Home security has always been a priority for us, and after several neighbors experienced robberies, we became even more proactive about protecting our house and property.
Last year we installed Nest Cameras: three for the exterior and one indoors. About a month after installation, the cameras recorded someone in our front yard attempting to walk away with our surfboards. Our neighbor intervened, and because of the Nest footage we had clear visual evidence of the incident.
Recently, Nest asked us to try their doorbell camera, the Nest Hello. Unlike many video doorbells, the Nest Hello is a high-quality camera that can record continuously. Our existing Nest cameras perform well and let us speak with anyone who enters our yard, but they lack several advanced features the Nest Hello offers—features we found useful right away. These include a quiet mode, pre-recorded quick responses, identification of family and friends, and notifications for unfamiliar faces. We relied on these functions within the first few days and found them very helpful for managing who comes to our home.
We’ve been targeted by “porch pirates” who take packages from our doorstep. The Nest Hello’s 4:3 aspect ratio provides a taller field of view, making it easier to capture people from head to toe. That narrower, taller framing helps the camera record clearer facial details than the wider-angle views of our other cameras. The Nest Hello is also an effective deterrent—its presence is obvious to anyone approaching the door, day or night, which can make people think twice before attempting theft.
Since we work from home and have young children, the Nest Hello is especially convenient when deciding whether to answer the door. It helps us quickly tell if a friend has arrived or if a delivery driver is dropping off a package.
One of our favorite features is voice notifications. We paired the Nest Hello with our Google Home Max speaker, so we receive audio alerts announcing who’s at the door. Because the Nest Hello can recognize familiar faces, the Home Max will even say the person’s name—saving us the step of checking the app on our phones.
We appreciate the Nest Hello’s sleek design and the straightforward installation hardware included. The device requires a hardwired doorbell with an appropriate voltage, and our 1940s home met that requirement—so many American homes should be compatible. Nest offers a compatibility checker to confirm.
We subscribed to the Nest Aware service, which stores video in the cloud for five days or longer depending on the plan. That makes it easy to retrieve past events and save or share clips whenever necessary.
There are many smart home products that end up being more hassle than benefit, but the Nest Hello has had a more meaningful impact on our daily life than we expected. At this point, it’s hard to imagine not having one—it’s become part of our everyday routine.
This post is sponsored by Nest Hello. All opinions are 100% those of Timothy Dahl of Charles & Hudson.