Aqara - G4 Smart Video Doorbell -Battery Powered HomeKit Secure Doorbell Camera, Local Face Recognition & Automations - Black
Model: SVD-C03
SKU: 6568827
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Customers are impressed with the G4 Smart Video Doorbell's video quality, battery life, and facial recognition features. Many appreciate the ease of installation and the included cloud storage, although some users find the app could be improved for better user experience. The wide field of view and reliable motion detection are also frequently praised. Positive feedback highlights the device's overall performance and helpful features.
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Easy installation. Good Apple HomeKit integration. I hid it in the door where the peephole device was. Just be prepared to cut into the door on the inside to accomplish this. My photo shows interim positioning before hiding it inside the door.
Posted by JBSBestBuyCustomer
Tons of built-in smarts, full integration into Apple Home and others, plus local and free cloud storage make this smart video doorbell a worthy addition to any smart home. Highlights: * Modern-looking external camera/doorbell that matches the Aqara Smart Lock design. * Claims up to 4 months of life from the set of 6 AA batteries. * Easy installation. * Easy integration into Apple HomeKit, Alexa, Google Home and more. * Native app has a lot of features and customizations. * Apple HomeKit Secure Video compatibility. * On-device facial recognition. * Free cloud storage plus optional subscription plans for more. * Remote chime with optional local storage of video clips. Room for Improvement: * Materials feel plasticy. * Remote chime (provided) is required. * Remote chime must be USB-powered. * Doorbell battery replacement requires a screwdriver (and disablement of tamper alarm if previously enabled). Setup: Installation was straightforward and easy. There are two hardware parts; the Doorbell that is installed outside and the Chime that is placed somewhere inside to announce visitors without needing a phone nearby. The Doorbell connects wirelessly directly to the Chime and the Chime then connects to your network and/or home automation system. The printed documentation was minimal, but that’s OK for me. The sparse printed material had a QR code that directs you to get the free Aqara Home app. You don’t really need the app after setup if you’re using Apple Home or similar, but it has options and features that are only present in the app, so it’s a good idea to keep it around after setup. The app itself guides the installation with simple steps and short video demonstrations. The video and text sometimes felt like it was translated from another language but overall everything worked as expected. I was able to physically install the hardware in about 15 minutes with no questions or difficulties. Unlike other home automation products, my recommendation is to get everything set up and working before physically mounting the doorbell so you can see live video while choosing where to mount it outside for the best camera views. Before powering up the doorbell, first apply power to the Chime unit using any suitable USB-C power supply (cable and power supply not included). In the Aqara Home app, tap the “+” button and choose the Smart Video Doorbell to start installation. The setup guides you all the way through setting up the doorbell in Apple Home or other compatible automation systems. Once the Chime is set up in the Aqara App, you can power up the Doorbell itself. The Doorbell can either be powered directly from the house or you can pop in 6 AA batteries. There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to each installation, and the option is yours. If you decide to use batteries, there are power-saving options in the App to make them last as long as possible, but be aware that installation outdoors in a really hot or cold climate may increase the frequency of battery replacement. My recommendation is to set up everything using batteries in the doorbell first so you can see live video while mounting the doorbell. After that, you can take out the batteries if you’re going to power the doorbell from house wiring instead. A wedge is included to mount the Doorbell at an angle if that works best for your chosen location. Both the wedge and the doorbell itself have both adhesive tape and screws to make mounting them fast and secure. To secure the Doorbell to its mount, there is a single screw behind a rubber flap on the right side. Tighten that screw and close the flap to keep your Doorbell from being easily removed or tampered with. Note that you’ll need to open that flap and loosen that screw to replace the batteries, so keep that in mind with your mounting location that you’ll have to