Guardzilla - 360 Outdoor HD Panoramic Security Camera

Guardzilla. 360 Full disclosure: I was given an Guardzilla Outdoor 360 surveillance camera in exchange for a timely and honest review. I was intrigued by the idea of a camera with a 360 degree field of vision. It is a very interesting idea, so I accepted the offer to try it out. I own cameras from Nest, Netgear/Arlo, Axis, Logi Circle and an older D-Link camera. In all I have 52 cameras monitoring four locations which gives me a good opportunity to compare systems. The GO 360 looks and feels like a quality product. It is solid and very nice looking. It is well packaged and comes with installation and quick start instructions. Overall it was easy to setup and start to use. Download the app, charge the camera and turn it on. Then follow the prompts. It went pretty well. Though when I unplugged the camera and moved it to another room and plugged it back in, it seemed to hang. I had to power cycle it to get it back up and running. Also, the camera has voice status messages to inform the user as to the status of the setup. This is fairly loud and I didn’t see a way to mute it. So don’t set it up at a time or in a place where some fairly loud audio messages would be undesirable. It isn’t a silent setup, unfortunately. I suspect the voice status is one of those things that sounds pretty cool in the conference room while discussing features than it does to a homeowner finding some time to do a setup while a toddler (or wife) might be asleep. You can place the camera in three basic orientations. Table-top, wall or ceiling mount. Table-top is nice. I was able to look around the room without physically panning a camera and all areas of the room are visible to the camera at the same time. I have little need to observe the ceiling, but who knows! I moved the camera outside and replaced one of my Arlo wireless cameras as a test. The hemispherical mount for the magnetic mounting is very similar to that of the Arlo camera, so it was an easy swap. There is a setting for the mounting position which instructs the camera software as to how to interpret the image. I adjusted mine to “wall mount” and the image oriented properly. Outdoors, the image catches quite of bit of sky, even when the camera is wall mounted and aimed at a somewhat downward angle. I found this to add to false motion alerts when the sun is in the wrong spot. I suspect moving branches would also be an issue. Motion events show up in Event History and can be viewed by moving your mobile device around or by swiping your finger around the display. This is pretty cool. If you download a motion event, the video appears to stay in the app. That is not common for systems like this. Usually video and photo downloads go to a local folder or the Photos app (on iOS) which makes sharing the photos and videos very easy to do. I didn’t see an easy way to share the videos from the GO 360 app. I suspect that is due to the nature of the video being hemispherical rather than flat. Taking a snapshot does actually drop an image into the Photos app on iOS and the image is round. See attached. It is interesting, but it doesn’t match the view I had when I asked for the snapshot. It seems like there should be an option for the flat view or the hemispherical image. Motion events are recorded to “the cloud” and I don’t see any microSD card slot in the camera for local storage as an option or as a backup to cloud storage. This is similar to Nest. Arlo allows for a micro SD card or USB stick (depending on the model) as a backup incase the network goes down at some point. Camera resolution is a bit weak IMHO…even when set to MAX quality. I assume this is due to the large image capture area. If a normal image section (~140 degrees wide and half as tall) of this hemispherical image was HD then the image in total would need to be many times that size. Perhaps 8-10X (or more) larger. So it appears Godzilla was forced to trade off image quality for image scope. I’ve been spoiled by HD and UltraHD cameras recently, so I’ve come to expect extreme image clarity. Since this is a battery operated camera, GO 360 doesn’t appear to support motion zones. That matches Arlo cameras when running on battery. I’ve only seen motion zones on line-powered cameras. However, the GO 360 has a much larger image scope (coverage area) so motion anywhere in the hemispherical scope of view will trigger a motion event that that is not always a good thing. Especially outdoors with sun and branches as I mentioned previously. I use geofencing whenever possible and the GO 360 offers home and away functionality. However, I don’t see a way to have this controlled by more than one mobile device. I always have our geofencing controlled by my phone and my wife’s phone, so cameras are armed only when we are both away form home. I also didn’t see any “schedule” functionality that would let me alter the camera operating mode by time of day and day of the week. Arlo appears to do this the best. I can use Schedule along with geofencing to control how the cameras behave when we are home and away. Not just on or off based on our location. Nest also does not appear to allow using both geofencing and scheduling together, but it does allow one or the other. I can’t confirm battery life since I have only had the camera a few days. I assume it will be as advertised since the camera is fairly good size and there should be plenty of room for battery capacity inside. One issue, however, is that the battery is not removable. So the camera must be removed for charging and placed back in position after changing. My Alro cameras allow me to swap a fresh battery for the depleted battery, leaving the camera in place. Since I have a dedicated Arlo battery charger, I always have a fresh battery ready to go. When a camera requires a ladder to reach it, this is an important attribute. I just go up and down the ladder once and I can put the ladder away immediately. If I had had to bring the camera down to charge it, that will add time and may require that I put away a ladder. Since the only way to mount the GO 360 is via a magnetic mount, many people will want to locate their cameras high enough so they can’t be easily plucked down by a “bad guy” standing on the ground, so this scenario seems likely. After using the camera for a couple of days, I think it could be handy in a smaller space on a table or ceiling mounted. There are times when looking around the room is useful. For general surveillance, I’d lean toward other solutions available on the market. Reportedly, there is more functionality coming in future software releases, so some of the shortcomings are likely to be remedied at some point.

