Amazon - Cloud Cam Indoor Security Camera, works with Alexa - White

I have multiple other 1080p cameras in my house after starting with my first Amcrest wifi camera 3 years ago. Children (teenagers) stay at home a lot, have some pets as well, so we use cameras on daily basis. I was very exited to see a recent under $60 deal at Bestbuy for Amazon cloud camera so decided to jump on it getting two. 2018 tech, cloud storage, great price, Amazon behind the product - was thinking that it will be a great addition to my Amcrest and LaView devices. Unfortunately, the camera is huge letdown even at the price I paid. Setup - if it works if you right away you are very lucky, otherwise you are stuck for hours like me trying to find out what is wrong, and I know a lot about IT and networking. The support section has minimal information, no WiFi encryption specs are listed anywhere. It didn't like my mixed 5 and 2.4 GHz WiFi with enhanced encryption at all (something no other device cared about), so I had to split my camera WiFi network into two separate networks and lower encryption standard for Amazon camera to finally connect to it. Image quality is nowhere near 1080p! The stream goes via Amazon server and they throttle it down to 720P max, my other 1080p cameras are night and day in quality compared to Amazon camera. The lowest quality setting on Amcrest camera is actually better that Amazon camera, and HD is super clear on other cams where Amazon doesn't have any settings to adjust image quality. So if you expect your clips to show you great details - do not bother, you will see people but do not expect clear faces. There is a big delay with motion detection as well, frames are skipped so the main feature of the camera - online video backup - is near useless. Night vision - oh my, my old Amcrest blows Amazon camera out of water. Amazon uses a USB charger from Kindle fire to power their cams with very limited current so IR lights have very low power. The only reason I'm not taking these back are because they are professionally installed now and the voice communication is actually fine, I can talk to the kids better compared to my other other cameras. But these are the last Amazon cameras I've ever got, it is not a a home surveillance product and belongs to a baby-monitor category. There are much cheaper and better 1080p cameras these days so I can not recommend Amazon camera, maybe a person with no IT knowledge and a very basic home WiFi network who doesn't care about image quality much can try to install it and take it back to store if it doesn't work.

I bought this cam thinking it would be a quality unit given the Amazon brand. That was a mistake. After several hours over two days, I was unable to log on to the Amazon Cloud cam app, which is the essential first step to setting up the unit. Had I read the reviews in the Google Play store for the app, I would never have bought this cam. The app itself was unusable and is the essential first step to get the cam operational. I never got that far. I wanted to use this with my Samsung Galaxy S8 phone but the Android version of the app simply would not work. I kept getting Amazon cloud error messages saying “Cloud failure error message 1, try again later”. After repeated attempts, I got slightly further but was never, despite probably two dozen attempts, able to log on. I then tried my IOS device, but same story, it constantly returned an error message when I started the app, “cloud error, try again later”. The camera may be super but I will never know, as I could not get it connected and registered. This one is being returned today. If the Amazon cloud is this difficult and unreliable, this cannot function as a satisfactory security camera. I couldn’t even get it to function as a live feed cam. I have two D-link tilt/pan older cams that work fine so I have the necessary experience with cams and the set up process, connectivity, etc. This is not the case of user error. My suggestion is to read all the Amazon Cloud Cam reviews in Google Play as well as the camera reviews themselves. I would absolutely not recommend this cam to anyone.

I am uncertain why I have seen some poor reviews. I purchased 2 of these to use as secondary security cameras and a part of my home automation. One is in the garage entrance and is used in conjunction to a smart garage door controller. If my garage is opened, I get a text from my Smartthings hub, my Fireplace Hue light turns red and the Cloud Cam captures everything on Video. The second Cloud Cam keeps an eye on my Yorkie and is activated when my cell phones leaves it's defined Geo Fence. These cameras were simple to set up, have good resolution and activate and begin recording a clip very quickly. For the reviewers that have stated that they don't need a clip of an empty room, I am thinking they need to upgrade their internet plan as mine captures anything the second the camera sees motion. I have just been using these a couple of days so time will tell if that are reliable but in an uncertain world of Automation, these were an easy step in the right direction.

I was concerned when I purchased this that I would have to get a subscription to actually be able to use this camera the way I needed to. I have actually found that the non-subscription offering is just what I needed. The setup was really easy so that was a big plus. I am able to see how my dogs are doing throughout the day, which is the primary reason why I got it. The picture is pretty good, the sound is great. I have found connectivity to be pretty solid once its on. My only issue is that I find that the home away feature that is supposed to turn your camera off when you get home or turn the camera on when you leave doesn't work as great so I find myself double checking if its actually recording when I leave sometimes. Also, there are times when I get home and the green light stays on, requiring me to go on the app to turn it off manually. This is not ideal, but I can work around it just fine.

The kids were scared whenever someone rang the doorbell and wanted a way to see the person from their phone. The amazon cloud cam was on sale and I grabbed it. All in all, it works great! We all get notifications when someone is at the door and can see the event in real time or playback the video later. In order to keep the video for long periods of time, you need to pay a fee. We don’t need that feature and pay no monthly fee. We do get false notifications but that is to be expected with the built in software looking for any changes from frame to frame. The wind will move something and we get a false notification. Also, a cloudy day will set it off. It’s a slight aggravation that I suspect is a “feature” of most cloud cams. All in all, we have been very satisfied with the camera and highly recommend it.

As far as a basic security camera goes, this is great for the price. Getting cloud storage through your prime account is amazing and being able to access the cameras on our tvs using our firetv sticks is pretty neat also. I though, bought this to use as a baby monitor. The sensitivity of the night vision is seriously lacking. You have to be pretty much walking or moving very quickly right in front of it to trigger an alert even on the highest sensitivity. I had a Nest camera before this which had much better night vision sensitivity and was more clear. It also costs twice as much, went out in just under two years, and I'd have to pay extra for cloud storage so there are definitely some minuses to it also. Better baby monitor though.

This camera is an awesome camera. very clear during day and night, works in color in lighting but goes to black and white without lighting, night vision. I personally didn't want to get one for the home as I feel my home should be secure and the people trust worthy. I had opened my home to a friend and when I did, things started coming up missing; Thats when I bought this camera, I hooked it up on a Friday and like a bug strip, caught the issue the next day on video. The issue was solved thanks to this camera. Its very easy to hook up, very easy to install. Be aware that if you want to hold the videos for longer you will need to purchase additional options from amazon in yearly subscriptions.

Nice clear video during the day, night vision is also good. The viewing angle offers great coverage. Set up was simple. The mic on the phone is very sensitive and will pick up audio from far away, you cannot lower the recording volume however there is an option to stop the cam from recording audio The only issue that some people might have is in order to use people detection and zones you will need to sign up for a monthly plan. These options are important if you have pets, without the options enabled the cam will alert you every time your pet comes into view. This is not an issue for me as most of the other cams also require some type of subscription plans to get the most out of the cam. .