Netatmo launches affordable connected objects, but with a new brand

Affordable products at Netatmo, or almost. With products costing more than €300 for the most part, like The Smart Lock finally released at the beginning of the year, the French specialist in connected homes obviously does not reach all consumers. A positioning perfectly assumed moreover, which does not prevent it from wanting to broaden its target today. Netatmo is therefore launching new products, but also and above all a new brand: Omajin.

Affordable prices and easy to use

With Omajin — a contraction of the words “home” and “imagine,” we are told — Netatmo intends to appeal to a “more novice” audience. The products must therefore not only be more accessible in terms of price, they must also be more functional by being easy to install and use. This involves adding a memory card for products that require one, as well as a new dedicated application — for Android and iOS —, even if it means that Omajin products will be a separate ecosystem. They will not be able to mix with Netatmo products, nor with Legrand products, which, as a reminder, bought the company in 2018. And since we are talking about ecosystems, let us point out that HomeKit compatibility will remain reserved for Netatmo products, but Omajin will still offer Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility… with an update planned for the end of September. We are obviously not talking about Matter at this stage.

Omajin's positioning can therefore be explained by some sacrifices, and Netatmo has also admitted to having given up on French design. The company is rather using Legrand's relationships to develop its catalogue, but indicates that it provides fairly strict specifications and it must be recognised that the products we have seen seem quite high quality. We particularly appreciate the metal casing of the solar camera. In total, there are five products that have come to concretise the launch of Omajin, spread across the Security, Comfort and Energy ranges.

Two surveillance cameras and a video doorbell

It is obviously in the Security range that the solar camera is placed, alongside the wireless security camera and the wireless video doorbell. The interest of the first obviously lies in its integrated solar panel. Thanks to it and its 8800 mAh battery, the user does not need to draw power from outside, nor to recharge it. It is also the only model equipped with projectors to offer color images at night, in addition to infrared vision in black & white, but it is on the other hand very imposing and limited to 1080p recordings with a field of vision of 120 °.

The other camera certainly doesn't have a solar panel, but it still has a battery — it even has a slightly larger capacity (9600 mAh) — and has a 5 Mpx sensor that allows it to deliver 2K images, while offering a 140° field of vision. It is also much more compact and versatile, since it can be fixed to the wall or simply placed on a piece of furniture. Surprisingly, the wireless security camera is better protected against bad weather (IP65, compared to IP55). Just like the solar camera, it can detect movements and integrates artificial intelligence trained to recognize people, but also animals and vehicles and thus limit false alerts.

The doorbell offers the same detection options, and also delivers 2K images with a 140° field of vision. It also works on battery, but its battery only offers a capacity of 6700 mAh which should still allow it to last up to 10 months. Finally, it comes with a chime, in addition to a 64 GB microSD card common to all devices in the range. It is offered at the recommended retail price of €134.99. The small battery-powered camera is available at the recommended retail price of €114.99 compared to €164.99 for the solar model.