Outdoor security cameras like Arlo and Eufy are nice, but you need to remember to keep them charged. This usually involves getting out a ladder to retrieve the cameras every month or two and putting the cameras on the charger, then a few hours later getting back on the ladder to mount them again.

Panasonic has taken a different approach with the HomeHawk Window camera. While it’s considered an “outdoor” camera, it actually stays inside your house and “sticks” to your window via a suction cup. Since it’s right up against the glass, this prevents most “light leaks” and glare from indoors lights.

This also means that there is no battery to recharge as the camera connects directly to your AC outlet, and you don’t need to worry about the weather or someone walking by and grabbing the camera since it remains inside your home.

Performance

Most outdoor cameras rely on infrared sensors for motion detection, which doesn’t work through glass. The HomeHawk Window instead relies on on-device motion processing of the video feed to detect motion.

This can lead to false alarms, but thankfully Panasonic gives you two options that help increase the accuracy of the notifications:

1. First, you can specify a specific area of the camera’s view to watch for motion. This allows you to focus the camera’s attention on the ground and not on the rustling leaves of the tree, for example.
2. Second, the device can be set to alert you when it thinks it sees a person. I found this setting to be very accurate. I reached out to Panasonic to see if this “magic” happens on device or from “cloud processing” and was pleased to learn that all motion processing (including person detection) is done locally, on device.

Overall, I’ve been very happy with the motion detection system on the Panasonic HomeHawk Window camera. Even when setting a smaller detection area, I did receive some false alarms from the moving shadows on the ground from nearby trees, but the Person Detection feature has virtually eliminated these false alarms and has been very effective at detecting people.

Features

• No monthly fees: You can’t upgrade to cloud storage even if you wanted to. Your only additional cost associated with this camera is for a Micro SD card (not included) to store the motion events. The storage size will determine approximately how much footage can be saved. The camera can be set to overwrite the oldest events once the card becomes full. The app allows you to save selected recordings to your phone’s photo library.
  • 4 GB card: 4 hours
  • 8 GB card: 9 hours
  • 16 GB card: 18 hours
  • 32 GB card: 36 hours
  • 64 GB card: 72 hours

• Night Vision: Infrared LEDs do not work through glass, which most outdoor cameras would use to provide the B&W night vision. However, the Panasonic HomeHawk camera uses a high-sensitivity camera that can “see” as long as there is at least 0.2 lux of light available (which, Panasonic states is slightly above total darkness). It does work surprisingly well: below is a comparison photo between my iPhone X’s camera and the HomeHawk Window camera.

• Rapid Playback: This reminds me of the Logi Ciricle 2’s “Day Brief” feature. The camera can play a “rapid” playback of all the video clips of the day so you can see quick summary of what your camera detected.
• Local Processing: As mentioned earlier, all motion and person detection happens on the device, meaning that your video clips are not uploaded to a cloud server for processing. However, since push notifications contain a preview image, the screenshot would go through Apple or Google’s server to deliver the screenshot to your phone. And if you use the Alexa or Google Home feature to watch your camera, this would relay the camera’s video feed through Amazon or Google.
• No batteries to charge: Since the camera remains indoor and connected to an AC outlet, there’s no need to remember to charge a battery for the camera.
• Wide-angle view: The camera has a 150 degree view, enough to cover my entire back yard.
• 2-second pre-recording: The camera has a 2 second buffer to record what happens before the motion traction is triggered. This allows you to see the person’s approach to the area monitored by the camera.

Limitations

There are some limitation to the camera that are important to note:

• No cloud storage: For some people, this is actually a benefit. However, theoretically, someone could smash your window and take the camera unit with your memory card. You would then have no access to the recordings.
• Night vision: While the night-time performance is very good, it may not pick up all motion events if the area is totally dark due to the lack of infrared lighting and infrared motion sensor. It would be better if there was a motion light nearby that would both (1) trigger the motion event and (2) provide lighting for the camera.

Video Review

Panasonic HomeHawk Window Home Monitoring Camera for Outdoor Monitoring, Mounts to Inside Window,...

Panasonic HomeHawk Window Home Monitoring Camera for Outdoor Monitoring, Mounts to Inside Window,...

$149.95

in stock

2 new from $149.95

6 used from $90.03

as of October 6, 2023 1:14 am

BUY NOW

Amazon.com

Last updated on October 6, 2023 1:14 am

The post Panasonic HomeHawk Window Home Monitoring Camera Review appeared first on Technically Well.

Arlo Pro 3 – Wire-Free Security 2 Camera System |...

$449.99

October 6, 2023 12:35 am

× Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com (Amazon.in, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, etc) at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

2 new from $341.05

9 used from $128.99

BUY NOW

Arlo - Pro 3 2-Camera Indoor/Outdoor Wire-Free 2K HDR Security...

$499.99

BUY NOW

Setup

Having setup several cameras with my Arlo Pro 2 system, I thought setting up the newly released Arlo Pro 3 version of the system would be a breeze. However, I hit some snags on my initial attempts.

I was able to add the new base station to my existing Arlo account with no problem. Adding the cameras were another story. After getting over my disappointment that Arlo hadn’t already paired the cameras that were included with the base station, I began the pairing process by following the instructions in the app.

It took several attempts and several presses of the hidden “Sync” button on each camera until the base station detected them. I thought that the battle might be over at this point, but I was quickly proved wrong when prompted to “name” each camera. After typing in a name for the first camera, the app simply hung for about 2 minutes and then took me to a generic error message directing me to “try again later”.

OK, surely the next camera will work, right? Well, I couldn’t easily go back and pick the other camera… I had to restart the whole syncing process. After another song and dance of opening the camera and pressing the sync button, I still ended up at the same error message. OK, maybe if I unplug the base station and plug it back in it will work? Nope!

At this point, I had to go to work, but I tried again that evening and, finally, the cameras were able to be paired to the base station and named. I didn’t do anything differently, so I’m stumped as to why it didn’t work in the first place. I’ll chalk it up to a temporary server issue and the fact that the system has just been released.

Design

I like that Arlo has relocated the charging port to the bottom of the camera. If you’ve mounted the cameras, this allows you to use a portable power bank to charge the cameras without needing to take them down (in previous versions of the camera, the charging port was on the back next to the mounting point, so you needed to take the cameras down to access the charging input).

Unfortunately, the charging port is no longer Micro USB and is instead a proprietary wireless contact. While this is more convenient, you do need to be careful to not lose the special charging cord.

While Arlo advises not to touch the lens of the camera, but accessing the battery and the sync button basically begs you to touch the lens: instead of flipping open, the camera now pops forward and you need to grab the front of the camera and pull the inner portion out.

Image Quality

I am impressed by the wider angle view available on the Pro 3 camera. I can now capture almost my entire back yard with one camera. There is a bit of “fish eye” distortion, but I’m still able to make out what is going on outside.

When motion is detected, the camera can now zoom in and follow the movement, which makes watching recordings a little more convenient. When motion is detected, the camera can activate it’s built-in LED spotlight to help improve night vision and hopefully scare off whatever is tripping the motion.

The upgrade 2K video looks great and captures a lot of detail! To achieve the full 2K video quality, your camera will need to be relatively close the base station for the strongest signal; otherwise, the stream will be downgraded to a lower resolution

Features

Siren: Each Arlo Pro 3 camera has it’s own built-in siren that can be activated from the app or it can automatically be set to off when motion is detected.

Built-in Spotlight: As noted earlier, you can set the built-in LED spotlight to turn on whenever motion is detected at night. It can also be configured to flash or pulsate to hopefully confuse and scare off intruders.

Color Night Vision: This seems a little gimmicky, as it requires that the LED spotlight be turned on to see color “at night”. In fact, if you turn off the spotlight LED option in the app, the Color Night Vision option also disables. So, in reality, you’re not seeing color with the infrared lights only (that view is still in black and light).

