One-minute review

The Proscenic P12 is a cordless vacuum cleaner that features an upgraded anti-tangle roller brush, plus something that will rival a competitor offering at the top of league.

It's certainly a vac worth considering if you’re looking for one of the best cordless vacuums that won't break the bank. Proscenic is still pretty new on the floor-cleaning scene, but this Chinese brand is trying to shake up the market with its affordable smart home appliances that include some of the best air fryers as well as some of the best robot vacuums. The Proscenic P12 cordless vacuum is the latest launch from the brand and comes loaded with upgraded features that improve upon the previous top-of-the-range Proscenic P11.

On the face of it, the Proscenic P12 looks like many other cordless vacuums. However, it boasts more features than you’re likely to see on similar low-to-mid-priced models. These include the hidden but very desirable HEPA filtration, as well as the more in-your-face features such as a large, LED display screen. Then there’s the green detection headlights, a feature that appears to be inspired by Dyson’s "Detect" laser for illuminating small particles that are invisible to the naked eye.

It comes with a removable battery and two simple accessories, which, if you’re the type of person looking for an accessory for every task, might leave you wanting more for added versatility. Or, if like me, you’re sick of your home being cluttered by unwanted accessories, you’ll welcome the paired-back approach. 

On test, I found that the P12 worked pretty much as I expected, cleaning all parts of my home and picking up fine dust as well as larger particles with ease. But my carpets weren’t as thoroughly cleaned as I’d like. Plus, the unit a tad on the heavy side when using overhead, or for longer periods. All-in-all, though, I was happy with the ease of use and results. Read on for more in-depth details about how I got on.

Proscenic P12 review: price and availability

•  List price:$400/ £229

The newly launched Proscenic P12 is available from Amazon US and Amazon UK. It comes with one battery, a crevice tool and a 2-in-1 dusting brush.

Since cordless vacuums from the big brands such as Dyson can cost in excess of $600/ £600, this is a reasonably priced alternative. But unlike very cheap, budget models, this one still includes HEPA filtration, multiple suction levels and a display screen.

• Value score: 5/5

Proscenic P12 review: specifications

• Price: $400/ £229
• Bin volume: 0.33 gallon/ 1.5 liters
• Speeds: 4
• Filtration: Five-stage sealed filtration system including two HEPA filters
• Suction power: 33kPa
• Battery: up to 60 minutes' runtime
• Weight: 3.5lb / 1.6kg (handheld vacuum with no accessories attached)
• Additional tools: Crevice nozzle, 2-in-1 dusting brush

Proscenic P12 review: design and features

• Green LED headlights
• Five-stage filtration
• LED screen

This gray cordless vacuum is nothing special to look at. The shape and configuration is typical, and it looks similar to many other models that have come before it. It isn't until you switch it on that some of the extra features become apparent. The two most obvious being the green LED light and the LED screen. 

The first fans out from the front of the floor head, illuminating the path ahead. Then there’s the LED screen, which sits on the top of the vacuum and displays the battery percentage and current suction level, so you can see these with just a quick glance. It’s easy to cycle between the four power levels by pressing a symbol on the lower part of the screen.

I'm a fan of the telescopic tube. This type of adjustable-height tube is common on canister vacuums, but often lacking in cordless models. It means you can set the height of the vacuum to a level that’s comfortable for you. The maximum height, from floor to the underside of the handle, is 41.5 inches/ 105cm, while the minimum is 31.5 inches / 80cm. Annoyingly, the Proscenic P12 doesn’t stand unsupported, or lean against a wall with any stability. This means you'll have to rest it on the floor, even when pausing for a short time to move an obstacle.

Aside from the main floor head, the P12 comes with a crevice tool and 2-in-1 dusting brush. Both appear to be of decent quality; they click satisfyingly onto the handheld unit, and don’t come off until you press the release button. This means they’re unlikely to accidentally fall off or come loose – something I’ve experienced with lesser vacuums. It's also possible to attach the floor head directly to the handled unit, for use without the tube.

Included in the box is a storage hanger that you can screw to the wall. This neat solution allows you to hang the vacuum on the wall. And, conveniently, since the battery is removable, there’s no need to locate it near a power outlet. The storage hanger includes space for the two accessories to keep everything in one place.

