Vivint Equipment: Cameras, Smart Devices, & More

Luxury is the best word to describe Vivint equipment—it sports some of the sleekest equipment designs in home security. We’re also impressed with its range of third-party compatibility considering that the company designs and manufactures most of its own equipment.

Dive into Vivint's equipment and pricing details to see why Vivint remains one of our favorite brands. If you're interested in seeing the bigger picture—including professional monitoring, Vivint customer service, and hands-on testing experience—we recommend heading over to our complete Vivint review.

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Vivint is a luxury system that comes with luxury prices, especially when you look at individual pieces of equipment. 

For example, its $100 motion sensor is the most expensive in the industry and costs three times the $30 median price for most other brands. You read that right—that’s a $70 difference.

We recommend upgrading to the Premium Service lifetime equipment warranty to protect your investment. Without it, faulty equipment is replaced and serviced free of charge for just the first 120 days of your agreement. 

The Vivint app is like having a remote control for your security system on your phone. Plus, it’s free with Vivint systems which isn’t the case with other brands.

From the app, you can check the live video feed from your home’s security cameras or remotely arm and disarm the alarm system from your phone. And, if you add smart home equipment, you can answer the door, change the thermostat, or improve energy efficiency through the app too. 

Vivint’s app and control panel use the same navigation. These matching controls make it easier to switch between controls at home and on your phone—a big plus compared to other security system apps. 

No matter how you customize your Vivint system in the end, every starter kit includes a few necessities: a smart hub/control panel, door and window sensors, and a motion sensor.

Here's why these components are essential for home security:

• The Vivint Smart Hub coordinates everything in the system and directly connects to the monitoring center.
• The Vivint Door Sensors report when a door or window opens.
• The Vivint Motion Sensor watches for activity inside your home.

If you’re looking for a surveillance-heavy security system, you may be familiar with the lag that comes with adding lots of cameras to your home Wi-Fi network. The Vivint Smart Hub's improved bandwidth cuts the lag and delivers live-stream video to your home security system. 

The Vivint Smart Hub is the new standard for Vivint systems, so any newcomers to the home security company can expect a short learning curve when they get their system. Existing customers may need to pay extra for an equipment upgrade.

Outside of the base equipment in every starter kit, Vivint sells sensors that allow your system to detect other threats like fires and floods, glass breaking, and carbon monoxide.

While Vivint's accessories don't play starring roles in monitoring your home, they make it more convenient to lock the door, close the garage, arm your system, and control your AC using the Vivint app.

Vivint is one of the only security companies to sell a garage door opener. Most brands just have tilt sensors or require you to connect a third-party brand on your own. We like that Vivint sets you up with one from the get-go. 

The Vivint Element smart thermostat takes some of the guesswork out of keeping your home comfy and your utility bills low. Learn more in our full Vivint Smart Thermostat Review.

If you want to learn more, our Vivint camera guide has more details about Vivint’s indoor, outdoor, and smart cameras—including how they performed during testing.

The Vivint Smart Drive is essentially a hard drive that saves up to 30 days of continuous security footage. We like local storage like this because it's typically more secure than storing videos in the cloud, though you shouldn't put it in an obvious location where burglars can find it.

You can get Vivint Playback DVR monthly subscription for $6.99 (or a one-time purchase of $299.99).

Vivint's third-party smart home support is among the best in the home security industry. Here's a look at Vivint-compatible smart devices.

Vivint has two Alexa skills that allow you varying degrees of control over your Vivint system when you use an Amazon Echo smart speaker. The Complete skill has the highest functionality of the two since it can arm your system in addition to typical smart home requests. But you need to use the phrase "Ask Vivint to . . . " before you issue a command.

The Basic skill works more like a regular Alexa command and doesn't require you to ask Vivint anything. While it works with lights, thermostats, locks, and cameras, this skill doesn't offer an arming feature.

Feel free to browse our Alexa guide if you want to learn more about Amazon's smart home platform.

You can use Google Assistant to control your Vivint system using voice commands and Google Home smart speakers. Our Ultimate Guide to Google Home can give you ideas for using your smart speaker with your security system. 

Vivint sells both the Nest Learning Thermostat and the Nest Thermostat E directly to customers. But you shouldn't fret if you already have a Nest thermostat since you can link it to your Vivint system using Google Assistant and the Vivint Smart Home app.

Philips Hue is one of the most popular smart lighting brands and essentially your only option for integrating smart light bulbs into a Vivint home security system. It's a bummer that there isn't more support for other smart lights, but at least Philips Hue makes excellent (though expensive) lighting gear.

The Chamberlain MyQ garage door controller converts your existing garage door opener into a connected device. It's a clever option for controlling your garage door with a smartphone. It integrates directly with Vivint security systems, so you don't need to buy the Z-Wave garage door controller accessory Vivint sells.

The Vivint Smart Hub has a built-in Z-Wave radio that allows you to control these third-party Z-Wave devices through the Vivint app for home automation:

• Smart lock
• Smart thermostat
• Garage door controller
• Light switches and dimmers

Unfortunately, the Smart Hub doesn't support other types of Z-Wave devices like sensors for smart home security. This means you have to bite the bullet on expensive Vivint-branded sensors instead of buying reasonably-priced Z-wave alternatives.

Vivint offers the most comprehensive in-house equipment line in the home security industry. The only thing missing from Vivint's lineup is an extra siren. 

If you're still on the fence and considering alternatives to Vivint, check out Frontpoint or Brinks Home for almost-as-robust equipment lines.