20 Best Night Vision Camera For Home Security (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and what requires a monthly fee Wyze seems to change their free features often, so this information may soon become outdated, but from what I understand, here is currently what you get free (as of September 2022).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.

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.

For the price, I think the Blink system is the best option. I got it on sale and got an amazing deal on it that I absolutely could not pass up. I’ve had this system for 2 years and have been using it consistently.

In the daylight, the cameras work great. The notifications are super customizable, which I love. There is about a 25 sec delay from when motion is triggered to when you get the video, so usually by the time I pull up the camera view on my phone whatever triggered it is gone.

And there’s a slight delay (5 sec maybe?) between when motion is detected and it starts the recording, so we often get clips of the back end of an animal crossing the driveway and can’t tell what it is.

That doesn’t matter in my case because the vast majority of our trespassers are cats, raccoons, and an occasional fox or bear. The night camera isn’t great. I’m not sure whether you’d be able to identify a human on the video at night if you needed to, but I’d imagine only if they walked right in front of it and looked at it.

The app is easy to use for the most part, and if you get stuck on something you can Google it. All in all it’s a decent system. The camera quality is definitely a bit better on the Ring video systems, but they’re twice the price, so like most decisions it comes down to what you’re willing to spend.

I’d give this about 4. 5 stars, but since that’s not an option I’ll have to go with 4. For the cost though, I do think it’s the best option – for what I paid, I’m very happy with it and I’d buy it again.

If I had a house that was more likely to be targeted by criminals and more valuable stuff to steal, I’d pay the extra for a Blink system, but that would be overkill for me personally.

Ordered these from BB and the delivery was quick. The camera setup and mount is very easy. Although storing videos to the cloud requires subscription, it’s free to use a local storage drive with the Blink module.

The cameras work well but we primarily arm them when no one is at home. It’s Worth noting that these are suitable for indoor use where movement is minimal and you want to use motion detection to be notified of entry in your home.

These are not to be used as ‘live monitoring’ devices or for areas with heavy movement. The 2 year battery life is an exaggerated claim – the blink website outlines what you can expect to do if you want it to last 2 years – and it’s literally like 30 seconds of usage per day.

PROS: Easy to setup and install Local storage of clips is free Video quality (indoor) is acceptable Motion detection is good but if there’s very quick movement in low light, the camera sometimes fails to detect it CONS: Audio quality is horrible.

There’s no way this can be called ‘2 way audio’ The camera is certainly not suited for outdoors, continuous usage. Battery life is surely nowhere near as long as what’s described. If you’re looking for something to use indoors as a ‘movement monitor’ for when you’re away, these cameras are useful.

If you need a live feed device for indoor or outdoor use, look elsewhere.

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 travel for work almost every other week. I originally purchased the Blink camera system because I was thrilled with having month long battery life and the tiny profile cameras I could mount in the corner of my room.

They served me well for a time, but like many people I began having major privacy concerns when Amazon purchased them. Eufy’s camera systems are different. No footage is uploaded to the cloud and instead all of your video lives locally on your device.

Eufy claims it is encrypted, but I wish they would specify if their employees have any way to ever access the footage or not. Some clarification on the privacy end of things would help further set them apart from Blink and their other competitions.

I decided to take a chance on the Eufy 2C after having an amazing experience with Eufy’s video doorbell. I’m so glad I did! The cameras are low profile and blend in easily in corners or even just mounted to walls.

The base station is quite small and looks right at home next to my router, and the app works instantly with no headache. The cameras have crisp video and audio and Eufy provides easy-to-follow instructions for mounting.

I do wish the mounts were magnetic or had a way to quickly remove the cameras for charging. Thankfully, after several days I haven’t gone down a single tick in battery life so I am hopeful charging will be few and far between.

Notably missing is Homekit support and expandable storage, but Eufy promises us that both of these features are coming soon. They seem to have a good track-record for customer service so I am hopeful.

Below I will provide some pros/cons but to be honest none of the cons are dealbreakers, just things I hope Eufy will consider for their next software updates and product iterations. This is the best security camera system I have ever used and one of the simplest setups as well.

