Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Melody Chen, Product Marketing Manager for KODA:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to KODA?
A: Koda is the home and garage side of Horizon Brands, a leading manufacturer of home and automotive products. Our product portfolio under Koda currently consists of affordable, innovative smart home, lighting, and garage products for the everyday consumer to help improve their everyday lives, or to improve products we use every day. We focus on developing products relevant to our own daily experiences in the home and garage spaces, and dive into what makes our product unique or better in comparison what’s already existing in the market.
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Q: You’ve recently announced the upcoming availability of your Motion-Activated Light with Camera; could you tell us something more?
A: The Koda LightCam is the first smart home product we have launched so far. We wanted to make a smart home product we felt was missing in the market while integrating our knowledge of LED lighting and motion sensors into our first smart product. We also wanted to focus on how to make a home better or help someone not at home feel more at ease in the smart home space. The first sign of trouble for any home typically starts from the outside. Whether it is a solicitor or an unwanted visitor scooping around the home, the exterior is where it all begins and that is when you want to start seeing alerts.
Designing a product that looked aesthetically pleasing was one of our main focuses. As homeowners, we want products that blends well with the home exterior while meeting our expectations of a home security product. Aesthetics, features, functions, user experience, and ease of installation were all taken into consideration for designing for an exterior security product.
One of the main pain points of smart home products we experienced when testing products was the number of false alarms from products in the market at the time. If you receive a notification, it should be of something important like a person on your property, not leaves blowing in the air. This is one of the main issues the Koda LightCam solves. Our UltraSense™ motion sensor is not an ordinary sensor; it is a two-step sensor that detects movement first and verifies it is true motion that is important for you to know about second. If only one sensor is triggered, you will not be bothered with a false alert.
Let’s say the unwanted visitor skips the front door and walks around your home perimeter. Setting up multiple Koda LightCams makes it easier follow them without blind spots during the day or at night. Each one is set-up to be ready for either direct wiring to an existing junction box or plugging into an outdoor-rated outlet.
When looking at what sets us apart from our competitors, we’re looking at a number of differentiators:
1. UltraSense™ technology – This is our two-step motion detection algorithm to determine which motions require your attention. We focused heavily on decreasing pesky, unimportant event alerts to improve the user experience with the product and app.
2. Split View feature – See three to four Koda LightCams at a time with Split View in the Koda app.
3. Pre-event and post-event recording – Oftentimes, our smart home cameras are great for sending notifications, but not for capturing full events before the person is out of the frame or not capturing the important part of the event. With pre-event and post-event recording, you will always see the first three seconds before motion is detected and last seven seconds after motion is no longer detected just in case.
4. Motion-activated floodlight – 1300 lumens to stop trespassers in their tracks. Night vision is great, but it does not surprise intruders like a security light. At night, our super bright floodlight is bright enough to make intruders think twice before proceeding with their original plan.
5. Manually download live videos and snapshots – Even without a subscription plan, you can still save live videos and snapshots directly onto your smartphone or tablet. To get the most out of your Koda LightCam, we do recommend subscribing a Koda Vault cloud subscription plan, which is only $4/month.
6. Flexible setup for direct wiring or plugging into an outlet – Whether you need to directly wire your product or you need to install it at a location that only has an outlet, the Koda LightCam offers flexible installation options.
Q: Can you give us insights into your products?
A: All our products are consumer centric. From concept to post-sale, developing a product is based on best practices for creating the most positive outcome for the consumer. We’re not focused on a one-time transaction, rather the focus is on building a brand around consumer needs and satisfaction. All this begins from our product brainstorms, to developing prototypes, to post-sale when we review consumer feedback and look for ways to improve the product and consumer experience.
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A: As an owner of many smart home products, I experienced many moments of frustratation during my day when I would receive constant notifications showing nothing of importance from my smart home products. This is the same for everyone I spoke with.
While evaluating what was available in the market, we realized we could offer something better for the consumer. So began our journey into development. We are quite pleased with the final version of the Koda LightCam launched.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: There are many projects we’re passionate about that will expand within the smart home space in addition to our other home and garage products launching later this year. We would love to share them now, but you’ll need follow us our different social media outlets (@kodabuiltofficial on Instagram and Facebook) or sign up for our mailing list from our website to be the first to hear about new products.
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