20 Best Home Camera For Pets (2023 Updated)

## What’s free and what requires a monthly fee Wyze seems to change their free features often, so this information may soon become outdated, but from what I understand, here is currently what you get free (as of September 2022).

What’s included free: – A snapshot image sent as a push notification to your phone, any time motion occurs – A 5-minute “cool-down” period before you receive a notification of the next motion event – Same with sound detection – On-device Smoke and CO alarm sound detection with push notification – Viewing motion clips from a microSD card (not included) What requires the cheaper monthly plan (Cam Plus Lite, name-your-price for now): – 12-second video clips stored in the cloud (this was previously free, but is no longer) – Person detection What requires the more expensive monthly plan (Cam Plus, about $2/month per camera): – Unlimited video length – No “cool-down” period – Package detection – Vehicle detection – Pet detection – Web viewer ## Design The Wyze Cam v3 maintains its simple “box” design of the earlier versions.

It has a magnetic, extendable base that makes it easy to mount to something like your refrigerator or a metal pole and point it at your target area. The Wyze Cam is powered by a Micro USB cable and a 5V 1A power supply (included).

## Performance The low light performance of the Wyze Cam v3 is very impressive! If there is enough ambient light (like from street lights), it can give you “color night vision”. However, if the area is pitch black (like a basement at night), then you can use the infrared night vision which is in black and white, but extends far enough for a medium to large-sized room.

One of my favorite features of the Wyze Cam is that you can insert a microSD card (not included) and continuously record, kind of like your own closed-circuit security DVR system. Unfortunately, using the app to navigate through the timeline is a little cumbersome and slow and it takes some time to find the spot you’re looking for.

And the one caveat is that if someone steals the camera, they have your microSD card with all the footage as well. The camera also has a small built-in siren that you can sound whenever you see something suspicious going on.

It’s not ear-piercing, but should be enough to let someone nearby know that someone is watching them. ## Longevity I actually had the very first generation of the Wyze Cam and found that it did its job very well and it was cool to watch the company grow, but at the same time, I felt like every few months there was some new kind of “drama” associated with this inexpensive security camera with features being discontinued and urgent firmware updates needing to be installed.

I can’t really be too upset with the company because the hardware is inexpensive and I believe the company generally has good intentions and they, of course, need to sustain their business model. Just be aware that you may need to read some long emails to try and figure out how to keep your camera and its features working and that the cameras may eventually “expire” after a few years and no longer receive security updates.

This is true for any piece of technology that connects to the internet and is not specific to Wyze Cam. ## Summary If you’re looking for an inexpensive way to check-in on your home when you’re away, the Wyze Cam is easy to set up, and they’re cheap enough to buy in multiples.

You may also want to invest in a microSD card for each camera if you would prefer to use local storage and/or don’t want to pay for monthly cloud storage.

Received 3 Wyze V3 cameras in July of 2021 as a gift. No technology you buy is by any means perfect and these are no exception, HOWEVER for the price these are GREAT little cameras and the night vision is very nice.

I have wanted something like these for a long time but all the other companies were too expensive for their equipment and then the monthly fee and that was not possible for me for what I wanted them for.

These suit my purposes just fine of just being able to see who (or what) is around all hours of the day and night. I purchased separately the Wyze 32 gig SD cards and have one installed and set on continuous record on each camera so when the 12 seconds notification is up I can hit the playback button if I want and see what happened before or after and you have the option to record that to your phone if needed to save it for later.

No need to take out the SD card from the camera as when the card is full it just starts over on its own re-writing on the oldest data and that is fine with me. I would recommend getting the SD cards in the V3 cameras and set them to continuous record.

I live where its cold, sometimes below zero, and the snow blows, these cameras are outside and under an open porch roof or overhang so somewhat protected and they worked well through their first winter.

These do not run on a battery, you will need to plug them in somehow, I have ground fault outlets on my open air porches and so far haven’t had a problem. These cameras also have a two way speaker and “siren”, not perfect but do “work” and I have turned the microphone on while watching LIVE and told the raccoons to “scat” when they were on my back patio, cheap entertainment.

LOL. The siren just made the one raccoon more curious, come closer and look up at the camera, maybe it just sounded like a wounded animal to the raccoon. I would like to get a few more of these V3 cameras for the areas I can’t see and to put one to view the bird feeders.

You can also watch what is happening LIVE and that could be fun for the bird feeder. You could also share for example that camera on the bird feeder with your housebound friend or relative that lives elsewhere and the LIVE feature is nice for that.

The easiest they could do that (in my opinion) is with a smart phone and the wyze app, I am not very techy to figure out anything else. Now the downside. Overall easy to set up, but it took me a few times to get it done.

At this time I would not rely on these for a business security cameras or high crime areas where you depend highly on these cameras for security. They are great little cameras with a good picture for the price, but if you need to zoom in to try and read a license plate, or see a face more clearly that is not within just a few feet of the camera to help in a criminal case, you will be disappointed.

I will also add I have nothing to compare these with other brands, but this is my observation with these. I have been “fumbling” around with different settings in each camera, which is done through the Wyze app.

Trying different angles of the cameras to try and find what works best for each one. The “detection zone” to monitor movement is not perfect when you set areas in each camera to “not to detect” motion in an area is not very good and headlights and their reflections will set off a “motion” for your camera to record even if you think you have that headlight area blocked out, headlights reflect a lot and probably will just have to live with it.

So if you live in a high traffic area, or a corner lot with lots of turning cars and headlights, good luck and realize that is probably how it is going to be. They also will detect motion when tree branches, or shadows of the branches move, or the snow when it comes down or blows will set it off too, lightening storm or whatever moves or changes in lighting will set it off to record.

The people detection is a hit or miss in my experience and you get people detection with what they call Cam Plus Lite and you currently can get that for free or pay whatever price you want. You will need the Cam Plus Lite to see your 12 second videos, otherwise you won’t get video in your notifications and with Lite there is what they call a “5 minute cooldown”, it won’t record any motion on that camera for another 5 minutes, (unless you have installed an SD card and have that set to continuous record).

You can upgrade to Cam Plus for Wyze’s set price and that comes with a few more perks and does not have the “5 minute cooldown” like the Lite version, but that is not something I need at this time. In my notifications it sometimes will say that a person is a “motion” and not a “person”, or one of the neighborhood feral cats sometimes is detected as a “person” and not a “motion”.

This to me is more of a “fun little toy” and not something I have to rely on for protecting say a business from any crime going on and have to rely on for a criminal case. But if I do have any criminal or other issues at my home, hopefully I will have something good enough to help with an investigation.

Also you pretty much have to “play around” with the different settings to see what they do, no real “instructions” on how to use those settings or “tips” on what each one is or suggestions on how to set them that I found.

Can probably find things online if you look. So many people complain on a currently $30 camera with basically no monthly fee unless you choose to pay some in “Lite”. They are not perfect, no piece of technology is, they all can have issues, but for the price I feel it is a decent value, well made and I just try to ignore some things as the camera does serve my purposes as mentioned above.

Been using for over a month now. Very, VERY happy with these! My family uses them to keep an eye on an elderly parent who is recovering from a brain bleed (that I luckily caught quickly before any brain damage occurred), still living independently, and is at increased risk of complications if he hits his head on anything while recovering.

We cannot move in with him and he cannot move in with any of us, so this has been the perfect step for us to take until he is recovered and/or until he needs to be moved to an assisted living facility.

I set up four cameras do we can see him everywhere except in the actual bathrooms; we can see him enter and exit the bathrooms and I live 4 minutes away so if he were to be in the bathroom for an excessively long time (or if we would hear anything that sounds like a crash/fall), I’d be on my way over instantly and could also call 911 on my way if I felt it was needed.

