Cove Home Security System Review 2024

Ordering Cove

Ordering a Cove system takes a little more effort than just wandering into a Best Buy and grabbing a few cameras off the shelf, but it’s a streamlined process. Maybe not quite as streamlined as Ring (see our complete Ring Alarm review), but definitely easier than, say, dealing with ADT. When it comes time to pick out equipment, Cove will even have you describe your current living situation and suggest the ideal package for you.

You always have the option to take matters into your own hands by skipping the questionnaire though. As with other companies (see our SimpliSafe review), the hub and touch-screen keypad are required with every system, but there is a wide range of options when it comes to sensors and cameras.

Our Cove package featuring the hub and touch-screen keypad.

Once you’ve settled on the equipment you need (more on these options later), Cove prompts you to choose a monitoring plan. Easy peasy. Cove also lets you name your equipment. That’s fun — we named our living room camera Daisy — but it also serves a practical function. When your package arrives, all the components are already connected to the central hub, and they’re all conveniently named so it’s easy to keep them organized.

We still weren’t done though. Once we’d paid for our system, Cove sent us an email and a text reminding us to set up our system portal. The portal lets us make decisions about our account, pay our bills, and get help with any questions we may have about our system. The text promised to keep us updated on when our equipment shipped. Pretty handy.

We were all smiles at this point. It seemed like Cove had absolutely everything under control. No wonder they also show up on our list of best self-installed home security systems.

Turns out, we smiled a bit too soon.

Getting the equipment to our house turned out to be a bit more trouble than the ordering process led us to believe. We waited for several days, but the shipping text never arrived. So we did the next logical thing: We logged in to our portal to check on it.

The good news is that we got a polite customer-service representative on live chat almost immediately. Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell us when our equipment might ship, only that the company would send a text when it does. We already knew that. It would be a few days, she said vaguely. She also mentioned that when it shipped, it would take five to seven days to arrive. Not what we wanted to hear, but what can you do? Maybe not surprising given that Cove doesn’t show up on our list of the best systems with great customer service.

Our Cove package arrived, but we waited seven days from the time we placed our order.

We should point out that we ordered during the holidays, so maybe a bit of a delay is forgivable. Even so, when you’re purchasing home security equipment, you want it sooner rather than later. We even asked about expedited service — we were willing to pay extra to get everything a little faster — but we were told that’s not a thing Cove offers.

All’s well that ends well. Our little chat must have had an effect, because we got a text the very next morning that the package had shipped. It arrived in two days rather than five — an impressive turnaround. The video doorbell we purchased was on back order, which we suspect is why the order hadn’t shipped in the first place. But, again, it’s the holidays. These things happen. Ultimately, we give Cove high marks when it comes to organization, even if the company fumbled a bit in its execution.

Unboxing and Installation

Everything, sans video doorbell, arrived via UPS in a single, nondescript, brown box. Inside was a Cove box with everything neatly packaged inside. When we say neatly packaged, we mean neatly packaged. Not only was every sensor and every camera tucked away in its own little hidey-hole, but the box cover doubled as a set of picture instructions to help us get started setting up our system. That’s efficiency.

After opening the package, this set of picture instructions welcomed us and helped us get started.

We haven’t come across any other system that makes installation quite as simple and straightforward as Cove does. There just wasn’t any way to make a mistake. Cove recently began offering professional installation options starting at $129, but trust us — you won’t need help.

Sensor installation was primarily peel-and-stick, but there were options in some cases for more permanent mounting. The smoke detector we ordered, for instance, needed some basic handyman work. We had to mark where we wanted it to go with a pencil and then turn a couple of screws to get the mounting hardware in place. Nothing we couldn’t handle. We rent, though, and we live in a historic home, so peel-and-stick was the better option in most cases since it minimized damage to our 110-year-old walls.

Related: Can Tenants Install Home Security Cameras?

Here’s us mounting the window sensor. You can see how much smaller it is than the older window sensors we have.

Everything worked like a dream, and by the time the control panel directed us to do a final check on the sensors, that big smile had started to creep onto our faces again.

There was a bit of a hang-up with system testing. According to the touch-screen panel, the monitoring center was supposed to call us once we got our system up and running. That didn’t happen. We wound up calling them and had to wait on hold for about 20 minutes before we finally got to talk to a person.

And then we started on the cameras.

Next up, we set up the security cameras, which took a bit more work than the Cove sensors.

Cove doesn’t manufacture its own cameras, choosing instead to offer Eufy devices. Before we go any further, we should say that these are great cameras. Check out our review of Eufy’s video doorbell, for instance. The problem is that because Cove doesn’t make the devices, it can’t preprogram them the way it does its touch screen and sensors. That means the installation process is a bit trickier.