Gripes

Flash required on web interface: Believe it or not, I don’t always want to watch the fancy new 2K resolution in a tiny little box in the app (or get the timing just right to tap the “full screen” icon before it disappears). At work, I like to check the cameras on my computer. Unfortunately, live viewing your cameras on the My Arlo website still requires the Flash player (you know, the player that Adobe announced they were discontinuing years ago). It’s 2019! Most browsers either don’t include Flash or disable it by default, requiring you to jump through hoops to enable it again. I hope Arlo makes their site HTML 5 compatible soon!

No HomeKit at launch: I was very happy when Arlo upgraded the Arlo and Arlo 2 cameras to be HomeKit compatible. However, the Arlo 3 cameras do not have HomeKit functionality at this time, although I hear this is something that is coming in the near future.

The post Arlo Pro 3 Review appeared first on Technically Well.

Design

The Arlo camera system saves you the headache of needing to run wires through your home in order to install a security camera system. These cameras are completely wireless thanks to a built-in battery.

The unit consists of the cameras and a base station that plugs into your router. The base station can store the recordings locally by plugging an external USB storage device into it. Unfortunately, the base station doesn’t have any built-in storage of its own, but you do get 7 days of motion recordings to the cloud for free. The base station also has a loud 100 decibel siren, that you can control with the app when you see something suspicious going on or you can have it automatically go off based on motion or sound detection.

Being totally wireless, I have had one camera go offline inexplicably.  Pulling the battery out and placing it back in seems to have corrected it for the time being, but I hope it does not become a regular occurrence.

Features

The main allure of the Arlo system is that the cameras are completely wireless and can even be mounted outside without a power cable. Depending on how often motion passes in front of them, they can last 1 to 3 months on a single charge.

However, when plugged into power, the Pro 2 cameras offer some additional functionality. For example, when plugged into power, the recording will automatically include 3 seconds prior to the actual motion event. And you can also specify motion detection zones in the image when plugged into power

If you’re familiar with the previous generations of the Arlo cameras, you’re probably wondering what’s new in Pro 2 version. Well, this is just a minor update: the new model supports 1080p video capture (instead of 720p). Also, the motion zones feature is new for the Pro 2. That’s about it.

The Arlo Pro 2 cameras play nice with other services, such as SmartThings, Alexa and IFTTT. The app also allows you to schedule times when you want to be alerted and then automatically disable the alerts when you come home by using the location services on your phone.

If you want to save some money, the system also works with refurbished 1st generation cameras that you can pick up on Amazon for $100 or less.

Picture Quality

As noted earlier, the picture quality of the Pro 2 cameras is increased to 1080p. You can find some sample recordings in my review video.

The picture quality looks really good, but some users have noted that night vision is not quite as good as the 1st version of the Pro cameras. But you can still see if someone comes close to the camera at night.

Value

• With the free cloud plan, you get 7 days of motion recordings and support up to 5 cameras.
• The next step up is $100 a year for 30 days of motion recordings and support for up to 10 cameras.
• And last, you can pay $150 a year for 60 days of motion recordings and up to 15 cameras.

Pricing seems better than the Logitech Circle camera I reviewed earlier this year, plus the ability to have local storage with the Arlo is definitely a plus. The 5 camera limit on the free plan can be problematic if you have a large home you want to cover. Given the high price of the individual cameras, one would assume you could add as many as you want.

The post Arlo Pro 2 Security Camera Review appeared first on Technically Well.

Design / Ease of Use

The WyzeCam has a unique cube design. The flexible base also allows you to aim it where you want, but please note that the camera does not have pan and tilt motors. The base is magnetic, which gives you some flexibility when it comes to mounting it.

