It used to be that outfitting your home with a security system meant contacting a security agency like Brinks or ADT, installing sensors all over your house, and paying a monthly fee to keep your service going.But now that sensor tech has become drastically cheaper than it used to be, cheap DIY home surveillance systems are starting to pop up, and Piper is one of the first to hit the market.

Just a few short months ago, Piper was nothing more than ahopeful IndieGoGo project, but Blacksumac has been charging forward at blistering pace since then, and a couple months ago started shipping to consumers. We got our hands on one and played with it for a few weeks to determine if its really a viable alternative to traditional home security systems. Heres what we thought:

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One of Pipers biggest selling points is ease of use. Unlike traditional security/surveillance systems, Blacksumac promises that this little box promises doesnt require any sort of complicated installation process and it definitely lives up to that promise. To get started, you literally just plug it in, download the app on your phone, and follow directions. It starts by turning Piper into its own Wi-Fi hotspot, which you log on to. After that, youre prompted to enter in the name of the Wi-Fi network youd actually like to connect to, followed by the password. At this point, it makes you wait a little bit while it configures itself, but if everything goes smoothly, youll have your new security system set up in about 7 to 10 minutes. All in all, setup is pretty painless.

Insofar as the exterior design, we have mixed feelings. Its aesthetically pleasing, but its also clearly a security camera, which could potentially cause problems. In terms of build quality, however, its pretty solid. Its fairly lightweight, which makes it easy to mount, but also heavy enough that it sits firmly in its stand and wont tip over easily.

The physical design is decent, but where Piper really shines is its digital design. Blacksumacs app design team absolutely nailed it here. Pipers iOS/Android app is easy, intuitive, and has practically no learning curve. The main dashboard gives you four separate modes: Off, Away, Vacation, and a setting called Stay for when youre home sleeping, but still want the system to be armed. These four settings are basically just customizable presets that you can assign different rules to like record a video when a loud noise is detected in Away mode, for example, or sound the alarm when a motion is detected in Vacation mode. This logical interface makes Piper a breeze to use.

180 degree camera

This is arguably the coolest feature on the device. Depending on where you place Piper, the cameras super wide field of view allows you to surveil a large area of your home, and in many cases eliminates the need for multiple cameras to be positioned throughout a given room. Its also equipped with a digital pan/zoom function, so you can zoom into the room and pan around without actually changing the position of the device. BlackSumacs website claims the video is HD, and it may very well be recording in HD, but if you tap into a live video stream, dont expect it to look super crisp. Even on the two blazing-fast Wi-Fi networks we tried it on, the footage came up a bit grainy and slow on our phones but not to the point where it was unusable. On the plus, side, however, we found that playback was only a second or two behind real time, even on a crappy 3G connection.

In addition to using it for live video surveillance, you can also set up Piper to record video whenever certain sensors are tripped. Once activated, Piper will record a 20-second clip, and automatically saves it to the cloud so even if an intruder breaks in and steals the camera, youll still have access to the footage. Its a smart setup, and could definitely come in handy if you should ever need to use the footage is any sort of legal proceeding but unfortunately the app doesnt offer any way to export these videos, so the only way you can access them is through your phone.

Motion detection and more

Read more here:
Survey your kingdom (without a monthly bill) using Pipers home-security system

Salisbury, North Carolina

Barbara Neely always felt safe in her West Monroe Street home. She had a security system and assumed she was protected. Everything changed in December after a thief broke into her home.

Police investigators say the man who broke into the home 38-year-old Arthur James Jackson III remains in the Rowan County jail, charged with breaking into her home and half a dozen others.

The break-ins all occurred around the Christmas holiday, in December, at a time when some homeowners, like Neely, werent home.

Homeowners in those cases said jewelry, money, electronics and clothing were taken.

Authorities say Demetri Barber, 18, is responsible for residential break-ins that also occurred in late December on West Corriher, South Link and Ackert avenues, all near the Hefner V.A. Medical Center.

During those break-ins, police say, thieves took a variety of items that included food, electronics and jewelry. Officials dont believe the two men were working together.

Salisbury Police say 475 breaking and entering cases were reported in 2013 and of those, 379 were residential. Countywide, the Rowan County Sheriffs Office investigated 488 residential burglaries, which includes attempted break-ins.

In recent weeks, authorities believe theyve closed about 10 home break-in cases throughout the China Grove, Granite Quarry, Kannapolis, Rockwell, Gold Hill and Salisbury areas following the arrest of two teens.

Douglas Martin Patrick, 17, and Gage Allen Woodward, 18, are charged with breaking into homes and taking firearms, video game consoles, medications and jewelry. Investigators say in some cases the two pawned and sold the stolen items. Both teens remain in the county jail.

Read more:
How to protect yourself from break-ins

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A home security camera captured a man trying to break into a Boynton Beach home. The homeowner was watching from work and called police. The man was arrested.

2:37 p.m. EST, March 7, 2014

Jennifer Clewes couldn't believe what she was seeing on the computer screen, and neither could the huddle of co-workers who sat behind her as they watched a man trying to break into her house.

Clewes was viewing a live-feed from a webcam in her office after being alerted via the webcam's app that there was motion at the house.

When she logged on, she saw a man whom police suspect is Christopher Robinson, 43, trying to get into her house just after 9 a.m. Thursday in her neighborhood east of Interstate 95 and north of Woolbright Road in Boynton Beach.

Boynton Beach police say the suspect walked up to Clewes' home carrying a crowbar and tried to get in the house through the rear sliding door.

When he came up to the door at about 9:11 a.m., her camera alerted her, she said. She figured it was her two golden retrievers at home stressing over a neighborhood cat in the yard and ignored the alert.

But when it alerted her again six minutes later, she decided to log on and see what her pups were up to. She saw her two dogs barking, but not at a cat they were barking at a man.

"I immediately picked up my phone and called police," she said. "They are like, 'Are you in the house?' and I'm like, 'No, I'm watching it live.'"

Police arrived on scene, and located Robinson one street north of Clewes' home. He is charged with burglary of an unoccupied dwelling and petit theft, and is being held in the Palm Beach County Jail in lieu of a $500 bail.

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