Stem Innovation's iZON Remote Room Monitor is Apple friendly, easy to set up

Stem Innovation, the same company that brought iOS device owners the TimeCommand alarm dock and accompanying Stem:Command software, now has a new product out that looks like a winner. The iZON Remote Room Monitor (US$129.95) is a Wi-Fi connected, app-based video camera that can be used to keep an eye on a child in another room or a house on the other side of the planet.

As with the TimeCommand, setup of the iZON appears to be drop-dead simple. The company recommends using an 802.11n Wi-Fi network, and the tiny cylindrical camera (which weighs only .74 oz) takes less than 10 minutes to set up. Compare that to the hours it took for me to set up a Foscam Wi-Fi camera -- I had to use Windows running under VMWare -- and the extra $40 or so for the iZON looks like a great investment.

In addition to connecting to your local Wi-Fi network, the iZON also connects to the Stem servers for video monitoring over EDGE, 3G and remote Wi-Fi networks for up to 5 minutes per session. It's possible to set up motion sensitivity with the camera so that you receive an alert through push notification whenever something within the field of view moves.

There's also an audio monitor built into the camera, and the same alerts can be enabled when an audio level is exceeded. The video stream is encrypted for your protection, but can be recorded in 30-second bursts to a free private YouTube account.

The iZON camera is available at Apple Stores and some Best Buy locations, or can be ordered directly from Stem Innovation. TUAW will have a full review of the iZON in the near future.

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Source: http://steminnovation.com/section/iZON/24/

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Stem Innovation, the same company that brought iOS device owners the TimeCommand alarm dock and accompanying Stem:Command software, now...

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David

Got this system for Christmas spent an hour trying to get it set up. Despite how simple it looks the video had a two min delay on it it and was choppy at best. Probably because it's based off of the Stem servers which lag like crazy. This can't get back to BestBuy fast enough.

January 02 2012 at 9:13 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

dmbirchmd

Sick video

December 27 2011 at 4:21 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

flywithsean

This is a inadequate system compared to the Avaak Vue system. Avaak Vue is the way to go. It is a system built for upgrades and has excellent online and iPhone/ipad access.

October 20 2011 at 2:48 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Charles Morrow

I see several problems but the biggest for me is the utter need for an metaphorical umbilical cord to Stem's servers in order for the icon to work. I just spoke to some one there in customer service and he confirmed my worst fears. I was not getting alerts sent to me in close to real time and he explained that was because their servers were being inundated by users of this product. I cannot have a monitoring application that depends on an external server.

Aside from this major complaint, the product is very "beta". THe customer support agent kept saying there is another app coming out next week which will address the problems you describe, please have patience with us.

Nothing in their marketing app indicated that we needed to wait until the next release of software in oder for the product to do what they have advertised it to do.

September 20 2011 at 10:19 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

NeepNorp

I can't find this in stock anywhere yet :(

August 31 2011 at 3:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

No night vision or servo motors? I'll stick with the $100 Foscam I bought last year. Only took 15 mins to set up...

August 29 2011 at 4:38 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

bdub

Annnnd if it can't do nightvision, it's basically worthless to me. If it's daytime and the kids/pets/whatever are awake, then I can just walk in and look at them.

If they're sleeping (or in their room for the night and thus obviously unsupervised) and I want to make sure they're safe, not hurting themselves, or pulling books from the bookshelf (per the video) then why would it be fully lit in there? It'll be DARK, people. How is this use case not considered?

August 29 2011 at 2:06 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply