I'm a bit of a camera addict. I have hardwired (fixed) cameras that are hooked up to a DVR, and I have 4 Nest cams as well. But we have a lot of pets, and I wanted to have some PTZ cams to be able to look around and check on them when we are away. I heard several tech podcasts (TWiT, Stacey on IoT) ranting and raving over this Wyze cam, so I took the plunge on one. WOW, how amazing to get all this, for $30 (plus shipping)! The image is super-clear, and I LOVE the ability to scan around a room via my phone. I even installed the Wyze app onto my Pixelbook, and when I enlarge the image on my big screen, it looks incredible. I have only had the camera hooked up for a day, and I am still learning the ropes, but I am SO pleased, I am going to order another two, if not three cameras right away!
The motion detection feature is pretty slick. I set up the camera in our spare bedroom, where some of our cats hang out, and when Barbie came in, the camera detected her and began following her movements. She was intrigued at the noise (noticeable, but not loud, btw) of the camera whirring, turning. I have attached a screenshot I grabbed via the app, where she is examining the Wyze cam! Highly recommended.
This camera does so much that the 10x more expensive Nest Cam IQ at a fraction of the price.
So how does this stack up against the much more expensive Nest Cam IQ indoor camera?
* You don't get continuous recording stored online, you only get clips stored online. However, you can pop a $10 32GB microSD card into this Wyze camera and get continuous local recording (meaning it's being recorded on the card in the device). You can view your recordings in the app. At HD quality, you get a couple days storage on a 32GB card, more if you go SD quality.
*You don't get the ability to turn the camera on/off based on whether or not you are home. Personally, I really like this feature so it isn't recording us when we're home. Just feels weird. Wyze support says they may add this via IFTTT in the future. You can control whether or not motion recording is on when you are home using IFTTT. However, I"ve found it a little buggy.
*You don't get the Nest IQ facial recognition which is very high tech. I'm not sure how important this is for an indoor camera. It's amazing for the Nest Hello doorbell.
*You don't get a monthly fee with the Wyze cam. You pay a fee for the Nest Cam IQ.
I can't believe this thing is so cheap and works so well. It has so many features like the big guys. Even the two-way audio is decent. If I had one complaint, it's that the motor that rotates the camera is a little loud. I'm still giving this 5 stars. I guess its sensitivity to sound is a little high too.
It seems like it's too good to be true. If you are looking for an indoor security camera, you found it.
TIP: I am using this SD card in the camera and it's working fine. Inexpensive and does the job if you want local recording - . Silicon Power-32GB High Speed MicroSD Card with Adapter - New Edition
NOTE: In the video, I have the camera attached to a mini-tripod. The camera has a standard screw mount for a tripod. You can get a little tripod for around $10. I like it because it raises the camera a bit and provides some extra stability, decreasing the chance it can be knocked over.
I am a fan of wyzecam but this wyzecam Pan is disappointing. Both motion tagging and motion tracking doesn’t work even after firmware update. The cam for no reason sometimes just freezes up. I have to power off and on by removing the micro usb cable in order to get it working again. I tried to return it but the return time was over. I am so disappointed and I will never advise others to buy this model base in my experience. How I wish it works as advertised. The bug or whatever it is should be fixed and if it is this unit that is defective I feel I deserve a replacement unit from Wyze. The other units (3) of wyzecam v2 i have is much better in performance. They work great even in my echoshow.
UPDATES!
Wyze reached out to me and changed the unit. It was on the second attempt that I got a perfectly functioning wyze cam pan.
Despite better functionalities than the wyze cam, I feel the wyze cam pan MUST be tested before shipping. To avoid the pains I went through.
If you get a fully functional wyze cam pan then you will love it. I have given a 4 star now.
My best friend bought the original version of this camera and was amazed at the easy of setup, ease of use, features - software and hardware, and quality of the video. And now I can see why. This really is a game changer in terms of security cameras. The value is mind boggling, and I have to admit, was a source of concern before I bought these cameras. I like to feel I understand the business model of a company from which I'm buying a product, especially one I hook into my personal network. This feels like I'm buying an iPhone for $50. In fact, I have to say that I felt like I had bought an apple product when I was unwrapping the cameras. They come beautifully packaged, and the workmanship and operation is just apple gorgeous, and apple smooth.
However, while I my first three set up flawlessly, the last three I just bought were problematic. The setup was smooth, like before, but at the end it has you update to the latest and greatest firmware. Last time that worked fine. This time it did not. The first camera gave me a failure message. So deleted the camera from the app and ran it again. It once again setup easily, but this time it had the latest firmware. So apparently the update worked, but something went wrong with the reboot at the end. All 3 did the same thing.
I have tried many cameras the advantages are ease of use of use, setup, and cost. Possible disadvantages are that it works only with the Wyze app as of now. The Wyze Pan and its fixed counterpart are game changers. If you don't need a cloud Cam or an outside security cameras these cameras set the bar. They aren't the best cameras but they are incredible values are as close to zero setup as possible. Frankly floored by these things. Buy one to try the worse case is you loose less than $50 and 10 minutes to setup. If you already have another Wyze camera it will take longer to get out of the box than to get it working. Great thing for many users. I'm not throwing my other cameras away, but the other camera makers need to be paying attention.
Feature Product
- NOTE: Works with 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks (does not support 5GHz Wi-Fi); IFTTT Integration: Set up IFTTT applets to automate your Wyze Cam Pan.
