Xchime video doorbell promises lag-free security

A smart home isn't really very smart if it can't protect itself or its masters. There have been a variety of smart locks in the market already, some simple and other quite sophisticated. Xchime is a new contender that has no qualms about adding yet another choice in the market. It is confident that it has something to offer that has never been offered before. That is, a video doorbell whose usefulness isn't at the mercy of Internet lag.

Xchime bills itself as the first video doorbell without lag. How it will manage to accomplish that is its secret, proprietary sauce and we'll have to take their word for it, at least for now. The promise does strike at the heart of the problems with most video doorbells: latency between when something happens and when u need to take action.

Even just a few seconds of lag makes that doorbell little more than evidence after the fact, which doesn't always help at times when culprits are nowhere to be found. Those precious few seconds are also critical when responding to deliveries, knowing when family members are back at home, or even just locking the garage door.

The Xchime video doorbell does have some features that kick into action when you can't. For example, it can turn on smart lights automatically when it detects light night movement when there should be none. It can also close your garage door at a tap of a smartphone screen. The catch is that the Xchime itself doesn't come with those addons, which have to be purchased, or in this case pledged, separately.

The Xchime is still in Indiegogo with less than 6 days left. The promise of a lag-free video doorbell seems to have resounded with many smart home owners and fans, enough to fund it four times over. The Xchime has an Indiegogo special price of $149 for the kit alone, with the Smart Lightbulb and Garage Door Opener costing $19 and $15, respectively.

VIA: Indiegogo