I’m a huge fan of Eufy products. This is my 3rd security camera. The hardware is always well made with quality material. And the accompanying security app is well designed and easy to use. I was hesitant at first when choosing this brand, a year ago, because the Eufy name itself is not well known. But while I was researching this product, I learned it is made by Anker. Anker is a well-established electronics company that was created about 10 years ago by a couple of former Google engineers. They have a strong reputation for making quality products with lithium-ion batteries. This made sense when I picked-up my first pair of Eufy security cameras last year. Using their lithium-ion technology, they could hold a charge for close to a year. Even though this floodlight model is hardwired to power, it still offers the same quality parts as their other security cameras. Namely, the color picture is sharp and clear during day and night; the infrared LEDs do a very good job seeing in total darkness; and the bright-white LED floodlights do an excellent job lighting up the surrounding area.
Physically installing the light is easy if you already have electrical running to a junction box outside. If you currently have a floodlight, then you’ll most likely have the necessary and proper electrical hookup. The most important step is to make sure you turn off the power at the breaker box before you start the physical installation. After the installation or when you first supply power to the unit, you’ll need to download the Eufy Security app to complete the setup. Unfortunately, I had a little trouble going through the steps on the app because it said I’ll need to turn off my cellular radio in order to continue. The app takes you to your phone’s call settings, but it didn’t provide any guidance or helpful tips on how to disable your cell’s radio. I was installing the app on a Samsun Galaxy S10 with the latest Andriod 10 operating system on AT&T’s network. I first guessed and turned on airplane mode. Knowing that airplane mode also turns off the phone’s Wi-Fi network, I manually turned the phone’s Wi-Fi back on because I knew I needed that for the install. Well, that didn’t work. After turning off airplane mode, I eventually found a setting called Mobile Data under the Mobile Network menu. I disabled Mobile Data and the app finally allowed me to continue the install process. Up until then, I was kind of stuck in a loop in the app. It wouldn’t allow me to continue and it kept on going back and forth between the app and my phone’s settings. That part was frustrating, but I’m glad I figured it out eventually because the rest of the install process was easy and the app itself is well designed with a lot of options. You don’t have to use all the options, but they’re there if you want to customize the floodlight and its motion sensor or the camera and its separate motion detection. One last comment regarding the aforementioned app installation issue. I ended up not needing to contact Eufy’s tech support for this issue, but I do recall needing to contact them a year ago when I was installing my other set of Eufy cameras. I believe I used the instant chat feature within the app that instantly connected me to a live support person. They were extremely helpful and were able to solve my support issue.
The hardware itself does an excellent job sensing motion to trigger the floodlights. Separately, the camera detects motion and always captures the movement on clear video. The floodlight and camera work hand-in-hand, but like I mentioned earlier, you can customize it to meet your needs. For example, I lowered the sensitivity on the physical motion sensor to allow it to only turn on the floodlights if there is movement close to the house. But at the same time, I was able to set the camera’s motion detection zones separately, to begin recording when motion is detected in the areas I specified. I also have a unique case where I do not want the camera to turn on its infrared sensors at night. Since I have a gate near the camera, the infrared does too well of a job lighting up the area in front of the gate. When it does this though, the white balance is thrown off and I can’t see anything beyond the gate. Since Eufy allows for a wide range of features, I was able to turn off the infrared at night and allow the camera to record beyond the fence without any problems. If someone does get close to house, the floodlights still turn on and the camera records the person very clearly and in color even at night.
It is important to note that this camera does not have Eufy’s special AI chip installed that allows it to differentiate movement caused by a person versus some other object or animal. Sometimes this can be helpful if all you’re concerned about is only capturing movement of individuals. My other Eufy camera (eufyCam 2) has this chip technology and it not only detects human movement, it also captures a picture of their face and provides it as a preview when you review the clips within the app. This feature was very impressive, and it was included for free with the eufyCam 2 hardware. Other companies charge extra in their monthly cloud backup plan to get a feature such as this. Eufy, on the other hand, does not require a service plan. All your recordings are locally stored on the device for this camera. They specifically mention that the recordings do not get uploaded to their computers/server/cloud. All your recordings stay private and encrypted on your local device. And when you view the camera and its recordings through your app, the camera is sending the video wireless to your phone. For those security concise people who do not want their recordings accidently leaked or viewed by the manufacturer, this design feature is well worth it. And for those who still prefer a cloud backup, Eufy does offer a very reasonably priced cloud subscription. Price-wise, it’s on par or less than its competitors. Other companies can charge a lot more for their cloud options.
A couple of other things I want to mention is how fast the app connects to the camera when you want to view live footage. When you open your app to view the camera, there isn’t a lag. The live video comes up in a second or two. Other security camera’s I’ve used can take up to ten seconds or more. I love this about their product. The connections are fast on all three Eufy cameras I own. A separate note is about the brightness of the floodlight. The brightness can be customized. If it’s cranked up all the way, it can be very bright. I lowered my down to like 30% and it’s perfect for my patio area. The light itself is the bright white light (5000 Degrees Kelvins). There isn’t the ability to change the light’s color temperature, say down to the soft white temperature of around 2700K. Since it’s a floodlight, I can live with the light’s bright color temperature. If it was lighting the inside my house, that would be a different story.
Overall, I really like this unit. It does what it’s supposed to do very well. The motion detection works, the camera records really well in day and night, and the app is very dependable and easy to use.