For fuss-free emptying, a button flips open the base of the dustbin, so the contents drop directly into the trash. And for simple maintenance, the two HEPA filters are removable and washable. Likewise, the anti-tangle roller brush can be removed from the floor head to dislodge blockages and to clean. 

• Design score: 4.5/5

Proscenic P12 review: performance

• Good maneuverability
• Tools function well
• Hairs didn’t tangle in roller

The power level defaults to level two (of four) when it’s first switched on, and for me this was sufficient for general daily cleaning of my wood floors. But for carpets and rugs, I found it needed to be on the highest level of suction. Even then, my carpets weren’t immaculate; I could still see some bits of surface fluff that remained on the carpet after several passes. Having said that, I could tell from what was in the dust bin that it was picking up dust and dirt that I couldn’t see, so that’s not to say it doesn’t work on carpet.

The green light doesn't span the width of the floor head; it fans out from the central section of the vacuum. And in daylight, I wasn’t convinced that it really helped me to see anything that I couldn’t already see. On my uneven slate tiles, it simply made the undulations more apparent, and it made little to no difference to what dirt I could see on my carpet. Having said that, it comes into its own in dimly lit areas such as dark corners and under furniture. Here, the light proved a benefit – it was certainly illuminating fluff and dust that I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to see.

For general use on floors, the weight of the Proscenic P12 feels well balanced, with the floor head agile enough to maneuver around corners with ease. But I noticed it felt heavy after prolonged use and when vacuuming overhead; your arm will tire quickly. 

As someone who always vacuums my sofas, I missed having a dedicated upholstery tool. The 2-in-1 tool did an okay job on my sofas, although since the nozzle isn’t very wide, it took a while. However, the crevice nozzle is a good length and useful for hard-to-reach spots. Meanwhile, the dusting brush is a generous size and I found it very useful for removing dust from ledges and shelving.

I welcomed that you don’t need to keep a finger on the P12's trigger. Instead, the trigger simply acts as an on/off switch, which makes for more comfortable vacuuming. However, personally, I found the handle a bit chunky; but it must be said that this a very subjective area and those with larger hands might find it’s just right.

The Proscenic P12 emits noise at a level of 75dB on carpet on suction level two, rising to 85dB on the highest suction. Noise on hard floors was similar on the highest suction level, but on level two it was a little louder at around 80dB. However, these noise levels are pretty typical for a vacuum, and in my experience didn’t make the Prescenic vacuum feel loud or unpleasant to use.

Emptying the dustbin was messier than expected; the dirt didn’t all fall out on its own, I had to get my hand in and pull out the remaining bits. Even after that there was quite a lot of dirt clogging the metal filter, so I had to remove the fluff and dirt from that, too. The upside is that the large capacity means it doesn’t need emptying as frequently as some other models.

• Performance score: 4/5

Proscenic P12 review: battery life

• Battery percentage shown on-screen
• Removable battery for flexible charging
• Battery life comparable to other cordless vacuums

The higher the suction level, the quicker the battery is drained. When vacuuming continuously on max suction, the vacuum lasted for 10 minutes, but this can be extended by making use of different suction levels instead of defaulting to the maximum. And since the battery percentage is clearly displayed on the screen, you’ve at least got plenty of warning when it’s getting low, enabling you to prioritize the areas that really need a clean, before the battery runs out.

Once I’d drained the battery, I timed how long a full recharge took: around 3 hours 20 minutes. If you’ve removed the battery to charge it, you’ll see a blue flashing light while it charges. The light will then remain solid once it’s fully charged. If you charge it while it’s in the vacuum, the screen displays the battery percentage as it charges, so you can see exactly what the level is.

• Battery score: 4/5

Should I buy the Proscenic P12?

Buy it if...

Don’t buy it if...

Also consider

If you’re not sure about the Proscenic P12, here are a couple of other options to consider...

How I tested the Proscenic P12

• I vacuumed wooden floors, tiles and carpet
• I used it for a week in my two-bedroom, split-level house
• I tried all the tools and suction levels

I used this vacuum in place of my regular vacuum for normal dust and dirt pick-up around my home. I also used it to vacuum unexpected spills, as well as to thoroughly deep-clean carpets and remove dust from shelving and sofas. I tried out all of the power levels and timed exactly how quickly the battery was depleted when used on the highest suction level continuously.

