First, I apologize if I’ve violated any forum rules posting my questions here. I’m totally new to this forum and although I looked around a bit for posting rules I didn’t find them quickly so here I am.
I’m trying to decide which home security camera system I should purchase. I’ve been doing my homework and checking what reputable reviewers recommend. Wyze is well recommended.
I’ve been looking into the Wyze camera, but there’s so much information and much of it is conflicting/confusing. So I figured I’d ask this forum.
I want only the simplest features;
No subscription fees (not really a ‘feature’, I know)
Notification of motion
Ability to VERY EASILY playback detections on my phone (camera detects motion at 3 am…I get notification…I reach for my phone and playback what camera saw…AND I can play this back again three days later if I want)
Reasonable (3 months or more) battery life
Night vision
Ability to see what the camera is seeing on my phone, whenever I choose to check (my dog runs to the window barking and I want to see what the camera sees even if the object is too far away to trigger motion detection notification)
I don’t need/want cloud services.
I want this so that -I- can take care of my home. I want a camera to show me what’s out there when I need it and to alert me to interesting motion when it ocurrs. And I want this on my phone.
That’s all.
So…does this camera provide the above…with no subscription?
No apologies needed! The Community Guidelines topic is pinned at the top of the Wyze News catagory. Here is the link:
What is your install use cases? Mounting outside? Mounting inside looking out a window? able to be plugged in/battery powered? Etc. this will better help recommendations.
The way Wyze notifications work is that cloud events trigger notifications. So you need something going to the cloud. And based on what cloud service you have, you may have a 5 min cool down between events.
I’m looking to mount the camera outside. Battery powered. And no access to the cloud (I eschew all services charges).
What I need is list of bullets I provided at the start of this message. If the Wyze 3 specifications match my list, then I’m good to go, but it is surprisingly hard to find anything that answers this question.
Also, I understand that the Wyze 3 does not require cloud services, but writes to a 128 gb card. What does it write? Everything or just motion detections?
If you are interested in the Wyze regular v3 camera, I would look at Cam Plus Lite name your price including Zero dollars.
Also, all of my v3 cameras are inside aimed through double pane windows. Here is a link with examples of the quality you can expect aiming through windows.
If you don’t want your cameras to access to the cloud, then you won’t get notifications of anything. You will need some level of cloud service or cloud usage to get these:
Only cameras that are the v3 and older have the ability to have “cam plus lite” (which was linked to you above by @StevenA ). Cam plus lite is able to be free if you’d like. That will allow 12 second videos to the cloud which have a 5 minute cool down. Also. All cameras have the ability to get thumbnails of events sent to the cloud which you can be notified of, but those also have a 5 minute cool down as well.
I’m afraid I’m totally new to the security camera world and I don’t know the meaning of terms such as “cool down”. Also, how is it that a feature like “cam plus lite” is free ‘if I’d like’? It either costs or it doesn’t, yes?
Regarding cam plus lite, I don’t really see where the cloud is involved. All I want is for the camera to notify my phone when it sees motion, provide me a reasonable length clip of what it saw, and either store the clip itself (where I can get to it for free) or provide it to my phone such that my phone can store it. Plus I want the other things I mentioned in my list, of course.
My point is that despite all the helpful replies, it’s still not obvious that the WYZE v3 provides the things I’m looking for.
The Cam Plus Lite link above explains this. The subscribing user has the option of chipping in money for the subscription, or you can choose $0. Here is a screen shot from the CPL page:
Wyze app camera notifications are triggered from cloud events. So you need to have some level of event sent to the cloud for a notification to be triggered. There is the option to record to the SD card in the camera but that function doesn’t send notifications.
This means that once you have an event sent to the cloud from the camera. There is then a 5 min time “cool down” before the camera will send another event to the cloud. A drawback from the basic cloud access and cam plus lite. If your camera senses motion and uploads a thumbnail or a short event (on CPL) to the cloud, for the next 5 minutes it won’t detect anything unfortunately.
I believe you need to go to the WYZE Web Site, log into your account top right, go to services and increase the number of cameras to add a cam to CP lite. I did it that way a long time ago and don’t know if it is the same. Take a look.
I looked and you have to go to my.wyze.com to manage subscriptions, you can add eligible cams on there., there will be a list of what cams you can add to CP Lite.
It’s strange that the wyze doesn’t have the ability to store events or pictures to its own internal memory…or to a SD card and then allow your phone to access that memory for a playback. This would eliminate the need for cloud access entirely. Of course then the company wouldn’t be able to charge for a monthly cloud subscription which is where the real money comes from. I realize that supposedly I can say I don’t want to pay anything for the subscription, but I’m not naive; I’m sure there’s a penalty somewhere.
Well, I’m sure someone offers a decent subscriptionless camera. I just have to find them.
I really appreciate your helping me to make and informed decision on the Wyze. Too bad…it seemed like a nice camera.