Configuring the camera is easy.  The app will walk you through the process, then display a QR code that you show to the camera.  The camera then pulls your Wifi information from that code and configures itself for your network.  Wyze’s cloud services take care of connecting you to a live stream of your camera when you’re away from home, so you don’t need to worry about port forwarding or messing with your router.

Picture Quality

The camera can record in 1080p with a night vision infrared LED. The picture quality looks great — it’s not as quite as good as the Logitech Circle 2 that I recently reviewed, but it’s clear enough to see people approaching the camera. Remember that the infrared night vision LED will not work through glass, so you won’t be able to see or record motion outside at night through a window.

Features

The Wyze Cam will send you a push alert whenever the camera detects motion. Similar to the Logitech Circle 2 camera, you can create a time lapse recording of the day, but you must schedule it in advance and it only records at regular intervals — not just when it detects motion.

The camera also feature 2-way audio, allowing you to use the app to talk to a person near the camera.

While the WyzeCam packs a lot of functionality, it is missing a few features. As I mentioned earlier, you cannot move the camera while you’re away… it is stationary. You also cannot specify specific zones of the image for motion alerting, just the sensitivity (Update: The April 2018 firmware update adds motion detection zones). Also, there is no Apple HomeKit or IFTTT support at this time (Update: The May 2018 firmware update adds IFTTT support).

Audio will always be included when recording to the Micro SD card or when a motion clip is saved to the cloud. You may want to keep that in mind if you plan to keep it running all the time inside your house (Update: The April 2018 firmware update adds the ability to disable the mic). If you don’t want to save any anything to the cloud, be sure to disable the motion and sound alerting options.

Value

Unlike the Circle 2 camera, which only gives you 1 day of cloud storage, the Wyze camera gives you a full two weeks of motion storage in the cloud. You also have the option of using a Micro SD card — up to 32 GB — to record 24/7 locally. So even if your internet connection goes down, you still have a copy of your recordings. That’s another big advantage over the Logitech Circle 2 camera, which has no local storage option at this time.  So while the Logitech Circle 2 constantly pushes you to their higher tier cloud storage options, the Wyze Cam functions are completely free (at launch, there is not even an option to upgrade yet).

Additional Details

• When enabling motion or sound detection, a 12-second clip will be saved to “the cloud” whenever an event occurs.  The clips are stored for 14 days.  If you reach 5 minutes of recordings in the cloud, older clips may be deleted (prior to 14 days).
• If you don’t want to save anything to the cloud, you will need to disable all motion and sound detection options.
• Audio is always recorded to both the cloud (if motion/sound detection is on) and the Micro SD card (if you choose to record locally). (Update: The April 2018 firmware update adds the ability to disable the mic)
• When saving to the Micro SD card, the folders are organized by Date > Hour > Minute. Each minute is saved as a separate MP4 video file.

Updates

• February 2018: WyzeCam v2 has been released, which adds motion detection highlighting (so you can more easily see what triggered a motion alert) and a new CMOS sensor. The WyzeCam team states they will continue to support v1 with firmware updates.
• April 2018: WyzeCam now support motion detection zones and the ability to disable sound recording.
• May 2018: WyzeCam now supports IFTTT! The biggest benefit is that you can now enable/disable motion detection alerts based on your phone’s location.
• June 2018: A pan/tilt version of the WyzeCam is now available.
• July 2018: You can now view your WyzeCam v2 and WyzeCam Pan on Alexa devices with a display. Unfortunately, WyzeCam v1 is not supported at this time.

Wyze Cam 1080p HD Indoor Wireless Smart Home Camera with Night Vision, 2-Way Audio, White

Wyze Cam 1080p HD Indoor Wireless Smart Home Camera with Night Vision, 2-Way Audio, White

$64.77

in stock

4 new from $64.77

as of October 11, 2023 2:43 pm

BUY NOW

Amazon.com

Last updated on October 11, 2023 2:43 pm

The post WyzeCam Review appeared first on Technically Well.