I can’t recommend this product enough! Go buy it! Pros: -GREAT video quality -Spotlight functionality -Seamless App and great wireless range -Good installation instructions -Battery life/USB charging -RTSP (record to your network or NAS!) -Clear audio & 2/way audio -Good nightvision performance -Recording light -Built-in sirens on each camera and homebase -AI detection means my pets don’t set off the cameras (THANK-YOU!) Cons: -No HomeKit Support -No Geofencing (Auto arm on leaving and disarm on arrival) -16GB/ No way to expand storage with USB or SD (yet) -Mounts are cumbersome, magnetic would be a lot easier to remove for charging -No way to re-arrange order of cameras in the app.

I have 3 of these cameras installed around my house. The batteries lasted less than 3 months. We did not even activate the night vision mode to extend the battery life and instead kept our exterior lamps on at night so the cameras could “see” without the night vision.

The disappointing part is that if you turn the night vision feature on, a ring of red LEDs will appear on the camera which make it too obvious on the wall. One reason we bought these cameras was for their small and sleek design and are inconspicuous when up on the wall.

So these red LEDs totally ruin that for us. Other companies have figured this out and Eufy needs to improve this feature. Also, cameras miss some of the motions and won’t record. This problem occurs more often when you have 2 back to back motions (like 2 deliveries back to back, or when kids play outside and a delivery person shows up).

In addition, the cameras do not detect or record any motions during the time you watch a footage from that specific camera. This is a BIG miss on Eufy’s part, IMO. That means whenever you are watching a recording, no motion will be recorded on that camera.

There is ALWAYS a few seconds delay between the motion and when you get notified. As a software engineer, I’d say Eufy devs need to step up their game here. Lastly, working with Eufy’s customer service is very frustrating.

They send you canned responses and keep repeating themselves without really paying attention to the issue. They are combative and far from friendly. Unfortunately, I have invested so much in their products (cameras, door lock, doorbell, etc.

), so I’ll be stuck with them for a while before I can switch. I tried to sell them second hand for a half the price but got no interest. All in all, I do not recommend Eufy products and I do not want to deal with the company unless they improve their customer service.

I already own the eufyCam 2 Pro 2k and it’s a great camera but at twice the price. I wanted to expand the security in our home, and this bundle gives the same protection with nearly the same features but at half the price.

I’ve used the Eufy ecosystem for over 6 months now, and I have zero complaints. The app is great and the fact that I don’t have to pay a single fee for cloud storage is convenient. Here are my pros vs cons: WiFi – this is a wire-free camera that does the job and you won’t have to look at ugly white cables going around your house.

I can’t do wire cameras, but that said even though the packaging states it’s 1080p resolution, it does not look like a native 1080p. I think this has to do with the fact that the cameras are outside and so the WiFi signal is not at 100%.

Still, the image suffices my needs as it records in a consistent 720p-1080p resolution. Personally, I know I am not going to get 4k resolution from a wire-free camera, and I just wanted to get some extra eyes on our house in case something ever happens.

180-Day-Battery – I highly doubt you will get exactly 180 days as this has not been the case with he 2pro model that I have, but charging the camera is easy so I don’t mind if the camera does not live up to the advertised battery life.

The cameras are tested in ideal conditions, and my cameras are sitting outside in cold and rainy weather and record multiple subjects throughout the day, and all of this drain the battery quicker. No hidden costs – never worry about paying an extra fee after you install your camera! Local storage – there is only 16GB of local storage and personally, I think this works for most people.

Night vision – surprisingly it almost matches the quality of my eufyCam 2 Pro – I also love that it has a light that can be turned on manually as needed. This light is not bright to the eye, but somehow it illuminates the view from the camera, so this is a nice touch that I actually wish my other cameras had.

Human detection – I wish the detection zone was a little quicker because sometimes it catches the person once they are already in front of the camera and not so much when they are on the outskirts of the detection zone.

No really complaint though just wish it would detect better movement Smart-image enhancement – it provides you a little icon of the person’s face that was captured, so this is a cool feature. Smart-integration – installation is super easy! Weatherproof – it’s withstanding the first Colorado snow storms this 2020, and so I am happy with the results.

I am getting a little worried since our temperature can drop to negative numbers, and the box advertises that it can withstanding cold temperatures down to negative 4. Intruder Siren – This is a feature I only tested, but it can be good to notify neighbors or scare potential intruders.

I highly recommend this bundle as it has almost identical features as the 2 Pro 2k. The cameras themselves are also a more subtle and cooler design.

