For most people, their home is easily their most valuable asset so you want to keep an eye on it when you’re not there so the bad people don’t break in and steal your tech stuff and bikes. That would just make them cry.

An easy way to keep an eye on your house is by using a wi-fi security camera that lets you view footage beaming from the camera in real-time then record any dodgy persons or notifies you that there’s some motion around your house.

D-Link, more commonly know for its routers, also does wi-fi security cameras and kindly sent me along its DCS-8302LH camera to test out. It’s priced at $NZ250 and $AU200.

Set up was super easy using D-Link’s Mydlink ap and once up and running you can view a live feed or captured footage straight from the app. You can save footage to a microSD card (you’ll have to buy one as it doesn’t come with the camera), something called Onvif profile S recording or subscribe to Dlink’s cloud-based storage service.

There are several levels of the subscription service, ranging from free (which records and saves a day’s worth of footage to the cloud and allows up to three cameras) to yearly at $NZ99 a year (which saves a month’s worth at a time and lets you connect up to 10 cameras). Being of Scottish descent, I was happy with the free subscription as my motto is “If you can get something for free, why not?”

The DCS-8302LH has a 2 megapixel lens captures footage in full HD (1080p, 30FPS), has a two-way microphone and an IR sensor which lets you capture footage day and night, an ethernet port if you don’t want to connect it via wi-fi. The camera connects using the 802.11n/g wireless protocol over the 2.4Ghz band. The field of view is 135 degrees. Oh, there’s also a siren, if you’re wanting a siren to alert everyone.

You can also set the camera to capture using audio, motion or person detection and there is also a privacy mode. You can set the camera either indoors or outdoors (D-Link recommends if it’s outdoors it under house eves or shelter) but if you install it outside, you’ll need to ensure there is a fixed power source nearby as I don’t recommend an extension cord!

The only issue I had in setting up the camera was that the mounting bracket – which would let me secure the camera to a pole or wall – was already attached to the base of the camera and was incredibly hard to screw loose. Not that I planned to attach it to anything but I wanted to see how easy it was to do. I eventually had to use a bread & butter knife to twist it counter clockwise to loosen it as it seemed near impossible by hand. After that initial “assistance”, it was much easier to remove.

I tested the camera positioned in a variety of spots around my home, mostly to keep an eye on the dog while I’m away from home. It was generally positioned looking out a sliding door or similar. I also set it up looking out over the relatively busy road outside the front of our house that has plenty of cars, pedestrians and cyclists passing past every day. I received a few notifications over an afternoon alerting me to walkers wandering past on their daily constitutional. I was also able to take a snapshot of captured footage then save it to my phone, which is handy if someone breaks in and there’s a clear image of the offender.

I actually found that with the motion sensitivity set to its maximum the camera is incredibly sensitive to movement, meaning sometimes I’d several notifications a day sent to my phone which was actually just the wind blowing a tag on patio furniture that was in the camera’s field of view. One highlight of all the notifications, mind you, was that I witnessed captured footage of the dog trying (and failing spectacularly) to catch a flying insect that was buzzing around annoying him. It was amusing to say the least.

The camera also has a pretty good night mode: I set it up in the house one night, in the hallway, just to see how it looked and it captured me walking to the front door and the dog following behind and sent an alert to my phone. I contemplated leaving it running overnight but realised the dog would create multiple notifications!

Look, I was impressed with D-Link’s DCS-8302LH wifi camera and while it might not be the most featured security camera around (it doesn’t have automatic tilt function, for example) for me, it seemed a reasonably priced security camera that will give you much needed little piece of mind for you, your property and your loved ones.