Obviously, a great deal of effort has gone into the design of both the device and the essential app. Equally obviously, there likely are situations in which a 360-degree view could be useful. Let’s examine: Camera: Feels very solid and well made. Each component seems as if it was chosen because of its quality and strength. The mounting system is similar to other security and monitoring cameras and has a very hefty magnet allowing a wide range of installations including wall, ceiling, and even “tabletop.” Simply holding the camera give one a sense of quality and purpose. Very nicely done. Features: Bountiful! In addition to the wide-ranging camera view there is a siren, two-way communications, Listen-only mode, snapshot, etc. Clearly this was intended to be flexible and to serve multiple situations. Installation: Physical installation required only one small screw and took less than a minute. It felt secure on the first try. The app downloaded easily and setup was simple with voice confirmations and guidance from the camera’s internal software. App and Software: In order to use the camera and any of its many features it must be linked to your phone, either Android or iOS. Although the app downloaded easily and installed quickly it was somewhat quirky and unreliable. After getting the “connection complete” message from the “voice” in the camera, the app seemed to take many, many minutes in “looking for camera” mode. The device only works with a 2.4 gHZ connection. A few hours later, it again spent several minutes “looking.” Also, the app kept “asking for permission” to view contacts, photos, etc., an annoying request that is clearly not necessary and seems just one more privacy intrusion. Ultimately the app connected, but the home page with the settings “cog” never showed and required going through several steps to deal with some settings while others were never found. After experimenting with various features and views (the 360-degree view is a hoot at first) I found that it was difficult to maintain connection despite having an actual and indicated very strong wi-fi signal for both the camera and app. Overall, it is a feature-laden camera with several interesting capabilities but leaves me to wonder how often most people would use many of them. Finally, a comment on packaging: The enclosed images show the size of the container in which it is sold. It is hugely over-packaged and could easily be half the size. In an era when plastic waste is such a serious problem, why does a company need to use well over one pound of plastic that will soon be in a landfill or increasingly tenuous recycling system?

Pros: * Excellent video quality. * Useful (and fun) 360 video panning. * Lots of useful features. * Completely wireless if needed. Cons: * App works (mostly) but is cumbersome and visually outdated. * Value is good but price is a bit high if you need more than one for coverage. Most gadgets like this can be reviewed in two parts; the hardware and the software. The best products have great hardware and very well integrated and functional software. If you can’t get both right; best to get the hardware rock-solid and update the software later. That is the case for this Guardzilla 360 security camera. The hardware is very well designed and I cannot find a fault in it. It feels solid and well-built and is very compact - almost like a floodlight lightbulb that doesn’t need to be screwed in. The video quality is quite good even in low light and it is surprisingly satisfying to pan video in 360 while it’s playing. This camera has a built-in battery that should last a while (depending on usage, of course) or you can keep it plugged in with the supplied long USB cable. The two provided mounting options allow for ceiling, wall and tabletop mounting; all of which are stable and easy to adjust. The software, other the other hand, is passable but not very easy to use. There are numerous menus and settings groups that could be better organized. Some settings didn’t “stick” in that you would change them and come back later to find them reset back to what they were. The main app design (at least for iOS) is a bit dated and doesn’t follow modern design and UI conventions. But, it does mostly get the job done. You can view live video or play back recorded events that were trigged by motion when the unit was “armed” and the rest is gravy. As mentioned above, provided the hardware is good, software can be easily updated later on. Overall, most things worked and I was impressed by the features and video quality, but an app overhaul would go a long way to making this a truly awesome product.

