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[Nest & Best Buy] Free Google Home Mini when pre-order Nest Hello door bell for $299 and extra coupon

  • Last Updated:
  • Mar 20th, 2018 2:05 pm
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 31, 2012
1885 posts
1885 upvotes
Guelph
I was gunning for the nest hello and selling my ring doorbell. But my brother just got the Yi outdoor cam and while I know it's not a doorbell, we compared his cam to the ring. The quality of the picture and all the free features not to mention price have me sold on the Yi. To be honest, the doorbell feature was the least exciting part of the whole thing.

That being said, if I was getting the hello, the person who posted the Pc Canada link seems to have the best price if the backorders are fulfilled.
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Oct 19, 2003
20241 posts
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Toronto (Bloor West …
anotherbargainhunter wrote: You don't need to subscribe monthly cloud service if you don't need recording capability. You can live stream for free. If you need cloud service the cheapest one is $50 for the whole year for 5 days history. Most people spend more than this on Starbucks per month so I think it is reasonable.
I'm pretty sure most people don't spend $50 a month on Starbucks, I personally spend nearly $0 on coffee outside the house. Anyway it's more like $65-70 CAD. It would be one thing if that covered multiple nest products but it doesn't, cost keeps going up if you were to one day decide to add more cameras such as to cover other entrances or the interior.

I have to say though, I already have a camera at my front door which is wired into my network via PoE using my synology as the "cloud" (Surveillance Station) but I am tempted by the Nest Hello for a couple of reasons...

- I have a Nest Thermostat and a house full of Nest Protects and Google Homes. I also have plans to get the Nest Secure system whenever it finally comes to Canada. I am knee deep in Google and expect integration between all these things to continue to become more compelling. For example, I see no reason why they won't have the ability to make all the google homes "ring" in addition to my main door bell, to have them used for the intercom features, etc and to integrate with the thermostat and nest protects to help with the home/away features to change frequency and types of notifications from Hello and things like that. Iv'e been very happy with all of my other Nest products.
- The one problem I have with my current camera set up is that I can't find a decent outdoor PoE camera with a wide enough angle to be really useful as a door cam. The best I can do right now is a skewed perspective that mostly captures the tops of peoples heads.
- Even though technically the resolution of my existing camera is superior to the Nest Hello, in practice, I don't think the quality of the picture is that great despite the marketing.
- Motion detection of these PoE cams sucks. I either get tons of false positives from things like shadows, or when people really do come up to the door I sometimes don't get a notification until they've already been standing there for some time and it takes too long to open the surveillance station app and get connected to the stream if I want to see who it is before going to the door. The nest app integration here looks seamless to the point where checking who is at the door via video feed would actually become useful.

Main concerns:

- WiFi only. I don't know how it will perform in reality even though I think my wifi network is fine.
- Seems to be a pretty easy target for vandalism and it's not cheap.
- I like my current doorbell, which wasn't cheap and is already pretty stylish (looks better than the nest hello which looks pretty toy-like).
- Of course, paying for recordings. If the nest app allows you to at least save a hard copy of the "3 hours" of recordings you get for free so long as you are around to do it in time then that's fine but I'm not sure if you can do this or just view it and after 3 hours it's gone forever.
- What am I going to do with the ethernet cable I've got leading out there now, it would be pointless to run both cameras in the same location really if the hello actually works out. I suppose the existing one can turn into my free "cloud" but it just seems too orwellian to have multiple cameras at my front door.
- Due to the shape of the hello, I'll have to drill extra holes into the stone at the side of my door to mount it. If I were to change my mind about the Hello and go back to my dumb doorbell or any other doorbell that is any smaller, the area will never look the same again.

Benefit getting from Best Buy? If I don't end up thinking it's worth it, it's easy to return minus the new holes in my house.
Deal Addict
Aug 19, 2011
4226 posts
3152 upvotes
Markham
BinaryJay wrote: I'm pretty sure most people don't spend $50 a month on Starbucks, I personally spend nearly $0 on coffee outside the house. Anyway it's more like $65-70 CAD. It would be one thing if that covered multiple nest products but it doesn't, cost keeps going up if you were to one day decide to add more cameras such as to cover other entrances or the interior.