I am a *HUGE* fan of Eufy security cameras! NO SUBSCRIPTION is needed with this brand – to see your own videos (as is required with most other video doorbells!) WHO WANTS TO KEEP PAYING FOR THAT?? Once I discovered this I went all in – and have several: 1) a wired doorbell camera 2) a battery operated back door bell camera (180 day battery) 3) a wired floodlight camera 4) 2 Eufy Cam 2Pro K cameras (365 day battery) 5) 2 Eufy Cam 2 cameras (365 day battery) 6) 1 Eufy 2C pro camera (only 180 day battery – attached a solar charger) These are wireless cameras with a 365 day battery life.

Since they are best mounted 8 to 10 feet high, the long battery life means you only have to get on a ladder once a year to take them down to recharge them. The picture quality is really clear. I mounted these in areas with some cover, eaves or overhangs to keep them directly out of some weather conditions.

I’ve had them up for more than a year for most of them and only added a few more to balance out the surveillance around my house. What is great is the ability to SEE and talk to people at your front door on your cell phone *wherever* you may be.

Once I realized that you can call up the front door to see who is there on Alexa, That is why I also (a year ago) bought Echo Show devices for everyone’s bedroom in the house so the entire family can respond if needed to anyone at the front or back door.

I’ve been so happy with these cameras that over the year I’ve also purchased several of the company’s “SMART SCALES” to give to friends as gifts. I’m also considering a door lock from this company. There is also a Facebook group of folks from all over who have purchased and love these cameras, and discuss new items from the company or go through troubleshooting issues and more.

My Eufy doorbell, plus this camera over the front door, together, has also helped me keep up with home deliveries, as I get instantly notified when someone comes to the door and can respond immediately.

Regarding specs: This is a 2K camera, and although it’s clear enough, I live in a more “city” environment. My front door is 25 feet from the sidewalk and my driveway is about 100 feet from the sidewalk.

The FLOODLIGHT camera has 1080P resolution and I can read a license plate at the END of the driveway with a 1080P resolution camera. If you have larger distances to record, this camera is the top choice for that greater distance.

I’ve had most of my cameras up for more than one year, and the battery life can last that long – 365 days. All of mine made it except one camera, which I was able to exchange to get one that did hold the charge.

However for the 180 battery items I own, I found that they lost more time and power in colder weather. For the 180 day battery doorbell, I had to charge it every month in cold weather. It’s not placed in a sunny area so I didn’t buy a solar charger for that one.

I don’t get many visitors who come to my back door. This doorbell I added to the overhead floodlight camera because it’s placement films people walking into my driveway at eye level. Everyone in my family exits and enters from the back door – so with that, this battery device gets a LOT of hits which is a further drain on the battery.

This is the only Eufy device I must regularly charge. All the others I charge, I only do it once per year so far. I did buy a solar charger for the Eufy 2C cam. (has only 180 day battery life) because it’s mounted in a south facing area with no trees or other blockages to the sun.

With the charger, the camera stays at 100% all the time.

This eufy 2 Pro 2K Indoor or Outdoor Camera has so many neat things I can list that I won’t finish today, I was so excited ordering this camera I did not read it did not come with the homebase, had to be bought separately.

My husband immediately looked around for one and he ordered it and had to wait for it a bit, always make sure to read all directions before attempting to use bew devices. I was very excited I wanted to jump the instructions and almost mounted the camera, it’s a bit heavy feels like good quality material that will withstand crazy weather.

I loved the idea to have an option for indoor or outdoor security camera but the features are what sold me, has a crying sensor that’s neat. When my kids are playing outdoors when dad is working outside, boys play rough I can be aware when the first aid kit is needed and be prepared with a crying child before hand.

And peace of mind that my backdoor is under security and keep an eye on the furry friends as well, I like that we can call out on him and he looks around for us. The app is very easy to install and register and start taking advantage of all the neat features and personalized settings you wish to have or for your personal needs.

Overall very happy on how it’s been working and what we are getting, the battery life looks great we did charge until the blue light went off says a total of 12 hours.

I purchased 2 of these cameras, 1 for the front door and one for the garage/driveway. Initially, they worked well, however, I’ve started to notice that they alert me to many things “falsely”. I’ve changed the Motion detection sensitivity and changed the detection type to “Human Only”.

Still receiving notifications when vehicles pass. Also, the activity zone uses a rectangle or square shape, so it doesn’t accurately include/exclude areas you want as “privacy zones”. You cannot add multiple zones, so there is no clear way to narrow down the private areas.

