Google - Nest Cam (Wired) - Fog

Per usual Google is top notch with packaging. There’s no fuss, just to the point once opening the box. The design is lovely and a welcomed addition to the Nest cam lineup, as we have the older styled ones. I was very happy to see how long the power supply cord was. I believe it’s 10 feet which is great, depending on how the room outlets are set up in an 8ft floor to ceiling home. To my surprise, they also included the power adapter. That was also very welcomed as the trend of not supplying that can be beyond frustrating and down right annoying. Kudos Google. The camera can be rotated in any direction and the cord does not interfere with the rotation at all unless you don’t have much wiggle room from placement to outlet. It has a small footprint and once again Google has done it with the aesthetics of the camera. It’s small enough to go unnoticed if placed on a bookshelf or styled as an accessory on an entry way table, etc. It has a good amount of weight for its size, so it won’t be tipping over if placed on a flat surface. The app provides fast and easy setup for the camera, and if you’ve had experience with connecting devices to the app then you can attest to the simplicity and speed at which you can be up and running. You can scan the code that’s on the face of the device and attach the sticker to the back of starter guide. If you lose it, you can locate the alphanumeric-code under the base of unit (pics attached). There are a few new features integrated for the camera, but the app still lacks some of the conveniences I preferred in the Nest app. There was barely any noticeable latency, but with my experiences with cams is that latency tends to appear within a couple months, however, Nest cams have been great with this as it’s not by much so I’m confident that this will hold up to the same great standards. The quality of the HD 1080p video is great; It’s crisp and clear. Night vision is very good. Not as crisp as the daytime recording but faces and objects are detailed. It recognizes your pets, moving objects, people and cars separately so you’re able to define what you want to be notified about, which eliminates those false notifications. The audio is loud and audible with no distortion. I appreciate the additional 5 degrees of view coming in at a total of 135 degrees. What I don’t like: Being forced to migrate my older Nest cams. I prefer using my Nest app for my older cameras and did not like being “scolded/told” that if I failed to complete the migration I will not be able to do it again using the only email I use for my account. We should have the ability to choose whether to keep or to migrate older Nest cameras. And have the newer cameras use their Google Home app exclusively. So to clarify, it’s fine to use the app for the new cameras, reasonably understandable, but shouldn’t be forced to migrate older cameras. It’s a personal preference matter. I’ve had many issues with the Google app with other Google and non-Google products. I do not like that with this migration Google offers only 3 hours of playback, when older Nest cam users are accustomed to 10 days 24-7 playback for FREE. That now comes with a fee attached. That’s a huge disadvantage and disappointment. There’s other forms and functions that I simply just prefer on the other app. With that being said, I do enjoy this new camera in our space. There are a few things I wish were different within the app. Several things I wished Google still offered free and other features that should have remained. Overall, the quality of the video, the build of the camera and ease of use is fantastic.

