E-commerce is an almost natural, if not regular, occurrence for many of us. From Amazon to food delivery, we expect a new level of self-sufficiency from online shopping. In this door-to-door age of retail we also open the door to security lapses for those items that sit unattended on our stoops.
Anker’s sub-brand eufy hopes to help alleviate those concerns with a new Kickstarter for a connected dropbox they call Smart Drop. This digital lockbox is an innovative way to make sure no one walks off with your goods while you are at work or just unable to come to the door.
Lock it down while keeping you in the loop
Eufy has accomplished this with a combination of a motion-activated security camera and essentially a steel cage with a smart lock. The Smart Drop comes equipped with a full 1080p camera with motion sensors and 160-degree viewing angles. There’s also a night vision lens for when deliveries happen after dark.
On par with other offerings, the Smart Drop will give you delivery notifications when someone activates the sensors. It will also start to record. These recordings can be stored locally when paired with eufy’s HomeBase or in the cloud on your account.
You’ll also want to make sure the box itself is well guarded and eufy thought about this as well. The Smart Drop is cold-rolled carbon steel which should take a beating from the elements or a breach attempt. There’s an anchoring system to bolt the Smart Drop to either the floor or wall of your porch.
Smart Drop is weatherproof with a full IP65 rating and has an internal drainage system to allow any water that makes it in while a package is being dropped an escape route. Speaking of the inside, you have 68L (25.6″x17.7″x15″) of storage space. While this won’t allow a BowFlex to be stowed away, it should fit a couple of the most common box sizes.
AI and a little help
And you can’t have a security device without voice integration these days and the eufy Smart Drop supports both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. That AI mentality isn’t just for the end-user though. eufy has built-in a “courier guidance” feature that uses audio prompts and lights to help make sure the delivery guy gets your package secured correctly.
Atop the AI and remote entry options, you have a dedicated keypad, physical key, or one-button push to give access to the Smart Drop. This will give you options of temporary unlock with single-button or PIN code to your carrier on the day of delivery. And you always want the fail-proof keyed method just in case.
The unit is powered by a removable and rechargeable battery bank. eufy is claiming this will last three months between charges, but without some hands-on time, we can’t verify.
What’s it gonna cost me?
Eufy will be available for pre-order on August 25 via Kickstarter. The early bird pricing will be $199 with an estimated ship date of the third quarter in 2021. As with most crowd-funding, it takes time to get the train going to production and you always run the risk this never makes it to market.
What do you think? Is the eufy Smart Drop something you’re willing to invest in? Let us know in the comments! If you need more details you can also check out the eufy website.