This new Netatmo Outdoor Camera packs a 105dB alarm and a big advantage

Netatmo has added a siren option to its smart outdoor camera, making for a noisy warning for potential intruders or burglars. Like the original Netatmo Smart Outdoor Camera it has a built-in Full HD camera along with a floodlight; however it also throws in a 105 dB alarm.

The camera itself is an angular, weatherproof block, made of aluminum, glass, and UV-protected plastic. It's designed to most easily replace an existing outdoor light, where it can tap into that existing power wiring and then connect to a home network via WiFi.

As before, there's motion triggering along with scene content analysis. That means the camera should be able to differentiate between, say, a car pulling into the driveway, an animal on the lawn, or a person walking up the path. That controls the sort of alert notification you get on your phone.

Each individual situation can have different settings for how those triggers are treated. For example, you could have notifications and recording switched off for animals, but on for people and cars. Alert zones can be configured, and only movement within those sections of the frame used for notifications.

If you want to, then, you can remotely trigger the siren manually. Video, meanwhile, is stored on a microSD card within the camera, complete with encryption. There's also support for backing up video to a Dropbox account or an FTP server; that way, there are no ongoing cloud subscription fees.

The camera itself records at 1080p Full HD, and has a 100-degree wide angle lens. Netatmo says to expect a roughly 65 foot field of detection. Infrared illumination can be used for low-light footage, or the light can be switched on automatically instead.

As before, the siren version fo the Smart Outdoor Camera is compatible with Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, and the Google Assistant. That allows it to be connected to other lighting or security equipment, for example.

The Netatmo Smart Outdoor Camera with Siren will go on sale in the US later in the year, priced at $349.99. It's already available for pre-order in Europe, meanwhile. As for the version of the camera without the siren, that's available now priced at $299.99.