I didn’t bother reading your way too long post in your own thread (I don’t see why you feel the need to copy & paste the same thing in multiple threads) and I won’t be reading here either.
This thread is a joke, it’s only purpose is for people to vent and complain.
We have a total of 6 Wyze Cam V2 cameras purchased with a 4 year warranty, when purchased they offered free cloud events recording, 12 second events, 1 every 5 minutes. Now, the cameras are absolutely and completely useless without cloud, since you can’t fast forward through the timeline on your local MicroSD card recordings, so unless you KNOW the exact time an event occurred, forget finding it randomly, or accidentally coming across the event you are looking to locate.
You cannot USE a Mac or PC to review the recordings unless you SWAP the Micro SD card out (which are a pain in the neck to unmount) and install a new Micro SD card, for 6 cameras you would have to spend hours daily, swapping Micro SD cards, downloading & reviewing Micro SD card video footage on a real computer screen.
If; I pay for ‘Cam Plus’ Cloud Services it would cost (for a total of 6 cameras) $90.oo µ$ per year (billed annually) @ 1.25 per month (in order to make it sound like a small amount of cost.)
If you simply buy a complete system. Example: $400 with a DVR or NVR recording device, you can get the alerts to your mobile device(s) absolutely free of charge indefinitely. Your video is 100% reviewable on a PC or Mac, Desktop, Laptop, Android, iPad, iPhone, etc. And in many cases, they have “popup screenshots” as you scan the timeline of your video with your mouse, so you can see exactly what is in the video without even watching the video first. Much faster and far more efficient than the Wyze Cam force you to buy/pay monthly (billed annually) Cam Plus cloud services.
In 4 years of spending money with the Wyze Cam for Cam Plus, you could invest in a serious security system with DVR or NVR. Into your 5th year of Wyze you would be spending another $90.oo µ$ for Cam Plus cloud services.
All of my cameras now say ‘Unknown Device’ when I attempt to access the events in the cloud. Meaning, I cannot access the 12 second events in the cloud free of charge anymore. When I purchased the cameras cloud was free indefinitely. With the limitation 12 second events, 1 every 5 minutes. Give me back what I originally purchased.
I am completely dissatisfied with the purchase of these Wyze Cam’s some more than 4 years ago, some newer. If I had known all 6 of these cameras would be rendered completely useless by this new Wyze Cam Policy, I would never have purchased 6 Wyze Cam’s in the first place. IN fact I would never have purchased any Wyze Cam products at all. There is NO OTHER option except to pay for service I do not want in order to be able to properly monitor the 6 cameras. There is NO OPTION TO RECORD THE EVENTS TO MY OWN Micro SD card internally. WHY NOT? Other cameras offer this option.
Wyze WILL NEVER make it possible for you (the end user) to CHOOSE to record events to YOUR OWN internal Micro SD card because that would render their cloud (Cam Plus), and thus their monthly revenue stream null and void. Why pay for something you can record and review yourself. That has always been the plan. Let me record my OWN events to the internal Micro SD card. End of story.
I read 1 commenter: if you don’t like it, then don’t buy a Wyze Cam. This is counter productive and completely negative and serves no purpose.
Well, that is a moot point at this stage. I already own 6 Wyze Cams (with extended 4 year warranty) and have for many years now. Besides, it is not the cameras I am dissatisfied with, it is the Wyze policy of money first, customer requested features & customer service second. Forcing potential customers to buy/purchase/pay for a service they do not want, is a business model which is destined to failure. Especially in light of the fact that other cameras offer the EXACT features discussed. Furthermore, it is completely absurd to treat the public as if they are idiots who will fall for such dishonest business practices & tactics. Mark my words this will come back to haunt you eventually once word gets out, and it eventually WILL get out.
You apparently did not learn anything working at Amazon, the customer ALWAYS comes first, they are the ones who provide profit. Any other consideration is secondary. If it is not, your business model is guaranteed to fail.
If you bought a Wyze Cam I recommend you SEND IT BACK as quickly as possible.
Wyze Cam thinks people don’t join this forum until AFTER they buy a Wyze Cam. This will be posted at other locations for this very reason. So we can catch the potential buyer BEFORE they make the mistake and waste their money. When you buy a Wyze Cam, it is conveniently hidden that cloud is a monthly cost and how much.