Camera installation is supposed to go through the Cove app. We have no complaints about the app itself. It’s easy to find the camera installation button, and, once you push it, the app walks you through the entire process. Only the process didn’t work. Over and over again, the app told us that it couldn’t locate our devices. We tried everything — and we mean everything. Moving the hub around. Moving the cameras around. At one point, we discovered that Cove cameras only work with a 2.4 GHz signal. Turns out, our router is dual band. It uses both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz. So we spent a little time figuring out how to switch to the right band. Unfortunately, even that didn’t work.

Finally, two days later, we broke down and called the customer-service number — only to be told that the Cove app was currently having trouble with camera installation. Not trouble, as in it’ll be back up in an hour. Trouble, as in we don’t know when in the foreseeable future it might be working properly. We were told to install the cameras via the Eufy app instead.

To be fair, we should have called way sooner than we did. We can be stubborn about trying to figure things out on our own, and this time it cost us an extra couple of days. Even so, it would have been nice to know the installation system didn’t work before I spent two days trying to figure out what I was doing wrong.

Everything eventually worked out. It wasn’t ideal having to use two separate apps for a week, but by then Cove had worked out its app issues and we got the system to recognize our cameras. The video doorbell arrived around the same time, and just like that we had everything up and running. The holidays, right? Even so, getting everything up and running didn’t go quite as smoothly as we hoped.

Expert Examined

From Joshua Lee, Active-duty Police Sergeant

“Self-monitored systems have higher missed alerts simply because the owner has to be the one monitoring the system. If the owner happens to be away from their phone, they won’t be able to alert the police on time. I can talk as a victim myself. I used a self-monitoring system, but while I was away at work, my vehicle was burglarized. The security system sent the motion alert to my phone, but I was unable to look at it until hours later. When I finally sat down to look at my phone, I saw my car being burglarized. By that time, there was very little for police to do since the suspect was wearing gloves and covering his face.” Read more about Joshua Lee →

Equipment

For all the headaches we experienced during setup, we have zero complaints about Cove’s equipment quality. Everything is solidly built and works like a charm. Plus, we had lots of control over settings, which means we were able to get the system working just the way we wanted.

Once everything was set up, we started testing each component piece by piece — even the Cove key fob.

Hub and Touch Screen

The hub is a hub — a flat, white, plastic box with lots of blinking lights that sits next to the router and connects the various pieces of the system. It’s reasonably unobtrusive and does its job, which is what you want in a hub.

We were far more impressed with the touch-screen control panel. As a starting point, it has some heft to it. Clearly, there is some sophisticated hardware inside. It’s also sleek, with a clever design that features a mount that doubles as a stand if you’re setting it up on a flat surface.

Controlling and managing the entire system was a breeze using the Cove touch-screen controller.

In terms of function, the hub gave us absolutely everything we needed to operate our system and keep track of our various sensors, but without overcomplicating the interface. Everything happens with a simple touch, and it’s easy to move among the four basic settings — Stay, Away, Night, and Unarmed. You can access camera feeds once you get them connected to the system, and it’s relatively straightforward to make settings adjustments.

Door Entry Sensors

The sensors had a nice weight to them that made us feel like they were substantial pieces of equipment. Yet Cove has managed to make them sleek and discreet too. They’re not going to ruin your home’s aesthetic, and, in all likelihood, guests won’t even notice they’re there. Peel-and-stick makes them easy to install, and they come with their names already assigned, which makes installation that much simpler.

Like most entry sensors, they’re magnetic. When the connection between the magnets breaks, they send a signal to the hub. If you’re home, you’ll get a friendly voice alert that your door is open. If you’re out and about, the alert shows up via a text message.

Window Entry Sensors

Cove says its window sensors work differently from its door sensors. They look and feel exactly the same as the door sensors, but who are we to quibble? The main thing is that they install just as easily as the door sensors, and they work just as reliably. Raise a window, get an alert.

Glass-Break Sensors

The thing about window entry sensors is that they won’t work if a home invader decides to just break your window’s glass — and, let’s face it, that’s the more likely scenario. Enter the glass-break sensor. Cove’s glass-break sensors are simple square, white tiles you place on the wall opposite your windows. They listen for the particular frequency of breaking glass and let you know any time they pick it up. Like every other piece of equipment from Cove, they’re both sleek and sturdy — the perfect combination.

Motion Sensors

The Cove motion sensor lights up when it detects movement.

This is the one piece of Cove equipment that is a bit more lightweight. The motion sensors felt less solid and more plasticy. Those qualities, however, are actually part of how the device works. The plastic front, for instance, allows the sensor to see what’s happening in front of it and simultaneously allows us to see the red light that comes on when the sensor picks up motion.

Smoke Detector

Your home probably already has a smoke detector. Ours certainly has several — in the kitchen, the hallways, and the bedrooms. An off-the-shelf smoke detector is great for alerting you to potential fire hazards that happen when you’re at home. They’re designed to emit an ear-piercing alarm that can wake you from even the soundest slumber.

