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Vivint

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Author: Kalicia Bateman

LAST UPDATED: August 11th, 2024

Vivint Smart Home offers comprehensive home security and home automation solutions for more than one million customers across the United States. Vivint provides wireless home security systems with 24/7 professional monitoring and a lifetime equipment warranty. Its systems are professionally installed and supported by 24/7 customer service teams. In this Vivint home security review, we'll provide an inside look at the company's security systems, such as Vivint security alarms and system monitoring, as well as insight into the customer experience with the company.

The company has been in business for 20 years and has received various industry awards, including the PCMag Editors’ Choice Award, U.S. News & World Report's Best Home Security System of 2019, Business Intelligence Group Excellence in Customer Service Award, and more.

Continue reading for The Good, The Bad, and The Bottom Line about Vivint Smart Home, and check out customer reviews of its home security and home automation.

Go Directly to Vivint Smart Home Customer Reviews

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The Good

  • Vivint Home Security Product Ecosystem
  • Vivint Home Security Professional Installation
  • 24/7 Professional Monitoring
  • Vivint Equipment Warranty
  • Compatibility with Smart Home Devices
  • Vivint Home Security Product Financing
  • Vivint App
  • Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro with Smart Sentry™

Vivint Home Security Product Ecosystem

Vivint offers a comprehensive smart home solution, including a control panel hub, security cameras, home automation devices, a connected car device, and security and safety sensors. Customers can also finance their products to get a complete smart home at the start without paying for everything upfront. Here's a detailed list of Vivint's offered products:

  • Vivint Smart Hub — Single touchscreen hub to connect and control your entire smart home. Easily check the status of your system, and quickly communicate with emergency services.
  • Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro — Video doorbell that lets you answer your door from anywhere. Integration with locks and garage doors gives you full control of access to your home.
  • Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro — Vivint's video surveillance camera that can intelligently identify and automatically deter a true threat. It doesn’t just record the crime; it helps prevent it.
  • Vivint Indoor Camera — Indoor security camera that lets you see, speak, and stay connected to your home and loved ones.
  • Vivint Playback — Playback ability that lets customers record 30 days of continuous video from up to four cameras to their Vivint Smart Drive and access it remotely from their mobile device.
  • Kwikset Smart Lock — Smart lock that provides secure, keyless access from anywhere and can even tell you who unlocked a door and when.
  • Garage Door Controller — Garage door remote that allows customers to open or close their garage door remotely from Vivin't mobile app.
  • Vivint Thermostat — Smart thermostat that lets you control the temperature in your home from anywhere. It can also automatically adjust to keep you comfortable when you’re home and save you money when you’re away.
  • Vivint Car Guard — A way to monitor whereabouts of your vehicle, car maintenance updates, or mechanical issues, all through the same mobile app.
  • Vivint Smart Sensor — Window and door sensor that enables customers to ensure doors and windows are secure.
  • Vivint Motion Sensor — Equipment that lets customers track movement in their homes with the passive infrared motion detector.
  • Smoke Detector — Sensor that sends a signal to the panel when smoke is detected, sounding a loud smoke alarm and alerting monitoring immediately to dispatch authorities.
  • Carbon Monoxide Detector — Sensor that sends a signal to the panel when excessive carbon monoxide levels are detected, sounding a loud local alarm and alerting monitoring immediately to dispatch authorities.
  • Vivint Water Sensor — Water sensor that notifies customers of leaks and floods inside the home, as well as freezing indoor temperatures that may lead to bursting pipes.
  • Glass-Break Detector — Sensor that alerts customers if a window is broken in the home.

Vivint Home Security Professional Installation

The home security company offers security systems that are professionally installed by a Vivint smart home pro. This means that your sales rep will schedule a smart home pro to come to your home, consult with you on what your home might need, and help you determine where all the products should go. The technician connects your entire system for you and then shows you how to use it before leaving.

24/7 Professional Monitoring

Vivint includes 24/7 professional monitoring by security certified agents. If homeowners want peace of mind that their houses will be protected at all times, monitoring is an important part of proper home security.

24/7 monitoring means that your alarm will send a signal to a professional monitoring center when a sensor detects a break-in, smoke, or carbon monoxide. The monitoring center will then contact you through the system's cellular two-way communication to verify whether the alarm is an actual emergency or a false alarm.

Vivint Equipment Warranty

All Vivint equipment is under a lifetime warranty, while installation comes with a 120-day warranty. After 120 days, service calls are $49.

Compatibility with Smart Home Devices

A useful offering from Vivint is its compatibility with the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, which allows homeowners access to voice-controlled control features. Vivint is also compatible with other popular technology, including the Nest Learning Thermostat, Nest Thermostat E, Philips Hue lightbulbs, and Z-Wave Alliance certified products.

Compatibility with these smart home products is especially helpful for improving energy efficiency in your home. 

Vivint Home Security Product Financing

Customers have the option of a zero-percent interest loan for 42 or 60 months, so they can get a complete Vivint security system without having to pay for everything upfront (as with DIY systems). The accompanying service contract matches the term of the loan so that customers have service while they are paying off the products. Once a customer pays off their equipment loan, they have the ability to go to a month-to-month service subscription.

Vivint App

The Vivint Smart Home app is available in the app stores for both iPhone and Android devices, and you can use it to manage and control your Vivint system from anywhere. Customers can also use the Vivint app to set up rules for certain events to happen automatically when triggered by other products or at specific times during the day. For example, you can have your doors automatically lock every night at 10:00 PM or have your indoor camera record a clip whenever the front door is opened.

Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro with Smart Sentry™

Vivint has an outdoor camera called the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro. The camera includes two-way talk, hybrid wired Wi-Fi connection, a customizable surveillance zone, a 4K sensor with 1080p quality with HD zoom, a wide-angle lens with a 140-degree view, and night vision. The camera even includes what Vivint calls Smart Sentry™, which is an LED ring light on the camera that lights up and plays an alert sound to let intruders know they've been spotted.

When the camera detects motion and a person is in the camera's view for too long, that's when Smart Sentry™ is triggered. You can customize notifications so that the camera will notify you when any person approaches. If you want notifications to be more specific, you can set the alert to only notify you when someone may be loitering. The camera also automatically records 20-second auto recordings whenever something triggers the camera's motion detectors. 

By using the Vivint Smart Home app, you can also access live feed of your camera at any time as well as past footage that is stored in your Vivint Smart Drive. The drive saves continuous footage for up to 30 days.

If you don't want to install the camera(s) yourself, the alarm company offers professional installation and will synch your Wi-Fi, your outdoor camera(s), and your Vivint Smart Home products together, so all of your devices are connected.  

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The Bad

  • $99 Moving Fee
  • Lengthy Contracts
  • Vivint Home Security Cost
  • Fair Credit Reporting Act Violation

$99 Moving Fee

Vivint charges customers a $99 move fee if you transfer services to a new residence within the first year of a signed contract. Many home security companies offer moving services completely free of charge.

Lengthy Contracts

Vivint requires 42- or 60-month contracts for its security services if you choose to finance your products. Although contracts are common within the home security industry, typically they only last up to 36 months.

The upside to a long contract is Vivint gives you the choice of a zero-percent interest loan for the length of the contract, which may make the long-term contract worth it for some customers.

Vivint Home Security System Cost 

Customers can get a Vivint alarm system starting at $29.99 per month for monitoring, with no activation fee or equipment fee. This basic monitoring also requires the purchase of a Starter Kit, which includes one touchscreen hub, two door/window sensors, one motion sensor, and $100 in sensors.

Although this is a relatively low monthly monitoring fee, expanding to home automation products and adding cameras will increase this monthly service cost and require you to either pay upfront for or finance the product cost. Like some other security providers, Vivint does not list its specific pricing for its home security system on its website, so you will need to call Vivint's customer service reps to gather all pricing information.

Fair Credit Reporting Act Violation

In May 2021, The Department of Justice, in coordination with the Federal Trade Commission, announced a $20 million settlement for Vivint's violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The civil complaint alleges the home security company unlawfully obtained the private credit information of unsuspecting consumers to apply for loans for customers who did not pass a required hard credit check. When Vivint customers defaulted on those loans, the company then sold this false debt to third-party debt collectors, an act that essentially constitutes identity theft.

This breach of consumer trust, though largely enacted by the company's door-to-door sales representatives, was made possible by Vivint's failure to implement an Identity Theft Prevention Program, a measure the company is now required to adopt as part of the settlement.

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The Bottom Line

Vivint home security systems feature a comprehensive selection of home automation smart home products, video surveillance with security cameras, and energy management features with professional installation and 24/7 professional monitoring. The company's most unique offering is its Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro, which automatically detects and deters crime.

In addition to Vivint's robust product offerings, the company has its own mobile app that allows customers to manage their home security system and smart home products from anywhere at any time. 

Vivint products are ala carte, meaning every system is completely customizable to the homeowner's needs. The home security provider's equipment is also compatible with most smart home devices, including the Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Nest Thermostat, and more. You can find the complete list in "The Good" section above. 

A downside to Vivint is the company has a long-term contract that lasts 42 or 60 months if you choose to finance your products rather than pay for them upfront. This is longer than most home security companies out there. However, the fact that Vivint offers product financing for the length of the contract may be a benefit. 

You can find Vivint reviews located below if you want to learn more about the customer experience.

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Vivint Frequently Asked Questions

What comes as standard equipment in Vivint home security packages?

Vivint provides customized systems based on each customer’s unique needs, so it’s difficult to define standard equipment. That said, there is a Starter Kit that most customers begin with as a solid baseline.  Typically, the Starter Kit will include the touchscreen Vivint Smart Hub control panel, a Vivint yard sign and light, two door/window sensors, a motion sensor, and $100 worth of customizable equipment. Most customers also opt for at least one or two security cameras and a few additional pieces of equipment.

What is Vivint’s cancellation policy?

In most cases, a customer can cancel within their right of rescission (three days) without any penalty. After that, the customer is required to pay the remaining balance of the service and equipment for the life of the agreement. 

Does Vivint require an installation or activation fee?

Vivint typically charges a $49 install fee, which is the least expensive professional installation fee in the industry. It does not charge an activation fee.

Does Vivint run a credit check?

Vivint will run a credit check if the customer intends to finance the equipment. If the customer pays upfront for the equipment, no credit check is needed.

How much does Vivint professional monitoring cost?

Vivint’s monthly monitoring service starts at $29.99 per month.

Do you own your Vivint home security equipment?

Once a customer pays off their equipment, they own it. The vast majority of customers finance the equipment over 60 months.

What devices can you use to access your Vivint cameras?

Customers can access their Vivint camera feeds through the Vivint Smart Home app which is compatible with most smartphones and tablets. It is not compatible with Kindle tablets or older flip phones.