When he had the brain bleed he was TERRIBLY confused and did not think to call anyone for help, nor do I think he would have been able to use the phone…he could barely get out sporadic full sentences at some points (it was very hit or miss) and was aware of some sort of “problem” but definitely couldn’t identify that he was having a medical emergency.

These cameras have brought us tremendous peace of mind, the images are of very good quality when viewing from my smartphone, and I LOVE that I am able to speak through them if he doesn’t answer his phone.

I do wish there was some sort of button he could press to send me a notification that he’d like to talk to one of us, but that’s a whole different service and if he can’t remember how to dial a phone he wouldn’t remember to push the button so we’d have a newly worrisome issue to deal with anyway.

We mostly just use these to check in on him and make sure he hasn’t fallen, but also like knowing that (with the memory cards installed) we would be able to look back on old videos to check for any falls or head bumps (on a door frame or wall, for instance) if he would suddenly show any sign of another brain bleed or any other mental deficit.

(When the doctor asks, “Has he fallen lately or hit his head?”, without these cameras we would have to reply, “I don’t know”, unless he showed physical signs of a bump to his head. That’s not helpful.

These could literally be a lifesaver! (Or a quality of life saver. ) I’d also recommend for keeping an eye on sneaky kids (thinking of putting on in our pantry lol) and diabetic patients who are at higher-than-usual risk of diabetic comas, fall risks, or any other medical, mental health, or behavioral issues.

When he went out of town, we also left them on just in case someone would’ve broken into his house. On occasion, I do get some briefly pixelated images, but I’m thrilled with the setting options and greatly appreciate that they continue recording as soon as they detect motion.

They detect and begin recording very quickly too, which I have found impressive. The annual cost for four cameras at this quality and with these options is very reasonable as well. They’ve also had many updates which I’m happy to see because it shows the company is keeping up with these cameras.

Thank you, Wyze!.

I actually went out of my way to get this first gen camera even though the second gen had just came out. Reason: first gen works with the Nest app (and Google Home) whereas the second gen only works through Google Home.

If you like the Nest video layout better or you want to view video on a web browser you need the first gen camera. Also with the nest app you have increased sharing options. With google home your sharing options are limited.

Currently you can not share select items like a single camera under a ‘home’ in google home – instead everything in the home will be shared with full read write delete access. If you want to share a single camera for instance you will need to create a separate ‘home’.

So in some ways, yes the 1st gen one is better. However, I’m sure this will be EOL soon.

I have 3 other Google Nest products. The set-up for all of them was simple. The Nest cam…different story. When I scanned the QR code the app took me right back to the home page. Live chat with Google was disappointing.

I tried the QR on 3 different devices, so the devices weren’t the issue. In fact I had set-up a Nest Hub minutes earlier. The cam was the problem. Tried the different route using the “key. ” Still nothing.

Quickly drove to Best Buy and got my money back. (While chatting with Google rep, was left hanging several times for minutes. Arabella was juggling several customers obviously-normal procedure, I know.

But she was forgetting things we had already discussed. ).

Arguably best cam system. I previously used Canary, and the app, including the devices themselves we so buggy. Sometimes you would get an extreme amount of alerts and then sometimes you would get none at all.

With nest cameras you get alerts depending on what enters or exits the cameras view and it doesn’t force your phone to make a ringing sound. Several reviews point out the nest aware subscription as a point off of the whole product, but I paid for a product and had a subscription that was subpar.

Quality: the cameras are decent weight, leading to a fair structure and sturdiness. The camera quality is excellent. You have clarity to actually see what is going on and very little pixelation. Price: The price is really the kicker for some people, but you’re either paying for quality or nothing.

Peace of mind is worth the cost. Overall I am very pleased with the product and the programming works as intended. 👍.

We have been buying Wyze Cams since early on. We pretty much have most of their camera line and never had a camera go down. We have a 7800sq ft 1700’s historic home and Wyze is approved by our HO8 insurance policy.

We recently added the Cam Pan V2 to our line-up and now that we’ve tested it thoroughly, we will be adding several more. The freedom to see 360 degrees at the touch of a button is priceless. The night vision and motion tracking are dead on accurate.

Crystal clear picture with instant connection every time. The siren feature already saved us from a middle of the night break in attempt. The continued support by Wyze for their products makes our old cameras as reliable as our new.

I will say that this cam is a must buy, even to replace an existing static wyze cam. Children, pets, visitors, all can easily be monitored. Just make sure to purchase a micro SD card as well. I would also recommend Cam Plus for at least tour main cameras.

The AI has really advanced and can distinguish pretty much every event accurately. I haven’t recieved a false notification in a long time. I always test for a decent period of time before I write a review.

I can assure you that this is a purchase you will not regret and the perfect upgrade for members of the Wyze family.

I use my cams for monitoring exterior security through my windows. I replaced a couple of my Wyze Cam V2’s with the Pan Cam. The Pan Cam’s range of detection or distance from the camera for triggering a recording is not nearly as far.

It’s hit or miss whether a person walking on the street will trigger a recording event, even with the detection setting at 98%. The other pan cam monitors property immediately adjoining and there is definitely a diminished capacity for triggering recording events, day and night.

At night the Pans do pick up a better picture if there is any light, but in very low light the pictures have more “moving” pixelation. When any of my motion detection lights come on, the pictures are almost totally obliterated and never recover as well as the original V2 cams, making it almost impossible to see what triggered the motion light.

The daytime videos are more vibrant and being able to move the camera remotely is a great feature. If I had know ahead of time the enhancements and take aways of the Pan V2 vs the original Cam V2 cameras, I wouldn’t have purchased them.

I own 3 different Wyze camera products (cam outdoor, cam v2, cam v3 and pan cam v2). I have been very pleased with their cameras up until the pan cam v2. What I like about the Wyze cameras is the quick connection to see the camera view.

I also own a Ring camera, and the loading time to see actual footage takes way too long. By the time the action is out of frame the video starts. I find the Ring camera not very useful, and instead switch to the Wyze camera to actually view what the notification was about.

So when I purchased the pan camera, I thought it would work as well as my v2 and outdoor camera. The pan camera optics seem to be much different. The night vision is not as good as the v2 or v3 for sure.

I put the v3 camera up in my attic so that I could check rat traps without having to get the ladder out and head up into the attic. The issue is that I cannot mount the v3 camera so that it has a view of all the traps.

So when the pan cam came out, I thought there was my answer. Unfortunately the attic is quite dark, and the pan cam is just unusable in that environment. I cannot see enough detail to see what I need.

The v2, and v3 is a much better camera in my estimation in darker environments.

We have a Ring Indoor Cam in one of our rooms (Where one of our cats stays when we aren’t home) so we can monitor our pets while we are at work. We use a few cameras , different brands, and the Ring is exceptional.

We have 2 way speech on it, so we can talk to and be spoken to back, it has an alarm option and the ability to record footage. Mine needs a subscription though to save footage (which is a monthly fee), which is the only downside as our others save the footage on Memory cards by looping.

The footage of these Ring cameras are clear and great, and has the ability to change into night vision too which is great. You can be alerted when there is motion, and the camera size is quite small and minimalistic and doesn’t take up much room or look like an eyesore.

If you are happy about paying a monthly subscription then this is great, although you can still run it without one (access via their app on your phone) but you can just view, not save footage. A great quality camera with high resolution and clear footage- The ability to activate the alarm is great if you ever need to as well.

Ring cameras are great cameras and the Ring Indoor 1080P is no exception. I used it in a Nursing Home that allows caretakers to place cameras in their loved ones rooms. Not only did it provide peace of mind for my loved one but for me.