What do you do, though, if a problem comes up while you’re at work, or out to dinner, or getting your teeth cleaned? The advantage to a Cove smoke detector is that you get an instant alert no matter where you happen to be. That means you can always get emergency services on site quickly, and that can be the difference between losing and saving your home.

Flood Sensor

A flood sensor can be a valuable piece of equipment for a number of reasons. We live in an older home, and we don’t always trust the pipes — especially in winter. A flood sensor ensures we’re protected if something bursts. The devices are great if you have older appliances — dishwashers, washers, and dryers — or if you just worry about flooding emergencies in general. According to New York University’s Furman Center, 30 million people in the U.S. live in the combined floodplain, so water damage to your home may be more likely than you realize.

Eufy Wired Indoor Camera

Call us Eufy fans. These little cameras come packed with features and offer tremendous value. With pan and tilt functions and the ability to zoom, the indoor models can literally capture everything happening in a room — a complete 360-degree view — and, with 2K resolution, it’s all crystal clear. There’s night vision, so you won’t miss a thing no matter what time of day or night activity occurs. Plus, with sound detection, your camera can capture events even before someone enters the room. You can choose between triggered recording and continuous recording, and you don’t even have to worry about paying for a cloud storage plan. Footage saves right to your mobile device. All this for just $60.

This small but mighty indoor camera pans and tilts to maximize its coverage area.

With indoor cameras, we always worry a little about privacy. When we shut down our Eufy indoor camera, it actually rotated to face the wall, so we knew no one could watch us stumbling through our evening yoga exercises.

Expert Examined

From Joshua Lee, Active-duty Police Sergeant

“Home security technology has gotten better, cheaper, and easier to install, which is why we are seeing an influx in home security video evidence for non-burglary crimes. For that reason, police always look for video surveillance that we can use as evidence of a crime. I remember responding to a large fight in the street. When we arrived, everyone left except for the victim who was unresponsive on the ground. The key to finding the suspects and finding the truth in that investigation was a neighbor’s home surveillance video that recorded the entire incident.”

Dig Even Deeper: Best Indoor Security Cameras

Eufy Outdoor

We were equally impressed with the Eufy outdoor camera. It’s a little pricier at $130, but it’s a hardier device engineered to withstand the elements. It’s rated IP67, which means it’s dust-tight and can withstand immersion in freshwater up to a meter. Some of the extra money also goes into the solar panel, which comes standard and eliminates the need to change batteries. Install the camera as high up as you want — higher angles give you more coverage of your exterior — and you’ll never have to worry about getting back up on a ladder.

Comparison Shopping: Best Outdoor Security Cameras

The outdoor model doesn’t pan and tilt like the indoor version, but it features an adjustable mount so you can maximize what it sees. It offers not only night vision, but also infrared night vision. As with the indoor model, you can store all your footage on your own device.

The outdoor camera’s mounting bracket may not look sturdy, but it held up pretty well.

Just a note: Outdoor cameras can work anywhere. We suspected we may have squirrels in the

attic, so before we installed our camera outside we set it up in our rafters to see what we could see. Luckily, no squirrels. Yay! But then what are those noises we keep hearing? Now we have to worry about ghosts.

Eufy Video Doorbell

The Eufy video doorbell comes with all the same great features as the Eufy cameras, including 2K resolution, night vision capabilities, and two-way talk. It includes person detection, which means we didn’t have to worry about false alarms every time a car happened to drive by. It’s not IP-rated, but it is rated for temperatures down to -4 and up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. And, of course, as a video doorbell, it sits right at the entrance to your home.

One of the nice things about the doorbell is that you have the choice of hardwiring it to replace your existing doorbell or relying on battery power. Either way, it comes with its own chime, which doubles as a local storage device.

We had to wait a couple more days before it arrived, but it was easy to set up the Eufy video doorbell.

Key Fob

The entire Cove system is accessible via the Cove app, and you can make lots of adjustments depending on how you want to secure your home. For simple actions, such as turning the system on and off, you can also purchase a handy key fob. We liked having control over our system in our pocket, and it’s nice to be able to shut down the system before we open the front door. No more rushing to the control panel to try to get everything turned off before the alarm sounds.

Panic Button

We also purchased a panic button, just to see how Cove’s version of the device compares to other systems’. We didn’t really imagine using it, but when we had a plumber over to work on a leaky faucet, we kept it handy as added security. You never know, after all.

Yard Sign

You always want to put up your sign. It lets anyone who may have eyes on your home know that you take security seriously. All yard signs do that, but Cove signs carry the added weight of the Cove name.

Additional Equipment

There are two Cove devices we didn’t try, but we have no doubt they are as sturdy as everything else the company produces.