leave room for a screwdriver on the right side. Once you get the angle all set for the Doorbell and either leave the batteries in or remove them to go hard-wired, you can choose a good location for the Chime. Note that they must be within 15 feet of each other and the Chime must also be within range of your WiFi access points. By the way, the Chime has a speaker, a button to silence alerts, and a microSD card slot for use as local video storage, so you might want to mount it where you can get to if necessary. There is also the Apple HomeKit QR code sticker if needed later. Usage: Once fully set up in both the Aqara app and Apple HomeKit, when a visitor presses the doorbell button, the Chime plays a sound, the app issues a notification on my phone and my AppleTV shows a notification with a thumbnail (if the ATV is on). I can tap into the notification on the phone or AppleTV (if on) to connect to the Doorbell with live video and optionally speak with the visitor. I inserted a modest memory card into the Chime so video is recorded both locally and to the Aqara cloud service that is accessible via the app. The free service stores a rolling 7 days-worth of video but the local memory card can store as much as there is space for. Two-way audio is also available if you want to speak with the visitor. Video quality is quite good both during the day and night, but is limited to 1080p resolution. The video is wide-angle to capture about 160 degrees which is great but it does introduce a bit of fish-bowl effect. You can reduce that effect with a setting in the App, but doing so will diminish the effectiveness of the on-device facial recognition according to the app. Speaking of facial recognition; to set it up, you can upload photos of each person via the app to “pre-train” the doorbell. The recognition is done locally and a service subscription is not required. Unlike other doorbell cameras, you don’t need to first have a visitor approach the camera to train the facial recognition and instead can upload photos of the visitor prior to their first visit. The Doorbell has a passive infrared sensor to determine when a person is nearby. That sensor can be used to trigger “loitering” notifications and video recording without needing that person to press the doorbell button. If your doorbell is battery-powered, this sensor can also be used to “wake up” the doorbell from a sleeping state to prolong battery life. If you enable this Loitering recording on a battery-powered doorbell, it will shorten the device’s battery life, so just be aware of that. The Chime has a small LED light that also indicates the state of the Doorbell and its connection to the Chime that turns red when video recording is in progress. There is also a button on the top to silence any alerts locally so you don’t have to run for your phone if you’re closer to the Chime when the doorbell rings. Integration into home automation systems is really nice and I appreciate the alert with a thumbnail on my AppleTV as well as on my phone. However; if you have the Aqara Home app installed, you may need to tweak your phone’s notification settings. Otherwise you’ll probably end up with multiple notifications for the same event; one each from Aqara and Apple Home. The app isn’t the best I’ve seen, but it is mostly organized and there are tons of options you can set up. You can configure detailed notifications for visitor presence (aka “Loitering”), doorbell presses, tampering with the doorbell, etc… If you do turn on the Tampering alarm, just remember to disable that feature before taking the doorbell down to change its batteries. As mentioned above, you need to loosen a screw on the right side of the doorbell to replace its batteries. Be careful not to strip that screw or you won’t be able to access the battery compartment. If you have other smart home devices such as the Aqara Smart Lock, you can easily set up automations that either trigger by the Doorbell and control the Lock, or vice versa by recording video when someone unlocks the door… plus many other automations. Overall: The product is thoughtfully designed and has a modern and sleek appearance. While the materials are not amazing, they are adequate and the exterior portion looks nice and matches their Smart Home Lock if you have that installed as well. The features and video options are great - especially having the option for local video storage and on-device facial recognition. I haven’t had it installed long enough to confirm the stated battery life, but so far this doorbell was easy to install, easy to set up and easy to use. I love having the Apple Secure Video available to see visitors on my Apple TV as well as my phone. This smart video doorbell should definitely be on your short list if you value the feature set like I do.
