The ladies who live on my quiet, suburban neighborhood street have gone full-on neighborhood watch this week, because we’ve had a rash of packages stolen off front porches. Our delivery services are at maxed-out capacity, and they’re hurrying to get everything to us as quickly as possible. My own delivery drivers don’t ring the doorbell anymore, so I’ve been searching for a good device to help me keep a better eye on any packages that get dropped off.
And in the meantime, our text chain is ringing out, “UPS is on our street!” every time the trucks drive by.
So, if you’re worried about keeping an eye on your holiday deliveries too, here are 3 smart home security options you can use to alert you that a package is here and also grab a video of anyone who might be helping themselves to your gifts.
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Related: The HomeHawk makes home monitoring simpler, easier, and way less expensive
A smart doorbell that allows you to talk to the person at your door
I’m sure you know Ring from the thousands of Reels videos in your feed. But it catches much more than people awkwardly falling down. Here’s what makes a Ring doorbell great for monitoring your deliveries: it is motion activated and sends an alert to your phone when its triggered, so even if your delivery person doesn’t ring your doorbell you will know a package is there.
You can talk through it from your phone, whether it’s to thank your FedEx driver or yell out, “Hey!” to someone trying to snag a package.
My neighbors across the street have a Ring, and when a package on my porch was found empty this week they were able to look at their Ring history and see the traffic to and from my front door too. So you get a good range of vision, and you can even customize it to focus on zones in your yard you feel are most important.
Related: 3 simple home security systems to keep your gifts safe
A security camera with an alarm siren
For some houses, the Ring doorbell might not be the most effective. My own home has an awkward front entrance, and the doorbell placement wouldn’t really get the best angle on people coming and going. So I’m thinking about the Nooie Cam.
Here’s what makes it great for monitoring packages: When the motion sensor is activated, an alert pops up on your phone. That screen gives you the option to activate the alarm siren, scaring away potential thieves. It’s compatible with Alexa; it’s weather proof; and it provides HD video with night vision capability too.
One upside (or downside)…it’s not hardwired. This makes it super easy to install, but if you don’t have access to an outlet near where you want it mounted that makes it a challenge.
Right now, it’s 40% off (plus there’s an extra 25% off coupon on Amazon right now), which makes this one just $42. This is by far the least expensive option here, and that helps a lot when we’re spending money on, you know, gifts.
An outdoor security camera that mounts indoors
The Panasonic HomeHawk is a recent sponsor of ours, but we liked this device so much I had to include it here, too. Why it’s great: you install it inside your house by affixing it to a window, and just plug it in. It gives you a full HD, color night vision recording of what’s going on outside your home. And when the motion sensor is activated, it records the two seconds prior to activation — giving you a better chance of seeing the face of whoever is approaching.
The camera range can be customized too, to prevent unwanted alerts. A grid pops up over the screen and you can simply deactivate the areas you aren’t worried about detecting motion on — for example, your neighbor’s driveway. Plus, the camera is smart enough to tell the difference between people and other background “noise,” like cars, dogs, etc. Because too many false-alarms isn’t helpful, at all.
