Cove Home Security vs Vivint Smart Home: An Expert Comparison
Let’s compare Cove Home Security and Vivint Smart Home and see which company comes out on top. We’ll go over equipment, features, monitoring and more!
There are many great providers of home security out on the market currently. To get a good deal on a security system you will need to do some shopping around. You want to make sure that the company you choose to go with offers the products and services that fit your specific needs. Today we will take a look at and compare what Cove and Vivint have to offer.
Cove Control Panel
Cove only offers one control panel. The Cove Touch Alarm is a central hub that connects all of your Cove security devices wirelessly to one place. It has a full colored touchscreen that easily lets you arm and disarm your system with a push of a button. The Cove Touch Alarm is a wireless panel that is powered through an AC power source, and it comes with a 24-hour backup battery just in case your power goes out. It also includes a built-in audible alarm that will be triggered when your Cove security system triggers an event. You can have up to 20 customized user codes for the Cove Touch Alarm panel which can be disabled and enabled at any time. It also includes a 2-way audio feature that allows you to directly communicate with your central monitoring station just like Vivint’s control panels. The Cove Touch Alarm will also make sure your system is working properly by using its self-diagnosing software that constantly makes sure your hub and security devices are working properly.
To see our recommended DIY home alarm option, check out our home security system at Link Interactive >>
Who wins?
Cove offers one great central hub to connect all of your devices to one place. While other companies’ control panels might be more traditional in their approach, Cove offers a full colored touchscreen control panel that is easy to use and extremely intuitive. For this reason, we are giving Cove the win for this category.
Vivint Smart Home Control Panel
Vivint offers a high-tech control panel that has a modern design and it’s easy to use. Their control panel is called the Vivint Smart Hub. This control panel is a full colored wireless touchscreen control panel. Unfortunately, Vivint does not list a lot of information on their site which leaves us the dark about specific features of their Vivint Smart Hub. They do state their Vivint Smart Hub has a Z-Wave protocol which will allow you to connect security, home automation, and other devices that are compatible that use Z-Wave protocol to the Vivint Smart Hub.
The rest of the information that will be going will be from the details from the picture that they have of their Vivint Smart Hub on their website. It does it appear that the Vivint Smart hub is powered by an AC power source, and it is safe to assume that is comes with some sort of backup battery. If the Vivint Smart Hub is like other touchscreen control panels you should be able to control of the functions of your system through the touchscreen control panel including arming and disarming your system. We can also assume that the Vivint Smart Hub follows the prior models of Vivint’s control panels in which they use a cellular connection as the main way of transmitting data with it also connecting to your WIFI as a backup.
Click here to see Link Interactive’s control panel >>
Cove Equipment
The first type of security sensor that Cove has to offer are door/window sensors. Cove’s door/window sensors are battery-operated and wireless. They can easily be installed on either your door or window frames. The next sensor that they offer are motion sensors. Their motion sensors are also wireless and battery-operated with a battery life of up to 5 years. Cove’s motion sensors are pet immune which means that as long as your pets are under 45 pounds they will not trigger these sensors. Cove also offers glass break sensors to help protect the windows of your home. Cove’s glass break sensors are also wireless and battery-operated with a battery life up to 5 years, and they have a detection range of 360-degrees. Cove’s glass break sensor can cover multiple windows so you shouldn’t have to add a lot of them to your security system. Cove offers keychain remotes that are battery-operated with a battery life up to 5 years. Their keychain remotes have a four button push button design. You can arm your system in stay, away, or home mode with this keychain remote. It also includes a built-in panic button that will immediately alert your central monitoring stations that there is an emergency. Cove also offers wireless and battery-operated smoke, CO, and flood sensors. These sensors will make audible alerts when rises in these environmental factors take places. They will also trigger your system when these rises are detected. All equipment offered by Cove is DIY (do it yourself) which means you will need to set up all the equipment yourself. Cove does offer instructional videos on their website as well as a step by step installation guide for all of your equipment making for an fast and easy installation.
