eufy - eufyCam 2, 2-Camera Indoor/Outdoor Wire-Free 1080p 16GB Surveillance System - White

I've been using these EufyCam2 for 1 1/2 years now and am happy with them. ________________ +Pros: +Even though they are 1080p, not the newer 2K resolution, they provide a clear image in both day and night conditions. +Battery life is excellent. The advertised 1-year charge is only realistic for a camera that has minimal use, but these last for 6+ months on a charge with moderate activations. Not bad, IMO. +The Eufy cellphone app is easy to use and enables me to quickly see live views as well as recordings. +Eufy customer service and support have been top notch. _______________________ -Cons: -I wish the sensing range was longer. My cameras max out at 20 to 30 feet. -I haven't encountered any serious drawbacks to these battery powered Eufy cameras. I liked these two so well that I added 7 more Eufy devices.

Let’s start with the hardware out of the box. Two sturdy, quality built security cameras, the proper connecting cords, both indoor and outdoor mounts, and a home base. The packaging is sleek, modern, and buyer friendly. The instructions are quite easy to follow in regards to initial setup as well. More or less, you’re going to setup the Eufy cameras where you see fit, and you’re dang near ready to go. Included are traditional mounting devices for outdoor use and magnetic mounts for indoor use. I set one camera up inside, and one out, both mounting systems were very easy to setup, especially the indoor one. Before setup, you’ll need to charge the cameras because there are wireless and have a battery life that lasts about a year before you’ll simply charge it up again. I’d recommend setting a calendar alert on your phone as a reminder. You’ll need WiFi to use this product since that’s how the cameras transmit data, with the home base connecting directly to your router. If the area is very large you may need to setup the cameras closer to where your router is on the inside, but luckily the app will tell you if there is low signal so you can move it accordingly before mounting. The pictures on the cameras in the app are very clear and are pretty much exactly real time. There are a lot of different setting options for sensitivity which are great for high traffic areas. For example, I have one in my backyard where my dog will go in and out frequently so I used a low sensitivity setting. There are options to turn each individual camera off as well if you want to save battery. It’s also really nice to be able to talk through the camera if someone is at the door, or you’d like to say hello to your pup when you’re at work. There’s an anti-theft setting which will alarm you from the camera and the home base if the camera is trying to be moved. It’s easy to see how much battery life is left and how strong the service is through the app. The “help” setting in the app is also amazing because you can live chat with someone from Eufy, 24/7 for any questions. All in all this is one of the best security systems I’ve ever seen. The charge life is amazing, lasting a year. The camera quality is especially notable, being both waterproof and weather proof. Most of all, the very efficient app makes it extremely easy to use. The only con was that it took over night to charge both cameras to start which was slightly unexpected. I’d recommend this product to anyone though.