TLDR; I highly recommend this camera if you’re new to the Google Nest Ecosystem. I don’t recommend it if you've already invested hundreds into the pre-Google Nest Ecosystem. Like many others, I’ve invested a lot of money in the Nest ecosystem, way before Google bought them out. Nest products are premium, no doubt. Smart thermostats, security systems, smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, hubs, cameras...you name it, I bought it. So when I heard that Google decided to refresh the Nest camera line, I had to give one a try. The 2nd Gen Indoor Nest Camera (wired) is actually the first Nest camera to come straight out of Google’s headquarters. So my review comes in two forms: a consumer who already is neck deep into the Nest ecosystem with legacy cameras, and a consumer who is purchasing their first Nest Cam. First, the camera itself does not disappoint. It feels premium in your hands with a heavy weighted base for stability and, in my opinion, it looks a lot better than the outgoing model. Upon opening the box, I was surprised to see how small it is as well as its small footprint. It can also be mounted on the wall with two screws and a simple twist-lock system. My only complaint here is the power cord that protrudes right off the backside of the camera. Some of the older Nest Cams have the chord connected at the base to keep the wire neatly hidden. Like the older cameras, the LED indicator is located at 12 o’clock and helps indicate if the camera is nominal, if someone is watching live or has lost connection, for example. Setting the Indoor Nest Cam is very easy using the Google Home app. You simply add a Nest Cam using the setup device wizard within the app. The app will ask to scan the QRC code affixed to the front of the Nest Lens. This will begin the camera search, wifi connectivity and user designated location of the Nest Camera itself. After setup is complete, you’ll be able to see live footage of the camera by selecting the “Cameras” icon on the main Home page. Easy peasy. With these new cameras, the Home app allows you to watch a live feed, see event history based on intelligent object/person identification, set activity zones and even scrub through video. I also want to mention live feed latency is little to almost none; it’s pretty much as real time as it gets. As far as video quality, you're looking at 1080p recording, which I've learned is plenty for an indoor setting and more than enough resolution for the hardware to recognize familiarize faces. Of course, only the most interesting of things happen at night and the night vision is plenty bright without oversaturating. Google provides you a rolling 3-hour event history window as standard. This means it will cache 3 hours of events relative to the current time. So if it’s 9:00PM, you can search through events as far back as 6:00PM….if it’s 9:30PM, then you can only go back as far as 6:30PM. The rolling window will always be continuous. If you decide you need more event caching, then you can opt-in Nest Aware, which is a paid service that allows for 30 days of event caching. And if you’re like me, you can sign up for Nest Aware Plus, which grants 60 days of event caching AND 10 days of 24/7 continuous video history. The 24/7 video history is by far my favorite feature of Nest. As a consumer who is shopping around for their first security cam, the Google Nest cam is a solid buy. They are priced on the higher side with respect to its competitors, but it is still premium hardware backed by solid software engineering. You cannot go wrong if this is your starting point, as Google is now refreshing the Nest lineup. As a consumer who has already bought into the Nest ecosystem with Nest IQ cameras pre-Google, I feel left behind. The thing about us old Nest owners is that we love the original Nest app. It feels much, much more polished than the Google Home app and has a more user-friendly UI when it comes to reviewing events and scrubbing through video footage. It’s just flat out a much better experience for all Nest products, in my opinion. But here’s the kicker: the new Nest Cams are not supported in the original Nest app, so I’m forced to use the Google Home app in order to see my 2nd generation Nest Cam footage. I think this limitation alone will force me to shy away from purchasing the latest Nest cams and probably look into the used market for the legacy cams, or wait until my current cameras literally die of old age or hardware failure before I consider upgrading. I took a star off for not supporting us early adopters.

so i got two of these new nest cam wired versions, i'm gonna be clear and say that for the price its OK, i do miss the older models that had a better megapixel then these and the images looked better on those when you zoomed in for a close up of a person, but these are not that bad for indoor use but inside of my basement where i have 16 very bright led 5000k led light bars i did experience a lot of banding, now what is Banding You Ask? (Banding) is those black static bars or lines you see scrolling down on your screen whenever someone makes a video with lighting conditions that a camera cant handle and though for cameras like Mirroless, DSLR's and GoPro's you can simply adjust your shutter speed, ISO and Exposure Value (EV) and fix it and if that doesn't work you can go a step further and use ND Filters to fix that. unfortunately this nest cam has its limitations as its intended to be a security camera and nothing more. so adding an ND filter to fix that is not gonna be easy but its possible you just need to make sure not to block the IR sensors for the Night Vision Feature which is super awesome! however if yiu end up using some kind of ND filter and hot glue it on to your nest cam to solve that poor lighting banding issue, you will be sacrificing some of the night vision brightness, in other words the night vision will look a bit darker, i tried this with my go pro hero 10's Polar Pro ND8 filter which solved the banding problem immediately but darkened up the night vision clarity during my testing. i had a video for you guys on that but unfortunately i am limited to images only. anyways for what it is and for its price this is a great camera, somethings to be aware of is that these new cameras cannot be accessed from the nest app, they can only be seen from the google home app which does give you access to all your nest cameras but only through the mobile app. you cant see the footage from your pc like you can with the nest website. so please keep that in mind, i also have the yearly nest aware plus subscription so i have the full access to the cameras. you can still save video footage from the camera but now instead of 1 minute video clips like from nest, with google i was able to get a 5 minute clip saved to my smartphone! that's a BIG PLUS! since i could add the short video i made of this i figured i would add screen shots from it instead. i hope the pictures help with identifying my experience. anyways that's it for my review.