I have to say though, I already have a camera at my front door which is wired into my network via PoE using my synology as the "cloud" (Surveillance Station) but I am tempted by the Nest Hello for a couple of reasons...

- I have a Nest Thermostat and a house full of Nest Protects and Google Homes. I also have plans to get the Nest Secure system whenever it finally comes to Canada. I am knee deep in Google and expect integration between all these things to continue to become more compelling. For example, I see no reason why they won't have the ability to make all the google homes "ring" in addition to my main door bell, to have them used for the intercom features, etc and to integrate with the thermostat and nest protects to help with the home/away features to change frequency and types of notifications from Hello and things like that. Iv'e been very happy with all of my other Nest products.
- The one problem I have with my current camera set up is that I can't find a decent outdoor PoE camera with a wide enough angle to be really useful as a door cam. The best I can do right now is a skewed perspective that mostly captures the tops of peoples heads.
- Even though technically the resolution of my existing camera is superior to the Nest Hello, in practice, I don't think the quality of the picture is that great despite the marketing.
- Motion detection of these PoE cams sucks. I either get tons of false positives from things like shadows, or when people really do come up to the door I sometimes don't get a notification until they've already been standing there for some time and it takes too long to open the surveillance station app and get connected to the stream if I want to see who it is before going to the door. The nest app integration here looks seamless to the point where checking who is at the door via video feed would actually become useful.

Main concerns:

- WiFi only. I don't know how it will perform in reality even though I think my wifi network is fine.
- Seems to be a pretty easy target for vandalism and it's not cheap.
- I like my current doorbell, which wasn't cheap and is already pretty stylish (looks better than the nest hello which looks pretty toy-like).
- Of course, paying for recordings. If the nest app allows you to at least save a hard copy of the "3 hours" of recordings you get for free so long as you are around to do it in time then that's fine but I'm not sure if you can do this or just view it and after 3 hours it's gone forever.
- What am I going to do with the ethernet cable I've got leading out there now, it would be pointless to run both cameras in the same location really if the hello actually works out. I suppose the existing one can turn into my free "cloud" but it just seems too orwellian to have multiple cameras at my front door.
- Due to the shape of the hello, I'll have to drill extra holes into the stone at the side of my door to mount it. If I were to change my mind about the Hello and go back to my dumb doorbell or any other doorbell that is any smaller, the area will never look the same again.

Benefit getting from Best Buy? If I don't end up thinking it's worth it, it's easy to return minus the new holes in my house.
You make good points specially re: 3 hour window. I've been trying to figure if this is actually 3 hours of video recorded but based on the wording in marketing text it basically says a 'snapshot' of the past 3 hours. It's unclear if this is video or still images of detected people? I also agree if you can save the 3 hour footage I'm much more inclined to get this unit.
Jr. Member
Jan 22, 2010
182 posts
165 upvotes
Regina
BinaryJay wrote: I'm pretty sure most people don't spend $50 a month on Starbucks, I personally spend nearly $0 on coffee outside the house.
It's $50 a year, not month.

Like you also mentioned. I already have a PoE camera system and have always hated these cloud based systems. But also like you I am really intrigued by this because my house is full of Google Homes and Chromecasts. Having it announce who is at the door throughout my house and having the feed come up on my TV would be really nice. I already do a little bit of this through automation however it is much clunkier then this setup would be. The other feature that would be amazing to me is the 'Nap Time' mode for when our kids are sleeping. The ring and run post man has woken up our kids more times then I can count.....
Deal Expert
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Oct 19, 2003
20241 posts
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Toronto (Bloor West …
dr_jared88 wrote: It's $50 a year, not month.

Like you also mentioned. I already have a PoE camera system and have always hated these cloud based systems. But also like you I am really intrigued by this because my house is full of Google Homes and Chromecasts. Having it announce who is at the door throughout my house and having the feed come up on my TV would be really nice. I already do a little bit of this through automation however it is much clunkier then this setup would be. The other feature that would be amazing to me is the 'Nap Time' mode for when our kids are sleeping. The ring and run post man has woken up our kids more times then I can count.....
Ah yes, my kids are all past having naps but the doorbell did cause us grief during that period of time.

