Logitech Debuts New 'Logi Circle' Home Monitoring Camera

Wednesday September 30, 2015 5:14 PM PDT by Juli Clover
Logitech today announced its entry into the home security and monitoring market with the Circle Portable Home Connection Camera, which is debuting under its new Logi brand. The palm-sized Circle is a connected camera that's designed to let users monitor and interact with pets, children, and people at home while away.

Through a companion app, the Logi Circle streams HD video to an iPhone or iPad. It includes a two-way talk and listen feature that works using Wi-Fi, letting it go beyond simple monitoring. According to Logitech, the Circle includes "Scene Intuition" technology that sets it apart from other similar home camera systems. With Scene Intuition, the Logi Circle is able to learn home life patterns to send alerts only when interesting activity occurs to save people from having to sort through hours and hours of footage.

logicircle
The app also offers a "Day Briefs" feature, which is an automatically generated 30-second video that sums up the highlights of each day.
"There's a new movement in home monitoring," said Vincent Borel, director of new ventures at Logitech. "The nature of today's connected world is changing the way people interact with cameras in the home. Video surveillance is no longer just about security, it's about staying connected with our homes and loved ones. Planned or unplanned, magic moments happen in our homes every day and we designed the Logi Circle as your destination for capturing and discovering them no matter where you are or what you're doing. Now you can watch your kids playing or catch your dog chasing its tail even if you're running errands, traveling for business or at the office."
The Logi Circle has an unobtrusive design that lets it fit quietly into any room, and it's both portable and rechargeable. It can be moved from room to room and charged as needed with an included charging ring, with each charge providing three hours of streaming or 12 hours of standby time.


The camera inside the Logi Circle offers a 135 degree wide angle view and an 8x zoom ability. A light on the device blinks white when someone is watching through the app, and the light also doubles as a battery indicator, blinking red when the battery is low. The Logi Circle will store 24 hours of video at no cost, and Logitech plans to offer subscription options for longer storage times.

The Logi Circle Home Connection Camera is available for pre-order beginning today from the Logitech website. It's priced at $199.99.

Tags: Logitech, Logi Circle
53 comments


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Jason98
40 months ago
This is fail as it requires data stored remotely. Can you trust anyone with your home data?

These cameras should just have a day of worth of internal ssd storage that you could easily dump into your own local storage device if you need to.

Also no communication (between you and your camera) should be done using any third party mediator.
Rating: 4 Votes
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Icaras
40 months ago
Really? No HomeKit compatibility? Pass.
Rating: 4 Votes
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FuzzMunky
40 months ago

This is fail as it requires data stored remotely. Can you trust anyone with your home data?

These cameras should just have a day of worth of internal ssd storage that you could easily dump into your own local storage device if you need to.

Also no communication (between you and your camera) should be done using any third party mediator.


Doesn't really work so well as a security cam if the footage can be stolen along with the camera though, does it?
The option of cloud or local would be nice though, or even option of both.
Rating: 2 Votes
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Caseynd
40 months ago
most Logitech purchases end in regret, and they priced themselves right out of the market imo
Look for these on clearance closeout shelves in 6-9 months, then maybe the dollar store after that.
Rating: 2 Votes
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netwalker
40 months ago

Ultimately, we trust Facebook with most of our personal moments. We also trust Apple (iCloud). Why shouldn't we trust Logitech? It's the same thing.

The bigger risk is probably that the security camera or Logitech's servers get hacked.
I use security cameras that only upload to the cloud in case of a triggered event. They can not be controlled remotely. And our security cams are only on when we are not in the room/house.
The Internet connection is obviously the weak spot in this system. In case of one burglary one of our cameras was found and ripped of the wall before it was able to save any data in the cloud (and that model did not have internal storage).
Rating: 1 Votes
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Avarize
40 months ago

A blinking light while somebody is watching? I was hoping to be able to use it as a baby monitor, but I guess that's out.


Dab of whiteout ☺️
Rating: 1 Votes
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JustMadeThisNameUp
40 months ago



Other than that, I'm not really sold on remote home monitoring. What, for example, do you do when you see something out of the ordinary and you're 50 miles away?


All of us could benefit from having cameras to document and keep us informed of what's going on around us. The government, Google, etc. have them why shouldn't we?

But as far as 50 miles away, if something happens I'd much rather have it on tape than not. Getting back to a surprise break in or seeing it and calling the police, there's no question.
Rating: 1 Votes
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FoundAHalo
40 months ago
This is also not Logitech's "entry into the home security and monitoring market" - that dubious honor was a few years back with WiLife, followed by Logitech Alert.
Rating: 1 Votes
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Arran
40 months ago

The problem is we are dangerously close to a world where you might get burglarized because you have cameras. Most companies do not take security seriously and they can become just as much as a liability in those cases.

Good point.

The bad guys hack into the camera, case the joint remotely and then wait until there's clearly no one home.
Rating: 1 Votes
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silvetti
40 months ago

This is fail as it requires data stored remotely. Can you trust anyone with your home data?

These cameras should just have a day of worth of internal ssd storage that you could easily dump into your own local storage device if you need to.

Also no communication (between you and your camera) should be done using any third party mediator.


Yeah, because getting your house burglarised and instead of having footage of them they just took the camera.
Great ideia.
Rating: 1 Votes
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