Also a plus is that I could speak to her anytime I wanted and to staff if they had questions or if I had concerns. I love that everything is stored in the cloud for a small monthly fee. Having live real time video and motion detection is the main reason for me purchasing this particular camera.

Picture and sound quality during a call is much better than most all the camera I could have purchased. I brought my loved one home and now I can use it in her room. Also have Ring doorbell and an additional indoor to monitor things around the house when we’re away.

I purchased this in-door security camera to protect my privacy of my bedroom as I live in shared accommodation and wanted to make sure nobody was sneaking around in my bedroom. The camera works great and the motion detection and video quality is incredible for the price.

However the sound quality is inherently and noticeably worse; the microphone on the camera itself is pretty God awful unless it is placed in the same room as the broadband box, and the same goes for the talk-back feature; the speaker on the microphone emits barely any viable sound.

One thing I did not realise was when signing up with Ring, the video and motion capture storage is actually not included with the camera, and it costs £2 per month as a somewhat hidden subscription fee.

All in all i’m not entirely disappointed with the camera because of the price tag – but it could definitely be better.

Received this camera as it was a $5 add-on to another purchase. Blink is an Amazon company, so I already have my reservations about how their values align with my own–especially in regard to their relationship with law enforcement.

This issue will be unique to you, though (if you see it as an issue at all. ) The camera itself seems like it is of good build quality, but I can’t vouch for how it would hold up outdoors. The included power cable is reasonably long.

The setup is simple enough using the mobile app. I like that the QR code on the bottom of the camera makes the process relatively painless. It can automatically switch to the IR night mode, which is a nice feature, but the IR does not work well through windows, so if you wanted to keep an eye on your backyard with a night vision camera, you’ll have to find one that you can mount outside.

With my limited knowledge on the matter, I suspect that any IR camera would struggle to work through windows & that this is not an issue unique to this specific camera. I like that you can disable the LED light on the camera.

I do not like that you cannot view this camera’s feed or interact with it in any way on your computer. Too many smart home products are dependent on smartphones. I wish they were also compatible with computers.

(I suppose mobile app emulation on desktop computers could be a clunky workaround for this, but that’s a topic for another day. ) It is a plus to me that you can use this Amazon owned product without an Amazon account, though I do not enjoy that it requires you to create a Blink account, even if you do not plan to sign up for the subscription.

Speaking of the subscription, this camera’s features–or, rather, the Blink app’s features–are largely limited to free, non-subscribing users. You cannot record clips, & you cannot save pictures. Amazon has also blocked the ability to screenshot or screen record in the app to bypass this limitation.

This means that without paying for the Blink subscription (which at the time of writing this review is $30/year for 1 camera or $100/year for unlimited cameras) this camera is only good for viewing a live feed that you can then do nothing with.

The features to free users of this camera are: motion detection notifications, day & night mode cameras, live feed, & two-way audio. If you do not want to pay a subscription for basic home monitoring security, there are better options that probably also have a better privacy policy than Amazon.

Though those cameras will be more expensive upfront, I think you’ll be more satisfied in the long run. Consider this: if you were using this product without paying for the Blink subscription & someone actually broke into your home, you would not be able to save a clip or even screenshot of their face.

All you would functionally be able to do is watch them steal your stuff & then yell at them through the camera’s two-way audio system (assuming the thief does not have their airpods in). This problem makes this camera a non-starter for me for any use case other than having a relatively cheap way to check in on my pet while I’m away from home.

I would not buy this camera in the future for any price, & considering how hostile Blink/Amazon is to free users (disabling screenshots within the app is gross), I would not buy any Blink products in the future, even if I was planning on paying for the subscription.

2/5 stars for being a functioning camera with good build quality & IR night vision at a very cheap price. -3 stars for everything else.

This security camera will show you live feed without a subscription! I got lucky enough to get 4 cameras for the price of 2 during Prime Day a few years ago, so I could install in the bedrooms and areas of my house where my little kids tend to play alone, so I don’t have to run from room to room to find out why they are being soooo quiet.

If you’re a parent you know your concern starts when your kids are being way to quiet! It can sit anywhere, with without being plugged in and you can pair it to your phone via app and watch from anywhere in the world!!! As long as there’s stable Wi-Fi inside the home.

I watched my living room for 18 days while visiting my family in another country. This camera has the ability to record as well but you need a subscription to store the recordings on the cloud! Very clear picture with ability to zoom in (on your phone) and night vision is well lit black white.

Best of all, this camera allows you to hear speak through it. It’s also a fantastic way to monitor children and the elderly without having to run inside all the time to see if everything’s alright! I believe the subscription gives you Alexa voice command when you register your blink on Amazon.

com. Best camera, good picture, great features, very dependable and easy to install! The only issue (and this is the only reason why I’m not giving 5 stars) is because if the room is completely dark and you check the camera (especially if it is in your kids bedroom), a blue light turns on (it won’t make it bright, but if you’re facing the camera you will notice something is on even if your eyes are closed).

It will also beeps while you’re checking the camera, so it can be distracting if your child is almost falling asleep… but other than that, absolutely nothing to complain about.

I purchased the Blink Mini 2 pack while testing out some other cameras and found them to be lower in overall quality and features compared to all others at this price point. Pros: -inexpensive camera that you can view via internet -Motion alerts -Two-way audio is great for monitoring purposes Cons: -You must purchase a subscription to record ANY video -Video quality is poor compared to other cameras at this price point -Night vision (infrared) was mostly useless for viewing outdoors at night (camera based inside) -The app feels dated and frequently threw errors saying “Camera in use”.

It also forced the cameras to restart multiple times. -The “Live view” is limited to 30 seconds at a time by default, which can be frustrating if you want to use it at a monitor -Paid subscriptions are necessary to take advantage of the on-board camera features or to save any recordings Recommendation: 1) Look up subscription costs ahead of time to make sure you understand which feature(s) you’ll need to pay for on a recurring basis 2) Look for review videos for Blink and other vendors to compare features and camera quality.

This will give you a reliable point of reference for how they perform and what else is available at the same price point. Overall, I was unhappy enough to want to return them, but it wasn’t worth the effort at the price I purchased them for.

Going forward, I will only use them if I need a low-quality live camera feed with motion alerts. My primary daily cameras now are from another vendor that sells higher quality cameras at the same price point without the need for ongoing subscriptions.

Good quality and features however make sure to read the terms carefully as it can be evil. They like collecting and selling information via your app and filtering your router/modem so make sure to isolate the cams internet access.

If you buy their subscription they can commercialize your privacy based on their EULA. I missed the 39 for 4 deal but 65 is still decent for the family pack. These look like refurbished units with new accessories compared to the standalone ones but still the value is pretty good.

No Yi sticker. FPS is higher than most at this price point which outputs 15-24fps compared to cheaper chips at 8-18fps. I have 1GBps internet to measure. They have stealthy IR and performs well, TF slot {64gbmax?), Reduced 6 second preview ( other brands give me 45s}, motion detection (newer is better in proper detection), crying detection, flip 180 option, 2 way speaking (mic is better sounding in the new ones but not as loud), light blink on/off, No- custom siren or alarms, phone alerts, individual naming & notifications.

Cloud subscription is locked to their servers only but optional to operate. They have a optional police service call also. However this is not a private cloud service according to their terms(2017). TF microsSD operation is not time tagged(accordingto a user) so if a crime is reported this key evidence is hard to gather.

I have some operating close to a full year. Indoor cams are moisture sensitive but perform okay outside too(away from the rain). They do better in slightly cool climates. Overall, if you can isolate the internet from them for security, it is a good value.