Yes, I'm in the same boat... I am into this because it promises to be a sleeker system than I have going now, and also easy for my wife to use properly... nobody else in this house knows how to check recorded footage history from my existing camera for example. I am not into more recurring costs, no matter how much anybody justifies it as being a "small amount" on a monthly basis, it's very easy to have all sorts of small recurring costs end up costing a lot of money at the end of the year. Hopefully the "free" system is usable for somebody that doesn't care to have weeks of footage of nothing happening. Facial recognition could be neat if it works so you know without looking that say, your mailman has come to the door instead of your wife, not sure if that's worth paying for either though.

I'm of the mind to take the preorder discount and the free home mini (which I absolutely don't need... I think I already have at least one too many google homes in the house thanks to the steep discounts during the holidays), and then decide later. I suppose it wouldn't be too difficult to get 60 bucks or so for the home if I were to sell it (any takers?). There was nothing else on the site in the smart home category that seemed worth adding another $50 do the order to save another $25 to me.
Deal Addict
Apr 22, 2014
4236 posts
1819 upvotes
, ON
BinaryJay wrote: I'm pretty sure most people don't spend $50 a month on Starbucks, I personally spend nearly $0 on coffee outside the house. Anyway it's more like $65-70 CAD. It would be one thing if that covered multiple nest products but it doesn't, cost keeps going up if you were to one day decide to add more cameras such as to cover other entrances or the interior.

I have to say though, I already have a camera at my front door which is wired into my network via PoE using my synology as the "cloud" (Surveillance Station) but I am tempted by the Nest Hello for a couple of reasons...

- I have a Nest Thermostat and a house full of Nest Protects and Google Homes. I also have plans to get the Nest Secure system whenever it finally comes to Canada. I am knee deep in Google and expect integration between all these things to continue to become more compelling. For example, I see no reason why they won't have the ability to make all the google homes "ring" in addition to my main door bell, to have them used for the intercom features, etc and to integrate with the thermostat and nest protects to help with the home/away features to change frequency and types of notifications from Hello and things like that. Iv'e been very happy with all of my other Nest products.
- The one problem I have with my current camera set up is that I can't find a decent outdoor PoE camera with a wide enough angle to be really useful as a door cam. The best I can do right now is a skewed perspective that mostly captures the tops of peoples heads.
- Even though technically the resolution of my existing camera is superior to the Nest Hello, in practice, I don't think the quality of the picture is that great despite the marketing.
- Motion detection of these PoE cams sucks. I either get tons of false positives from things like shadows, or when people really do come up to the door I sometimes don't get a notification until they've already been standing there for some time and it takes too long to open the surveillance station app and get connected to the stream if I want to see who it is before going to the door. The nest app integration here looks seamless to the point where checking who is at the door via video feed would actually become useful.

Main concerns:

- WiFi only. I don't know how it will perform in reality even though I think my wifi network is fine.
- Seems to be a pretty easy target for vandalism and it's not cheap.
- I like my current doorbell, which wasn't cheap and is already pretty stylish (looks better than the nest hello which looks pretty toy-like).
- Of course, paying for recordings. If the nest app allows you to at least save a hard copy of the "3 hours" of recordings you get for free so long as you are around to do it in time then that's fine but I'm not sure if you can do this or just view it and after 3 hours it's gone forever.
- What am I going to do with the ethernet cable I've got leading out there now, it would be pointless to run both cameras in the same location really if the hello actually works out. I suppose the existing one can turn into my free "cloud" but it just seems too orwellian to have multiple cameras at my front door.
- Due to the shape of the hello, I'll have to drill extra holes into the stone at the side of my door to mount it. If I were to change my mind about the Hello and go back to my dumb doorbell or any other doorbell that is any smaller, the area will never look the same again.

Benefit getting from Best Buy? If I don't end up thinking it's worth it, it's easy to return minus the new holes in my house.
Well I guess it depends where do you work or live. When I worked downtown, people go to Starbucks in the morning $2 plus another in the afternoon another $2. So lets say $4 per working day x 20 = $80 per month. I don't do it but I know many adopt this habit.

