Vivint 家居保安系統 2026 評測：專業安裝，但生態系統封閉

Adam Doud/CNET

8.0

Pros & Cons

• Updated system with comprehensive security and smart home options
• Unique tricks like whistling cameras
• AI additions watch for people, packages and animals, plus video searching
• Some compatibility with third parties like Google and Kwikset
• Professional, high-quality installation process

• Smart home support for third parties is limited and there's no Alexa or Apple compatibility
• New thermostat is bland
• AI object detection ran into frequent mistakes and I ultimately turned some detection off
• Vivint pricing is opaque at best

I sleep better at night, knowing I have a Vivint security system watching my back. I’ve had it since 2021, when I had it installed for a different review. During that time, I’ve followed along with Vivint as it’s grown and improved its offerings. Most recently, Vivint launched a new panel, outdoor camera pro, indoor camera pro and a new thermostat. Three of those are nice — and I’ll explain which ones I recommend below.

The Vivint system is one of the more comprehensive security systems you can buy into, and believe me, you’ll be buying. Rather than the piecemeal systems or starter kits you can pick up from other manufacturers, Vivint is designed to be bought as a larger package. It can also control some of your other smart home devices, a bonus that comes with limitations buyers should know.

Note: We couldn’t get a clear idea of exactly how much this system costs, because Vivint prefers to give individual quotes during the professional installation process, and hides all of its pricing information online. However, pricing starts at $200 plus a $25 monthly monitoring fee. A system like this, with multiple cameras and smart device add-ons, will be much more expensive.

More from CNET

Vivint smart home compatibility and installation

My Vivint system consists of the Smart Panel 2 — the control center for the system, thermostat, door and window sensors on every opening, a doorbell camera, an indoor camera, and two outdoor cameras with intelligent spotlights. I also have fire and CO detectors on every floor and glass break sensors on the main level and my sunroom. 

My original system also included two deadbolts and a smart doorlatch, all of which accepted code inputs to unlock them; I haven’t carried a house key since the system was installed. These were all Kwikset locks, but I have since replaced them with another brand that supports biometrics. I made sure to point that out to representatives at Vivint as I prepared this review. 

For its part, Vivint noted that it looks at relationships with other vendors carefully and evaluates them before integrating them. The trick with integrating third-party vendors is that when and if they fail, Vivint is on the hook for support. It’s a fair point. Right now Kwikset remains the only smart door lock company that Vivint works with. Other home security brands have their favorites, like ADT and Yale, or Abode, which works with a variety of platforms.

The other two vendors that Vivint works with are Chamberlain for garage doors and Google Nest for thermostats. Notably, Vivint just launched its own thermostat, which I’ll discuss in a bit. You can also connect a Philips Hue bridge and its corresponding light bulbs via a Zigbee connection, though you need to call customer support to make that connection. That’s not great, and Vivint is aware that it’s not great, but right now that’s the workflow.

Vivint’s Smart Panel 2 and app both allow you to control and monitor all of your connected devices. That’s the good news. The bad news is that while Vivint can be controlled by Google Home, it can no longer be controlled by Amazon’s Alexa. When asked about that, Vivint noted that it moved away from Amazon’s smart assistant because of privacy concerns. Alexa Plus required more data about Vivint’s customers than Vivint was comfortable sharing, so it decided to move away from the service. My home is about 50/50 Google Home/Alexa, so that wasn’t too bad for me, but Alexa-exclusive homeowners should take note.

The Vivint app is the control center for the whole system. It works with both iOS and Android, and you can share the app with multiple family members. Each family member also gets their own disarm code, and the app records who does what. Inside the app, you can see the status of your home — armed or disarmed, and so on — thumbnails of all the cameras, status of lights, doors and other sensors, and you can control the thermostat. Plus, it’s all customizable. If you want to monitor cameras more than you need to adjust the thermostat, you can do that by moving cameras to the top, for example.

According to Vivint, 63% of homeowners want to control all their devices through one single app. If you ask me, that number feels low — having a single app controlling everything is the dream. You can also set up rules and automations with devices in home, depending on events. For example, every night at a certain time, my house automatically arms. It also disarms itself in the morning. In the event of a fire alarm, all lights in the house turn on at full brightness to help you get out. When I still used Kwikset deadbolts and entered a code to unlock the front door, it automatically disarmed the house and turned on the Living room lights. Automations like that really make a smart home feel smart.

Of course, in order to enjoy those connections, you have to live in Vivint’s world, using devices that Vivint works with. Vivint has devices that can control every part of your home from locks, to smoke alarms, and everything in between. Lights are still tricky — to address that, Vivint has smart plugs you can use for lamps, and the aforementioned Zigbee compatibility. Other systems are making progress here thanks to the Matter standard that’s slowly tying everything together, but older security system companies don’t always have the same support as standalone devices like Yale’s Matter smart lock.