The images are really clear, which is great. However, when a face is detected, the camera doesn’t do a great job of displaying that face with the recording captured. This could be a result of the person just moving too quickly.

I haven’t tried testing standing and facing the camera for a long period to allow the camera to detect and record a face image. The camera is very easy to sync to the home base, so setup is rather quick.

I also added a small solar panel to each camera so I wouldn’t need to take them down to recharge. They appeared to hold a charge rather well before I added the solar panel. Not sure I would have gotten a full 365 days out of the battery without charging the camera.

Overall, I’d say the camera is average, mostly because of the limitations of the privacy zone and alerts. If this is not a concern, then this camera will work well for you.

I loved this camera; until I didn’t. I should have known that maybe my intermittent connection loss to the internet was a possible symptom of a wider issue. As an early adaptor, I read and hoped that the firmware would stabilize.

Then I noticed fogging in the camera (mine was installed on the wall, which I is supported, though I wish I had had a ceiling hardwired location). I should have punted it back to Eufy at that time, but didn’t want to do the ladder and temporary cover work.

Finally, I went on vacation, and when I needed it most, it stopped working and the status light was no longer active. When I came home, I unfortunately procrastinated again at taking it down to troubleshoot but finally had an unscheduled day.

My silicone was all good, there was no place where I could see water intrusion besides the gaskets of the camera itself. When I contacted Eufy, I noticed that I missed the 1 year warranty by 2 weeks by contact date and by purchase date (not shipping or install date).

I told them that I had the last camera activity saved, possibly proving the failure occurred within warranty. I was disappointed that not only did the product fail, but that I was offered a paltry $15 (15% up to $100 item) discount for replacement.

I again pleaded with Eufy for some other resolution, but in vain.

The product is definitely more expensive than most smart security cameras available in Amazon. However, the nest cam app is very user friendly and intuitively designed. Kinda makes sense since it was originally founded by an engineer who worked at Apple and it is now owned by Google.

The motion and sound alerts work very well too. This camera is definitely better than one of those cheap, never-heard-of-companys’ security cameras. I know because I owned one before. The app UI was crappy, some options were only available in Chinese, etc, etc.

In order to fully take advantage of this camera, you will need $50/year subscription + good wifi in your home because it will eat up your data at least 300GB per month if you decide to record everything in high quality.

Without the subscription, I wouldn’t recommend it as you can only view videos in live mode (no recording). The set up was super simple and it probably took me about 5 minutes from opening the box to fully operational nestcam.

My Mom gifted us with this. I can say this is the best gift we received by far. Works will with our internet and smart phones. You don’t have to pay to used the app that connect to nest. But you can subscribe to be able to fully avail all security access and feature.

But it works fine without subscription. This has been with us for 4yrs now,has been a part of our family keeping our home safe. It detects the smallest motion even flies and lights coming from out window and alert your phone instantly.

You don’t have to worry when you’re away because your nest will keep you updated if it detects any motion.

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.

I got the Nest Cam to monitor activity on the side of our home that leads into our yard. This area is a blind spot for us and faces the entrance to our cul-de-sac. We own a couple of other Nest products and it is a reputable brand that I trust with performance and longevity.

This camera also has several features which helped in making our decision to get this camera. It can be used indoors or outdoors, it is powered by the built-in rechargeable battery, and it can provide intelligent notifications (motion is caused by people, animals, or vehicles).

This product was very easy to set up and install. You will first need to plug the Nest Cam into an outlet, download the Google Home app, create an account and follow the steps to set up the camera by selecting Nest Cam(battery).

There is a sticker on the camera lens which has a QR code that you will need to scan to connect the camera to your home’s Wi-Fi network. After connecting, you will be given the opportunity to enroll in a 15-day Nest Aware trial period which one needs to view recordings longer than the most recent 3 hours and also the face recognition feature.

This is a con to me when subscriptions are required to reap further benefits. Installing the Nest Cam was quite simple as all you need to do is attach the mounting plate, with the enclosed screws and anchors, to the area you want to place the camera then lock the magnetic plate onto the mounting plate and secure the camera to the magnetic plate.

The camera holds steadily once installed. The beauty of it being battery powered is that you can place it anywhere! The video quality is superb for both day and night and the motion detection and intelligent notifications were precise.

I liked that these alerts can be tailored such as you may only want to be notified when a person causes the motion and not a car or animal. The app is easy to use and we are reassured that we can readily monitor our house while we are home or away.

