Wyze Cam V2 1080p Indoor Smart Home Camera With Wyze Sense Starter Kit Review

Installing and Setting Up Wyze Cams

Wyze Cam v3 with Box

This might be painfully obvious, but guess how like shooting fish in a barrel it is to install these cameras? Yous're correct: it's really simple. Open box, remove contents, plug in. As y'all decide where to place your camera, keep in listen that you're given a 6-foot ability cord and adapter, which might exist too short for some room setups. If you lot meet this upshot, you can buy extra mounting kits with cord extensions, or you can go wire-free with Wyze Cam Outdoor, which contains rechargeable batteries and a weather-resistant mounting kit.

Wyze Cam Pan and Wyze Cam (v2)

But, I digress. Setting up a Wyze Cam is pretty standard for Wi-Fi cameras: once the camera is plugged in and the yellow light begins flashing, you lot'll just enter your home Wi-Fi password in the app, scan the QR code1 on the app with the camera, press the setup button on the dorsum of the photographic camera, and follow the prompts to complete the process. A few minutes and a firmware update later, and y'all should be all set.

Wyze Cam V2 with plug and mounting disc

OK, so it wasn't snap-your-fingers instant; in that location were some prompts to follow later on downloading the app, with a couple of faux starts (user error, most likely). But this is still modern tech; there will always be some learning, waiting, or tinkering involved.

Wyze App Connecting

The Total Feel With Wyze Cams

As I took three Wyze Cams – Wyze Cam v3, Wyze Cam v2, and Wyze Cam Pan – for a spin, I focused on two things: the totally hassle-free setup process, and the impressive features in these cams that other minimalistic cameras lack, like person detection and color night vision. Here's a deeper camera-by-camera breakdown:

Wyze Camera v3

Wyze Camera v3 Outside

Wyze Cam v3 has Hard disk resolution, person detection, IP65 weather condition protection, color night vision, custom motion zones, two-fashion talk, schedules, device triggers, and other features unremarkably reserved for expensive alternatives or locked behind a subscription. And, in the Wyze app, everything is totally customizable; you can create all kinds of "rules" to make your devices shine.

Wyze Automation Rules

Pro Tip: Let the Wyze app monitor your fume alarms and CO detector. Only enable the option under "Alert Settings" in the Wyze app to get a smartphone notification if a siren sounds.

I'll be frank: Wyze Cams aren't going to blow you away with stellar video footage you lot tin brag to your neighbors well-nigh. (Even if you could, delight don't do that.) Though it records usable and decent quality video, Wyze isn't known for sharp-as-a-tack video recordings that testify every detail of your property. Rather, the photographic camera has only enough "parts" to make a functional "whole." Allow'southward get over some of those parts, aka features, that round out the Wyze Cam v3:

1080p HD Resolution

The majority of security cameras out there provide 1080p Hard disk resolution. It's the manufacture standard2 , and I plant information technology more than than sufficient for the Wyze Cam. But, should your purposes be more complex, these cameras could still stand to several higher-end brands in video clarity. Here'southward how some of my outdoor footage looked on a hot Baronial afternoon:

Many times, in testing and in simple everyday scenarios, I used Wyze Cam v3 to keep track of the family dogs. They somehow seem to get into the most trouble when the grownups aren't effectually. An extra set of eyes was handy, especially when we brought home our rescue dog.

For comparison's sake, when I reviewed Canary cameras, I got articulate-as-day recordings in 1080p, and quality was a bit clearer since I connected them via an Ethernet cable to my Wi-Fi router. Those cams are besides packed with some unique and advanced features, and then they're going to cost you quite a bit more than than Wyze. It all depends on your preference, but equally far every bit video quality, 1080p does the job well.

FYI: If you have a micro-SD menu, you tin can utilise it in the Wyze Cam to tape in HD nonstop for upwards to 48 hours. Yous tin also keep storing continuous video later on ii days, but the clarity will drop to SD later that.

Dark Vision

Wyze Cam v3 Dark Vision

When I wasn't lovingly spying on my pups, I pivoted to an outdoor location and used the Wyze Cam to do two things: Test the photographic camera's night vision, and track potential burglars. I'd been hearing reports of car and home break-ins in my neighborhood, and a small, discreet camera on my front porch helped me sleep a little improve. Luckily, our house hadn't been a target, every bit far equally nosotros could tell.