Picture Quality

One of the most important features of a security camera is the picture quality, and the Circle 2 definitely has that covered.  The 1080p picture is very clear, even in low light without the night vision LEDs.  This allows you to see the details of what is happening and a clear view of the face of the person.  The camera is set at 720p by default and you will need to use either the app or the website to increase it to 1080p.

Another notable feature is the wide field of vision, providing a 180 degree view of the area it is covering.  This covers my entire backyard.  In fact, I had to move it to the center of the window, otherwise the window frame would block a portion of the shot.

Features

One of my favorite features of the Logitech Circle 2 camera is the “Day Brief”.  This summarizes all of the events of the day into a 30-second video clip.  It’s a great way to check out what’s been going on around your home while you were gone.

The Logitech Circle 2 camera does a great job analyzing motion events, detecting people and providing accurate notifications, if you pay for the $9.99/month cloud plan.  Otherwise, you’ll only receive basic motion notifications (low motion and high motion).

The wire-free Logitech Circle 2 option includes a battery pack that allows the camera to operate for up to 3 months on a single charge, figured with an average of 5 minutes of recorded footage a day.  It uses a separate, low power motion sensor so that it does not need to be “awake” to constantly analyze the footage.  It’s important to note that the low power motion sensor does not work through glass.  If you leave the camera plugged into a power source, you can configured the camera to be “always on” and analyze motion using the video feed.

Other “mounts” are available for the Circle 2, allowing you to take either the wired or wire-free version and mount it to a window or plug it into an outlet.  However, these are at an additional cost and not included in the package.

Support for Apple Homekit is said to be coming soon, but wasn’t available at launch.  Homekit support will not be available for the wire-free (battery) mounting option.

Ease of Use

I’m surprised how many cameras on the market still require a plug-in — or even worse, an Internet Explorer Active X control — in order to setup and operate.  Thankfully, the Logitech Circle 2 works with all modern browsers without any additional software, not even Flash!  I was able to use it on my Mac and my Chromebook without an issue.

The smartphone app allows you to configure most the camera’s settings: resolution, alerting and power management.  One feature you cannot configure in the app is marking the zones for motion detection.  For this, you must login to the website (https://circle.logi.com).

Events that have occurred during the day are shown as “bubbles” along the right-side of the screen.  Grey bubble indicate low motion events (bird flying by, trees swaying in the breeze, etc) while the blue bubble indicate high motion events (such as a person walking close to the camera).  The bubbles make it very easy to navigate between different events and the camera seems to do an accurate job of only placing important events in the blue bubbles.  You can also filter the events if you want to remove the grey bubbles, for example.

Value

The Logitech Circle 2 has a lot of smart features, such as detecting people and making determination between what is normal motion (leaves rustling in the wind) and what is not normal (such as a person walking up to the camera).  However, a lot of this functionality is dependent on the cloud, or more specifically, Logitech’s servers.

On the Circle’s free plan, you get 1 day of cloud storage, unlimited streaming and downloads, alerts and day brief. In order to have person detection and motion zone alerts, you must pay $9.99 per month per camera for 31 days of storage, which — in my opinion — is a tad excessive for a camera that costs almost $200 in the first place.

There is no local storage on the device itself.  If your internet connection goes out, you will not be alerted of motion events (although, you will be alerted that the camera is offline if you enable that specific alert).  If Logitech’s servers ever go down, or — worse yet — they decide to abandon the Circle camera service, you’ll end up with an expensive, round paperweight.  For those reasons, I still prefer an IP camera that has local Micro SD card storage so that the camera is not dependent on a third-party.

The post Logitech Circle 2 Review (2017 model) appeared first on Technically Well.

