Other Home Security Options

In case you're interested in some other solutions, we looked into...

Foscam IP Camera

First, we tried a Foscam Camera -- it actually worked well in monitoring and checking in on the home with ease. It even had a way to have a minor alarm when someone came in and text or email me pictures.

• The problem was it wasn't easy to turn on and off motion-detection without scripting.
• I setup a script for myself, but my wife couldn't enable it on her own. I'm sure I could've whipped something more up here, but it didn't seem worth the trouble with other options available.

Ultimately, I returned it.
 
Canary

Simplicity then became the name of the game. Something that both my wife and I could use. That led me to Canary. This is one of the new IndieGogo-backed home security-- and my brother-in-law is one of those backers.

• Loved what they had in Canary, but it isn't available until July 2014. Hopefully, more to come on that one.

Given the timeframe, I opted to look elsewhere and wait-and-see how my brother-in-law's experience is with Canary to compare. Canary and Piper are most like each other, but Piper was already out and had a few other differences (at least in initial plans) that I'll share.

Vera Home Automation

This one is really, really awesome. My step-brother has been looking at this for a while. Really customizable, really neat. Strong z-wave support.

• It's much more modular and componentized in terms of adding pieces. Depending on what you like, that may not be for you.

One of my wife's other requirements was something simple and more unified. So while I liked Vera, we opted to start with the more simple controller, Piper. I would still consider Vera though for more complex home automation. I'm waiting to see more of my step-bro's setup on this to compare.