Cameras
Cove doesn’t really offer a lot of add-on equipment. They unfortunately do not offer any home automation equipment, and they only offer video surveillance equipment. When it comes to video surveillance equipment Cove is a bit limited. Cove does not offer their own branded video surveillance camera, but they do offer the YI Indoor Camera. The YI Indoor Camera is packed full of features. It has a video resolution of 1080p HD with a 107-degree wide viewing angle. It has night vision technology that allows you to capture images even when there is no light around. You can use the YI Indoor Camera’s zoom feature to zoom in on images up to 4X which allows for crystal clear images. One really cool feature of the YI Indoor Camera is its Baby Cry Detection technology. With the YI Indoor Camera’s Baby Cry Detection technology, it will listen for the distinguishing sound of a baby’s cry, and ignore background noise. If this noise is detected by your YI Indoor Camera, it will alert you. It also includes a 2-way audio feature that allow you to hear and respond to whomever is around your camera. The YI Indoor Camera is powered through an AC Power source, and it works by connecting to your home’s WIFI network wirelessly. Video clips can be stored on a Micro SD card or viewed through the Cove app.
Vivint Smart Home Equipment
Another disappointment with Vivint’s website is that they don’t really list what basic sensors they have. They have a really small section on their website that list only a few sensors they seem to offer. Vivint offers door/window sensors that you can use to protect the entryways to your home. Unfortunately, we will again have to assume that these sensors are wireless and battery-operated due to the lack of information about them on their website. The only other sensor that is listed in the sensor section of Vivint’s website is their motion sensors. Motion sensors are great at cutting back on the number of door/window sensors that you need to purchase due to their ability to provide coverage for doors and windows in large area. We assume that their motion sensors are also wireless and battery-operated. The equipment offered by Vivint is installed by one of their professional installers so you don’t’ have to worry about setting up the equipment yourself.
Home Automation
We are currently on the search to bring our readers more information about Vivint’s equipment. Unfortunately for now the information they provide for their add-on equipment on their website is quite limited. Vivint doesn’t have a home automation section on their website, but they do state their control panel includes a Z-Wave protocol. What this means is that you should be able to use home automation devices that use Z-Wave protocol, but the confusion around this means you’re better off with a system like Link Interactive - check it out. There are a lot of different smart locks, smart bulbs, smart thermostats, and other smart home products that use Z-Wave protocols to connect to your security system. For now, you will need to contact Vivint directly to find out what brands of home automation devices work with their control panel.
Cameras
When it comes to video surveillance equipment, we are still left searching for more information. Vivint does state on their website that do offer video surveillance equipment, but what types of this equipment they offer is not listed on their website. We can assume that they at least offer an indoor camera for you to use with their system, and that it follows the trend of being wireless. If they are following the trends of other major security companies, and we think they are, they should also offer some outdoor and video doorbell camera.
To see Link Interactive’s Alarm.com cameras, please click here.
Who wins?
Cove offers all the basic equipment you need to give your home complete protection, including both wired and wireless versions of all the basic equipment which gives you some options. This category was really close, but because Cove offers both wired and wireless versions of their basic equipment and are pretty comprehensive when it comes to other forms of protection, we are giving them the win for this category.
Cove vs Vivint App
Both companies offer professional, self, and video monitoring services. For self-monitoring, the apps are free to download and work for Apple and Android devices. Their apps will allow you to remotely control your system and all connected equipment while you’re on the go. You will also receive push-notifications whenever your system is triggered. You can also view and stream video through their apps. Professional monitoring services work the same. You will have a professional monitoring station watching over your home 24/7.
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Click here to see Link Interactive’s app >>
Cove vs Vivint vs Link Interactive
Honestly, as great as these companies might be, we feel you could do better, easily. Take a look at Link Interactive. A Link system can provide you with an unbeatable Alarm.com security solution (the holy grail in home security) that not only fits your budget, but blows every other security system on the market in terms of features and completeness. The number one way to do this is to get a monitoring plan from Link Interactive. Link Interactive is one of Alarm.com’s top home security providers. The Link system is an easy to use security solution, with month to month monitoring costs being some of the most affordable out there. Click here to see Link Interactive’s offer >>
More Info: Link Interactive
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We encourage you take a look at Link’s offer here, get a quote and compare. You can also call direct at 1-877-826-5443 for further details and speak with a rep!
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