Burglary is illegal entry into a building with intent to commit a crime—and it's the number one reason people invest in home security. The good news is, burglary is way down—in the last decade, cases reported in the US dropped from 2.2 million to 1.11 million. But stats don't make people feel safe. Alarms and cameras and locks do.
The smart home revolution has enhanced security tech to make even the most advanced safety gadgetry an easy install for the layman. Of course, the option for pro installs and round-the-clock monitoring remains. We asked the readers of PCMag to tell us which home security device companies they use and how they rate for real-world use.
Home Security Systems 2020
This year's chart for overall satisfaction (on a scale of 0 to 10) for home security systems looks remarkably similar to last year's chart. Of the three contenders we typically see, ADT and Ring are both down, and SimpliSafe is up slightly to 8.9 from last year's already stellar 8.8.
This is SimpliSafe's victory lap with one exception—it got a lower monitoring cost score than Ring. That's probably because SimpliSafe and Ring both offer professional monitoring, but Ring (by Amazon) has cheaper plans. Both also offer self-monitoring. Look at how low ADT goes in that category—it mainly offers pro-monitoring services, although you can turn them off to self-monitor. Obviously paying for monitoring is not our readers' favorite aspect of home security.
What they do like, with SimpliSafe in particular, is the ease of setup and use, the reliability, the quality of the sensors, the ability to detect motion, smoke and carbon monoxide, leaks and floods, power outages, and the mobile control they get over the internet. All of those categories earned a 9.0 or higher for SimpliSafe, which is also our Editors' Choice for home security systems; it's nice when the pros and users actually agree.
This is only Ring's second year in our list of security/alarm systems since Amazon bought it in 2018 and Ring expanded beyond the realm of video doorbells (where it derives its name). Ring's scores are far from bad—they're all a solid B- or above across the board—but that's not enough to keep up with the satisfaction people are getting from SimpliSafe.
ADT, on the other hand, had a dismal recommendation score, which flies in the face of our Editors' Choice pick of ADT Pulse for best full-featured professional home monitoring security service; it's sad when the pros and the users can't agree.
For more, read The Best Smart Home Security Systems for 2020The Best Smart Home Security Systems for 2020.
Home Security Cameras 2020
When it comes to indoor and outdoor home security cameras, the top choices are on opposite ends of the price spectrum: Wyze and Google Nest. Both get the Readers' Choice this year with a tied score of 8.6 for overall satisfaction. That's down for Wyze (it had an 8.9 last year and was the only winner) but way up for Google Nest, which landed at 7.6 in 2019.
This makes Wyze's second win in the category interesting, as it has in the last year expanded its lineup to include an outdoor camera and CamPlus, a cloud video-recording storage with motion-detection option for $1.99 per month (or $15 per year) per camera. Maybe the new, slightly more expensive cams in the line hurt it overall, but Wyze still remains on top especially for system cost, where it scored an astronomical 9.6 out of 10. About the only way to beat that would be to give the cameras away.
In contrast, fellow winner Google Nest is at a terrible 7.0 for system cost satisfaction, tied with Arlo, which is the lowest rated surveillance camera across the board. Yet Google Nest's full one-point increase in overall satisfaction indicates some happy users coming on board (or changing their tune) in the last year. A Google integration forced on existing users alongside a price drop in self-monitored video storage probably helped.
Wyze also scored a 9.1 for ease of use and a 9.2 for setup. Its mobile controls earned an 8.8, equal to Google Nest. And the likelihood someone would recommend a Wyze cam is 8.9, ahead of Amazon's Ring in second for that category with an 8.6.
Ring, by the way, didn't do badly in this survey, even outperforming the winners when it comes to scores for customer service, tech support, and monitoring cost.
For more, read The Best Indoor Home Security Cameras for 2020The Best Indoor Home Security Cameras for 2020 and The Best Outdoor Home Security Cameras for 2020The Best Outdoor Home Security Cameras for 2020.
Video Doorbells 2020
This is our first Readers' Choice award for a video doorbell. We asked about them for last year's smart home devices survey but only got enough responses to rate one company: Ring by Amazon. Not surprising, since Ring is arguably the first and biggest name in video doorbells. In that case, it earned an 8.2 overall and a 8.1 for likelihood to be recommended.
A year later, things have changed enough that we now have two vendors that made the cut. Two vendors mean an actual competition, and the fight has a clear winner: Google Nest.
Amazon's Ring wasn't able to hold that 8.2 overall and dropped to a 7.9. Not that it could have won against Google Nest's 8.6 overall and stellar 8.7 recommendation score. The only score where Ring beats Google Nest is the installation fee people are charged when they do a professional install.
That said, we didn’t get the requisite minimum number of answers on all the optional measures for Google Nest, so it's hard to say exactly how well it would or would not rate against Ring in those areas. Ring didn't crack 8.2 in any of them (the 8.2 was for the live view on the doorbell's video feed). But Google Nest did outperform Ring in required measures like setup (8.6), reliability (8.7), and ease of use (9.1).
This should have been Ring's fight to win. It may not be a complete TKO but the Ring brand is on the ropes already and will only have more competition in the coming years. If Google Nest can keep up the goodwill and innovation, it can probably keep the belt. That shouldn't be hard, as it only sells one doorbell model right now, which includes facial recognition options and Google Assistant integration.
For more, read The Best Video Doorbells of 2020The Best Video Doorbells of 2020 and get a pro take on Nest vs. Ring: Which Video Doorbell Is Right for You?Nest vs. Ring: Which Video Doorbell Is Right for You?
Smart Locks 2020
Last year, we asked readers to rate smart locks along with other smart home devices (like thermostats and lights) because, well, they're all smart. In that survey, two brands got the nod for Readers' Choice, August and Schlage, with ties on the most important criteria. But this year we wanted locks to be part of security overall. And in the end, only August was deemed worthy of a win for 2020.
August—which makes our top-rated Editors' Choice smart lock—managed to lock in the win with an 8.8 for overall satisfaction and likelihood to be recommended. The ties it had with Schlage in those categories last year are over.
Schlage couldn't keep up; it only got an 8.5 overall (same as it had last year) and an 8.3 recommendation score (down from 8.4). Not that Schlage is totally slagged. It did well for reliability at 8.8, slightly ahead of August's 8.6.
Schlage had an excellent 8.8 for ease of use as well, but that's below August's 9.0; it's hard to beat August devices that install onto existing deadbolts. That's likely why August's setup score is also a 9.0, ahead of Schlage's 8.4. Not that any of Schlage's score are bad...except perhaps cost at 7.8. Even Kwikset beat that. (That was the only measurement where Kwikset and its Kevo line of smart locks beat anyone that made the cut).
Smart locks are still far from mainstream; we only had enough responses to rate three on the chart above. But the number of smart lock brands is growing—with SimpliSafe, Google Nest, and Wyze all in the mix now—so next year may see radical change.
For more, read The Best Smart Locks for 2020The Best Smart Locks for 2020.
Full Results
The PCMag Readers' Choice survey for Home Security Systems, Cameras, Smart Locks and Video Doorbells was in the field from September 21, 2020, to October 12, 2020. For more information on how our surveys are conducted, read the survey methodology.
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