I received this camera to test about 3 months ago. However I had tremendous trouble setting it up. I was using a Google Pixel XL running Android 8, and although I was in contact with customer support, I couldn't get the camera to recognize any of my networks. About 2 weeks into that process I was contacted by an engineer who asked if I had another device I could use. I have an older Galaxy S4 running Android 5.1, so I used it and was able to set the camera up without any trouble. However, when I attempted to monitor the camera using the Galaxy S4, the phone basically locked up; I couldn't even restart it, and wound up having to remove the battery. It was explained that the amount of data being sent from the camera was too much for the phone to handle... so I have to monitor the camera with the Pixel XL. I was told at that time that the Guardzilla app was being completely rewritten and that it should be available in 2-3 weeks. The new app was going to fix the setup issue I was having with the Pixel XL as well as fix the data problem that was causing the S4 to basically freeze. That was 2 months ago. As far as the camera itself goes, it works well, and the fact that you get a 360 degree view using the app is a great selling point. If the camera didn't need the app, this review would be much different, but since the app is required, and it's way too buggy (at least for me), I can't really recommend buying the camera unless you call the company first and have them assure you that your 'device' will work with the app or find out if they've released the 'new and improved' app.

The camera came nicely packaged in a cylindrical tube, the top half being clear displaying the camera. After cutting a couple seals the top “clear” half comes off and inside you will find the camera, base, magnetic wall/ceiling mount, power adapter, USB Cable “nice and long”, mounting hardware for the mount and a quick start guide. The camera itself has a nice heavy duty feeling to it, it’s not a light piece of plastic by any means. The first thing you’ll want to do is charge the camera, I used the enclosed charger and USB cable then let it charge till the front light turned green. You’ll also want to download and install the Guardzilla app for your Android or IOS device. Next, follow the instructions for turning on the camera and setting up an account through the Guardzilla app. It’s very simple to do and only took me a few minutes to get everything connected and running. What’s very unique about this camera is it really does give you a full 360 degree view, when sitting upright and using their app you can move your phone around to look all around the area, straight up, all around and most of the way down to the floor. The app has a selector to pick how you have the camera mounted. We currently have it mounted on the wall above our front door and it gives an excellent 180 degree view side/side. My neighbor was pretty amazed how you could look around the image with this, “he’ll probably be picking one up very soon”. When setting up the camera you will want to go into the settings and play around with the motion detection sensitivity, brightness, alert types and other settings you may want for your individual preferences. There’s also a built in microphone and speaker that allows you to hear and talk back through the camera, it works pretty well and if the camera isn’t mounted too far away you can be heard fairly easily. Setting the image quality on “high” in the app produces excellent video quality. I don’t know what the hit is on battery life but changing it down a little will probably help extend it. I’ve been heavily testing this unit and recording / viewing a lot more than I normally would so I’ll have to test out the battery life once I get into more real world use. At the moment it’s been a lot of fun being able to pan the phone around and look about the area so I’m pretty much eating up the battery really fast but still get 3 or so days out of it. If you plan on using this where there’s a lot of activity, “or just like messing around with it”, I would recommend using the adapter and cable to keep it powered up, the USB cable is around 10’ long so it’s plenty long to reach. The battery would act as a backup in case of a power outage “as long as your network has backup power”. All the videos are stored in the cloud, and there’s no SD card slot or external onsite storage with this, it’s strictly cloud based. The cloud storage is plenty fast and playback wasn’t hindered on my end either using my home based Wi-Fi, cellular data, or the free public Wi-Fi at my car dealership while I was waiting for an oil change. The free 2 days of storage would probably be plenty for anyone wanting to use this as a monitoring device or short term security. I’d opt for one of the plans they offer for longer videos “30 seconds instead” and longer storage lengths “7 or 30 days” the cheapest plan if you purchase annually is $50 which isn’t bad at all, or $4.99 a month if you want to go that route. The company is also offering professional monitoring but I haven’t looked into this part of it as of yet. This is a new device and somewhat newer technology in the security camera world so I’m going to give the company and developers the benefit of the doubt that they will be enhancing this even more with future updates. Their customer support has been quick to answer back and very helpful getting things figured out. This is a great addition to our security system and I’d recommend it to anyone.