With Wyze, our night vision footage looked colorful, only not entirely articulate. If y'all're looking for clear, detailed night vision in a camera, I advise taking a look at Reolink. While those volition cost more than than Wyze, they do record some brilliant video at night, as you can read in my hands-on Reolink camera analysis.

FYI: Design-wise, Wyze Cams are somewhat like to Blink, another minimalist camera that'due south battery-powered. Visit my easily-on Blink camera review to encounter if Blink is correct for you.

Ii-Way Audio

Like 1080p and night vision, ii-way audio has become a standard we expect in habitation security cameras. Wyze has it, and it's seamless and effective, but I won't lie – the communication is a bit less well-baked than other camera audios, like the sharp-looking Arlo camera system I reviewed recently.

Just, once more, what are your priorities? Do you want to have total-fledged conversations with the babysitter while yous're on your date night, or practice you envision using it more as a dwelling house intercom ("Dear, can you lot bring me a pair of scissors?"). Again, with such depression-price cameras, you're not going to get crystal-clear premium audio. But you'll become an effective two-style channel that might help you spook a potential burglar or two. You never know.

Smart Home Compatibility

Wyze works nicely with Alexa and Google Assistant, and setting upward either device is no sweat. For the Google Assistant, you tin use voice controls to alter from home to abroad style. If your device has a screen, you can say things similar, "Show me the living room." But it's somewhat limited beyond that.

If you're a fan of security cameras that work with Alexa, in that location's good news: Alexa's Wyze skill now includes voice alerts from Alexa herself! By linking Alexa to my Wyze Cam, I had a couple of options: I could utilise my own voice to tell Alexa, "Testify me my outside camera!" to get on-demand footage. In addition, I could set Alexa to notify me when the camera picks up a person, which I really liked. I had to hand it to Wyze here; this feature is non something I meet every day, and certainly not in a $32 camera.

Link Wyze Business relationship with Alexa

To access this characteristic, it but took a minute or two to navigate to the Smart Integrations tab in the Wyze app and link the accounts together. In one case that was done, I waited for someone to enter the room. (At that place are 4 people and ii dogs in my business firm, and so the odds that someone would show up were pretty practiced.)

In under a minute, someone did. Iv-ish seconds later, I heard, "Person detected on living room cam." Thank you, Alexa! (And thank you to my family for being excellent test subjects.)

Did You lot Know: Cameras are really getting into the dwelling house automation game. Acquire how Wyze and other cameras can automate with other smart devices in your home in our complete home automation guide.

Smart Audio Recognition

Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors protect from potential dangers from inside our home. But in your haste, y'all might sometimes overlook those dangers in favor of external threats like thieves or trespassers.

And then while visual surveillance is e'er important, detecting unusual or problematic noises is also a actually helpful characteristic. In the Wyze cam, you can actuate smart sound recognition, which is free in the app. This fashion, if your smoke alert siren goes off, your cam will trigger an warning on your telephone wherever you are, and then you'll be able to take action right away.

Person Detection

The Wyze Cam v3 has person, pet, and vehicle detection, which the original V1 Wyze Cams didn't accept. Ideally, this means the Wyze Cam volition tell you via smartphone alerts whether the object it is tracking is a homo, pet, or vehicle.

Information technology took a few moments to understand how this characteristic worked in the Wyze app, simply one time I had everything straight, I thought Wyze handled this technology really well – possibly not plenty to impress the smart home aficionado, but certainly enough to rely on for everyday scenarios and bones intruder protection. Hither are some of the nearly common alerts I received:

Common Wyze Alerts

With all the upgrades to Wyze Cam v3, though, my 1 wish was that it contained a battery backup. It would go a long way toward upholding Wyze'southward reputation for reliability, too as ensuring the organisation stays running without pause. Considering, allow'south confront it: Holding crimes do happen, and some of them involve criminals cut wires to plough cameras offline. Merely something to keep in mind.

Moving forward, allow's briefly discuss two other Wyze Cams I tested: Wyze Cam v2 and Wyze Cam Pan.

Wyze Cam V2

Wyze Cam – V2

Though it'southward no longer in stock, Wyze Cam V2 was the successor of the original Wyze Cam. Installing it involved little more than setting it on a shelf. I as well used the included agglutinative to proceed the camera in place, only that'southward certainly optional.