• Carbon monoxide sensor: Carbon monoxide sensors can be a valuable addition to any home security system since they detect the odorless — and potentially deadly — gas. As with the smoke detector, Cove carbon monoxide sensors let you know there’s a problem even if you’re not at home. We were a little surprised that Cove doesn’t offer a combined smoke and carbon monoxide detector, but it’s probably on their to-do list.
• Secondary siren: The integrated touch-pad siren was plenty loud enough to cover our entire home. If you have a larger home or multiple floors, though, you may consider investing in an additional siren.

Monitoring

Cove doesn’t provide self-monitoring options. If you purchase equipment, you’re basically locked into a professional monitoring plan. Here’s the thing though — you need a professional monitoring plan. OK, DIY can save you a little money, but it’s just not as safe. Home invaders don’t strike when you’re sitting on your couch with your Cove app pulled up. They strike when you’re at the movies, or on vacation, or in the shower. While we were testing our system, we went out with friends to an escape room. Not really the ideal situation to try to deal with a home security alert. With a monitoring plan, though, we knew Cove would take care of any problems that came up.

A Closer Look: Best No-Contract Home Security Systems

Expert Examined

From Joshua Lee, Active-duty Police Sergeant

“The first thing police dispatchers receive from the monitoring station is the property address. This will allow patrol officers to drive toward the home. Another important piece of information we receive from the monitoring station is the alarm type: panic button, glass break, door or window trigger, motion. After we receive the alarm type, the monitoring station will send us the location of the alarm (for example, glass break, kitchen window). All of this information allows patrol officers to plan accordingly while they are driving to the home.”

Cove doesn’t require long-term contracts, so you can cancel service if you happen to come across a better deal from another company. And you get to choose between two plans.

Cove Basic provides 24/7 monitoring, alarm verification, and complete control over your system through the Cove app, all for just $19.99. That’s comparable to some of the more affordable monitoring plans out there, such as Ring’s Premium plan.

Cove’s monitoring covers all Cove equipment you have in your home, but we recommend the Cove Plus plan if you have security cameras.

We went with the Cove Plus plan, which includes camera support and complete integration with Alexa and Google Home. Plus, we got a lifetime equipment warranty. The Plus plan is an additional $10 a month, bringing the total to $29.99. That’s right in line with similar services from other companies. SimpliSafe’s newest plan is comparably priced, for instance, but we should note that SimpliSafe offers a few extras, such as video verification, that you won’t get with Cove.

The Bigger Picture: Cove vs. SimpliSafe

Pricing

Last, but certainly not least, let’s talk a little about Cove pricing. With any home security system, there are three basic costs to worry about: equipment, installation, and monitoring.

Installation

Installation was free. Cove now offers professional installation if you think you may need help, starting at $129. It’s possible to install an entire Cove system without ever picking up a screwdriver, though, so most customers will be better off going that route. We hardwired our doorbell and mounted our outdoor camera and still managed to be done with absolutely everything in under an hour.

Equipment

On paper, Cove seems like a middle-of-the-road system. You can purchase packages that range from $410 to $1,169, which is comparable to what full-service companies such as ADT charge, but Cove is always running some sale or other. Right now, for instance, the company is having a holiday sale offering 70 percent off all equipment. That makes Cove systems far more affordable than ADT.

Premade packages are convenient if you aren’t sure what you need for your home security, but Cove also lets you put together your own package. That will usually save you money on equipment you don’t actually need. On paper, equipment prices are fairly ho-hum. If you catch Cove during one of its many sales, though, you can get some top-tier equipment at very reasonable prices.

Cove lets you pay through Affirm, so you can spread the cost over four payments with no interest charges. In addition, you’ll have a full 60 days to try your equipment risk-free, and shipping is 100 percent free.

Monitoring

Sensor testing.

Cove requires monitoring, so you need to budget this monthly expense when you’re deciding if Cove is right for you. The company offers two plans: the Cove Basic plan and the Cove Plus plan. Here’s what you get with each.

The Bottom Line

A few snafus in the ordering process are forgivable. We had hoped our system would ship immediately, but it ultimately arrived in a timely manner. Even the video doorbell showed up within a week. It was a bit inconvenient to have to call the monitoring center ourselves, but it gave us a chance to test Cove’s customer service.

Our only real complaint had to do with the camera installation. There’s really no excuse for the fact that we couldn’t get our three cameras to connect to the Cove app. Yes, there’s a work-around — we were able to access camera footage through the Eufy app — but “work-around” is not a word you want to hear when you’re dealing with home security. Luckily, that problem also got fixed, if not quite as quickly.

Even with those minor headaches, we still wholeheartedly recommend Cove. Very few companies offer such well-built equipment with so many features, even at much higher prices. The bottom line is that Cove packages are a real steal. Couple that with solid professional monitoring, and you have everything you could ask for in a home security company.

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