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

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Last updated on October 11, 2023 2:43 pm

The post WyzeCam Review 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.