This petty cutie came with a nice array of features, which y'all'll also notice in many of the best wireless indoor cameras on the market.

Wyze Cam V2 features include:

• 1080p Hard disk resolution
• Custom motion alerts
• Live video streaming
• Infrared night vision
• Two-style talk
• Smoke/CO alarm sound detection
• Time-lapse video

FYI: Neither the Wyze Cam V2 nor the Wyze Cam Pan are outdoor cameras, but y'all can protect them from dust and h2o splashes with a slip-on comprehend if you actually want to use them exterior. Be wary of this and any other DIY "hack," though, every bit yous might stop upwards voiding the warranty.

For the low price of $19.99, this one was pretty hard to vanquish in its heyday. Simply every bit I but mentioned above, its successor, Wyze Cam V3, comes with more features than V2, like person detection, and even works outdoors.

Wyze Cam Pan

Wyze Cam Pan

It'southward Wyze … in 360! Wyze Cam Pan had all the features I enjoyed in Wyze Cam V2, including night vision, adjustable motion detection, and two-way audio. Merely the special sauce is the 360-caste coverage. This is somewhat unusual in the industry – probable because some folks consider it blowsy or unnecessary. But I found it to be mannerly, watching the cam zip around, scanning the room.

The technology behind it is pretty impressive, too. The Pan Cam has a rotation speed of 110 degrees per 2d, for i. Only put, this photographic camera moves as fast as y'all practise. Information technology too has PanScan, where you tin cull upward to four "waypoints" for the camera to pan over automatically throughout the solar day. I like comparing PanScan to setting up a road on a driverless car – and no, I've never done that earlier. But I'd like to!

Pricing on Wyze Cams

As of this writing, the first-generation Wyze Cams are no longer available, and its software is no longer compatible with the rest of Wyze's products. Only Wyze Cam v3 is a solid replacement, especially since it's built for both indoor and outdoor utilize. I no longer accept to use a split outdoor cover to use Wyze Cams outside, for example, which is a subtle but much-appreciated improvement.

There'due south 1 catch, though, which I'll discuss at greater length in our full Wyze Cam pricing page: at simply under $32, the Wyze Cam v3 is most twice the toll of the original. But it makes sense when you consider everything this camera does. And, for more perspective, consider that the Wyze Cam v3 is still about a third of the toll of a Blink Outdoor camera and nigh ten percent of the toll of Google's Nest Cam Outdoor. Every bit we like to say, you become what you pay for in home security, and Wyze is no exception.

Here's a look at Wyze'due south latest photographic camera options:

Snapshot of Wyze Cam Costs

Wyze Cam	What You lot Go	Price
Wyze Cam V3	1080p Hd, indoor/outdoor, color dark vision, plug-in	$31.98
Wyze Cam Pan	1080p HD, pan-tilt, motility tracking, plug-in	$29.99 (currently unavailable)
Wyze Cam Outdoor	1080p Hard disk drive, IP65-rated embrace and wall mountain, bombardment	$59.98
Wyze Cam Spotlight Bundle	1080p Hd, outdoor with spotlight, color nighttime vision, plug-in	$39.98
Wyze Cam Black (v2)	1080p Hard disk, indoor, infrared night vision, plug-in	$26.99

Subscriptions and Storage with Wyze

Wyze offers both local and cloud recording options for its cameras. The first selection involves using a 32GB micro-SD card. There's a slot for that correct in the back of the photographic camera, where you tin slide in a Wyze 32GB micro-SD card slot. With that selection, you can store upward to 48 hours' worth of recordings at no extra cost, other than the SD cards themselves.

32GB micro-SD Menu

Merely if you don't accept cards, don't sweat information technology; in that location's a totally free cloud recording option, too. Subsequently I had all my Wyze Cams set up around the house, I went into the app and found the detection options, where I set the cameras to commencement recording. The next fourth dimension one of them detected move, the photographic camera automatically recorded a 12-second event video that was stored in the deject for upward to 14 days in the Events tab of the Wyze app.

Wyze App Events Tab

That'south not a promotional or introductory offer, and yous don't need to sign upwardly for a subscription. That's but the way Wyze works. Just retrieve that with this free pick, Wyze videos are automatically deleted after xiv days, and at that place'due south also a five-infinitesimal cooldown menstruum between videos. There's ever a slight take a chance with cooldown periods that y'all're going to miss important activity, but Wyze's five-minute cooldown hasn't been a problem for me.