With so many cameras on the market I was a bit hesitant on this cone shaped camera. Well, it turns out the cone aesthetic works for the mounting and creating a range of dynamic for the 360 degree views. So putting it up at my new place was easy to put up I was just conflicted with which angle I wanted to see it from. It’s not an eye sore either. Normally outdoor cameras are clunky and the Guardzilla is actually pretty and it glistens. It features a two way radio so I can talk to my pets when their outside or scare away a person. Which brings me to the siren to deter intruders and motion alerts in case someone is creeping outside. It’s wore free except when it needs to be charged which is convenient. Even though my place is wired for cameras I still opted for this wireless camera. A few downsides are the app which feels a bit dated and the fact that the cameras features are a bit limited unless you aubscribe to their built in added features. Came with a few months of storage which is great but I wish more features were less restricted like the amount of time videos are retained. Good pick for summer monitoring overall!

Guardzilla - 360 Outdoor HD Panoramic Security Camera - White Included- The camera, stand, mounting screw and anchor, ball mount, power adapter, USB cable and home security sticker. Upon initial unpacking, you will have to charge the camera to a full charge. The recommended time is about 5 hours. You will also need to download the free Guardzilla app and connect the camera to your wifi to properly set up your camera. You have a few options to set up the camera. It can be mounted on a flat surface by placing it in the stand, like a table or countertop or mounted to a wall or ceiling using the magnetic ball mount. Installation for my husband was fairly easy. It only took a couple minutes to mount. The hardest part was deciding where to put it in the front of our house to get the best coverage. It will be much more helpful to have 2 people to do this. We turned the camera on to see the picture while one person held it in place and the other person checked the viewpoint. We ended up putting it on our far corner of our garage. We get the whole view point of the garage, driveway and porch. The camera is pretty discreet. You can see it but it does a good job blending into our fascia so it's not a big eye sore from the street. In the app, you are able to control the camera and settings. It monitors the battery level, notifications, adjust sensitivity settings, watch the picture and adjust it's settings, listen or speak outside, check the event history, and set sirens, and access directions and guides. There is also an Autoarm feature which will automatically arm your system when you leave your home. It will trigger when your phone is about 1/4 mile away from the house. Once the camera is armed, it will activate the motion detection function. If it detects any motion, it will send an email and/or push notification to you, a video of the event will be recorded (and stored in your event history) and the siren which blasts at a 90 decibel level will sound for a designated time (if that is activated). You can go in any time to see a live 360 degree view on your app. You will want to set your POV on the camera otherwise the camera will move around when you move your phone and may not be left pointing the direction you want it. Show POV always brings it back to the set viewpoint. There is a free trial of 5 second video with no audio included for 7 days. I wish it was always included. Of course, you can upgrade to a paid plan if you want it or need it. I like the option of not having to pay a monthly fee. The sensitivity level is something you will have to tweak. With my household having little kids that play out in the front of the house, it sets it off all the time so we're on the lowest sensitivity. And the POV settings should be more user friendly. I will also wonder how annoyed I will be to have to retrieve the camera over and over to recharge the battery. But it's a good tool to have if you don't need anything to sophisticated in price or installation.

My first thought when taking the camera out of the packaging was how substantial it is. That was definitely a surprise asset! After unboxing the whole package, I took a quick read of the instructions, downloaded the app to my Android, and got started. Once I configured my Guardzilla account, the app quickly found my new camera and connected it to my network. Once it connected, it took a few minutes to download the latest firmware. That was a nice feature... I've spent many hours setting up networking equipment where I struggle with getting it configured out of the box, only to find out that the issues were all fixed in firmware updates! Once the camera was configured on the network, and had its software updated, it was ready to go. I spent a few minutes getting some settings configured in the app, and I was good to go. I also liked the voice feedback. Rather than wait for a confirmation of what is happening with the camera through flashing lights, or feedback on the application, the setup was assisted by voice guided status updates. Really straightforward to setup. Mounting was a piece of cake, thanks to the included hardware and the magnetic attachment between the wall/ceiling mount and the camera. It is a super strong connection, while still making it easy to make minor adjustments. This most surprising part to me was how well the 360 degree viewing works. Just lift your phone to look up, and spin around to look side-to-side. Makes it possible to see what's going on in the whole yard. There are robust notification options (Push alerts, email and SMS), 2 way communication, and a loud siren included. It will even self arm (to start the push notifications) when you leave the area (off the wifi network). All in all, a lot of features packed into a small package!