Cocoon All-In-One Smart Home Security System Review

As well as more traditional valuables, the increasing number of expensive gadgets and appliances in the family home these days means you may have pondered checking your home insurance policy and perhaps even considered a home security system. The only problem with home security systems is that they can be quite expensive and complicated to install. However, in the last few years, technical innovation has seen the arrival of more affordable solutions, such as the Cocoon All-In-One Home Security System. As well as being more affordable, Cocoon aims to provide home security in a single, easily self-installed device.

Cocoon’s unique Subsound technology claims to protect more of your home by detecting small changes in air pressure in each room caused by objects moving. The technology can cover all the rooms in your house rather than just where the Cocoon is placed.  This means the system only needs one sensor with no requirement for wiring. When Cocoon senses an unfamiliar sound, it alerts you with a notification on your phone via the companion app.  Clicking the notification launches the app to show you the footage from the Cocoon camera at home so you can determine if it’s nothing so can be ignored or whether you need to activate the siren.

WHAT COMES IN THE BOX?

• 1 x Cocoon
• 1 x Base/Stand (horseshoe)
• 1 x 3m USB to micro USB angled cable
• 1 x Power adapter
• 1 x UK plug attachment
• 1 x Setup Guide

MAIN FEATURES

• MULTI-ROOM PROTECTION: As already mentioned, the Subsound technology protects more of your home by detecting small changes in air pressure in each room caused by objects moving.
• HD NIGHT VISION CAPABLE CAMERA: Cocoon records and stores footage automatically (night or day). The Cocoon uses a HD camera with 1080 pixel resolution.  It has a three-megapixel sensor and a wide-viewing angle of 120 degrees.  HD videos are recorded in H.264 format. Cocoon has night vision capabilities too, so even when it’s dark, you will still be able to see.  The camera has automatic night vision using eight infrared LEDs.
• SMART NOTIFICATIONS / MOBILE APP: Cocoon alerts you as soon as it detects something suspicious, with live HD video straight to your phone. If all looks okay, you can dismiss the alert.

How Cocoon Notifications Appear On Your Smartphone

If you are concerned, you can remotely sound the siren to scare intruders. Connecting your smartphone is very easy.  You simply download the app on your iOS or Android device, plugin your Cocoon and the app will guide you through the pairing process.

• EASY SETUP: As a home security system Cocoon is very easy to setup. Unbox it, plug it in, download the app, follow the pairing steps and that’s it you’re done.
• SIREN: The Cocoon comes with a built-in speaker capable of sounding a (very loud) 90 decibel siren.
• AUTOMATIC ARMING: The Cocoon app is aware of its location, so if you take your phone with you when leaving the house, it knows that it should automatically arm itself!
• SECURE: Importantly, the video feeds you watch from the smartphone app are secured and encrypted, so only you can watch them.  All data is encrypted with strong ‘military-grade’ 256bit AES encryption.  You can only decode your video files when you have your smartphone, where the ‘key’ to decrypt the data is held.
• FLEXIBLE: The manual recommends to place the Cocoon near an entrance, which I guess is better so it can see if anyone comes into your property this way. Cocoon is just over 3 inches high and almost 3 inches wide.  It is also very light (0.39 pounds). This makes it quite easy to find a place for it to be positioned.

You can see how Cocoon works in the promotional video below:

THOUGHTS

The Cocoon All-in-One Home Security device has a very sleek modern looking design. It’s one of those devices where you can tell that the company behind it have placed a lot of time and consideration into it. The intention here is to ensure it doesn’t look out of place or rather takes pride of place, in your home, perhaps on a shelf or similar surface. Even the box it comes in looks like its been well thought about.

Cocoon In Position

The setup really was very easy, especially when you consider how much time and effort is needed for setting up a traditional home security system, in terms of installing cabling, etc. If you move property, it’s no problem just take it with you. With no physical installation necessary there’s no need for permission from a landlord.

Watching TV shows like Crimewatch, you might easily think security systems use camera technology from the 90’s. I’m sure newer systems have better cameras, but Cocoon’s full HD video footage with clear audio is great and really adds to the experience of the mobile app.  The app itself is very simplified, but purposefully so. There’s no learning curve or complex settings to worry about, anyone could use it straight away.

Activity Detected, Your Choice: Dismiss or Sound Alarm

I like how it puts you in control, so it doesn’t assume an intrusion, you can verify it first by looking at the footage/live stream and then choose whether to sound the alarm. Other than the initial cost, there are no ongoing fees to pay, saving money in comparison with other types of systems.

Of course, the system isn’t perfect and it will take time to learn your property (up to 7 days). By this, I actually mean to learn the sounds of your property so Cocoon can then determine what is usual and what is not and raise notifications accordingly. Having one camera means you can only see so much, so if you have multiple entrances or potential intruder access points, then it may be difficult to determine visually if there has been a problem. Having said that, you can connect additional Cocoon camera’s to get around the issue. Whilst you can grant other family members access to the camera via the app so the device does not arm when someone is still in the property, there may be moments when the device is unintentionally armed. For example, friends visiting for a barbecue in the garden where everyone is outside but a guest then goes inside the house. Nevertheless, the system works as automatically as it can and in the worst case you get a notification whilst someone is in the property. All you need to do is verify there is no problem and disarm Cocoon. Other problematic scenarios could be where you don’t have immediate access to your phone so the alarm isn’t sounded. Perhaps a good feature here would be for the Cocoon to send a notification to a nominated contact if no-one checks the alert within a designated number of minutes. Again, taking cost into account when comparing with high-end security systems this is a fair trade-off.

Having had Cocoon set up at home for about a week, the device has worked very well. Nick and I have set up access on our phones to Cocoon and it has automatically armed when we have left. We’ve also practised by arming it when we know someone is around to see the notifications which have come through quickly and it was good to see that even when there was nobody in front of the camera you could easily hear (in this case) familiar voices in the background via the audio. We are looking forward to using it when we go away, as it will really give us a lot of peace of mind.

OVERALL

Overall we are very impressed with the Cocoon All-in-One Home Security device and I’m really happy that it will give us peace of mind when we are away. I can definitely recommend this product, particularly given the ease of setup and control. The current price is £159 which is great value for what you are getting. The unique Subsound technology that enables it to listen to your whole house really puts it out in front of competing devices priced similarly which do not have this capability.

Cocoon is available in Black or White for £159 from the Cocoon website or via Amazon.

Do you have a home security system like this? Have you heard of Cocoon before? What do you think about this device?

*Disclosure: We received a Cocoon for the purpose of this blog post. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks for stopping by,

Love you all ❤️

Franca  💋

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