I used a decibel meter to measure the noise level on different surfaces. In addition, I noted how easy the vacuum is to use, including the comfort of the handle, how weighty it feels while vacuuming, and how easy it is to switch between power levels. I timed how long  the battery took to recharge, and checked how securely the accessories click into position.

I started reviewing vacuums in 2007 for Good Housekeeping UK and have reviewed hundreds of models in my time. I have plenty of experience to draw on when trying out a new vacuum and can quickly spot gimmicks or poor design features, as well as what’s clever and innovative.

Read more about how we test.

[First reviewed March 2023]

Launched in spring 2022, Samsung’s Jet Bot AI+ remains the brand's top-end and most sophisticated robot vacuum cleaner to date. Forward-thinking features include LiDAR and 3D navigation, object recognition (and avoidance), and remote-control cameras. 

But before we delve into more geeky goodness, would you just look at it. Working in the interiors industry can lead to design snobbery, but I had nothing to sneer about when unboxing the Samsung Jet Bot AI+. A sleek cross between a Stormtrooper and Monster Truck, but with Porsche-grade finesse, this was undoubtedly one of the most attractive looking robot vacuums I've tested.  

Back to the tech. One of my favorite features of the Jet Bot AI+ was its object recognition skills. Even if it usually failed to accurately name them – 90% of the items were recorded on the app as socks/towels or cables, which was accurate 0% of the time! However, it did go around the dogs’ toys – which have frequently stopped other robot vacuums in their tracks. Those with younger children should find they don’t have to spend time picking up toys or abandoned clothing (socks, perhaps?) before releasing their robot.  

I tested the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ on a variety of floor types – carpet, wood, porcelain, terracotta and laminate – on the ground floor of our fairly open-plan family home. The overall area is approximately 100 square meters, but a fair amount of that is covered by furniture the vacuum couldn’t get underneath. So, in reality, the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ only had about 70 square meters to cover. 

Over the past year, the online customer reviews from Jet Bot AI+ owners have been rather Marmite-ish. Some claim to love it more than toast, rating it one of the best robot vacuums out there. Others want to put it in the sea – not literally – and switch back to their best cordless vacuum. Read on to find out which way I swayed…

Samsung Jet Bot AI+ review: Price & Availability

• List price: $999.99 / £989
•  Available in US & UK

There’s no doubting that the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ is an investment. If I were to draw comparisons on price in the motoring industry, this robot would be more Porsche 911 than Peugeot 307. It’s similar in spec, price and ability to iRobot’s Roomba s9+ self-emptying robot. I’ve now tested both and, if I had the salary of a Porsche owner (sadly, I don’t), I’d put my money on the iRobot. 

If you’ve got money to burn, you can pick up the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ direct from Samsung, globally, as well as through major retailers such as Amazon, Argos, Currys, John Lewis and Home Depot. 

• Price: 2/5

THE SPECS OF OUR SAMSUNG JET BOT AI+ ROBOT VACUUM REVIEW UNIT

• Price: $999.99 / £989
• Power: 21.6V Li-ion battery
• Bin capacity (onboard): 0.2L
• Bin capacity (Clean Station): 2.5L
• Noise level: 74 dBA
• Run time: 90 minutes
• Dimensions: W305 x H136.5 x D320mm
• Weight: 4.4kg

Samsung Jet Bot AI+ Vacuum Review: Design

• A thing of beauty
• LED visual light bar
• Too tall

Solidly built and impressively robust, this is the monster truck of robot vacuums, and its design is hard to fault – at least when it comes to looks. The Misty White livery will suit most interiors, and the bin/charging Clean Station is similarly streamlined and luxe. A light bar at the front of the robot pulses white when it’s on the move, and yellow when charging. 

In Sound Effect mode, the Jet Bot plays a jolly jingle when it kicks off and returns to the charging base, providing an audible indicator that all is well. You can change the Sound Mode settings to Voice. In English, there’s a choice between Lisa or John, who sing out chipper ditties such as “it may be dusty outside, but it’s all clean in here” at the end of a clean, as well as less patronizing, more practical commentary. Both voices are annoying, and I quickly reverted back to the Sound Effect melodies (there’s also a Mute option for the seriously noise averse/grumpy). 

