Kangaroo Home Security guide

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Kangaroo Camera Security Kit, Privacy Camera review: A budget system that's not too 'cheap'

For the most part, Kangaroo's home monitoring equipment looks, feels and works just like more premium-priced products. But that doorbell camera, though -- oof.

I'll admit my bias in favor of Kangaroo up front -- I love cheap prices. I've spent hours combing through Amazon listings looking for a motion sensor that costs less than $20 (Guess who makes one?). Especially when it comes to tech that's going to get plugged in or otherwise affixed to a spot and forgotten about, I don't care what it looks like or who makes it. I just want it to do its job and not cost an arm and a leg.

And that's where Kangaroo mostly shines. The core components of Kangaroo's home monitoring kit just work. Their build quality is on the level, and the gear does what it's intended to do, as advertised, with as few frills as possible (except for one perplexingly geeky frill in the security camera, which I'll get to). Unfortunately, I also discovered the outer limits of Kangaroo's minimalist (aka "cheapskate") approach with its low-res, still-shot-capturing doorbell cam.

Can you trust Kangaroo's security system and the various products it comprises? I think so. In my testing, Kangaroo's gear all proved perfectly reliable. More fundamentally, should you buy any of this stuff? My answer is, I would buy… some of it.

Let's hop right in.

From joey to Roo: Kangaroo comes of age

Kangaroo says the company chose its name because the animal is friendly and approachable but also known for fiercely defending its own. Also, "kangaroo" translates roughly the same across multiple languages. Despite planning ahead for eventual global dominance, however, Kangaroo has taken the slow and steady approach to expanding its catalog.

When Kangaroo launched almost three years ago, the company brought one and only one type of product to market: motion detectors. About a year later, the fledgling DIY security company put together its first bona fide starter kit, which you can still get today. It's made up of those motion detectors but with added entryway detection, a keypad with alarm and some other gear.

In my testing, I found these components to be the best and most reliable of everything Kangaroo sent me (and Kangaroo sent me everything). The home monitoring kit gear is well-built and solid in the hand and looks as clean and minimalist as any other company's similar gear. This is the spot where the budget-minded company's value proposition really stands out.

Here's everything the 8-Piece Security Kit with Professional Monitoring for $119 comes with:

Electronic keypad with alarm.

3 motion/entryway sensors.

1 climate sensor (aka leak detector).

2 RFID tags (called Roos) for arming/disarming.

1 year of professional monitoring.

The keypad alarm also listens for third-party smoke and carbon monoxide alarms (a detector of detectors, if you will). And the motion detectors pull double duty, attaching to doors and windows, notifying you when they open and reporting any unexpected movement in the house while you're away. (You can turn off motion detection if you've already got, say, a camera watching over the room.) And finally, the cute little Roo key tags add an adorable touch -- just tap one on the keypad to arm or disarm the system.

Kangaroo also offers a 5-Piece Security Kit with Professional Monitoring for $99, which includes only two of the motion and entry sensors and no leak detector. Unless you have only two doors or windows and excellent insurance, I'd spring for the bigger kit.

After several weeks of testing, including a trip out of town that left the system armed for a whole 10 days, I can say with confidence that I trust the Kangaroo home monitoring kit to protect my home. It all worked exactly as expected -- including the many times when, returning from a walk with my brindle boxer, I intentionally left the system armed -- to my little buddy's chagrin.