Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsvery reliable security camera system worth considering (and latest EDIT)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 14 October 2020
We have been using this now for about a month. So here is our thoughts on this product.
setup: Setup is pretty easy took about 30 minutes. Maybe the odd question was worded a bit weird, even rebooted for a firmware update -- but top marks on this. installing the cameras is super simple, except they dont have an angled or ceiling mount for some reason. Again didnt bother us but you might need to jerryrig a solution there.
Cameras: in the pack is 2 cameras. The charge is supposed to last i believe 6 months. that i think is pretty wishful thinking on the part of Eufy. we fully charged the cameras (as requested in the installation) and it has dropped 1 pip on the battery bar in one month. Keep in mind our cameras are in the most heavily trafficked areas (front and back door) so they are pretty much pinging all day. i would guess charge every 3 months ( i will post here on first mandated recharge). only other possible concern might be the distance the camera could be from the base station. if you had a house with a lot of thick walls and long distances you might have an issue with camera connecting, but thats me guessing.
Motion Detection: we have set the person setting on, ie only record when a person was moving. Well maybe where we live cats look like people because we have one cat in particular, religiously setting this off at 4am every night. Could i reduce a star for that, well yeah, but does anyone seriously believe all that, i certainly didnt. i am sure it does work, just not in the way i thought. it can pick up faces which is very interesting, that does work surprisingly well. It is also good on identifying motion, that particular cat is on the extreme side of the motion area and it always catches the movement. One other small quirk i noticed, in night vision mode it doesnt sense a motion activated light that goes on and technically should switch off the night vision, not a big issue but perhaps an update will fix small issues like this.
Performance (movement to phone alert): this is where i have to say the system is pretty impressive. it takes around 5-6ish seconds to receive a notification. we have a pretty bog standard driveway ( 2 cars almost fit) and from the time i am in the catchment area of the camera to hitting the front step -- i receive a notification. we did try the press to talk function. it works fairly well, voice is a bit tinny sounding but it definitely workable if you were reluctant to open your door and the camera microphone is very good. in this live interaction camera session its about half a second delay for us- definitely usable. They also have geo fencing which is pretty cool when we both leave it activates.
Reliability: this was replacing an older onvir based system of ip cameras which was buggy on its best day. the Eufy system has been flawless in this regard, 100% reliable. we even had a extremely rare power cut, the base unit just reconnected to everything automatically. Also because it stores the files locally there is none of the hidden monthly cloud charges involved . also if there was activity you need to record you can pull that to your phone.
Overall: have to say, we are super impressed. their app works and looks good also btw, the interface to apple phones is also pretty easy (you can use apple own home setup to take camera feeds). The mark i try to use on products like this is 'would i buy it again?' the answer to this is a resounding yes, hence the 5 stars. Sure its got the odd white lie in the marketing (dont they all?) but i am willing to ignore that for the many many other benefits. So if you were on the fence on this, i would say if you were to jump to this, you are very unlikely to regret it.
Jan 4th EDIT
2nd attempt, last edit bombed out and it was worded way way better than this edit ;)
So happy New Year all. Firstly the cameras are still on one pip on the battery icon. That is pretty darn impressive to me. I will let them run out or at least red line before charging and if there is any further info i will add here. It is worth noting that the front and rear cameras are both on one pip even though the front would be used more. There is some educated guesses you could make here on how the backend system works but it would be speculation. I suspect the batteries will age in a bit as they cycle through their lifespan but at the moment -- way way better than i expected originally.
Motion detection: this is still tripped by the cat (system configured to people recognition). she had changed her schedule a bit so there is that.
Notification time: one thing i thought i should add. i mentioned about it took the length of an average driveway before my phone pinged. I had a think about this and my phone is going through a whole series of 'things' as i walk towards the door, not least of which is trying to connect to wifi. Im sure that is delaying the notifications by a small amount.
Final Thoughts: you know whats best about this? it just works. its now just part of our house, like a tv or fridge or your mobile device. it just works. i have not had to login to reboot, tweak, update, modify, or worst of all (and we have all done this) had to explain to family members how whats happening is a feature not a bug (onvir wifi cameras im looking at you). This system just works and honestly much and all as i love fidgeting with IT stuff, there is something really refreshing about software and hardware like this that just does what it says on the tin. Could it be better, yes but its the ole 80/20 rule now for Eufy i suspect where they have all of the basics done right now comes all the bells and whistles and trinkets...nice to have but not critical. So we would still buy this again. Very impressed with it resilience (no reboots, no resets etc). Its what we wanted here, something that is 'set and forget'. Pretty sure we all want that or if not all, then the vast majority of people want. of you are a bit of a security camera expert and love doing the latest mods, then this is probably not for you. of you want something that just works; well all we can say is (as per the first review of this), would we rebuy?-- yep we definitely would.