These Yi Cams are super easy to set up and use. I use the Android app to easily access 4 cams, and the app pushes notifications that make it easy to view short clips of events. The short clips are very smooth, making me think that cloud service is also very smooth, but I use a 16Gb SD-card to store events locally.

The notification clip is 6-seconds long and enough to see the event. To view the whole clip from the SD-card is a little slow data-wise but not bad. One issue was in setting up the app on an IOS device.

It doesn’t seem to work. I was trying to “share” a cam with someone using IOS, but it doesn’t seem to be possible. Aside from that, these are great cams. I like the night vision. Night vision is on when light falls below a certain level, regardless if you use the on-board IR illumination.

That means that you can use auxiliary IR lighting. Example, on-board IR will glare back if the cam is placed in a window, therefore, you can use IR lighting outside of the house. The is also good because IR attracts insects and they won’t fly around the lens.

Very easy to setup and use.

If you want to take a picture of just a static view in front of the camera it works great. Don’t expect the motion tracking or any of the other features to work properly. I’ve missed car prowlers as the motion detection pans right past them as I can hear them breaking into my car but I can’t see them.

I’ve had porch pirates at my front door that walk right past the camera. Does the camera track and record them? No it lets them walk by and then decides to turn the other way. I have called Yi support too many times to count and all they ever do is ask you for proof of purchase information or some other piece of information that you can’t provide that they just end up saying sorry I can’t help you.

This company’s technology sucks and it’s not worth the money spent. I highly recommend you avoid buying any of their products.

When the Wyze cameras first came out they were amazing. Decent hardware at a great price, and helpful developers actively listening/contributing to the community discussion. Not long after receiving a large investment from Norwest Venture Partners things seemed to change.

The long awaited RTSP feature that had been talked about from day 1 was essentially killed off with just a half hearted off chute firmware which seems to be intentionally difficult to get working. That firmware also removes most of the other features which were already functional.

Wyze has really committed to the Surveillance As a Service product model which means you now pay monthly for your $25 camera. Features like Record to SD on Motion, which were a selling point of the cameras now require a paid membership to use.

And on a number of camera models, the SD slot has been disabled by the newer firmware. (Cannot say if this is a “bug”, but I have not heard back from support) Take this with a grain of salt as it is purely an opinion, but I would no longer recommend these cameras unless this is what you are looking for.

This is refurbished pan cam at for what I consider a low cost of $20. I had been curious to try a WYZE cam. It seems to move fine. The quality of the video is also good. Good sensitivity at low light levels.

What I didn’t like is to start using the cam requires setting up an account at WYZE before you can test the cam with a cel phone. That is followed by a lot of daily emails to buy more products and have a paid subscription to better WYZE motion detection software.

When it records, I wish it had a setting to decide record length and break a large file into smaller files (example: file size of minutes and not hours). That way if the file is corrupted, the whole recording is not lost.

Plus it is easier to pick out a smaller file to save or move. I was really hoping to be able to connect it to my security DVR, but it doesn’t have Onvif protocols. There isn’t any software WYZE offers for PC’s.

RTSP firmware can be loaded on the cam and the video can be seem by VLC software on a PC, but still no software to control it from a PC. Tech support wasn’t very helpful. Decided to keep the cam, but it isn’t the cam for me and I wouldn’t recommend it.

The Wyze Pan Cam V2 verses the Wyze Pan Cam V1 is a nice upgrade in quality of picture and the siren alert. The new sensor has a high-quality picture that you can see the difference very easily. For $10 more I think the upgrade was worth every penny of it.

Wyze cameras have a better Wi-Fi signal than other cameras and stays connected farther away from the router than other wireless cameras. The playback videos are easy to use with a 32 GB card installed.

One of the best cameras that does pan and tilt for the money. They are not waterproof, but you can get creative and put them under carports where it is always dry and they work great. The talk back feature works easily and is clear.

The power cable is only 6 feet long so you have to buy a longer cable if you install it away from a receptacle.

Forget about fake reviews, paid reviews, promotion reviews, YouTube Guru reviews; this is my honest review of my experience with Blink Security Camera. No matter the brand of security camera you buy, they all have their pros and cons.

However, when I’m shopping for something it’s not solely based on the product reviews, I shop for the price, features and warranty and write my own reviews. When I review a product, it’s not an open right out the box review, I like to give the product the opportunity to prove it does what it advertise and last when throughout the warranty or beyond.

I purchased 8 of these cameras, one DOA, returned. Installed one camera to monitor the driveway with the sensitivity set at 6 and the activity zone set to grey out the street. Every 3 seconds I got an alert (cars, people, dog, cats, racoons, possums, wasps, flies, wind, anything the moved even ghosts).

I changed the sensitivity to 5, same thing, 4, same thing, with the sensitivity set between 1-3, no detection at all (Useless). After a few months, a bluish hue cover the clips and no color night vision deemed useless.

One camera was installed to monitor the front yard, it lasted about 6 months before it became non-responsive. Blink replaced it with what appeared to be refurbished because it lasted a couple day before the live view because non-responsive and over detective grey-out zone.

One camera was installed to monitor the side garage door, no issues with this camera and the battery still live after a year. One camera installed to monitor the back patio. After a few months, half the picture view darken out and the battery life lasted about about 6 months with sensitivity set at 5, detecting wasps, mosquitos, squirrels, birds and fallen pecans, deemed useless Two cameras installed to monitor the back yard, One camera is still live and active, battery life still juiced after a year.

The other camera, no detection, live view looks like a satellite view but the battery still juiced after a year. One installed to monitor the side of the house, Although this camera was not within the detection zone, it detected motion from the cars 20 feet away with the sensitivity set at 5 even when changed to 3 but the battery life still juiced after a year.

Size – I like that the camera is small and less noticeable. Battery – Battery life last as advertised in less traffic areas like the side and back yard. The camera is not recommended to be install facing or near a street due to the over sensitive activity zone feature.

Temperature – I live in Texas with 3 digit temperature, the camera has shown it can withstand temperature over 100 degrees. Motion Detection – Motions alerts aren’t that reliable. When you receive a notification alert and you click on it, instead of showing you what’s going on, it takes you to live view, It takes about 5 seconds before the clip shows up to view it (Useless).

a break-in can happen within that 5 seconds or the intruder can be gone. Activity Zone – The activity zone feature is useless, too much detection or no detection at all with the use or greyed out zones.

Retrigger Time – Sometimes i received no alerts at all with it set at 10s. I received an alert from one of the back yard cameras where there was a man in my yard. The front yard camera and side yard camera did not detect motion.

Sensitivity – Absolutely horrible. Settings above 3 are too sensitive, I received alerts every 3 seconds from the driveway camera with it set at 6, 5, and 4, set at 1-3 it detects no motion. I had to pull the camera down, caused me Insomnia.

Clip Length – Too short for live view, you have to keep pressing continue. Set at 60s is decent enough to see what’s happening. Blink security camera are decent for small areas due to the small field of view, I had to install 2 cameras to cover my back yard and it still wasn’t enough.

The camera doesn’t appear to hold up to its warranty before issues appear. After a year, I moved on to another brand (2K and 4K). The camera is not compatible with Google Home, no spotlight, sound is choppy at times.

unreliable motion detection, required a module, saved clips options up to 60 days. PROS – battery life, Size, free 60 days clips CONS – field of view, sensitivity, activity zone, unreliable motion detection, not compatible with Google home, requires separate module, lacks 2K/4K camera options.

I have several blink cameras (indoor versions) and I am pleased with them. liking the indoor cameras I decided to try the outdoor version. This camera runs on either 2 lithium AA batteries, or you can hardwire it, so no batteries are needed.