There are precious few useful buttons on the machine itself – just stop, start and go home, plus a sliding switch at the side that turns the vacuum completely on and off. For full functionality, you’d better be app proficient. Said app is Samsung’s SmartThings home automation app, which I already use for our Frame TV and soundbar. Adding a new device was straightforward, and the Jet Bot app control section is excellently laid out for intuitive use. 

While the overall looks of the Jet Bot AI+ are on fleek, its height (3.9in/136.5mm) is a major design flaw; it isn't skinny, either. It's essentially too tall to slide under plinths and too wide to get between chair legs, meaning that ditching your manual vacuum will not be an option. It did manage to wedge itself under a small side table in our living room, carrying it around on its back like a drunk snail until rescued!

Flip it upside down, and the first thing those who have experience with robot vacuums may spot is the lack of a swirling brush. These tend to protrude at one corner, directing stray debris into the central suction area. Instead, there's just the usual roller brush, which is also worryingly devoid of actual bristles. Think plush velvet roller rather than round hairbrush-style; it certainly didn’t look like it would be capable of tackling all the pet and human hair found around our home.

The top of the robot has a lift-off cover that reveals its innards– and they're more impressive, both in terms of design and functionality. There’s a pull-out fine dust filter, as well as two additional filters inside the lid of the bin, which also lifts out very easily with a handle. In total, you’re looking at five layers of filtration, meaning 99.99% of micro-dust will be trapped inside the bin, not released back into the room.

This upright vacuum also has an anti-allergen complete seal, which captures and traps 99.9% of dust and allergens inside the vacuum. Although this is difficult to test, my husband and I did notice that we weren't sneezing nor suffering watering eyes while this vacuum was in use, which is something that we can be sensitive to – so we'll take that as a win.

• Design: 4.5/5

Samsung Jet Bot AI+ review: Performance

• Vacuums well on hard floors
• Object avoidance is sheer genius 
• Spy on pets when you’re out

I’ve been using the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ robot vacuum to clean the ground floor of our home for well over a month now, and it was only at the very end of this test period that a job was completed without issues. In fact, I had to ask if I could keep it longer than normal, just to reach this goal. Weirdly, the Jet Bot is an excellent mapper, and delivered a credible map of our ground floor faster than any other robot vacuum I’ve tested. It's packed with top-spec LiDAR and 3D sensors, and wasted no time at all working out where all our furniture sits and how to get into rooms with multiple entrances. In the first run, it had our ground floor sussed out. Unprecedented.

Sadly, these excellent mapping skills didn’t appear to aid real-life navigation. The Samsung Jet Bot AI+ was pretty rubbish at finding its charging base, the rooms I’d scheduled it to clean, or its way out of a paper bag! In the first three weeks I’d barely started the car for the school run before I’d received a notification that it couldn’t find the room it was meant to be cleaning. I tried rebooting the robot, moving the charging base (which had more than the recommended free space around it, while also being within spitting distance of our Wi-Fi router) and reinstalling the app on my iPhone. No dice. 

As mentioned earlier, Object Recognition was brilliant. Or rather, navigation around said objects. Apparently, this feature was developed to deal with the issue of robot’s smearing pet excrement around the house while you’re out – yuck! Since our dogs are very well house-trained, I was simply grateful not to receive endless notifications that the robot was tangled up in something it shouldn’t be, nor did I have to waste precious time scanning all the rooms for potential hazards. 

Another handy feature that worked well is the intelligent power control, which automatically adapts power according to floor type, thus saving battery life. There’s also the option to set the power to Max or Normal – but why would you when there’s a Smart button that does the thinking for you? 

Navigation and speed issues aside, was the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ any good at actual cleaning? The short answer is yes, and no! Initially, I struggled with the edges of a room; the vacuum wasn’t getting close enough to suck up the drifts of dog hair our Sprocker Spaniels shed year-round. 

