning and a second for the night. It’s a kludge, but it surely labored.
It’s not all dangerous information
The Aria does have some good options, with its luminaire component being considered one of its finest. Momentum says its twin floodlights produce a mixed 5,000 lumens of brightness. That’s brighter by far than each the Maximus Camera Floodlight (2,400 lumens) and the Ring Floodlight Cam (3,000 lumens). Those LEDs may also be dimmed for events. Unfortunately, the stiffness of the ball joints on the Aria’s floodlights will probably forestall you from aiming the sunshine exactly the place you want it. The similar goes for the digicam, which I couldn’t place in order that it might seize even the profile of an individual standing in entrance of the entrance door of the home I examined it at. When shorter folks got here up the steps to the door, I may see solely the tops of their heads.
Michael Brown / IDGOne of the Momentum Aria’s excessive factors is its very vibrant (5,000 lumens mixed) LED floodlight.
Apart from the issues I had positioning the digicam, the digicam itself is fairly good, providing 1080p video decision and a 140-degree area of view. But in contrast to one other of the higher floodlight cameras I’ve examined—the Netatmo Presence—the Aria can’t differentiate between folks, animals, and automobiles. The digicam’s movement sensor covers a 270-degree arc, and you’ll edit its area of view to wall off timber, shrubs, and different issues that may trigger false alerts.
On the brilliant aspect, no pun supposed, the Aria produces infrared illumination for night time imaginative and prescient. And it helps two-way audio, so you’ll be able to converse to and listen to an individual standing in entrance of the digicam, however in contrast to the Maximus, there are not any preset phrases which you could have it play. And whereas it’s outfitted with a 110dB siren, the siren can solely be triggered manually from inside the app.
Michael Brown / IDGThe Momentum Aria is supplied with infrared LEDs for night time imaginative and prescient. That’s a characteristic you don’t all the time get in such a system.
Cloud storage choices
Video clips are date- and time-stamped, though the latter is within the type of a 24-hour military-style clock. The app enables you to pause video, skip ahead and again in 5-second increments, and you’ll obtain the movies to your smartphone.
As is typical on this area, Momentum presents cloud storage for recorded video, and it’s comparatively beneficiant: You get 24 hours of storage free of charge and for a vast variety of cameras. The presence of a microSD card slot for native video storage is far much less frequent, however it’s welcome—even should you do want to offer your personal card (as much as 128GB).
Michael Brown / IDGThe video playback display screen within the Momentum app.
There are three elective cloud-storage plans for these need extra time to look again at their 20-second video clips: The Plus plan saves movies for as much as seven days, however you’re restricted to 2 cameras. It prices $4.99 per thirty days or $49.99 per 12 months if paid yearly. The Premium plan shops video from as much as 5 cameras for 30 days and prices $9.99 per thirty days or $99.99 per 12 months. The Pro plan shops video from as much as 10 cameras and prices $19.99 per thirty days or $199.99 per 12 months. Free one-month trials are provided with every plan.
Not the perfect worth
The Momentum Aria will prevent a couple of dollars in comparison with greater names like Maximus, Netatmo, and Ring, however you’ll be getting a lower-quality product with far fewer options and far much less efficiency. It’s simply not an ideal worth.
Correction: This overview was up to date shortly after publication to right errors in reporting.