- Works with Alexa: Ask Alexa to show your front door, kid's room, or anywhere else you have your Wyze Cam Pan
- 110 Degree/sec rotation speed, 360 Degree horizontal range, 93 Degree vertical range for 360 Degree coverage in under 3 sec. Pan Scan feature automatically scans your room based on up to 4 waypoints
- 1080P full HD video and night vision that uses 6 IR LEDs and distinguishes 18 steps of gray to provide clear images up to 30 feet away. Works with 2.4GHz Wi-Fi networks (does not support 5GHz Wi-Fi)
- Motion & sound detection with alert notifications sent to your phone with free rolling 14-Day cloud storage of alert videos, 2-way audio, microSD card slot for continuous recording and time lapse.Connectivity Requirements:Upload speed 1.0 Mbps for SD and 1.5 Mbps for HD.Field of View:120 Degrees
- Motion tracking feature detects, Tags, and follows motion within the camera's field of view, as long as motion continues
Description
Say goodbye to losing sight when something moves outside the view of your camera. With its 110°/sec rotation speed, 360° horizontal range, and 93° vertical range, Wyze Cam Pan delivers 360° coverage in under 3 seconds so you can see exactly what you want to see, when you want to see it.
After going through multiple nursery cams, I am SUPER impressed with this camera (especially for the money)! No app issues, great video quality, simple easy setup. Hands down better than the other video monitors we’ve had.
I was so excited to get this camera! Dave is from Utah, which is where I live and I was exited to try out this awesome looking product! Set up was EXTREMELY easy, and its picture quality is great! The motion tracking is really cool and night vision isreally clear! However, at the end of the day, none of this matters if you cannot connect to the camera. The camera CONSTANTLY loses connection to the internet (like every 3-5 minutes). The router and camera are in the same room, no less than 10ft apart. Even when I am home and ON the same Wifi, I get the connection issue. Tried all the steps, re-setting camera up, resetting my home Wifi, uninstalling and reinstalling the app, and still the same issue happens. After trying to connect a few times, the camera will prompt you to do a power cycle. And sometimes, the camera will just completely just shut off, and it wont turn back on until someone actually unplugs the power from the camera. What is the point of having a camera to use while your away if you have to be home to constantly reset it? So disappointing..
*Update! After using it for a couple weeks, we had moved the camera from our living room, into our spare bedroom. This bedroom is farther away from our internet router, so I was sure it wouldn't even connect. But to my surprise, it has connected and not ONCE has it lost connection.. Odd that I went farther away and it has a better connection. Updated my review to 4 stars, as it still does suck that the camera cannot go in the room I'd like it to go in.
FANTASTIC!! little wifi security cam. Loaded with features. I have this perched on my mantle above fireplace. Crystal clear 1080p image. two way talking with my family on the way from work. Great to keep an eye on the dog. What a deal for around $30.00 and change. Don't waste your money on a Canary or any other expensive cam. This on is all you need.
There aren't many security cameras with all of the features that Wyze packs in - and NONE at this price-point. I got high capacity GB SD cards that literally save a month's worth of activity and is immediately accessible remotely. You don't really need them tho as you also get 14 days of Cloud storage free. Those photos/videos you save there can then be easily shared thru a variety of ways (text, email, print, etc). The complaints below are a combination of user errors (like not adjusting the pan/tilt speeds) and/or poor WiFi connectivity (or just a bum unit that should be replaced). My system connected flawlessly and I only have 100Mbps service in a rather large home. There is little, if any lag, and the high definition picture blows others away.
While this is an indoor camera I shoot mine through internal windows for the same effect. The image shown is thru my living room window to the front door. No more wondering when you get deliveries as WYZE notifies you immediately and saves the clip in a notification email to you. You simply can't buy peace of mind for under $40 - unless of course you get this camera.
This is a wonderful alternative to a Nest camera. It is cheap and works pretty well. My current setup is having this sit in a window sill looking out at my grill and my back yard. This is not the best setup but it works for what I require. I have it elevated sitting on top of a glass candle covered with a lid. I am able to easily control the camera position from the android app. The camera barely makes any noise when moving and it moves very fast. It stays put and won't fall over.
A few issues about the motion detection... It comes installed with 50 out of 100 on the detection sensitivity. With my setup in daylight it was not able to track me if I walked in front of the camera. I had to look directly at it for it to track me. I am guessing the Artificial Intelligence understands what a human face looks like. If I was to hold something like my grill cover and move it around it will track me. Once it "locks on" it will follow me as I walk around my yard. After a few moments it will go back to the original position. There is an option to setup the camera's motion detection area. Also you can setup multiple points to go in order in a panning mode. It will look at point a for 10 seconds, move to point b, etc. I didn't use this option. I did change the tracking sensitivity higher around 70 and it was able to follow me without having my grill cover in hand. It is great at instantly sending a push notification with a short clip of what was detected. Only issue with this is sometimes it detects the trees blowing in the wind and will give you false alerts. The speaker option works okay. I had to be pretty loud on my phone for it to sound decent coming from the camera. But yes you could use this to talk to someone if they are in front of the camera. Your results may vary.
At night this thing is decent. I have multiple outside lights so the area is bright enough at night to detect myself moving or anyone else. There is no issues with trees at night. And yes you can disable the night vision LEDs and the Blue "recording" LED. I did both of these options and it can probably show you details someone's face if they are a few feet from the window. You must remember there will be some glare in the video since it is recording through glass and to keep the area it is watching bright with extra light. Also it helps to clean the inside and outside of your window!
It has been running for 8 days on Standard Definition mode continuous record with no sound recording and it has filled up almost all of my 32GB SD card. Currently 0.56GB of free space available. So you should get at least 8 days of recording to your card before it starts to override the video with newer video. HD video mode I am not sure probably less than a week of recording.
Overall for the price this is a great buy. It works very well and I might buy a 2nd one to monitor my front door.
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