Matters improved once I changed the cleaning mode to "Clean walls and edges first", rather than cleaning the center before the walls or moving in a zigzag pattern (which is quicker, but less effective). However, the corners were still a bit hairy (literally) and I couldn’t help wishing that the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ had a twirly corner brush to get right into those crevices. 

The majority of our ground floor is covered either in engineered wood or tiles, and the suction power on the Jet Bot and, presumably, the roller-heads beneath did a fantastic job. Bigger debris such as hay and cornflakes is often pushed aside by robot vacuums; but the Jet Bot left nothing behind. It lost points on the wool carpet in the living room, where it left the girls’ hair, and feathers, stuck in the fibers of the carpet – the lack of brushes on the rollers seemed likely to blame. It appeared to be doing a good job of pulling dust from deeper in the pile, though, and when I ran over the same area with my (excellent) cordless vacuum, I was pleased to find precious little dust in the bin.

On Spot Cleaning, this robot vacuum didn’t do amazingly well. I scattered flour in a corner of the kitchen and then sent the Jet Bot in to spot clean, twice. The results were okay in the main area, but clearly demonstrate that corners really aren't its strong-suit.

Cleaning and maintaining the Jet Bot AI+ is very easy, not least because the bin automatically empties into the Clean Station when it docks. The vacuum arrives with two dust bags; and I didn’t fill the first one in the six-week trial period. These replaceable bin bags should hold up to three months’ worth of dirt, depending on the size of your home and how filthy dirty it is. Replacement dust bags cost £19 for five, which is a fair price.

All the many filters and internal dust bin can easily be whipped out and washed under the tap, and the roller is also super simple to unclip and remove for cleaning. No screwdrivers or science degree required. Not that I needed to remove the roller. It's supported by high-efficiency extractors (nubby triangular pieces at the front of the roller casing, I think) that grind up hairs to prevent them from becoming tangled around the brush, and it works brilliantly. Hair wrapped around rollers is one of the most annoying parts of owning two long-haired girls – and, for once, I didn’t have to cut a carpet-worth of hair off the rollers once a week.

The SmartThings app isn’t terribly complicated, which is a good thing. Highlights include the cleaning reports, which let you see exactly where the robot became stuck before giving up on a clean, and the Find robot vacuum, which means you don’t have to wander around aimlessly to seek it out (it was usually trapped in the cloakroom toilet, where it frequently managed to shut the door on itself). 

The scheduling function is useful and easy to set up/change, and the app also includes a decent Home Monitoring system, which is great fun. You can send the vacuum around the house to check out what the pets are doing when you’re out (sleeping, mostly) and, if you download a movement sensor widget, you can also get it to detect motion and send an alert, should the vacuum detect a disturbance. Handier in high-crime areas than on the edges of Dartmoor.  

• Performance: 3.5/5

Samsung Jet Bot AI+ review: Battery

• Not the longest run-time on the market
• Recharges when there’s still 10% left in the tank
• Charges in approximately 3.5 hours

The 90 minutes of running time on offer was accurate and should have been sufficient to cover our entire ground floor. However, the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ must be especially slow – or more thorough, perhaps – than other robots I’ve tested. It could manage only three rooms before it had to return home to refuel; four rooms at a stretch. With my regular robot, I can go to the yard, muck out the pony, get the kids to school and return home to clean floors (a one-hour round trip). Alas, the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ would still be chuntering on 20 minutes after I’d fired up the work laptop. Luckily, the Jet Bot is pretty quiet. The official 74dBA rating must refer to Max power mode, as my sound meter recorded around 53dBA in the Smart cleaning mode, which isn't too distracting.

Battery: 3.5 / 5

Should you buy the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ ?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Samsung Jet Bot AI+ Robot Vacuum Review: Also consider

How I tested the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ robot vacuum

• It was used to clean wood, tile, laminate, carpet and (very short pile) rugs
• I used the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ as my main vacuum downstairs for six weeks

I’ve been using the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ at least once a day, sometimes more, on the ground floor of my four-bedroom Victorian home for six weeks. It has seven rooms plus a central hallway, but towards the end of the testing period I only had it clean three or four rooms, which is seemed to find more manageable. When I'm not testing a robot, I will usually only vacuum the three most frequently used rooms every day, so this was closer to reality. 

