I'm in the market for a camera system that integrates directly with Hubitat. In particular, I'm interested in having the ability to get alerts from Hubitat on detection by cameras of specific object types (person vs. animal vs. other). For anyone who has used both Unifi and Camect, I'd be very interested to hear about your experience with these and what you liked about each one. Thanks in advance.
Integration with Camect works pretty well in my experience.
I don’t have any unifi cameras so can’t comment on that.
I think there is still allot of active development on Hubitat part the Unifi stuff. You also have to get the right gear to get the right notifications outside of motion.
I have a Unifi Gateway Max with a 512GB drive and as of now just a G4 Instant. Though it supports AI Events they dont currently get to Hubitat, though some cameras do have those kind of events. There have also been reports of the events triggered by unifi protect don't stop and start when the motion is detected or ended.
I suspect unifi will get better, but if you want to use it as a motion sensor instead of simply a camera that detect motion it may not be the best option. All that said so far i have liked it. And it does seem to be rapidly improving.
Do you already have Unifi?
@cm76corbett Camect hands down... Fantastic AI
UniFi detections are working as expected as the previous delays are resolved now. UniFi is on a fairly rapid release pace. They've just released fingerprint reader capability to their doorbells. It's not in the 3rd party integrations yet, but one nice thing about the system is you can also use webhooks to trigger a Hubitat Maker API endpoint.
There are a couple integrations, I use
I should correct my earlier post. I just realized I broke my setup with trying to implement a beta feature. I reinstalled my Unifi Protect on my Cloud Gateway Max and installed the camera and it worked great. Even detected me as a person which I wasn't expecting on my G4 Instant.
Why did you bring up Unifi exactly? Do you already have Unifi gear you are thinking of using?
If you already have Unifi with hardware that supports Unifi Protect I would suggest starting there with a G4 Instant and see how that fills your needs. I suspect it would be pretty good. If you don't already have a Unifi gateway with Unifi Protect then the Camect is probably just as good or better.
I think the cheapest option to get into Unifi with Protect support is the Cloud Gateway max at $279 but that is only 512GB of storage. If you need more the 1TB option is $349, and the 2TB version is 479. If you have the gear but don't have the ability to run Protect you can add a Unifi NVR for 299 but that is just for the 4 bay enclosure with no storage.
The reason I was looking at Unifi was for both Hubitat integration and ability identify and alert specifically on the detection of people, and exclude animals and other false positives. I don't have any Unifi hardware, or any hardware for Camect for that matter. I'm starting from scratch.
I don't think I'd buy UniFi for just the cameras. They're OK, not great and they're probably overpriced for their specs. Having said that if you have a UniFi setup including router, switches, APs I think it's a very good option. UniFi stuff just all works really well together. Protect - the NVR app - works well.
@bill.d is fairly spot on that the benifit of unifi is the ecosystem. You have to look at it as a package and not one device at a time. I would suggest you figure out what you want as a whole and then price it out.
There is more to this then just the cameras and Unifi protect vs Camcet.
Unifi is a one time cost vs Camcet requires a kind of subscription.
Unifi has a variety of storage options ranging from integrates drives in the cloud Gateway max or UDM's to NVR disk enclosures vs Camcet has 1TB internally plus two externally connected USB devices.
Both may need POE Network gear as well
Camcet depends on you bring rstp/onvif cameras where as Unifi provides cameras with full guaranteed support or you can connect ONVIF camera into protect. ONVIF potentially remove camera costs concerns as you could use the same cameras on both platforms
Unifi can provide other support like POE switch , AP, and may other pieces of kit to increase functionality. Camcet is specific to camera NVR only.
Even being a Unifi user I wouldn't jump to Unifi just for the cameras or Protect. But the camera/Nvr functionality was a benifit when i was considering a needed upgrade away from my previous home network solution and a desire to consolidate my cameras to local only solutions.
Camect will do that handily. Like I said, it's AI is fantastic.
They are definitely overpriced for their capabilities.
I have several UniFi devices, that I really like overall, but zero cameras.
It may not be the most prominent option in their web store, but a Camect box can be purchased without a subscription. Or at least that was possible in the past, I haven’t checked recently.
I forgot what exactly the subscription buys you as a Camect user, but the box itself is entirely capable of local-only AI processing of videos for object identification.
That would be an expensive system for camera only. If I didn't already have a bunch of Unifi gear I probably would never have considered Protect.
A few days ago I tossed a 12TB drive in my UDMP to test out the camera. I must say, I have been happy with the G5 Turret Ultra's performance. I have one location I want to put an AI Bullet but I can't yet bring myself to drop that much cash. The turret is at least reasonable.
I have decided to go with both. I like the off-site storage so I'll be keeping my Ring cameras. It is conceivable that somebody could steal the NVR. Not likely but the remote storage gives me that backup.
The UI gear will be replacing the cheap NVR (NightOwl) system I currently have. Protect is a much better system overall.
Now I should look at integrating it with Hubitat.
Yep and exactly my point. I got the UCG-Max and a u6+ AP to replacing my aging Google WIFI which was Wave 1 AC. Then added the G4 Instant as my first camera to the system to replace my Arlo's and Eufy.
Considering I had Arlo and Eufy cameras before, it was the Unifi is in the middle of the pack when it comes to the cost of the camera. I certainly wouldn't say they are on the cheap side, but they are certainly not excessive either.
The AI cameras are pricey, but that isnt needed for person recognition as requested by the OP. The $99 G4 instant can do it.
The AI cameras bring Face or license plate recognition. Maybe some other stuff to.
Look into the Archive function in protect. It will allow you to use cloud storage with the Unifi system.
If your existing cameras support OVNIF you can add them and not need to get Unifi cameras. Just turn on support for third party cameras in the setting.
I am using the one linked above by @snell and it has been working really good
Here are the details about Camect Go which is the subscription service. So basicall if you do pay that amount you dont get those functions.
The cheapest Camect hub is $519 with only 2months of the subscription included.
Not sure the Unifi stuff is that crazy when the right of entry is already $520 for Camect.
You don't have to subscribe. You can simply set up a VPN.
Unless there website is wrong not sure how a vpn is going to get you alexa, google home functionality, or notifications, or a way to share clips. It would address the accessing se urely from anywhere but that is the only one i see covered.
control is local and you can share from hubitat to those. I get announcements on our homepods when people are seen. (or cats because my wife loves cats)
Sorry I may not have been clear when recommending Camect without the subscription.
Hubitat integration makes Camect’s subscription features mostly superfluous, as Rick described. So I don’t feel like I’m missing out at all.
Understood, but i do think it is important to call out differences when we are doing a comparison.
I am looking at it strickly from Unifi Protect vs Camect.
Camect base with 1tb storage and 2 month subscription $519
Cloud Gateway Max with 512GB storage. $279
Cloud Gateway Max with 1TB storage. $349
Or UNVR 4x3.5" drive capacity. $299
Camect subscription (possibly not needed) $10/month or $100 Anually
Unifi. No subscription
Generic cameras. $15-up
Unifi cameras. $79-up
Honestly both kind of have a costly point of entry. Seems Unifi may be a little bit cheaper to start, but the unifi cameras are a bit more costly.
Many of the unifi cameras can be had for less then $130 and start at $79.
That’s fine but the first sentence of the OP is:
So I don’t see the need to consider each option in a vacuum.
Camect’s subscription is unnecessary when used in conjunction with Hubitat.