So I Decided to Try Cat X Vanta
Been hearing about this Cat X Vanta thing forever. Finally grabbed one last Tuesday when it went on sale. Opened the box and saw three things: a little black puck, a power adapter, and this weird sticky pad thing. Manual was useless – just said “download app and follow instructions” with zero details.
First Setup Disaster
Plugged the puck into my kitchen outlet near the router. Blue light blinked twice and stopped. Thought “cool, ready to go”. Downloaded that app everyone talks about. Tried connecting for like 20 minutes. Nothing. The app kept saying “device not found”. Unplugged everything, did it again. Still garbage.
Took me three tries to notice the tiny reset button under the puck. Held it with a toothpick until it flashed yellow. Suddenly the app saw it! Moral: RTFM woulda saved time except the manual sucked.
Getting It Working (Sorta)
App made me create an account – name, email, phone number, the whole shopping list. Why they need my phone for a Wi-Fi thing? Whatever. Next it asked to access my location 24/7. Red flag right there, but couldn’t skip it. The app said no location = no setup. Fine. Gave permissions reluctantly.
Now came the security part. Had to choose:
- Option A: Scan QR code
- Option B: Blinky lights
Picked blinky lights cause my phone camera’s busted. Held the phone near the puck while it flashed like a disco ball. App failed twice. Third time it finally gave me this screen:
“Connected! ๐ Your security is now active!”
Except nothing looked different. Couldn’t tell what it actually did.
Testing This Mystery Thing
Plugged my laptop into the guest network. Tried opening random websites to see if it blocked anything. Nope. Checked if my phone downloads got faster? Same old garbage speed. Then I realized my smart TV stopped connecting. Turns out Cat X blocked it as “unknown device”.
Had to dig through five menus to whitelist the TV. Find device list, tap TV, approve, wait 10 minutes. Total pain. Now it works but what security is happening? Your guess is as good as mine.
Final Thoughts After One Week
App keeps notifying me about “security events” every few hours. Yesterday it said blocked 42 threats. What threats? Where? Zero details. Could be my toaster for all I know. Battery drains faster cause the location service runs nonstop. And when my nephew visited? Had to whitelist his Switch too. Again.
Does it work? Technically yes. But feels like babysitting a black box that sends mysterious alerts. Would I recommend it? Only if you enjoy constant notifications without explanations.