I am a pretty antisocial person, if I don’t recognise a phone number chances are I’m not going to answer it, I am not so lucky with callers to the house, our front door is right by the window so by the time I’ve spied who it is they have seen me too and I’ve been told it looks a little rude when I drop to the floor and hastily crawl up the stairs to avoid people. The Brinno DUO Smart Peephole DoorCam lets you see who is at your door without having to leave your favourite hiding place, avoid the cold callers during dinner and even photograph dodgy looking types who come to your door. Unlike doorbell cameras the Peephole is very discreet, it looks like a regular peephole to those on the outside of the door but on the inside, you can check who is there via the built-in LCD screen.

Now I am aware that won’t prevent visitors seeing me through my window, but that’s where the app comes in handy where images are sent out automatically, whilst the dual notifications system means carers could be notified when visitors arrive at a vulnerable person’s door. Installation is reasonably simple, especially if you already have a peephole; you simply switch it out for the Brinno. If you don’t have a pre-existing peephole you will have to drill a hole into the door, which isn’t ideal if you live in rented accommodation. The Brinno doesn’t record videos but instead takes still photographs when motions are detected via the embedded sensor and the Knocker sensor, the DUO then stores the image on a local SD card, then it is simultaneously sent to a designated email box and the app whilst an alert message is sent to your mobile phone. This system means these images are never stored on a cloud, giving you better levels of security and protection from hackers, you can use up to an 8GB microSD card in the DUO but as this takes still images this is more than enough.

Its discrete and theft-proof design is very appealing. The biggest flaw however is the image quality, in the daytime the colours are desaturated, and the image isn’t very sharp, at night the image is very grainy, even with the porch light on. The image quality needs vast improvements however there is a charm in those minimal features that could appeal to the technophobes looking for a heads up to those people coming to the door.  RRP $249.99

Current Cheapest Price

4 out of 5

Pros

Dual images (email and screen)

Dual local and personal email storage

Theft-proof

Discreet design

Easy to use

Cons

Poor image quality especially in low light

Installation can involve drilling a hole in your door