At present, if that all sounds a fleck too restrictive, consider Wyze'southward Cam Plus subscription. It'due south very affordable at $1.25 per month, about one-half the cost of a cloud storage plan with Band cameras. With Cam Plus, the camera will record full-length videos to the cloud as soon as motion is detected, with no cooldown period. Cam Plus too offers person, vehicle, and pet detection, and so you'll get more descriptive alerts like, "Pet detected at living room cam," and "Vehicle detected at driveway cam."

See below for a quick breakdown of what y'all'd expect with a Cam Plus subscription compared to the basic (free) Wyze experience. Also, check out a new Wyze choice that goes beyond cameras: the Wyze Sense security system. I reviewed Wyze Sense in full and explored costs of Wyze Home Monitoring, a Noonlight-powered professional monitoring service, if y'all're interested.

Wyze Cam Subscriptions

	Bones	Cam Plus
Event Video Length	12 seconds	Unlimited
Cooldown Period	5 minutes	No cooldown
2x-4x playback	No	Yep
Event Video Storage	fourteen days	14 days
Sound-Triggered Alerts	Yeah	Yes
Motion-Triggered Alerts	Yeah	Yes
Person Detection	No	No
Sound-Triggered Alerts	Yeah	Yes
Toll	Free	$i.25 per month per camera

For more aid with buying security cameras from Wyze and other top brands, visit our complete security camera buying guide.

Wyze Customer Service

If you encounter problem with Wyze Cams, Wyze'due south customer back up page has ample content related to installation, troubleshooting, smoke alarm detection3 , Wyze app functionality, and information about Wyze's many other products and accessories. It might not exist and then piece of cake to spot a phone number, though.

Wyze Product Back up

Indeed, Wyze doesn't make information technology so piece of cake to call them. Afterward failing to locate a customer service telephone number on their website, I did stop up finding it through a Google search, and a friendly agent answered a couple of questions in nether 5 minutes.

For other questions or concerns, I advise consulting the customs forum for the latest Wyze updates, news, and tips for using your cameras finer.

Wyze Back up

Wyze's Warranty Coverage

Wyze has a free i-year warranty on their products. I haven't had to use it still, but it's overnice to have just in case. Equally nice to have is the thirty-day return policy – which is always helpful when purchasing any electronics product.

Warranty bated, you tin expect Wyze Cams to work well beyond the first year, barring some unexpected calamity.

The Verdict: Is Wyze Wise?

With the Wyze Cam v3 and Pan Cam, Wyze proves that its goal of "making great technology attainable" is in full force. In addition to its unmatched affordability, y'all'll love these cams for their simplicity, their reliability, and their effectiveness in protecting your home, your family unit, and your possessions.

With all the tinkering and customizing you lot tin do with a security camera, this kind of refreshing simplicity isn't so easy to find. If y'all're more of a set-it-and-forget-it camera user, the compact cameras of Wyze are a smart selection.

Maybe it'south time for all of united states of america to start thinking small when it comes to home security.

Ofttimes Asked Questions

Are Wyze Cams wireless?

Wyze Cam Outdoor comes with rechargeable batteries, making it a great wireless option. Other Wyze cameras don't include a battery, so you'll have to plug them into a wall outlet with the included ability cord.

Does Wyze work with Alexa?

Yep. In terms of smart home ecosystems, Wyze integrates with Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT. It does not currently integrate with Apple HomeKit.

Exercise Wyze Cams require a base station or hub to work?

No. All Wyze cameras, including the virtually recent V3 releases, work alone.

What is included in a Wyze Cam Plus subscription?

In improver to saving your video history, Wyze's Cam Plus programme lets you admission AI features similar person and pet detection. You can record full-length video when motion is detected. It also lets yous save snapshots and video clips to the cloud, or download footage to your phone or tablet. Cam Plus costs $one.25 per calendar month per camera.

Can I use Wyze Cams without a subscription?

Yes, in two ways. All Wyze Cams include free cloud recording with up to 12-second video clips, so you tin can livestream footage, receive alerts, and command your cameras remotely through the Wyze app without signing upwardly for a Cam Plus subscription. Or, y'all can store your footage locally through micro-SD cards and save clips in the Playback tab of the Wyze app.

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Source: https://www.safehome.org/home-security-cameras/wyze/reviews/

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