Minut Point Smart Alarm Review

Our Video Review of Minut

If you want to see Minut in action, watch our full video review on Youtube, embedded below.

Setting Up the Point Smart Alarm

The Point is the only piece of equipment you’ll ever need when using Minut. Correction: It’s the only piece of equipment available. Now on its third generation, this little device monitors an entire space. It can monitor movement, noise levels, air quality, light, mold, and more.

Because it’s an all-in-one device, setup was a breeze. We downloaded the Minut app, created an account, connected the Point to our Wi-Fi, and stuck it to our apartment’s ceiling. That’s it! All in all, it took us less than 10 minutes, which has to be a record for us. After that, the app guided us through the rest of the setup process.

The Point Smart Alarm: What Can It Do?

So what is the Point, exactly? Well, it’s a wireless device that covers a room of 530 square feet or more. For some people, it may make sense to put multiple Points throughout their homes, but one was more than enough for our very small New York apartment. Now, using this one device, we got notified whenever the Point detected changes in:

• Motion
• Glass breaking
• Temperature
• Humidity
• Mold
• Light
• Noise.

The Point even recognized our existing, hardwired smoke and CO alarms, alerting us if they went off. It even sounded a siren, which would be really useful if we, god forbid, ever have an intrusion.

Now, we know what you’re thinking: what if someone just up and smashes the Point? Since the entire security system is in one, wireless device, we sort of put all of our eggs in one basket. However, the Point does have tamper protection, so we were alerted when some of our experts tried to move it. With the siren blaring, intruders won’t be able to easily remove or mess with the Point.

Now let’s talk power. Since the Point is wireless, it’s dependent on a rechargeable battery, which we could charge with a USB cord. But even when we forgot to recharge our battery, the backup battery kicked in and would’ve lasted six months, had we never recharged.

While this device is cool and has tons of capabilities, it obviously doesn’t have it all, like a camera, for instance. However, since Minut works with IFTTT, we were able to hook up an IFTTT-compatible camera from a third party to the system, which brings us to our next point…

How Did Minut Work with Our Smart Home?

Even though Minut is a standalone device, it actually worked with Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT. That not only meant that we could command it with our voices, but it also meant that it worked with other connected devices from hundreds of smart home brands, creating automated triggers so that the devices work with each other without even having to direct them. Let’s take a closer look at how Minut fit into our smart home.

Alexa

We told Alexa2 to arm and disarm our security system, but don’t worry— for disarming, we had to say our pin code out loud.

Google Assistant

The Google action for Minut is called Point Home. While we could tell Google Assistant to arm our Point, we weren’t able to disarm it using voice commands. But, one feature that Alexa lacked was the ability to ask the Point for the temperature, which was pretty nice.

IFTTT

IFTTT, which stands for If This Then That, lets us connect devices from different companies to each other, creating actions that occur automatically. For example, we had our Arlo cameras arm when Minut arms without having to do it manually every time we left the house. By automating our home security, we ensured that we are always protected. Many cameras and other smart home devices work with IFTTT, which made it easy to integrate Minut into our smart home.

Does Minut Require Monthly Fees?

Since Minut doesn’t offer professional monitoring, we didn’t pay anything extra after buying Minut in the first place. However, if you have multiple properties, you can choose to pay Minut a subscription fee that’ll get you unlimited sensor history, plus the ability to add multiple users to your Minut account for $7.99 a month. If avoiding monthly fees are on your mind, we’ve put together a list of what we believe are the top home security systems without monthly fees for you.

Minut’s pricing is pretty reasonable, but for most people, they won’t pay anything monthly or yearly to use Minut. However, if you are looking for professional monitoring, we’d recommend checking out Ring Alarm, which offers it for only $10 a month or $100 a year, or abode, which offers it for $8.33 a month or $100 a year, among the lowest prices around. Learn more in our Ring Alarm pricing or abode pricing pages.

Getting Support with Minut

We didn’t need much help with Minut, but if we did, we used the online support center3, live chat or email. When we did have questions and emailed Minut, we got responses back in the same day, which is even more impressive when you consider the major time difference between New York and Sweden. But for those that want phone support, Minut may not be up to your standards.