This indoor/outdoor Nest cam with rechargeable battery is a great product. Upon unboxing, the camera is held to the base by a very strong magnet. The base can be mounted wherever you can get a couple screws into a wall.

It has two wall anchors and screws. Very simple install. The camera itself is solid and well built and has a nice aesthetic to it. I’m using it under the front porch overhang about 8 feet high so it’s outdoors, but protected from rain and elements.

The LED status light does shine green when recording, and while it can be dimmed, it cannot be turned off (at least not that I found). It does offer two way sound so you can talk in real time to someone in the viewing area, although I have not used it.

The video quality is good and sufficient for my security/monitoring purposes. It does a good job identifying the subject as person, animal, or vehicle. The battery life will depend on how much movement it detects, but for my light usage, it should easily last 3+ months before needing to be recharged, which is a very nice tradeoff from having to have it hardwired to a power source.

The Google Home app is easy to use and setup, as is the camera itself. The one detriment to this product is that without the Nest Aware subscription, you can only view recorded motion that has occurred in the last 3 hours.

If it has occurred over 3 hours ago, it will be gone and you will not be able to see it (without the subscription). It’s understandable they want to steer you into the subscription service (as nearly all of these types of products do) so just know that going into your purchase.

Knowing that limitation going in, the product is actually very good and it performs well for what it is intended to do.

This Nest Doorbell is wireless and uses a rechargeable battery. It’s very versatile and will work at any location whether it’s residential or a business. The doorbell is even capable of telling the difference between a person, animal, automobile or package.

It will send you mobile notifications according to what you select under settings. Some really useful features that this doorbell has are the ability to view what’s outside your home/office and speak to anyone out front while you’re somewhere else.

This comes in handy if you have to run errands or go out of town. It works with other nest products and comes with 3 hours of free event history recording. The video quality is great and allows you to see clearly day or night due to the high resolution and night vision.

As for the installation process, it was pretty simple since it’s wireless. I just found a spot I wanted to install the doorbell and using the metal base as a template drilled a couple of holes in the wood trim near the door.

I used the hardware it came with and it was done in less than 10 minutes. You have the option of connecting it to your existing doorbell wires using the wire connectors included in the box. The Google Home app allows you to view or replay videos as well as talk to visitors among other settings.

The downside is that you will need internet, wifi and a google account to be able to use this doorbell. Although it’s a Nest product, it’s not compatible with the Nest app or website. Battery life depends on several factors including amount of usage, outside temperature, and camera settings.

Overall, a nice wireless doorbell that does the job. As for product longevity, I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

I have a 5,000 sq ft home with 40 windows. My security system has door sensors, but there is no way to put 40 window sensors on, so I have seven motion sensors as well. Unfortunately there are occasional false alarms with the motion sensors.

To assist with determining real from false alarms, I installed a Wyze Pan Cam in the upstairs and downstairs. Now I can confirm whether an alarm is real or false. The Pan Cameras with Cam Plus are phenomenal! With the AI available on Cam Plus, we can eliminate alarm trips from bugs, etc.

The cameras are VERY sensitive and pick up motion from at least 30 ft, even on mid sensitivity settings. With Cam Plus you can narrow the alerts down to only real people. I’ve only had the Pan Cams running for three weeks, but so far they are an incredible!.

DO NOT BUY! Complete waste of money for numerous reasons. To begin with: 1. The cameras do not operate equally, even if the settings are set equally. For example, the front of the house only detects if I set the sensitivity to 90% or greater.

However, I turned off animal detection, and they still record every squirrel, raccoon, and cat in the yard. The AI does not differentiate between a human and a swaying tree branch when it is windy on our second, lakeside camera.

When it is windy, it keeps detecting motion, even when I set the sensitivity to 60%. Improve your AI training. 2. VERY MISLEADING MARKETING on battery life: the batteries drain right away. Arlo should NOT SELL IN COLD CLIMATES.

We bought the cameras seeing that they can withstand as low as -4 degrees F since we have a seasonal lake house in MI. We bought these cameras in December and installed them a week before leaving for the winter.

Well, the cameras outside were at about 50% within two weeks, then in week 3, the outside cameras drained to 0% in a matter of hours when it was “10” degrees out. We put them on low resolution, turned off animal detection, set to low sensitivity, and they drained that quickly.