Pros Responsive company very open to feedback No subscriptions required to enable smart features Local recording means minimal internet requirements Planned USB storage expansion option Planned solar panel early 2020 Planned Geofencing by the end of 2019 Fast app launch time Quick app notifications Person and face detection directly on camera Option to only alert for people while still recording motion Extremely long battery life Excellent speaker and microphone quality Easy setup process Base station speaks instructions very clearly Base station is both wired and wireless RTSP and storage to NAS options Night vision is easily improved by a small amount of supplemental lighting Nest home hub integration Cons Video compression artifacts reduce image quality Video quality varies based on varying wireless conditions Initial recording is pixelated Delay in motion recording means sometimes recordings are missed Ghosting sometimes occur with night vision Screw mount feels weak and has no slot to angle camera higher 3-piece screw mount seems overly complicated Sometimes detection motion detection fails to record people Night vision isn’t very far without supplemental lighting Audio recordings affected by small amounts of wind Security cameras for home use have become increasingly popular in the past few years. The first goal was to make them more affordable than the ones used by businesses. They were complicated to install and not user-friendly. Next came wireless and battery power options to make installation simpler and more flexible. They either required strong Wi-Fi everywhere or frequently recharges. Then came smart cameras requiring a subscription to enable full functionality. At each stage in the evolution of home security cameras there seemed to be a big gotcha in the design that, even though you might have bought them, made you wish they would improve the design. The Eufycam 2 is the latest version from Anker that tries to find that perfect balance between price and features that we want. Design and Features The cameras are wireless, and the base station also has a Wi-Fi option to allow optimal placement. The batteries claim to have a 1-year battery life, which is noticeable when you feel their weight. In contrast, the base station is barely larger than a large coffee cup. Included is an ethernet jack and a USB port, which Anker says they plan to offer a USB expansion dongle in early 2020. Included are both magnetic bases, better suited to indoor use, and screw in bases, which are ideal for outdoor mounting. The magnetic bases feel sturdy but the screw in bases have a 3-piece design with parts feeling less substantial. Furthermore, adjustment is limited as there is no slot like generic mounts that allow placement up to 90 degrees from the mounting bracket. As of November 12, Anker added RTSP functionality and the ability to store clips directly to a NAS. If you have a way to plug the cameras into USB power while keeping them safe from the elements, Anker says they can operate in a continuous recording mode. One would assume this would mean this is using RTSPS or a NAS as continuous recording would quickly fill up the integrated 16GB eMMC. Geofencing and an iPad version of the app are slated for release before the end of 2019. A web management portal is slated for release early January 2020 as well. Furthermore, Anker has stated they plan to develop a solar panel for Eufycam early 2020. Even if nothing else stood out about Eufycam, one thing should. Anker is serious about making Eufycam a strong contender. They are very open to feedback, are accessible and easy to contact, and are rapidly improving the product. Performance The range of the cameras will vary wildly based on your local conditions, but with the base station using Wi-Fi, you shouldn’t have any problems installing cameras anywhere in the average sized home. Being wireless and battery powered does come with some caveats. Fast motion can sometimes be missed as the object has left the frame by the time the camera has turned fully on from its lower power mode. This is a tradeoff with battery powered cameras and Anker has worked to try to alleviate that some by start recording as soon as possible, which results in the start of recordings being more block with lighting being less accurate and audio a bit strange. Shortly after leaving low power mode the cameras will settle down and things will clear up. This is not unique to Eufycam. As part of the tradeoff for wireless convenience, sometimes videos can show some compression artifacts or slight signal issues. Regardless, the system adjusts things to make sure they work reliably even if not always at max quality. The result is a clear picture with good color balance and clarity during the day and respectable night vision for battery powered cameras that can be easily improved with a little bit of lighting. Some occasional ghosting, where people partially disappeared or appeared in parts, occurred when someone quickly moved in sight of the camera and there wasn’t enough light. People are recognizable up to about 60 feet in daylight and around 10-15 feet at night. You can still see them beyond 10-15 feet, but you might not be able to recognize them depending on overall lighting. The human and face detection really comes in handy for reducing false alerts. You can configure multiple motion detection boxes in the app but without the AI you would still be notified of simple things like swaying branches. By keeping processing local, not only to you improve privacy, but recognition is very fast and doesn’t even need a fast connection. By keeping processing and recording local, you also avoid the problem of cloud cameras that require a fast internet connection. Unlike cloud based smart cameras, detection and classification is near instantaneous. This can come in handy as you won’t have wait for the video to upload and get processed before you get notified a person is in your back yard. The AI will also take a snapshot of the first face it sees but Anker states they are working to optimize this as well. One could hope this means it will eventually take snapshots of everyone recognized. What is even more surprising is how good the audio quality is for conversations. While breezes can affect the quality of audio recordings easily, conversations are very clear and crisp. Once you get the hang of how to use the app, it is quite easy to hold a conversation with someone standing in front of the camera and for them to clearly understand you. Other wireless cameras have struggled with this. The camera speaker is not only loud enough to conversation but also work as an alarm. You can set the cameras to sound an alarm based on motion or if a camera is moved, such as when someone is tampering with it. A bonus feature is Alexa and Google Assistance integration. Although support for other smart platforms would be nice, it is still nice to be able to ask Google to show a camera on your Nest Hub or Chromecast device just using your voice. Launch times are noticeably slower than when viewing video via the app. Hopefully this is just a matter of Anker optimizing their software in future releases. Final Thoughts Anker might be a relative newcomer to the security camera space but the commitment to constant improvement shows they are serious about getting your business. There are still some slight rough edges in operation and future promises but judging based on their 2 firmware updates and the app updates that have been installed in the 5 days of ownership it seems like Anker will be one of those companies to follow through. If you are looking for the convenience of fully wireless security cameras, don’t like paying subscriptions to keep features working, and don’t like charging cameras frequently, then you should give the Eufycam 2 a serious look. Anker has done a commendable job of minimizing the limitations of the technology to offer a convenient solution.

75% of the time it totally misses someone walking up to my front door, if I were to login and look at my front door there’s nothing there, I didn’t get an email from Amazon saying my package was delivered, I login and low and behold there’s a package at the front door, no indication from the camera that anything had happened. When it does pick up motion it’s usually the person walking away back to their vehicle and the package on the front step. The picture quality is not bad at all when it does pick something up. Will leave the camera where it is but will start saving for a wired system that continually records and saves to a hard drive and then will sell this on eBay. I don’t think the system is any worse than any other system, I just don’t think these wireless/wi-Fi security cameras are ready for prime time yet. Maybe if you have an apartment and you put these cameras indoors and you have no pets this could be a fine fit, but not for me.

Package was sealed but when I opened the box I saw that cameras have scratches on them. But I don't this is Best Buy fault. Probably Anker sent them to Best buy like this as refurbished. Also sometimes cameras get wrong detections or miss necessary detections. Hopefully they will fix them with software updates. Other than that good system..