So now comes the 1st dilemma. If you hardwire it, which is the best way to run it since no batteries are needed, but the issue now becomes it has to have a cable plugged into camera which then runs to the sync module which means it has to be close to the module or you have to have a really long USB cable if you really want to place it without some limitations.

Now the 2nd dilemma, if you use the batteries, the camera has no wires limiting it and can be placed pretty much anywhere outside as long as you have a good Wi-Fi signal. the bad though. batteries! Blink says good lithium batteries will last up to 2 years, but of course that is if the camera resolution is set to low and you really don’t have the camera sensitivity high so its kicking on every time it detects something.

which takes away from the reason people put up cameras in the first place! So, if you use batteries you are limited to how high you can put the camera resolution as well as its detection sensitivity.

If you hardwire it, you can run it at full high resolution and sensitivity, but you are limited to where you can put it do to it having to have a cable connected to the module. so pick your poison! Also another con to using batteries is that when they do get low you have to change them out which means you have to go out and access the camera by pulling it off its mounting system unscrew the back plate and then replace the batteries and then remount it hopefully back to the original view and angle you had it at before taking it down.

Now as for the interface its nice and easy to use but I don’t have a Blink subscription for video storage I just use my cameras for live views only so I can’t answer to how good the Blink storage and access of videos is.

As for the cameras they are compact easy to use and the 1080 HD quality is pretty clear and detailed. The zoom on the cameras aren’t bad either. overall, I really like the Blink outdoor camera and if you can find them on sale, even better but regular price they are still a great option versus the much more expensive Nest, Ring and other expensive cameras.

I mean, I like it, but I don’t. So because of how it is there will always be a 10sec delay, always, there’s no option to have it at 0secs. So for example, if the camera sees me it will record or so many seconds (you can choose from 10s to 60s) and then there’s a delay of a minimum 10 secs and maximum of 60s, of your choosing.

So say if my car is in front of the camera and if someone is detected it will record 25s (for me) regardless of if the person stops moving or not, after those 25 secs, it will ALWAYS delay 10 secs. So they can come into view, be seen and recorded for 10s or 60s, it stops recording, they have 10 secs do to whatever they want to my car without being seen.

I mean, that’s not a lot of time, but it’s still a delay, I was under the impression there was no delay and it continued to record all movement it detects, not just for 10-60s, then none for 10s, then back to 10-60s recording.

I doubt anyone could do much damage and it’s common sense that if the camera sees them approach my car, but the damage happens in the 10 secs delay, it starts recording again, and there walking away from my car and it’s damage, it’s obvious they damaged it.

But it still bothers me. Also, battery life depends on what settings you choose, (10-60s recording or 10s-60s delay) and how often something is detected. So if you have it pointed outside at the Cars, and you and your family come and go daily, yeah it’s not going to last long about after 12 hours of recording, the batteries start to die.

It can withstand -20c to 45c. Also, there is a mount, mount can be screwed to anything, Camera snaps/clicks onto mount, so if it’s storming and it’s windy, the camera can easily pop off the mount(?).

Or so I have heard, hasn’t happen to be yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised it if did. Also, it was really easy to set up, and using the app is easy too.

Very happy with the camera. I bought two and a Ring spotlight camera to cover the front, side and rear of my home following a recent burglary. Easy to install. Just removed old flood lights and wired in Ring devices.

All necessary fixings included. Camera has a useful hook to hang it from the backplate whilst wiring it in. Ring App easy to use and intuitive. Cameras can be linked up to activate all if one is triggered.

I selected different sounds for alerts from each camera so I know immediately which has been triggered. Also like the fact that alerts go to my Apple Watch with a thumbnail image. Handy, if I’ve silenced alerts on iPhone or iPad.

Being able to block out detection of specific areas is useful. My neighbour kept triggering one camera whenever he went into part of his garden near my house. I have reduced the sensitivity of detection to person only but the cameras are still triggered by large birds, flocks of birds and larger animals.

Boiler flue gases also trigger the cameras when they drift past, even though they are some distance away. My milkman must wear a cloak of invisibility because it never seems to pick him up on his early morning delivery! Image quality is good but reading a number plate beyond 10-15m from camera in daylight is difficult and at night reflection from the number plate can make them unreadable.

Siren is not very loud but enough to frighten off unwanted visitors if detected. Also, I would be able to set off sirens on all three cameras together for extra effect. Ability to speak to a visitor also handy.

Was able to thank my neighbour for putting out the bins while we were away!.

After a couple of recent break-ins in our neighborhood I bought two of these Ring wired cam lights to replace the basic motion detection lights previously installed. Installation was relatively easy with basic electrical knowledge, i.

e. ability to connect wires same as they powered the previous light fixture with power turned off. Optioning the sensitivity settings and defining the areas to be monitored were also easily done with the Ring app.

Wish I could have installed one of them lower above our side entry garage, but it needed to be up around 15’ where the old fixture was. As such it would be difficult to see someone’s face in the videos, but you still get a warning and video record of someone, or car, entering the surveillance zone.

Fortunately, I have two other battery operated Ring cameras at my front door and lower level back door that will show faces of anyone approaching. Ring app works well and I can see all four cameras on one screen and can click on any one of them for video history.

However, haven’t yet subscribed to the Ring Protect service since I’m still within the free 30 day trial period. My understanding is that $100 per year would cover all four of my cameras. I also have a whole house monitored security system.

I received the Blink Indoor 2-Camera System to use in my house. We have been needing something like this for a long time so I was very excited to try it out. The little box comes with everything you need to get setup right away; the two mini cameras, Blink Sync Module 2, hardware for mounting and 4 AA Lithium batteries (for the cameras).

The setup was very easy and straightforward. There is a little manual included and once you download the Blink Home Monitor app everything is laid out step-by-step. You first want to plug in the module which is powered by a micro USB plug.

There is also another USB on the device for extra storage. Once you plug it in, you pair it onto your app (home network) than you add your cameras which are powered by two AA batteries (included). The app is very easy to use; you can control the cameras, take pictures, view live and arm or disarm which make the cameras go on once motion is detected.

If it detects motion, the camera will take a short video at what it views (which included infrared night vision), it than alerts your phone and those videos are saved within the app. You can decide to save the images for a certain amount of time or delete them right away.

There is a bunch of customizations within the app that include customizable motion alerts, targeting certain zones to detect motion, camera sensitivity, clip lengths, IR Intensity etc. You can even see, hear and speak to people or your pets with the live view in real time.

I have yet to try my cameras with Alexa but you are able to monitor your home with Alexa-enabled devices. Overall, I think this is an excellent camera system. It’s very easy to install, use and the video quality is great during the day and with the infrared night vision.

I like having the option to access the images from the app or expand the storage from the module. The Lithium batteries included should run these cameras for up to two years! I would definitely recommend this system to anyone looking to get indoor security cameras.

My wife and I have been looking for a set of cameras we could put in our playroom and son’s room to use as a baby monitor. These so far have seem to fit the bill. They give you a wired option or they also can take two double A batteries.

Setup was fairly simple: I had to download an app to my iPhone and pair the two cameras to it using the QR reader in the app. Overall, it took about five minutes to mount both my cameras and pair them as well as the sync module.

When opening the app to view live feed from the cameras, it takes a few seconds for it to load. Not too shabby! One of the only downfalls I have found so far is the video quality isn’t as on par with other cameras I have used in the past.

The app also gives you the options to take screenshots of the live view and store them in a “cloud” for future viewings. If you are looking for an affordable wireless camera option, the blink cameras are definitely something to look into.

My first security camera. Not too difficult to set-up or use. Pretty good quality of video and audio. I appreciate that you are not required to have a subscription to record or view past recordings. All you need is a micro SD card which I purchased along with this security camera.