I bought them to monitor our home REMOTELY and to have that peace of mind while away for an extended period of time. We were already on the other side of the country, not returning until June with no way to monitor our home, except inside for six months.

They would not turn off remotely with the battery drained. If could’ve turned them off, the battery supposedly recovers (according to Arlo support that was less than helpful). Asking someone to climb a ladder in the winter to replace the battery (which is not always easy and does not always begin to work on the first try) with the extra charged battery, then charge the other two, then come back and replace the other one was not feasible for anyone who did check in on our house.

We were already gone; otherwise, I would’ve taken these back immediately. Again, upon contacting Arlo support, they were less than helpful nor empathetic. Upon returning to MI, I put in a newly charged battery on the lakeside camera, and it drained to ZERO percent in two days.

This was having the camera off when I’m home (we work from home M-F), so it was only on at night and when not home. It was an average of 70 degrees with sensitivity set to 60%. I even turned off the camera’s spotlight and have it on low resolution.

3. Motion detection delay: the delay is much too long – even when watching in live view, the delay is in seconds, not a. 5 second, which is what I would expect at this price point. 4. With having to pay a subscription for each camera after 3 months, it only stores something recorded “if” something was detected and only for a period of time.

You also have to pay to keep the alarm features. On that theme, the audio does not work well at all on the camera outbound to someone who is near the camera. If someone stopped by to check on things – they could barely hear us on the camera that was inside.

Btw, we had to have people go by more frequently because the outside cameras were not working for six months 🙁 5. Support is a joke – very robotic with no offers to be helpful or even refund us something.

If you look at the responses here, they direct people to links to extend battery life versus holding themselves accountable for misleading buyers. This product should NOT be sold in any type of cold climate.

Saying to shut off the camera when it is cold, defeats the purpose of having a camera. I should’ve went with Ring. For our other house, Ring it is. As someone who has worked in tech for almost 30 years, I have no idea how people rate this 4 or 5 stars.

When I purchased this Arlo set, I was excited to use it and protect my home. To my disappointment, after I set up just two cameras, I realized that the video quality was terrible. You couldn’t even read a license plate number let alone see the face of anyone who is intruding.

It’s completely useless. I went on the forums and contacted Arlo support and they suggested changing the video quality in the app in exchange for battery life, which I did. Still, the video quality showed no visual improvements and it was more pixelated than a Mario game from 1990.

It’s important to note that I do have a mesh network that has full coverage to all cameras at a 500/500 speed. Continually, I even tried using the recorded video as a sample instead of the live stream and it was equally as bad.

This camera advertises 2K but I’m getting 480p if even that. Sure, the image size might be 2K, but it’s a blown up 480p video – thus resulting in a blurry video. Continually, the app was so primal. I could set modes, but I couldn’t set any custom modes unless I had logged in and made them on my computer.

Furthermore, I couldn’t get the siren to activate with motion unless I made a custom mode online. My final pet peeve with this camera system is the fact that Arlo won’t allow you to use HomeKit unless you buy a base station.

This used to be possible with some software called Homebridge, but it seems like that has been permanently disabled with 2FA and Arlo doesn’t allow you to turn that off either. Seems like corporate money scheme to me.

You just spent $500 on their cameras, and they want you to spend more to connect an already-web-connected camera to a base station in order to use it’s “security” features on your TV.

Arlo makes good quality products. This package includes 3 cameras, 4 batteries and the coveted charger. Other packages I have seen require you to charge the battery in the camera itself while this one lets you swap the batteries and charge offline.

This is important because the charge can take hours. The downside here is the battery life. I have one camera in the backyard where it is triggered by animals (domestic and wild) and the driveway has the other camera and gets much less activity.

Battery life on the backyard camera is 3 weeks. Driveway is about 4 weeks. There is no possible way you get 6 months of battery unless there is no activity at all. I was skeptical because Wi-Fi is such as power hungry protocol but the battery life is nowhere near what they claim.

I would either make sure you pair it with the solar charger or mount the camera where it is easily accessed. I did use my reward certs to get the solar panel charger which should extend the battery life.

The secure mount in this package is pretty good. It consists of a ring which is mounted to the surface, then a screw on connector which locks to the ring. Finally, the camera unit uses a T8 screw to secure it to the housing.

A half turn of the T8 screw pops the camera out and then you can change the battery. The app is good but there is a lag. Finally, if you subscribe to their identification service where Arlo tells you what it sees (animal, person, package.

