Review: Kruidvat Smart Home – lighting, alarm and cameras

In the test block we compared the Kruidvat lamp (left) with that of Hema (middle) and Action (right). Firstly, it is striking that the housing of Hema and Kruidvat is identical. However, they are different internally. The Kruidvat lamp gives by far the coldest light, the Hema is in between and the LSC Smart Connect lamp gives the warmest tones at the coldest setting. If we move the slider all the way to the warmest shades of white, then, as expected, the Action lamp is the warmest, the Hema is in between and the Kruidvat lamp has a lot of trouble reproducing really warm shades of white. Above all, it remains quite cold.

In terms of colors, there is hardly any difference between the lamps from Hema and Kruidvat. These are almost identical. The color lamp of LSC Smart Connect is more saturated in terms of color, which is personally the favorite of the three here. The light output of all three lamps is not fantastic when they are set to color, but it is much better compared to the disappointing light output of Lidl ‘s color lamps .

There are of course several types of lamps in the Kruidvat Smart Home collection. The filament lamps are excellent. What is striking is that these lamps can display much warmer white tones than the normal smart lamps from Kruidvat. So if you really want atmosphere in your home with warm shades of white, choose the filament lamps from the drugstore chain. You can also adjust the brightness and hue with these lamps. The remote control is different in appearance from the other brands. It is a narrow and elongated remote control that lets you switch the light on or off and adjust the brightness. You can assign the remote control to lamps and smart plugs via the app.

More unique, however, is the Smart Dual Plug for an amount of 14.99 euros. We do not find these in the range of the other retail chains. Surprisingly, the design of this smart plug is much more compact compared to the single model. It is a two-in-one smart plug and the big question is whether we can operate both plug holes independently of each other, or whether both holes can be operated together. Adding them in the app is a piece of cake and it turns out that you can operate them independently of each other. So if you have little space and you are looking for a smart plug with the possibility to operate two devices and / or lamps independently of each other, you will soon find this affordable Smart Dual Plug from Kruidvat.

Sensors and alarm

Kruidvat has included a motion sensor, door and window sensor and alarm in its range. The motion sensor and door and window sensor work on batteries that had to be included in the box. Unfortunately, they turned out not to be there in both cases. Either way, you can have these products all work together. Does a motion sensor or door and window sensor see movement? Link them to the smart alarm and it will make a very loud sound when moving.

To link this, you dive into the app at automation. This works pretty much the same as the IFTTT principle. You choose a certain trigger (action), which will then give a certain response. It all works fine, but it won’t be that easy for the novice user to set this up. Kruidvat does have a special website for all your questions about the smarthome collection, but the description is a bit sparse there too.

You can also link the motion sensor to your lighting, so that the lamp switches on as soon as you enter the relevant room with a motion sensor. The first generation of WiFi sensors from Action’s LSC Smart Connect had a major drawback. Because they use the WiFi protocol, the batteries run out very quickly when these sensors are always active. As a result, a time-out was built in, so that you could not use them for the first 5 minutes after activation. Then you were in the dark when the timer set by you had expired. I recognize these problems less with the sensors of Kruidvat Smart Home and the second generation sensors of LSC Smart Connect (Action) must also be much better. It now all works a little smoother and smoother. You can guess what that does for the battery consumption, because battery + wifi protocol are not friends of each other. The WiFi protocol costs more energy than, for example, Zigbee.

The sensors therefore work best in combination with the alarm, which should be activated less often than a lamp with a motion sensor. You will receive a neat notification on your smartphone when motion is detected and in combination with the alarm you quickly scare away any burglar.

Security cameras and video doorbell

The Kruidvat Smart Home collection is quite a large collection and also includes two security cameras and a video doorbell. The video doorbell costs 49.99 euros and has two-way audio, motion detection and a Full HD camera. The Kruidvat Smart Indoor IP Camera costs 19.99 and films in 720p, has two-way audio, night vision and has an input for a micro-SD card. For 27.99 euros you have the 360 ​​degree Smart IP Camera. This has the same functions as the other camera, with the extra that it can rotate 360 ​​degrees. You can not only do this manually, but you can also set it so that the camera follows the visitor throughout the room. And this works surprisingly well.

Especially that 360-degree camera is a winner for the money. For 27 euros you can of course not expect superior image quality or excellent sound. Still, it suffices in both cases and especially the motion tracking, where the camera follows the visitor, works very well. You can place a micro-SD card (up to 128 GB) with these models, but you can also opt for a paid subscription with cloud storage. The latter is of course not necessary. In any case, you will always receive a notification as soon as movement is detected.

Finally, the video doorbell is very similar to the Marmitek Buzz LO in terms of functions and app environment , albeit in a slightly different housing. No wonder, because that too is a Tuya video doorbell. However, you can not only connect this model wired (12-24V) to your current doorbell, but also connect it with the included adapter. If you want you can even use the USB input, but then it is a bit difficult to place the housing at the back.

The video doorbell works reliably. As soon as the doorbell rings, you will receive a notification within a maximum of 2 seconds. However, you will even receive three notifications. There is still something not quite right here in terms of software. You do not have to click on the second notification, but if you only click on the first, you will not get to the liveview of the video doorbell, but to the history. So make sure you also click on the third notification, then you will immediately enter the window to view and communicate with your visitor. For 49.99 euros, however, it is a complete video doorbell and it is excellent for this money.

Kruidvat Smart Home app

The app is as you would expect from a Tuya clone. After testing all the recent Tuya collections of the retail chains, I can now find my way around here. There is also not much wrong with the app. Kruidvat has again had some smaller adjustments made. Not only do we find the Kruidvat logo in this copy of the Tuya app, some buttons have also been changed. Of course you do not have to use this app. If you prefer to use the Action or Hema app, or rather the overarching Tuya Smart Life app, it’s all possible. You can simply add the products in the app of your choice.