I, also, love that I can still get notifications of movement or people on my phone and view live and past recordings when I’m away from home. Notifications of activity are immediate but viewing the most recent recording takes a few minutes.

I like the ease and simplicity of viewing live or past recordings on the app but sometimes it takes a little too long to load. Also, talking through the app to the camera has such a huge delay that it makes it rather useless.

I have run into two instances within a year of owning this where the live feed was working fine but it wasn’t recording or allowing me to view the recordings on the app or on PC for no apparent reason at all.

There were files and thumbnails when viewing in the app or on PC but it was like the files were corrupted and could not be viewed. The only fix I found was just to unplug and re-plug it to get the camera recording normally again but those past files will still be unavailable.

Despite this, I really like this camera. It’s been really useful. And it is inexpensive when on sale.

I recommend this camera to anyone who is looking for a simple indoor camera that brings function, control and affordability without the hassle of installation (BB didn’t ship my first order. so I had to wait longer to receive it, just saying).

Not only is Ring a trusted brand, but the audio, streaming and video recordings are good quality for the price. I also believe you get a 30 day trial for movement recordings to store on the cloud for a while etc, but it will still allow you to stream without it.

I’m going with the small monthly subscription to upload on the cloud for playback reasons. I live in an apartment and maintenance tend to come in without prior notice while I’m out. This camera gives some peace of mind knowing what’s going on while I’m out.

The actual camera and software is easy to setup. The software gives more control than a lot of other cameras on this budget level. I appreciate being able to control motion sensitivity and decide what area in the room’s purview I don’t want the motion detector to pickup.

My living room curtains are always moving and my previous budget camera would send annoying motion alerts despite being on the less sensitive detection. With the software/phone app, I am super pleased to “disarm” the camera lens when I’m home without plugging it out for privacy (it doesn’t have a physical privacy slider to block the lens, so due to a little paranoia, I once still covered it with a ventilated styrofoam cup for good measure — I know).

Also, since I had to unplug my previous camera just for privacy, couple times in the mornings I forgot to plug it back in. This would cause frustration while at work. Now, I can keep this camera plugged in all the time.

If I leave and forget the “disarm” on, I can simply remove it remotely with the app and start viewing/recording. I plan to get another one!.

Ring Camera – I purchased this particular Ring camera because I needed something that was unnoticeable in a tinted front room window. So the color and size were perfect. I ended up buying a little metal mountable shelf (4×4) that sticks to the inside of the window and it does the trick.

I have one of the best internet packages you can get from Cox, and the only thing that connected (when I am home, its my cellphone and TV, not a gamer or have anything that takes up a lot of the connection) to it during the day (a good solid 12 hrs), are the 4 ring cameras I have around the house.

And although picture quality is good. I get a lot of missed seconds/minutes. Example; I had a package delivered to the front door (with a ring in the window), and when you go back through the video. you see no package, and then it skips ahead a good couple of minutes and then you see a package.

but no person coming or going. And dang does it pixelate quite a bit. This happens a lot. So I wouldn’t say I would recommend, but for the price, size and ease of setup. they do a decent job.

Bought 3 of them to use in different rooms to keep an eye on the dogs when we are not home. I already have a Ring subscription so they were pretty easy to add. Only minor complaint is that it seems one of them has a lower threshold before it goes into night vision mode (enables when it is still fairly bright).

Makes the picture not so good even with color NV enabled. I could probably return/exchange but not worth the trouble. 4 stars is for the overall Ring app experience. The ability to filter events is limited in both the browser and app.

The browser view which I have to use on my computer since there is no Windows app has limited options to change settings. Also would like to be able to turn off all of the indicator lights on the cameras but there is no option to do that.

Since it is a “security camera” having the option to make it stealthy you would think would be included.

I added this wired mini camera to my existing Blink wireless kit. Setup was easy, with the added benefit of this camera running off a USB adaptor. The only rub was that the adaptor in the box was dead on arrival.

Since I have a drawer full of USB adaptors, I scrounged one that came from an Echo Dot. The camera works reliably, capturing an alternate view from my Blink doorbell camera of my front door. In my setup, the doorbell camera gets the side/profile view, and the mini gets the frontal view of anyone who comes to my door.

The IR view is less than stellar with most cameras. To address this, I disabled the IR function, and rely on a motion sensor light to provide sufficient lighting, and the best video quality possible.

I have no complaints, and I really appreciate the low price. This isn’t the best quality camera on the market. But then again, it does what it needs to do, keeping an eye on my home. The app is required, and if you want local storage, you will also need to buy the Sync 2 module.

When compared to the monthly fees many of the competitors charge for video storage, I prefer this option of having all my videos stored in my own home, and not the cloud, where there is a monthly fee.

This beats the old DVR setups with wires running everywhere, and the spinning hard disk making a constant racket by a huge margin. Easier setup, and a much lower cost is just the icing on the cake.

I do not like how you can not view any past video clips with purchasing the monthly subscription. I purchased when target offered the special where I got these for $5 each with purchase of the Amazon echo shows or I would have purchased other brands.

I have google cams in the rest of my home. Biggest con to these outside of the subscription is the “two-way”. When I go to talk through the camera I can not hear the other end until have let off of the talk button.

Even then I can’t hear and have to exit and come back to the camera in the app. If you do not plan on having ALL blink cameras in your home I would not purchase, if you need to communicate with the cameras I would not purchase.

My google nest cameras I can have a back and forth conversation with someone in my home while I’m away no problem and google stores video clips for 3 hours before deleting if you don’t have the subscription.

You can only see live feed with the blink. The cameras also make a clicking noise when the motion detection is on.

Ok, let me start by saying that this camera is actually very nice. The picture is clear as day in day and night vision, there’s a lot of customizable settings, it’s overall a great camera and definitely holds its own.

BUT, there is a HUGE issue when trying to connect more than 1 camera. We bought 2 of these yesterday, along with the hub, and we also received a google doorbell for Christmas. Before purchasing/receiving these items, we already had the nest minis and other products that are Google compatible that were all connected/synced within the Google home app.

We have yet to set up the doorbell but last night after purchasing the two cameras and the hub we immediately set up the hub. Connected perfectly with no issues. We then proceeded to set up the 1st camera in our living room.

The set up was extremely easy and took about 15 minutes from start to finish. We then went upstairs into our bedroom to set up the 2nd camera and here is where the HUGE problem was that I’m very disappointed/surprised that Google has not addressed yet.

We plugged the camera in and followed the same steps we did for the first camera. Plugged it in, went to the Google home app, clicked the “ ” button in the left hand corner of the app to “add a new device”, and waited for the device to be found.

We tried over and over again and we kept getting a message that said “couldn’t find assisting device” or something along those lines. We tried every troubleshooting solution that we could possibly find and absolutely NOTHING worked.

We tried unplugging the WiFi router and plugging it back in, we tried airplane mode with WiFi and Bluetooth turned on, we tried removing the 1st camera from the app entirely and then connecting the second camera to only go back to reconnect the 1st camera and that STILL didn’t work.

I finally found an online forum with some answers. This is a HUGE software bug that google should be addressing as we wasted 5 hours of our life trying to get both cameras connected and usable. Here is how we did it; Set up the first camera and follow directions, it should worked perfectly and quickly.

In order to connect the 2nd camera, you will need to completely remove the 1st camera off the google home app by clicking on the first camera in the app, going to the top right, click on the settings button which is right next to the button with the 3 little dots, then click “remove device”.

After doing the above you will then go to your second camera, plug it in, and repeat the steps to set up the second camera and it should connect to the app with no problems. Now in order to set the 1st camera back up you will need to plug it in, and before you go to the app to set it back up, you will need to do a HARD reset.