Do not buy the “Google - Nest Cam (Wired) - Snow (Model:GA01998-US SKU:6473271)” if you have an existing Google nest cam installation. Googles new cameras are product orphans. Additionally the cam quality is inferior to your exiting nest cams. The ONLY way way you can stream the new Google cams is via the Google Home app to your cell phone. The other pieces of the Google Nest framework are NOT supported. This means the new nest cams cannot be streamed to any of the following Google applications: 1) Nest website (say you're at work or you have a PC with a larger screen and want to see more detail than you can on the small cell phone Google Home screen); 2) a Google Chromecast device on your TV set (including the recently released 4K Chromecast); and 3) the recently released Nest Hub 2nd Gen. I'm returning the Nest cam I purchased immediately. Google Product Management person in charge should be released for selling these vastly inferior cams. The only good thing about these cams was buying them from Best Buy due because of the ease that I can return them to Best Buy.

I’m not fully sure how I feel about this camera. Part of me absolutely loves the features but another part of me expected more for the price and it being a Google device. Picture quality is perfectly adequate. The number of features is excellent as expected at this price point. But if you want full functionality you need to add a monthly payment which I don’t like. Opening the live stream is fast but looking at histories is a bit to a lot slower depending on internet connection. It comes in a very attractive design, in four different colors, and feels very premium in the hand. Easily blending into a modern home while also being low-profile. Probably one of the most attractive cameras I’ve seen. Setup was easy but I find the settings and Google Home App to not be very user friendly. Other security cameras software’s are easier to figure out with almost all the same features. The video quality is 1080p and HDR compatible. I like the HDR component as that makes a big difference when you have light/dark areas. But the 1080p is a bit disappointing as I’ve found 1440p – 2160p is best. But with it being an indoor camera and for the price 1080p works just fine. Picture quality is perfectly adequate but won’t make you go wow. Night vision is good and clear. No complaints on that end. But the big draw is the other features. First, it comes with 3 hours of “event” history. Which doesn’t sound like very much as it is worded poorly. It doesn’t mean it only records the last three hours. But instead records up to 3 hours of events. Meaning it is equivalent to about 2 – 3 weeks (depending on how many alerts you get). As each alert is 5 – 60 seconds out of 10,800 (3 hours = 10,800 seconds). If the wi-fi goes down, it can record up to 1 hour (or about 1 week) and then will upload the results to the cloud when it comes back on. Unfortunately, you can only see video via your phone or Google Device. You cannot view it on PC. Which means I can’t check in on what is happening at home while at work. Which I don’t like. These alerts are “smart” and can notify you if it spots people, animals, vehicles, and/or motion. You can select which ones you want and if you want it to send you a notification. In other words, you can turn each one on/off so it will record and individually select if you want it to send you a notification or not. You can also setup multiple zones. In each zone you can do the same thing of selecting what you want it to detect and if it sends you a notification. I like that a lot. Most cameras aren’t “smart” and can only detect motion and/or a person but those are also cheaper. The ones in a similar price range can do the same thing. With it being indoor and not having an IPX rating I’m limited in what it picks up depending on your home and or business. The alerts themselves are good and will say which camera, which zone, and what it thinks it detected.. Selecting the notification will open it up in the app. You can scrub through the timeline to find events, or you can go into a full history to see each event in a row. But getting to that is a bit buried and complicated. Last, you can filter by event type (person or animal). Which I don’t think I’ve seen on other cameras and is appreciated if you are looking for something particular. I really like that feature. You can buy “Nest Aware” for $6 a month or $60 yearly, which gives you 30 days of video history clips or “Nest Aware Plus” for $12 a month or $120 yearly, for the top tier which gives you 60 days of event history AND 10 days of continues 24/7 video history. If you remember from before that 3 hours is equal to about 3 weeks 30 – 60 days is like A LOT. Both versions unlock other features such as being able to recognize familiar faces and important sounds such as smoke alarms. I’m not always the fan of another monthly payment. But they have to pay for that cloud storage somehow and for what you are getting it could be worth it. Thankfully, if you own multiple Nest Gen 2 devices you only have to pay for a SINGLE membership for all your cameras where previously it was for each camera. So, if you have multiple cameras, it’s probably worth it. But you can get by without it just fine as well. Some other settings are home and away routines. That way the camera will turn on when you aren’t home and then turn off when you are home. They do this by pairing it with your phone. It also automatically connects to any of your google devices. So, if you are deep in that echo system this is the device to get. There is a green light on the device to notify you when it is recording. That way if you’re home you can tell if someone is spying on you. Also, appreciated. I’m sure there is more but I hit on most of the main stuff.