) there will be a delay as the video is uploaded and processed before it is available to you. Overall, I am very happy with the purchase, I just think it is expensive for something that doesn’t include an in-place charge option.

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.

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.

Easier than having a wired system and they have options for different power sources, color and ease of setup. I had the ring doorbell so I was familiar with the app and the many different settings you can use, which made the setup for each camera easy as pie.

Unlike most systems I have used this was so easy and affordable for monthly services. You definitely get what you pay for these as far as performance is concerned as long as you have a reliable internet source you should not have any issues with it unless there is a power outage than remote access is stalled until it gets restored.

Other than that it doesn’t stop the camera from recording motion or detection of a person where they should or should not be and stores it in the cloud. Only issue I think they should come up with is if a natural disaster happens where internet is out for extended period of time to have some way of using GMRS service much like a cell phone does to access important videos.

If you plan on having multiple cameras definitely buy extra batteries. Video quality is decent but could be a little better along with the sound and mic pick up. I have had mine for now over two years and never had any real major issues with it.

I now have 8 cameras in total and over the time since my first camera they continue to add more features and updates that have never affected the performance of these in a negative way. Also customer service is outstanding whenever there is an issue.

I had wires run to the area of my house specifically for the video camera. The install wasn’t too bad, but found the basic ring instructions weren’t as easy for this as the doorbell. Would recommend a quick YouTube video if it’s your first time.

Overall got it installed in about an hour. Pros: – Does a great job covering a lot of area. I actually had to lower the detection area because it could cover so much. Also love the spotlight that comes on at night when motion is detected.

– Multiple ways to install the camera. I have it under the eave of my house which is at an angle, and was worried about mounting it to work properly. Ring gives you 3 different brackets and he no problem making it sit how I needed.

Cons: – Has just OKAY quality. It’s usually pretty clear, but can get grainy when zooming in. I have the Ring Doorbell Pro 2 and this is definitely lacking compared to it. – I struggled getting the security screw to actually hold it in place.

Also ended up needing to grab some bigger screws to secure it into the house siding, as the screws Ring provided were too small. These could be issues specially to me though, so not dinging Ring on that as much as just making it aware.

– Feel like it’s a little pricey, but if you’re wanting to hardware in without cables or deal with batteries, then I think this is the best route currently.

I’ve been using two of these cameras for about 6 months now with Ring’s Protect Plus plan. I should note that these are the first home security cameras I’ve ever owned so I have no other points of reference for anything I say below.

Build quality/hardware is good with one exception noted below. Easy to mount. Video quality doesn’t seem to be 1080p to me, though that could be more the fault of the video compression they use for their services; clear enough to see what you need to, though.

Night vision is good. Audio quality through the two-way microphone is acceptable. Lights, which can be set to turn on automatically when motion is detected, are very bright and are, in themselves, a significant mischief deterrent.

They handle the elements very well (I live near a coast so they’ve dealt with everything except snow). The app and its features are easy to use but the “Person Detection” algorithm they use to cut down on unnecessary motion event notifications (which significantly impact battery life) needs a lot of work (regularly detects my cat as a person even from a very, very close range).

Battery life is okay. If you configure everything as close to “default” levels as possible and don’t use the Live View too regularly, you’ll probably get around 10-12 days a charge. Luckily, the cameras have a second battery slot which, to me, is a must unless you get the solar panel attachments.

My single biggest complaint with these cameras is that, considering their mainly outdoor purpose, the wireless hardware in them seems very subpar. I have a very good home network that’s manually configured and optimized for speed and signal strength and yet, the two cameras that I have are about 15 feet away from my router and the Ring app very regularly says the signal of the cameras is too weak to use the Live View (they’ll still record motion events even when it says this but being able to access the feeds on-demand is a big part of the “peace of mind” factor for me and they’re just too inconsistent on that front).

I’ve tested the areas where these are installed to see if they’re just random dead zones for whatever reason and my phone and laptop grab the wi-fi signals consistently just fine. That, alone, brings them from 4 to 3 stars, in my book.

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.

Pros: Even i could set this up! And I am 66! You get 3 hours of recording history, which doesn’t sound alot, but it only activates when there is movement, so I clear my history every few days. I still have alot of space but i’m lazy and can’t be bothered to go through an hour of recordings.

Very good clarity. On the whole, it is a very good buy.