I’ve used all the key features on the app, but I didn’t download the motion detection sensor. Nor did I connect it to Alexa, partly because I couldn’t work out how – but mainly because I had it set up on an automatic schedule, so there was no need.

I’ve been reviewing robot vacuums, and non-robotic vacuums, for several years now, and been testing all manner of other appliances, garden tech, bedding and fitness equipment for nigh on 20 years. 

Read more about how we test

First reviewed February 2023

One-minute review

Originally founded in the US in 2006, SimpliSafe sells a range of home security products that are designed to be easy to install and easy to use. These include indoor and outdoor cameras, video doorbells and smart locks that are all available to buy online. The SimpliSafe SimpliCam indoor security camera is just one of the intuitive products in its growing lineup. 

SimpliSafe offers homeowners a professional monitoring home security service alongside its systems, "with no long-term contracts and at affordable prices".  Relatively new in the UK, the company has recently undergone a brand refresh, so I was keen to try out one of its latest products in my own home. 

I tried out the SimpliCam indoor camera, to see how well it performed and how precisely it alerted me to any potential intruder or disturbance. I wanted to see how easy it was to use and install, and whether it could offer peace of mind when I was away from home. I’m not overly keen on the idea of having an indoor security camera in my home, but I did want to see whether the SimpliCam was as straightforward to use as other indoor cameras that I've tried in the past, such as the Ring Indoor Cam and Y-Cam. 

Keep scrolling to find out how the SimpliSafe SimpliCam got on in our home then, head to our best home security cameras guide for more comparisons. 

SimpliCam SimpliSafe review price & availability

• List price: $99/£69 
• Available in US & UK

It isn't the cheapest indoor security camera you can buy online, but the SimpliSafe SimpliCam is reasonably priced for a stylishly designed indoor camera with smart functionality. It's sold both in the US and UK. 

You'll need to sign up to a SimpliSafe plan to make full use of the recording functionality and for enhanced monitoring – although you can opt in or opt out at any time. Terms and conditions and prices for these plans vary in the US and UK, depending on which plan you choose. This is because emergency responses work differently in both countries. 

When installing the camera in the US, you should expect to pay $9.99 per month for instant access for up to three days of recording and storage, with you able to add up to five cameras to the plan. A standard plan costs around $17.99 per month, which provides help from professional monitoring agents. The highest plan with 24/7 monitoring and police dispatch costs around $27.99 per month. 

If installing this camera in the UK, you can expect to pay around £4.99 per month for a standard recording plan that includes unlimited recording, 30 days of storage and up to 10 cameras. A more comprehensive professional monitoring plan with camera recording, guard response and police response costs £24.99 per month. 

• Price: 4.5/5

The specs of our SimpliSafe SimpliCam review unit

• Price: $99 / £69 
• Subscription plan required: Yes 
• WiFi set up: Yes
• Viewing range: 120-degree field of vision
• Live HD video and audio alerts: Yes 
• Optional recording plan: From £4.99 per m / $9.99 per m 

These specs are the same for US and UK SimpliSafe SimpliCam models.

SimpliCam SimpliSafe review design

• Internal microphone
• Privacy shutter
• High-power infrared LED cut filter

In terms of aesthetics, the SimpliSafe comes neatly presented and simply styled in a navy and orange box. Inside the box you'll find the camera, cord and set of basic instructions. Finished in black, the camera is minimally styled, and the base on which you can stand it up comes attached as part of the design. 

I’ve owned indoor cameras in a white finish, but I believe this black design is more discreetly hidden in a room; although the blue light that indicates the unit is powered on is quite bright. The camera arrives with a stand; there aren’t any screws in the box for mounting the camera onto the wall, but this is something that could no doubt be easily done with your own tools, should you wish. 

Setting up the camera was straightforward. I simply removed the cap protecting the tip of the micro-USB cord, and slid it through the stand. You'll have to use your own plug to set it up since one isn't included in the box. 

The camera was already attached to its base, so I just needed to find a decent position with flat surface for it to stand – with a plug nearby. The fact that it isn’t wireless does limit where you can position the camera, although on the plus side you won’t have to fiddle around recharging it when it runs out of power. I ended up lacing it on a sideboard, opposite the back door. 

