Customer Ratings & Reviews

I have a lot of Google stuff so this goes with the rest of it and I love it a lot.

Google Home was the first smart home platform I invested in, and I've been using Google Nest indoor and outdoor cameras as my eyes and ears around the house for years now. While I have all three major smart home platforms up and running -- and even have a Home Assistant server going, too -- Google Assistant is still my default voice command system. Needless to say, when Google finally released updated Nest Cams, I quickly took the opportunity to test one out. I've been relying on Google Nest Cams (and the Google Nest Doorbell Battery) for a long time, and I've generally been pleased, if not "wowed," with their performance. For one monthly subscription I get streaming video with acceptable quality, event notifications and a month's worth of saved video should I need to go back and review anything. Things just work for the most part, with the occasional hiccups I've come to expect from most smart home technology. I was particularly excited to see Google increase the video resolution to 2K on these new Nest Cams, and I was interested in the AI-powered features advertised. I'm an AI skeptic, but using AI to better identify and search video seems like a no-brainer application. As usual, the Google Nest Cam 3rd gen arrived smartly packed in high-quality, fully-recyclable packaging, which Google has been doing for a while now. If you've seen or held a Nest Cam in the past few years, you'll find no surprises here; the design and quality is typical Google. I was hard-pressed to tell the difference between this and my installed Nest Cams. The only physical differences seem to be the larger lens and the USB-C cable and power adapter, both welcome updates. You'll find a weighty, high-quality camera with a long, permanently-attached cable. The plastics are matte with a nice feel, and the cord is thick and durable, but still easy to route and work with. The power adapter is a bit more compact with a side port. I'm glad it's not permanently attached, allowing you some flexibility. The setup process is similar, but noticeably quicker and a bit smoother than previous-gen Nest Cams. The Google Home app's latest update plays a role in this, with the overall experience being a bit better than in the past. I was able to add the device quickly and with no issues. I decided to set it up in my office, as that's where my cat hangs out most of the time when I'm away, and let's be real, the cameras are mostly to keep an eye on him when I'm not home. After the easy pairing process I set the camera up on the corner of my bookshelf (it replaced a last-gen wired indoor Nest Cam, which I moved elsewhere) and aimed it to capture most of the room. The field of view is definitely wider and taller, with more of the room and the edge of the bookshelf visible. The FOV is expanded enough that I'm considering mounting the camera on the wall to capture more of the room and less of the bookshelf where the camera is currently perched. The new Nest Cam's 2K resolution is arguably the marquee feature here, and I expected to notice an immediate difference... but I didn't. The image is clearer, but not dramatically so, and it's still pixelated for the first few moments of a livestream. The colors are well-balanced and night vision works, but the difference on my phone screen is just not as noticeable as I thought it would be. Where the higher resolution does stand out is when you zoom in. Here things degrade noticeably on the previous gen Nest Cams, but stay a bit clearer and sharper on this latest model. Another neat feature enabled by the higher resolution is auto-zoom for the little notification videos the Google Home app sends you; I was surprised and delighted to see the camera zooming in on my cat stretching his legs when it (accurately) notified me of his motion. I added the camera to my home and away automations (the setup flow didn't suggest this, as it does with older devices) and so far it's worked well. I have had trouble with previous-gen devices not obeying the home/away routines, which has required me to make separate camera-by-camera home/away routines that do work. A weird bug with the app for me, but adding the additional automations has been successful. The letdown for me with this new Nest Cam are the marquee AI features, or lack thereof. Google has been heavily advertising AI event descriptions ("dog jumps out of playpen") and the ability to ask Gemini for details on what happened throughout the day... but buried in the fine print is that you'll need a Google Home Premium Advanced subscription for these features. I have the standard Google Home Premium subscription and I admit I missed the word "Advanced" the first few times I read through the product details. the "Advanced" subscription is fully double the cost of regular Google Home Premium, and it's not included in the Google One/Google AI Pro subscription I have already. I'm not currently willing to shell out even more to Google for these features, so I can't evaluate how well they work in this review. I wish Google had at least included a free trial of the Advanced plan so I could see if they'd be worth the substantial price increase. For now I'm going to stick with the plan I have already. Overall, the Google Nest Cam Indoor (wired, 3rd gen) is a solid performer, but not the exciting upgrade I was hoping for. Performance is smooth and generally trouble-free, but the same is true for the last-gen cameras. The wider field of view and 2K resolution are improvements, but subtle ones. The Gemini-powered AI event descriptions, search and daily summaries are limited to the twice-as-expensive Google Home Premium Advanced plan, which isn't totally clear in all of the marketing materials I've seen. Moreover, these features are not exclusive to the new models; they're available on all the previous-gen nest Cams I already own. For me, Google's latest Nest Cam is good, but not great. It has solid performance and construction, but doesn't offer anything really new or innovative other than a slight resolution bump. The best AI features are not exclusive to the latest models and are paywalled behind the most expensive subscription tier. If you already have a home full of Nest Cams, there's not much reason to upgrade.

I like my camera, just wish it was 4k so we could zoom in and get a clearer view!

I have one of these little guys in every room look I’m disabled and I feel they give a better perception of my surroundings

The resolution bump, while not huge, is definitely noticeable. I dont like the 2K marketing, as it sounds disingenuous, but it does produce a fairly noticable better picture

Great camera so far for indoor use. Not issues. Would recommend if you need to keep an eye on something.

Google camera just keeps getting better with time. I enjoy the different colors and higher visual quality.

Great camera for using indoors and for integrating with the Google Nest. You can see everything in the Google home app.

Very reliable camera. Built in AI recognition features are really impressive. Would recommend. I ended up getting 7 of them plus a doorbell camera.

Great camera that was easy to setup, plan to purchase more in the future to not only have more but to upgrade older nest cameras.

Love these cameras. They are super smart and easy to use. It is always recording and looks great.

great indoor camera was very easy to set up and instructions online was easy to set up

The proses was easier than I expected Insulation was no problem and setting up Was easy Very pleased

Love the google nest cameras. Very easy to setup and get notifications.

It's great. I know since the product is a Google. I can count on it.

I upgraded my existing Wyze Cam for this camera to monitor my pets. I love the change!

[Employee of bestbuy] Great small indoor camera. It’s got weight to it which I like and the style is super clean. Just a tad pricey for a indoor camera when competing brands are half the price

Nice love it Its ausum. Very easy to use and setup.

Overall quality is great. The camera won’t let me add other people escalated it in support and they just never got back to me. Really upset that I cannot add multiple users

This new model only comes with 10s preview without subscription. For the old version, it used to be at most 3 minutes