If you don’t like DIY, using a system like Vivint is miles better than putting together a system piecemeal. When you order your Vivint system, one of the highlights is the installation team that comes and sets everything up for you. I have had Vivint installers at my home four times over the years, and every time they’ve been nothing but professional and efficient.

The latest Vivint smart home additions – and caveats

Vivint’s most recent individual device launches include its own thermostat, a new outdoor camera and indoor camera. Of those, the thermostat is arguably a step back when compared to the Nest thermostat I used to have. That was an elegant, round glass dome that rotated just like a normal thermostat. Vivint’s thermostat is a white plastic square with LED numbers on the front. The whole face rocks like a switch to increase or decrease the temperature as needed. It’s not ugly so much as it’s boring.

But the thermostat enables Vivint’s latest initiative — Smart Comfort. This allows Vivint to adjust the temperature of your house based on when people are home and when they aren’t. This is similar to what Google’s Nest does, but Vivint says it has more data to work with so it can more accurately determine when people are home or not.

Vivint can use motion sensors, door locks and more to focus on when people are there or not. It sounds like a lovely idea and, according to Vivint, you can save hundreds of dollars per year on your utilities with this system. I work from home, so I will likely never really see this benefit, I’m afraid. Also, this benefit is only available if you use Vivint’s thermostat; not Google’s. When I asked Vivint why that was, it said, “Because Vivint products are designed to work together in one holistic ecosystem, customers benefit from a more connected, informed, and energy-efficient smart home experience.”

New Vivint cameras have improved tricks, but work-in-progress AI

One of the highlights of the security system is the cameras. For this review, Vivint installed its latest Outdoor Camera Pro 3 on my garage to cover my driveway. The camera connects to power with PoE, and includes the smart spotlight underneath it. The camera is as sharp and clear as you can get on a security camera. You won’t take selfies with it, but it gets the job done. It has a 4K sensor. It records and streams at 1080p, but the sensor allows you to zoom in up to 5x with no loss of quality.

The Vivint app also allows you to search for events that happen on any of the cameras, and the results are far from bullet proof. A recent search for a “rabbit” showed me a cat and several shadows at night. A search for “dog” showed me my daughter leaving the house — like, what?

What I particularly like is the ability to search for deliveries. (I’ll expand on this more on that in a bit.) You can search for “UPS” and you’ll see video clips of all the times the camera spotted a UPS truck, and also FedEx, Amazon Prime and, in one funny instance, a lawn service, so again, it’s not perfect. But the app also asks you to help train it by asking, “Is this a dog?” and you can say yes, no or I don’t know.

But the camera and lights are very smart in some cool ways. When your system is armed, and someone comes onto your property, two things happen. First, the camera broadcasts the sound of someone whistling, as if to say “over here.” When people turn to look at the source of the whistle, the camera gets a clear shot of their face. It’s clever and I like it.

The security camera also has a smart spotlight which has nine sets of LEDs that throw light in an arc across an arc of about 160 degrees. When someone is spotted, the lights flash in sequence — mine is set to flash left to right — and then focus the light on the subject. Further, the light follows the subject so there is no doubt they have been spotted. It’s a nice additional touch that you don’t see often in the home security space.

My doorbell camera comes with proactive protection, in that it can notify me when a package is delivered. That worked well for a while, until I got a box for package handlers to put deliveries in. Now, the doorbell mistakes literally anyone walking to my front door as a delivery, so I ultimately had to turn that feature off. But, when it worked, it worked well.

If you receive a delivery, you’ll get a notification that a package is on the porch and you can turn on deter mode, which works similarly to the whistle above. There’s no spotlight, but the doorbell whistles and a red circle surrounds the camera to let people know that they are definitely on camera. I like that proactive approach, even if it doesn’t work well in my situation.

Finally, the new indoor camera is a 1080p camera with a slim profile that can be placed and aimed just about anywhere. It’s powered, so there needs to be an outlet nearby. The camera has a 10-foot power cord. To work with. Both the indoor and outdoor cameras have local storage, so if Wi-Fi goes down, you can still see what happened while it was down.

One thing I’d like to see Vivint adopt is moving cameras. PTZ (or pan-tilt-zoom) cameras are common in the industry now. Additionally, many exterior cameras have dual lenses, so you can zoom in on a subject and get a lot more detail. Vivint doesn’t have those yet, so here’s hoping those are coming to the next generation. 

Final thoughts on Vivint’s home security system

Overall, I like Vivint’s philosophy of bringing all of these devices together into one ecosystem. I also like the fact that you can control all the devices from its app. The main problem Vivint has is the same problem plaguing other traditional home security platforms — there’s Vivint stuff, and then there’s everything else.

For example, if I want to use a Lockly deadbolt, or a Eufy camera, I can, but then it becomes a collection of ecosystems and we’re back where we started. Matter standard support and new devices, like Apple’s home security releases or Ikea’s sensors, are working to change that, but systems like Vivint’s are sticking to the old model. If you already have a lot of smart home devices, consider a more open system like our recently reviewed DIY Abode home security kit, which works with many third parties including Apple.