I like this new wired nest cam, the alert via Google home is nice you can pick what alerts you whether person animal whatever. The video and audio are super clear, I decided to set this atop my kitchen cabinets. Setup is simple via the home app, took about 5 minutes to complete. I like that this is hardwired as I hate to charge batteries. I like that we can ask our Google displays to show the camera footage. This is replacing my old logitech circle indoor/outdoor cam, which was me, and dropped wifi connection often. I definitely recommend giving this camera a try. The included 3 hour footage is nice, I won't be subscribing to the extra cost Nest aware.

This camera offers a great clear and crisp quality video and picture. This is my first introduction into the Google Nest world, but I'm liking it a lot so far. The camera looks aesthetically pleasing without being clunky. The product is packaged well in the box and comes with all the items you need to get up and running. You'll get the camera already attached to the base, power adapter, wall screws, wall anchors, and the cable clip. Depending on your situation and desired location you can either place this on to a flat surface like a table or shelf, but also have the option to mount it to the wall or ceiling with the items provided in the box. You'll also want to ensure you have a good solid wi-fi signal, a Google account, and you'll need the Google Home app. I have this on my iPhone XR and it works smoothly and efficiently. Alerts are very impressive on this camera as it allows for specific prompts of whether it's a car, animal, person. The activity zones are helpful to specify areas that you really get lots of movement in.1080p camera is actually very nice and looks quite clear in day or night settings. I have been liking the broad field of view with the 135 degree field of view so you can get a pretty good lay of the land in most rooms within our home. One of the nice features I've liked has been the 3 hours of free event video for easy viewing on the app. Of course there are other add ons you can purchase for subscription service to have all your footage recorded to the cloud and playback. Overall I have liked the camera for it's ease of use and simple setup for just about any household. This camera gives me peace of mind for having it in our home to keep an eye on babysitters or petsitter visits when I’m away. Being able to turn the camera on or off for privacy is also a convenient feature that helps to keep me a bit more secure. Two communication allows for convenient communication back and forth and I have been pleased with the audio capability. Smart camera is truly intelligent as it allows for familiar face recognition and can notify if it’s a recognized person in your profile or a stranger. Great addition to any home or business setting.

This Device works like intended. All these 2 star reviews are people who probably don't use the Google home app and know about the cameras button that shows all Thier camera feeds in one space. Price wise this is so much better then the older indoor smart one that was about 200 dollars for it to recognize people and the such. Definitely buy if you want something more streamlined and nice looking. Added a photo for those who want to see what is meant by seeing all the feeds in once space.