Thank you,
I may edit this as time permits
You absolutely do NOT need to buy CamPlus service. I currently have 31 operational Wyze cameras. Other than four new camera purchases that came with a month of CamPlus (which I am using on different cameras), I have exactly one CamPlus annual subscription because it gets me a discounted price on purchases. I have saved more on subsequent camera purchases than the year of CamPlus cost me.
With that said, I have 64GB uSD cards in all of the cameras except one V2 where the card slot failed. All are set to continuous recording. I routinely look back at video from days or hours ago, and for most stuff, it’s not that hard to find when something happened. For example, this morning I wanted to see when my son left the house. Looked at playback for one camera that can see his car. At 0600 his car was there, at 0700 it was not, at 0630 it was there, at 0745 it was not, at 0740 it was there. OK, he left between 0640 and 0645. I could likely have looked at events for any one of the eight cameras that would have seen some portion of his departure.
The other thing that I do is all of my V2 and Pan cameras are flashed for RTSP and are watched by BlueIris software on my server. I can watch that on any internet browser.
Not sure why none of your cams can no longer access cloud events. Mine still work fine.
Newsflash, this is how the cams have worked since released in 2018.
4 yr warranty? Lol
$1.25 per month is nothing for what you get
Why did you buy the v2s? The v3 is far superior.
I have a few Wyze Cams, some not under CAM Plus, and the majority of them under Cam Plus. The non Cam Plus cameras work fine, and I am happy as can be with them. The Cam Plus cameras are very nice, and well worth the money.
I have my Alexa Show device announcing when a camera sees a person, and then switching the the monitor of the Show to put that camera on line. So not only do I get an audio announce of which camera spotted a person, I then see that camera… A very flexible and useful system for not a lot of cash out.
Unlike you, I bought one camera, and tested it first prior to spending a lot of cash. I was happy with the minimum functions, and ecstatic with cam plus… I now have 11 cams, all update fine, all work 99.99% of the time, and overall I could not be happier with them. The new V3 camera is flat amazing at what it sees with almost no light…
I have two issues with the cameras:
The latency between light level changes and the time it takes to switch to color, vs. night vision, needs to be lengthened. Cars driving by at night switch the filter in and out…
The latency between an event, and when it is reported. It is well within the useful range of time, but it could be a lot quicker…
Beyond those two issues, I am continuing to purchase Wyze items, the Robot Vacuum is wonderful, and the lights are great… Now only if they had a wall switch…
The original 12 second cloud storage of the event clips has not gone away, it works exactly the same way it always has
Everything with Wyze is (still) wyrking for me. However, I only have HMS and 7 cams (w/ “high endurance” microSD cards, and, CAMPLUS)
Ditto to the above. Nothing has changed about the basic features. I stopped reading the original post because it just isn’t accurate. However the SD card feature has never worked reliably for me.
Well I read the original post.
To me it seems the poster was buying on hope that Wyze would do more for the cameras.
I also have over 30 cams (as listed on the Wyze site). They all do what they were supposed to do when I bought them,
The advent of the V3 caused me to buy a bunch for outside use and redeploy a bunch of V2’s for mundane tasks - keeping track of leaks or potential leaks, watching water boil, watching lawn grass grow up close, watching the laundry machines (can’t hear the buzzers), backup cams, etc.
I’ve about 7 V2 cams in Virginia I’ve been running remote since I self quarantined in MS from Jan 1, 2020. All running fine doing what they were supposed to do.
[DO NOT Buy a Wyze Cam - Here’s Why]
Update: We seem to have a lot of Wyze Cam apologists on the forum replying to this post.
NOT one single helpful solution to ANY of these problems has been offered. NOT ONE!
The dollar cost ratio to a Defender system is a continual reoccurring monthly (yearly) fee which Defender (one example) does not have.
Whereas Defender (one example) offers, features such as, Power over ethernet and WiFi, email/ alert notifications, AI, Person detection, Motion detection on a DVR or NVR system recorded locally with review possible from multiple devices. Starting around $200.oo ish for 4 cameras, expandable to 8 cameras.
If anyone wants to say a Wyze Cam is equivalent to these other security systems that is your choice, as for “It is well worth the money,” that is debatable.
Consider this a challenge.
BACK UP what you say with mathematical, statistical facts & included features, instead of your personal opinion and conjecture on the matter. I will personally post specific systems for less money with no reoccurring fees (monthly or yearly) and the same if not more features on those systems, for less money, and no cloud data collection which is completely unnecessary.
Anyone one who then doubts the veracity of these statements will have iron clad data for direct comparison.
