A smart anti-theft alarm to guard individual possessions can be utilised for a never ending list of things, with bikes, bags and notebook computers posing the most risk of theft or neglect by us. So we put the €29 Sen.se GuardPeanut to the test to see if this ‘smart’ device can be relied upon. Buy on Amazon

Design

Identical in shape to the previously reviewed Sen.se ThermoPeanut, this little green sensor (plastic case colour is interchangeable), vaguely looking like a peanut, clips, sticks and hangs thanks to the included accessories within the box. So we can conceal the GuardPeanut underneath a bike seat via putty, hang it from a bag via a chain or leave it stuck onto a notebook lid when in line at the local coffee shop as a deterrent. Really the sphere of uses for which this could be applied are as previously stated: never ending. It uses a watch battery that lasts for around 3-4 months based on experience with our ThermoPeanut.

Does it work?

As previously expressed within our ThermoPeanut review, the App (worth reading for an in-depth look at the App) is very straightforward and makes setting up Peanuts really easy. The sounds and notification vibrations to our iPhone are all adjustable here within the App. Notably now we have two Peanuts from Sen.se, we can appreciate the organised colour coded shells that correlate to their digital counterparts on-screen. A tap on one within the App will pop up time-stamped motion detected activity. In certain scenarios we don’t necessarily want to acknowledge every little bump or tap, and Sen.se realised this and made motion sensibility adjustable to suit how and where it is affixed. Also adjustable is the internal speaker alarm within the GuardPeanut that can get as loud as 90dB or be totally disabled for discreet monitoring.

An encouragement to use the GuardPeanut is that a single press of the button will enable monitoring. When in range of each other our iPhone 7 has no quibbles with the connection and immediately alerts us if the sensor detects motion. We’ve had it attached to a front door where the maximum sensitivity it will detect is someone knocking. Turning the sensitivity down, it makes a trusty backpack deterrent and if someone were to grab or rummage (harsher sensitivity) we will know in a split second. However, a downfall should be noted, if we pop this under our bike seat and nip into a large supermarket, the Bluetooth connection will break away. So there are perimeters which must definitely be kept in mind. Nevertheless, when out of the home and in an office setting, you can still monitor something at home, say the front door, if you use another device to piggy-back notifications onto the Sen.se cloud, thus allowing you to view from anywhere.

Verdict

The GuardPeanut is yet another useful edition to this smart device family from Sen.se in the right settings. Realistically its main focus is short range protection of belongings in public spaces and in this area it excels - with dynamic customisation of notifications and sensitivity for different scenarios. But for longer range protection, it’s a bit pointless. Buy on Amazon