I moved it around the house a bit, trying it on a bookcase and on top of the mantlepiece, too, which all seemed to work well in terms of stability and getting a good view of the rooms in my home.

• Design: 4.5/5

SimpliSafe SimpliCam review performance

• Live feed and recording of video and audio
• Wi-Fi Connection (2.4GHz)
• Two-way talk and night vision

The camera doesn’t have an "on" switch, so I received an alert that said, ‘Your camera is ready for set up. You’ll find all the instructions to get you started in the Simplisafe App’, as soon as I plugged it in.

Once I'd downloaded the SimpliSafe app on my iPhone (it's both Android and iPhone compatible), I had to connect to my home Wi-Fi, get the camera to scan a QR code on my phone, and sign up with my email address to create an account. After going through the password verifying process, I could set up fingerprint and face recognition to quickly and securely log in.

There’s a choice of security plans you’ll need to sign up for to make use of unlimited recording and video storage (outlined above). I chose the entry-level plan that offers unlimited recording and 30 days of storage. Up to 10 cameras can be added to this plan, which would work well if you wanted to use it as part of a whole home security system. For those wanting to make use of voice assistants such as Alexa, you’ll need to sign up to the Pro Premium professional monitoring plan.

Within the app, you can instantly access live HD video footage from your camera, whether you’re home or away. The camera won’t follow an intruder around the room, so you're somewhat limited when it comes to being able to view the entire room. However, it does give you a 120-degree diagonal field of view, which I think works well to showcase half the room – or, for instance, if you've targeted an area such as a back door to keep a watch on. 

With motion detection, the camera will pick up any movement or noise in the room and send an alert to your smart device. It comes with built-in motion detection algorithms that are calibrated to detect the unique heat signature of humans, so you won't receive unnecessary alerts – should a book fall off the shelf or a pen drops onto the floor, for example. 

After adjusting it to focus on the back door, I could start to monitor any comings and goings. I used it over a month-long period to capture any action. When the camera detects motion or audio, it will send an alert to your smart device and also start recording a short clip that you can then view in a timeline on the app. These can be downloaded or shared, if desired, too.

Once set up, alerts came through to my phone when anyone walked passed the camera or entered the room. A useful feature in the app is the privacy shutter, which allows you to open and close the camera shutter remotely. This meant I could turn it off when we were at home, avoiding alerts pinging to me every time someone walked past. The only downside of using this button is that you'll need to remember to turn it back on afterwards. The app also pushed out alerts when my internet connection was poor, so I could adjust it accordingly. 

I tested the effectiveness of the alerts when I was out of the house, too. I asked a family member to walk past the camera and I timed how long it took for me to receive an alert on my phone. Of course, you need a good phone signal to receive an alert, but I was suitably impressed at how quickly the alert came through. I could then go into the app and view the video recording and access live footage. I could also press the record button to start live recording myself. 

In terms of picture quality, the HD footage is clear enough to see what’s going on. As mentioned, there is a button to record live footage, but I'd also have welcomed a button to capture stills. If I wanted to capture a picture or the room, I had to manually screen-grab a shot instead.   

The app is basic in design and it’s easy to press watch live to view real-time footage. However, I did take some time to work out what the control icons in the app do. The clock icon took me to a timeline of previously recorded motion footage, for example. Videos captured at night when light levels were low are shot in black and white. Although relatively clear, they obviously aren't as clear as the shots captured in daylight. 

I could use the mute button to switch the sound coming from the live feed off or on. Above that is the microphone control for two-way talk – this meant I could simply press it to make use of the camera’s built-in microphone to speak to anyone on the other end, shout at an intruder, or say a reassuring hi to the dog.

• Performance: 4.5/5

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How I tested the SimpliSafe SimpliCam home security camera

• I used the SimpliSafe SimpliCam in my home for one month
• I used it at all times of the day to see how well it performed 

I set up the SimpliCam indoor home security camera in my UK home and trialled it over the course of a month. I placed it in different areas of the room – up high and low – to see how clearly it could capture different areas.

I also monitored how speedily and successfully it sent alerts to my smartphone when it detected human motion both day and night, when I was out of the house (over 4G) and also when at home (over the Wi-Fi).  

Read more about how we test

First reviewed February 2023