You can be an apologist for Wyze all you want at that point.
My cameras are NOT working, I WILL provide screen shots.
I am NOT paying $90.oo per year for cloud service when I asked Wyze when I bought the cams to provide RECORDING events DIRECTLY to their internal Micro SD card on the cams and was told it would eventually be forthcoming, and has NEVER materialized. I do not wish to buy a camera (to then pay a monthly credit card bill). When I am perfectly capable of controlling my own camera system without cloud service which is better and more efficient. AND; user/personal data is NOT being collected by cloud against my wishes for a fee I do not wish to pay.
Apologize for that!
I repeat: My cameras are NOT working, I cannot view events, on any of 6 cameras, period. And have not been able to do so for days now.
Today, I am buying a new security camera system which has end user security in mind and not monthly reoccurring fees which has compromised security not enhanced or increased security. I want a security camera system I can count on to work reliably 24/7, not a toy camera.
In my opinion that is NOT too much to ask when that is what I was sold and thought I purchased. It does not matter one iota to me how well all of YOUR cameras are working.
These are ALL facts and NOT simply my espousing of how great Wyze is for me. Opinions of Wyze with cameras which are NOT working, or security which is currently compromised and has been for days now, is not helpful, in any way, shape, or form.
I am NOT looking to appease Wyze Cam apologists, I WILL INSTALL A SECURITY CAMERA SYSTEM THAT IS RELIABLE with no reoccurring monthly/yearly fees & no cloud data collection. Meanwhile, I paid for these cameras & 4 year extended warranties, and they are NOW a TOTAL LOSS.
Anyone who reads this, if they are wise (pun intended) will look at a complete closed security camera system they can personally & individually control, themselves, in house. Wyze Cam is NOT a security camera system. The features have moved away from a cost saving, user friendly platform, to one with monthly/yearly fees & has always (in my opinion) been geared toward cloud/personal data collection, and not what is best for the end user’s privacy and security, and clearly has compromised mine in both instances. What has happened to any OTHER user is completely irrelevant and ONLY serves to gloss over ALL of these facts.
Cameras NOT working
Security Breeched
Money Lost
Time wasted
Personal data collected to cloud
NOT one single helpful solution to ANY of these problems has been offered. NOT ONE!
Thank you,
I may edit this as time permits
My experience
When Wyze App and firmware are good, it works.
I have to stop updating app to kerp my Wyze to function. If I uodate app ir firmware, it will crash.
You must find the versions combo that works for you.
Sd card recording is definitely the weaking point. IWyze ate several cards for breakfast. These are dashcam card. It creates suspicions.
Thanks tuna, You obviously understand the security and camera market,I love that. Most wyze defenders have only had the camera that comes with their cell phone and think wyze labs is a gift to god. To sum up the company more accurately, they are a company that re-labels low quality Chinese products with low quality subscription based pricing and bottom tier support. It’s hard for people to hear that with their wyze noise canceling headsets on.
Pretty much true and always has been.
I knew that when I bought the first $20 cameras. Now 3 years later I am not shocked to find out they are exactly what I bought and not top notch security devices.
I guess I am lucky that mine still work.
Perfect description of what Wyze is as a company.
You are. 7 Wyze products initially in roughly 3 years and only 1 still functional - and that with F/W and S/W that’s at least 3 or 4 releases out-of-date in order to maintain advertised functionality, anything newer will break it.
100% Correct
I’ve got 8 cameras. 4 are outside year round in Canadian winters. 2 V2 and 2 Pan cams.
I have relatively cheap, Silicon Power, SD cards.
I skipped to the summary. I tried to read the rest but it still makes no sense. Wyze has always supported recording events to SD card (though it has never worked reliably for me). Wyze still records events to their cloud servers for free. Of course DVR based systems and wired cameras are more reliable. These are fun toys. They still pick up a better signal than the HeimLink camera I was hoping to replace them with.
If your cameras stopped working I’m sorry. I can’t pick out the symptoms from your messages other than they stopped working and your events don’t record. It’s hard to help based on that. Can you get a live view? Has your router changed? Do your other devices work? Did Wyze ever get back to you? Did you try phone support?
What security breach? Their last significant one was about a year ago?
What personal data collected? I don’t use the newer versions of the app to keep that to a minimum but they are not big offenders in this regard from what I understand.
When no one can offer you help perhaps you are phrasing the request suboptimally, and not that absolutely everyone is a stupid apologist lying about their own experience. Most of us complain a lot.