The hard reset button is on the back of the camera. It’s a little tiny hole that you will need to use a toothpick to push in. You need to hold the button in until you hear a chime from the camera and the LED indicator on the front changes color.

It will turn orange at first and then change to blue (which is the color it needs to be). After doing this, you should be able to go into the app and set it up just fine, as you did the first time. This whole process took 5 hours from start to finish and it was extremely frustrating as it took me a very long time to find the online forum with these answers.

Even after finding the online forum with people having these same issues, a lot of the solutions people were posting did not work for us. We needed to do the hard reset on the 1st camera in order for it to able to reconnect.

This is a HUGE software glitch within the app and google is aware of these issues and has not addressed them, even knowing about it before the holidays. I felt it was imperative that I posted this as I’m sure a lot of people are returning their cameras and other google devices because of this.

You should not have to go through all of this just to set up more than one camera especially when they’re selling them in 2 packs and 4 packs. It’s extremely disappointing when the cameras are such good quality.

We almost returned the second camera as we thought it was faulty and thank god we didn’t because we would’ve had the SAME issue and would’ve wasted even more of our time going back to the store just to get another camera that doesn’t connect.

We did successfully connect our doorbell camera after all of this with no further issues and did not have to disconnect anything, which is a good thing I guess. But this whole ordeal was beyond frustrating.

I hope a lot of people see this before purchasing so you don’t waste hours of your life trying to do it like we did. Side note, we bought our cameras from Best Buy but I felt it was necessary to post this review in many places for people to be aware before they buy.

I am already a Google Home fan using the Google Video Hub and Smart lightbulbs so I was ready for the Google Nest Indoor Wired Camera. I am always so impressed with how Google packages their products.

The boxes are incredibly sturdy and streamlined so there is less box and less extraneous styrofoam. There is a hanging kit included that has screws and wall fasteners all standing neatly in their own separate cardboard box.

Not a plastic bag for those screws! The camera itself is sleek looking with a hefty feel to its base. This camera will not fall over if it is sitting on a shelf and the cat walks by. You have to download the Google Home app in order to use this camera and since I am very familiar with this app it was just a few seconds work to get the camera up and running.

The picture is vivid and clear and the viewing angle is large. You can adjust the settings to detect people or animals or vehicles (for outdoor cameras) or motion or all of the aforementioned. There is a feature that I love called Home Away.

It will turn your camera on when it detects your phone is away from where the camera is and will turn it off when it detects you’re back to the camera’s home base. So you’re not getting constantly notified of motion when you’re just walking around your house.

The microphone on the camera will also detect glass breaking or an alarm going off and will alert you. There is a monthly fee of $6 for 30 days of recorded event history but that includes ALL of your camera devices not just one.

This camera is wired but where I have placed it the outlet is very handy and the camera keeps a very low profile. I would highly recommend this camera to anyone wanting to keep an eye on your home remotely.

The Nest Cam is a great basic security camera for use inside your Google Home-based smart home. I got a chance to review the Frost version. It’s very attractive hardware in a compact form factor. It fit nicely on my kitchen counter and was able to capture my living room and family area thanks to its relatively wide FOV.

It captures video at 1080p and supports HDR. I found the HDR worked well to capture details in dark indoor areas in my living room while part of the room was illuminated by sunlight. The video footage was high quality and I was easily able to discern fine details in the footage I reviewed.

The camera supports on-device object detection and alerts for people, vehicles and pets. In my testing, the alerts are generated quickly, but it tends to generate too many false positive alerts. For example, shadows and trees swaying in the wind both generated notifications.

I would not enable the feature long-term. Supposedly the Nest Aware subscription improves the performance, but I think this is a basic function that should work well without paying for monthly service.

This camera really requires the Nest Aware subscription to unlock its full potential. You are limited to only 3 hours of video storage for alerts, so if you don’t review a notification in that window, you won’t be able to see what triggered it.

That said, it Integrates well with my Google Nest Hub and can review footage there without my smartphone. It also works with the Google Home app to review footage and settings on my smartphone. I like that I can have a 2 way conversion through the app.

This is an attractive, compact camera that captures decent quality footage. However, I was put off by the need to pay for a subscription to unlock all the features.

I purchased this camera to set up in the living room to keep an eye on my dog while I’m at work. The camera has very good video quality in normal light and decent low light performance. Camera has options for motion detection activation and live view.

Motion detection works as expected and I never receive false activations. There is also a two-way audio feature which allows you listen and talk. The received audio is very good; however, the speaker is very small in the camera which results in almost unintelligible audio.

Overall this is a good camera for my intended purpose and I would recommend it to others.

This product can not be mounted upside down. however quality and design are very good. the way this device hardware is gets it a bonus star but the other drawbacks make it so that i cant give this more than a 2/5.

Ring in its essence is a company that requires you to pay for a service that you can use for free with so many competitors. the door bell camera was great, however as i expanded into the other ring items, i realized their way of doing things is awful and expensive in the long run.

I will NOT be renewing my subscription with them going forward and will be looking to liquidate all the hardware i have. the first major issue is the cost of the membership to simply use the service.

they have bundled a million little things together which in theory work great if you have their base station, alarm, door sensors, motion sensors, cameras, etc. but if you want to just have a camera system then this is NOT the item you want to be looking at.

there is a lot of settings in the ring app that are very frustrating to use and the customer service is terrible. they also use cheap predatory tactics to keep you spending money. for example, i have multiple ring cameras and the others allow you to flip the video.

this camera does NOT allow you to flip the video. if its not sitting up right, then you need to purchase a bracket that lets you mount it upside down. why not just be able to flip the video like with all the other ring products? the camera video quality is pretty good, and captures a good chunk with the lens it has.

the construction is a sleek design and looks very nice and aesthetically pleasing. However i want an option to record for longer durations or also to be able to view the camera at all times. this is not a feature, the camera will only record when you go to view it or when there is motion.

i understand the reason why this is but i still want the option for that, i am paying for a premium service afterall.

I absolutely LOVE these cameras. I tried to Google nest first and hated them, they were complicated to set up, and I tried some no name brand wired ones that were okay, but these are my favorite out of everything I’ve tried.

The setup was soooo easy, they connected to my phone instantly for the smart piece, and for putting it on your wall. It doesn’t matter if you place it slightly off from where you wanted (since I’m terrible at making), because (1) the view is such a wide angle, it gets both my living room and dining room which are decently sized in one shot it’s so wide and (2) because the arm is adjustable! The adjustable arm is everything to me.

You can tilt up, down, sideways, so even if you don’t get the placement exactly right, you don’t need to redrill new holes, you just have to adjust the arm. Amazing. Why doesn’t every cam have this!? Also the picture is incredibly clear.

I love the fact that you have the option of (1) night vision or (2) motion sensor spotlight. Easy to turn the light option off always if you have this indoors and don’t want it turning on when you’re just watching a movie, but so nice to have.

You can also pick and choose your alerts for something like animals, people, vehicles, etc. And only get alerted for what you want. The paid version also lets you have arlo contact authorities. Overall what a great camera for the price, would 100% recommend.

When you buy a security system you are buying peace of mind. Knowing that you have eyes around if you need. Arlo IMO does not provide that. The system was clunky to configure. It worked well on a subscription – you get one free when you sign up, but you can record locally.

We moved to local storage and found adding this and pointing the cameras to it was difficult. One of our cameras will sometimes not pick up intrusion. The advanced features available in the cloud are not available without a subscription so you just get a basic motion detection camera.

Which for the price is pretty lame. They pushed out a firmware update to our network (1 hub 5 cameras in a suburb home in QLD). and now 2 of our cameras dont recognise if they are on wifi and we get an error saying they are offline.