PROs

• Picture quality: The video quality is in impressive 720P HD and allows you to see a lot of detail of what’s going on. The wide angle lens also covers a wide area. For example, I can view most of my front porch when mounted and pointing out my window.
• Easy setup: This camera has a unique setup process that I haven’t seen before. You connect the camera via USB to your computer and it shows up as a standard flash drive. Then, you open the AnkerCam “drive” and launch the PC or Mac setup program (sorry, no Linux setup available). This program” essentially routes you to the AnkerCam website with a unique identifier for the camera and allows you to complete the setup process online. The camera will scan for nearby WiFi and you select your network, provide your network password, and you’re good to go.
• Motion alerts: You can setup motion detection alerts in the app. The alerts are sent via push notifications to your smartphone.
• 20 second recordings: Whenever motion is detected, a 20 second video clip is saved to the cloud. You can then open up the app and tap one of the highlighted events on the timeline to watch a clip of what caused the alert to be triggered. Recordings are saved to the cloud and can be downloaded to your phone as needed.
• Night vision: There are infrared lights on the camera that allows it to “see in the dark” in black and white. But please note that this will not work through glass or out a window.
• Push to talk: You can also enable the microphone on your phone and talk through the camera’s built-in speaker if you need to get in contact with someone at the camera’s location.

CONs

• No traditional MJPEG stream: For those techies out there that would like to be able to view this camera in a different app or integrate it in a home monitoring web page, I couldn’t find a MJPEG stream or video streaming URL for this camera. If you locate one, please let me know!
• White cable with black camera: I’m stumped why the black camera includes a white power cable. Thankfully, it’s a standard Micro USB cable and you can easily use your own if you wish.
• Flash: The web interface requires the Adobe Flash plugin in order to view live video and recordings.

Overall, I really like how easy this camera was able to setup. The picture quality is also really good and in HD, allowing you to see a lot of detail in the image. I also like that recordings are backed up to the cloud, but I’m a little bummed by the lack of local functionality (no local streaming and no local recording).

Check out the AnkerCam on Amazon

— Discounted sample provided for review

The post AnkerCam HD WiFi Camera Review appeared first on Technically Well.

PROs

• HD recording: The picture and video quality on this camera is very good (see the attached video sample of the camera switching to night mode). The 720P resolution picks up a lot of detail and makes it easy to see what’s going on in your house while you’re away.
• Night vision: The IR lights make it possible to “see in the dark” in black and white when there is no other light in the room. Please note that this will not work through glass, so you can’t aim this through a window to record outside at night. I’ve attached a sample video to this review that demonstrates the night mode kicking in when I turn the light off.
• Motion detection: You can place a Micro SD card into this camera and it will locally record video whenever motion is detected. You can also have the camera email you when it detects motion.
• Pan and tilt controls: Using the app for this camera, you can control the pan and tilt controls to view an entire room or check out different areas of your back yard, for example. You can also set preset locations so that the camera automatically moves to a certain position.
• Compatibility: Early IP cameras required odd Active X controls, which meant you had to use Internet Explorer to setup the camera. This camera’s web interface is much more compatible, working with Safari and Chrome on the Mac.
• Setup: There are basically two ways to setup this camera.
  • The Easy Way: Download the “Life Online” app and use it to scan the QR code on the bottom of the camera. An online service will automatically help your phone and camera find each other when you’re not at home. This relies on a third-party website to help the two devices to connect.
  • The Hard Way: I like having a little more control, and I was pleased that I can set this camera up the “traditional” way as well, which involves changing the router’s port forwarding settings and setting the camera to a static IP address. For most people though, the “easy way” will suffice

CONs

• Unencrypted connections: I could not find an HTTPS server on this camera. While this is common for home IP cameras, please be aware that if you’re connected to a public WiFi hotspot, then your password to access the camera can be sent over plain text. To help mitigate this, you can use your phone’s cellular connection.  Also, change your IP camera’s password often (and never make it the same as another password you use).

Overall, this device has a sharp HD camera that performs well in the dark, thanks to the infrared lights. This Deecam IP camera is great for monitoring your home when you’re away.

Deecam D200 1280x720P HD H.264 Wireless/Wired IP Camera

— Sample provided for review

The post Deecam D200 720P IP Camera Review appeared first on Technically Well.