Posted by gadgeTT
The Aqara Video Doorbell isn’t my first smart video doorbell, however, it is my first one from this brand. The doorbell can be setup wirelessly to run on disposable batteries or wired to existing doorbell wiring; just note that your doorbell transformer needs to output 8-24V power. For installation and mounting, you’ll receive screws, wall anchors, and a 20° wedge if you need to horizontally angle the doorbell away from a corner wall. The kit also includes an indoor chime speaker, which acts as a WiFi hub, and USB-C cable to power it. The chime accepts a microSD card up to 512GB (not included) for local storage of videos and photos captured by the doorbell and does not require a subscription. Setup is simple and straightforward with the Aqara Home app, and you’ll connect the chime unit directly to a 2.4 GHZ WiFi network which in turn will transmit data to and from the video doorbell; note that 5 GHz networks are not supported. The camera is secured to the backplate using a spring-loaded security screw, which is a clever way to ensure that you don’t drop or lose it. Once you slide the housing up and away from it, you can load 6 AA batteries inside (included). The unit comes pre-fitted with double-sided adhesive tape or optionally you can mount the camera doorbell permanently with the screws and anchors. If you wish to wire the doorbell, a punch-out window in the mounting plate can be removed, so you can attach the wires to the screw terminals on the back of the camera unit. In the app, you can view a live feed from the video doorbell, manually capture recordings and stills, review recorded video footage and photos, and change the device’s settings. When the doorbell button is pressed, the indoor chime will sound (volume is adjustable up to 95 dB), and a LED ring around the button will illuminate indicating that the camera is recording; however, this light can be disabled in the settings. It automatically captures a short video clip of the event and sends push notifications to your app. You can also set the camera to record other events like loitering (general motion detection) and device tampering, as well as sound an alarm if the unit is removed from the backplate. The camera captures a wide-angle, horizontal, 162° FOV image in 1080p quality and has automatic IR night vision when it’s dark out. In general, I found the video, image, and sound quality to be quite good. It has decent contrast and color and the recordings are clear, though by default there is a fisheye effect that distorts the image at the edges. Enabling lens correction squares the image so it looks more natural, which I preferred. However, be aware that switching between the two modes often can affect the device’s ability to recognize faces properly. Nighttime footage appears in black and white and some details are lost or fuzzy which makes it harder for the facial recognition to be as accurate. The other thing is since the video is oriented horizontally, you can't see the ground close to the camera, so if a package is left in that area, you won’t see it. One smart feature you can enable is the AI facial recognition of frequent visitors. After capturing a collection of images, you can manage the facial data and tag them with names and trigger custom events when those individuals are detected on the camera, for example, playing a custom ringtone (up to 5 MP3s). Amazingly, all the AI facial recognition is performed in the chime unit itself and not on the cloud, so it’ll still work even without internet access. However, other advanced AI recognition like packages and animals were not available. You can interact with folks in front of the camera by using the intercom feature in the app and while doing so, mask your voice with 3 different sounding filters: uncle, robot, and clown, which I thought was interesting. You can also adjust the camera’s motion sensitivity, define up to 3 privacy/occlusion zones, and enable timestamps on your footage. Just note that the privacy areas will be masked in the recordings and motion in these areas will not trigger events. If you’ve inserted an SD card, by default the files saved to it are set to loop recording and will overwrite the oldest footage when the card is full. You can also have the files automatically sync/offload to network attached storage (NAS), like a computer on the same network, so that you’ll have access to more storage capacity for a longer video history, retaining up to 1 year of footage. However, an SD card is actually not required as the unit includes 7 days of free cloud storage without a subscription. Recorded events appear on a timeline in the app and you can color code/highlight different types of events so that you can find and review them quickly. Continuous 24/7 recording is available as an option, which would store about 3 days worth of continuous recordings on a 32GB card, though it is only available when the unit is wired as to not quickly deplete the batteries, which can last 4 months depending on frequency of usage and operating temperatures. When wired, the installed batteries act as backup power if your power goes out. The doorbell also has a number of compatible third-party integrations including Apple and Google Home, Alexa, and IFTTT allowing you to use the doorbell in custom automations with your other IoT devices, for example, having the video feed pop up automatically on a connected screen like Echo Show or Google Home Hub when the doorbell is pressed. Aqara also plans to add Matter integration as some point in the future through a firmware update. The responsiveness between the doorbell and app was very good, and there is very minimal lag between camera detection and notifications/automations. Not only does this allow you to respond to doorbell presses right away, it makes communicating via the intercom way more pleasant as you’ll be able to see and hear the camera’s live feed in nearly real-time. I also liked that you can link other devices to it, for example Aqara's smart locks, so that you can unlock it right from the video monitor screen. Overall, the Aqara G4 is the most fully featured video doorbell that I’ve tried to date, and I really appreciate the free cloud storage, unlimited 24/7 local recording, integrated facial recognition, and multiple compatible smart home integrations. With both wired and wireless options, anyone can install this doorbell, and combining its WiFi hub with an indoor chime is super convenient. The video and audio quality are already pretty good, but if a 2K or 4K version becomes available, I wouldn’t hesitate to trade up.
Posted by ReviewedByPhil