They are not they will trigger if they detect motion. Its sooo upsetting to think that our sense of security really isn’t that at all with this system. We record a lot of motion on windy days, and would like to delete our local records but you cant do that.

You can only download them. We like to keep an eye on the house when away and cant do that becuase you can only see a recording when you are connected to the local wifi. YOu can setup a VPN or something but you would need to be in IT to work that out somehow.

I dont know anyone that can do that. The design of the system is beautiful. That is the only good part. Im really disappointed that unless you want to pay for a subscription and get good quality motion tetection, that uses AI to tell you whats going on etc then these are pretty basic and rather expensive.

Its upsetting we cant remote in when away to see our recordings.

I sincerely wish I’d never invested in the Arlo system. I was happy with my first two Arlo cameras, which are the Pro camera. The battery life is decent on those and they have free 7 day rolling storage.

I decided to add more cameras, and the Pro was no longer available, so I opted for the Essential version. I bought two and was able to add them to my system fairly easily. My first disappointment came when I realized that in order for the videos to record and save, so had to pay for a subscription.

This realization came after the free trial I was unaware that I was using ended, by then it was too late to return them to Best Buy. I reluctantly signed up for the service, but I wasn’t happy about it.

In my opinion it’s too expensive. My next disappointment came when I saw how short the battery life is. I was climbing up a ladder ever four days to charge them. This wasn’t ideal, so I purchased one of the Arlo Solar “chargers” (not actually a charger though, see my other review for details).

I hooked the solar panel to my front Essential camera and it had worked well. So I purchased a second one sometime later, and it has been ineffective. Basically it was very spotty in terms of working, sometimes the panel would maintain the charge, sometimes it wouldn’t.

So I was still climbing up and taking my back camera down to charge it constantly. This last time I took the camera down, I repositioned the panel thinking maybe the trees were casting too much shade, and now the panel doesn’t work at all! On top of that, the charge on my back, one year old Essential camera now doesn’t even last 24 hours.

So I’m assuming the battery is shot. And my final disappointment came when I constantly had issues with the cameras being offline. So if I’m laying in bed and the dogs start going crazy, I often times can’t access the live stream.

Or the time one if my chickens got killed and the camera was offline so I have no idea how it happened. These cameras go offline constantly and it’s unacceptable. The video lag is also unacceptable. It takes several moments for the camera to connect when trying to view the live feed.

As soon as I am able, I’m going to replace my whole system. It will not be Arlo.

The cam is very easy to set up, I would recommend downloading the Ring App and creating the account before installing. To add a cam to the account was straightforward just scan the QR code. The fact it’s battery powered make it so flexible in where you want to situate the cam.

I would recommend if possible a semi sheltered position to give a clearer picture when it’s rainy or damp. You also have the ability to add a second battery to ensure continuous monitoring with the settings you can adjust the functions to Ensure a longer battery life mine looks like it will last 4 to 5 months.

I had to use the support team once and they were great sorting a firmware issue to get the cam using all the latest features. My only criticism is that on a damp day the lens of the cam may get some condensation which obscures the picture quality and the notifications coming through this may be however where I chose to place my cam.

The lights look small but are really bright and you can adjust the sensitivity and detection zones On the whole I’m pleased and purchased a second cam for my rear garden.

We bought these to replace our aging Arlo Pro cameras. Given the price, and the build quality, and the brand name – we just assumed they would be good. These cameras are useless – motion detection is unreliable at best, non-existant at worse.

During the day, we have had unwanted people come to our house and the motion detection has gotten 2 seconds of them LEAVING the premises, but not entering, or while they were here. At night time, when we have had our car broken into – we had THREE camerass pointing directly at the car and not ONE SINGLE motion alert and thus not a single video recording of it happening.

You can get 24/7 video recording to make up for this, but there is no way to easily go to different times in the recording and oh. you need to pay for a subscription. AND you have to have it wired in.

defeating the point of it being a wireless cam. Biggest waste of money ever. Do not buy. Will be getting a refund on this trash product.

Things I wish I knew beforehand. You can only access footage from 3hrs ago, after it’s 3hrs old it is instantly deleted. Unless you sign up for a subscription. The cameras even when set to the highest sensitivity don’t always activate and record.

I’ve been told unless it’s constantly plugged in that this is common and they can be quite glitchy. The battery life isn’t ideal either so the novelty of being ‘wireless’ wears off quickly. The mobile app used to control the cameras is also very slow and very ugly.

Definitely not what I expected for the brand and the price.

Arlo security cameras is a Netgear product range. Netgear (Arlo) charge hefty for the subscription – Per camera I might add! The older cameras like some I have have, you can allocate USB storage and view from your phone or laptop.

They worked well. In 2020, Arlo (Netgear) got greedy! Their newer Arlo cameras like the ones I recently purchased (Ultra), have storage that would link to your phone or computer in the early days, but firmware upgrades have changed this and now you have to buy a subscription for EACH camera to view your recordings.

THIS MAKES ARLO CAMERAS TOTALLY USELESS! You can no longer record from your phone or computer either. When the camera picks something up, you get is a notification to alert you that something is happening.

If you miss the alert – oh well. Unless you sign up to their HEFTY subscriptions you are none the wiser about what happening. This is why ARLO CAMERAS ARE USELESS! Don’t waste you money on a product that does not work as it should.

Thousands of dollars spent already, and now I have nothing to show for it. ARLO cameras are very low value, and they are not value for money. I do not recommend this product is any way, shape or form.

With the Essential Spotlight Security Camera, Arlo has made a simple to use, smart device to keep your home secure. This camera showcases picture quality in 1080p resolution and incorporates motion-activated spotlight and recording with instant push notifications to your dedicated mobile device, even at night with some brilliant color night vision.

Setup for the Essential Spotlight Camera was far easier than other similar devices. Simply download the free Arlo app and follow the short instructions to turn on the device, set up your profile, connect to your WiFi, and get up and running.

The camera comes with some very easy mounting materials – using a ladder and some simple drilling tools, I was able to install the camera outside of a second floor window to get a clear picture of the side of my house.

The camera is weather resistant, and it’s already sustained a good amount of rainfall with no issue. The camera is wire-free, an advantage such that I don’t have to worry about exposed wires or drilling extra holes to hide them.

And since the camera has such long-lasting battery life, the recharge cycle isn’t expected to begin for several months. In terms of performance, the Essential Spotlight Security Camera works as expected and with some surprising features.

You can set the sensitivity level for motion detection, whether you’re worried about foot traffic in secured areas, animals in your trash, and especially unexpected security breaches. I especially like the bright spotlight that comes on when disturbed.

For those with larger security concerns, disturbances can also trigger automated e911 calls set up through the Arlo app. There’s also an optional siren that can be triggered if you need even more onsite surveillance notification.

These notices get pushed to your mobile device instantly, and with the included Arlo Smart 3-month trial subscription, you can keep video record for potential disturbances. On top of that, you can set up the camera for package detection, which highlights specific areas being monitored compared to other areas within view.

That way you can know exactly what alerts are being sent, especially if you are expecting a package delivery. Finally, the Essential Spotlight Camera can be used in conjunction with Arlo’s other smart offerings, like its smart video doorbell, to fully integrate into your Arlo security environment in the Arlo app.

It allows the convenience of all your security notifications and recordings to compile in one, easy to access place. The Essential Spotlight Security Camera provides peace of mind during installation, setup, and in use.

Arlo keeps all angles under surveillance with a fully featured product that runs smoothly day and night, keeping you informed in an instant through the robust app and security subscription. Bottom line, the easy setup and top-notch picture quality make this a product worthy of your investment.

Full disclosure, I received this product for my honest, unbiased review.