I agree with your other pros and cons btw. I am looking to invest in Nest Thermostat and Google Home ecosystem. Thus I am considering this.
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Oct 19, 2003
20241 posts
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Toronto (Bloor West …
Hmm I just took another look and it appears that the extra $25+ smart home products discount no longer applies when you add this to your cart.

I guess it's a good thing I decided to buy first and think later last night, though it's not really that much of a discount it's better than nothing.
Jr. Member
May 21, 2011
133 posts
151 upvotes
I think Google Home and mini are just a complete waste of money as stand alone devices. Imo they look ugly too. These could easily have been incorporated into other gadgets like their smoke alarm or thermostat.
Deal Addict
Apr 22, 2014
4236 posts
1819 upvotes
, ON
BinaryJay wrote: Hmm I just took another look and it appears that the extra $25+ smart home products discount no longer applies when you add this to your cart.

I guess it's a good thing I decided to buy first and think later last night, though it's not really that much of a discount it's better than nothing.
yep. the extra discount offers have expired.
Deal Addict
Jan 11, 2007
4106 posts
857 upvotes
Mississauga
anotherbargainhunter wrote: @dreaderus Hey the detail is on the original post. Cheers!
I could not find it from the link i think someone has said they expired. if not id go add a switch to the order.
Deal Fanatic
Aug 25, 2005
5485 posts
2762 upvotes
LawEightSix wrote: I was gunning for the nest hello and selling my ring doorbell. But my brother just got the Yi outdoor cam and while I know it's not a doorbell, we compared his cam to the ring. The quality of the picture and all the free features not to mention price have me sold on the Yi. To be honest, the doorbell feature was the least exciting part of the whole thing.

That being said, if I was getting the hello, the person who posted the Pc Canada link seems to have the best price if the backorders are fulfilled.
which yi outdoor cam?
Jr. Member
Jan 22, 2010
182 posts
165 upvotes
Regina
For those curious out the Nest Hello integration with Google Assistant, here is a snippet from the October Google event.

Sr. Member
Feb 15, 2005
627 posts
282 upvotes
Calgary
BinaryJay wrote: My problem with all of these (consumer cameras in general) is that you're not in control of it, it's cloud or nothing. The only data channel is WiFi, no Ethernet options. And the cloud access is never cheap.

On the other hand the usual ip cam suspects that are reasonably priced have middling picture quality, bad motion detection, and always way too narrow field of view.

I wish someone would make an actually good outdoor PoE camera that supports standard ipcam protocols.
Look at ezviz cameras. Available at best buy for easy testing and return.
I bought 3 outdoor husky cameras on sale for 199 last black Friday. They have Power over Ethernet (Poe), or standard power +wifi.
No extra fees. They have a cloud option but each camera takes a MicroSD card that works just as good. If you are worried about them stealing your camera and thus your footage, there is a 1tb hub you can buy as well that you can store safely inside your house. Again, no more monthly fees.

With all that said, with Amazon buying Blink and Ring recently, it might be worth waiting to see what they do.

Edit: the reason why I like them is I first tried their indoor cameras and really liked the quality and app.
360 motion sensor camera and a small 1080p one near front door. All indoor and outdoor cameras are in 1 app.
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Oct 19, 2003
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evilution wrote: Look at ezviz cameras. Available at best buy for easy testing and return.
Those are just the same chinese junk, rebranded for more money than anybody ought to spend.
Deal Addict
Mar 23, 2003
1755 posts
385 upvotes
BinaryJay wrote: Those are just the same chinese junk, rebranded for more money than anybody ought to spend.
agreed.. I have been avoiding Chinese network equipment and camera.. there have been report about that some of them packed with extra features: secretly sending data back to China

btw, again.. anyone ordered anything from www.pc-canada.com? is that good and reliable?
Deal Guru
Sep 28, 2010
10945 posts
3252 upvotes
OMG the subscription rates for these doorbells is insane. How can they charge so much more than Ring and all of the others? They spend months giving away the Home speakers but bend everyone over on the doorbells and subscriptions? ugh

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