Hello everyone,
We will be having an AMA with the Product Manager for the Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro on May 31, 2023, from 2pm to 3pm PT over on r/wyzecam.
Here is a link to the thread where you can ask or upvote questions you would like to see answered.
https://www.reddit.com/r/wyzecam/comments/13vzjf9/im_product_manager_of_wyze_cam_floodlight_pro_ask/
I am posting a copy of the AMA Archive for this event put together by Jason. And the original AMA Thread can be viewed and referenced here.
âI am the Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro PM - ask me anything!â Link
Hosted by:
| Question | Reply |
|---|---|
| Well i owned the first floodlight and the sensor leaked water in and caused it to fail, so I would ask, is this one truely sealed so that it meets the IP rating. Mine was mounted just like your marketing pics but it was not meeting the IP spec obviously. | Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro is IP65 certified product and UL-listed. Iâm not sure what happened with your other floodlight but I hope you contacted our support team about it. -u/HongfeiN |
| This device is dual band. Is this the start of dual band rolling out to other products? There has been hesitation due to price of chips, etc⌠have they come down to an affordable price? | Weâre having a lot of discussions about this internally. Weâll have a balanced solution to make sure we deliver a good user experience while providing too-good-to-be-true (TGTBT) prices on our future products. -u/HongfeiN |
| Did you come up with this idea or was it assigned to you to just manage the project? | I actually took over this product from the person that started the project. After that, we made some significant changes since the product was in very early stages. We did a lot of research on the product and the market to finalize the concept. We also learned from customer feedback about the 1st generation floodlight camera. We are excited to introduce this new product to our customers -u/HongfeiN |
| Explain the reasoning why the back USB port was dropped from the pro version. 180â° FOV covers more but doesnât get everything, 2 cameras are better than 1 | Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro has an increased 180° field-of-view and 2.5K resolution offers more coverage in greater detail. Hereâs why we removed the USB port: More seamless user experience: You no longer need to check multiple livestreams or get duplicate notifications from the same motion. Easier installation: With the 180-degree ultra-wide lens, you donât have to stand on a ladder to attach another camera to get the same coverage. Cost-effective in the long run: 1 service subscription will cover a wider area compared to 2 licenses to cover the same area with 2 cameras. Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro has an increased 180° field-of-view and 2.5K resolution offering more coverage in greater detail. Hereâs why we removed the USB port: -u/HongfeiN |
| If itâs not too late to modify it, why not consider updating the Black Model to include a USB port so we can use an OG Telephoto cam with it? The 180 degree is awesome and there are good reasons for not needing to extend the FOV, but it could be awesome to have an OG-T on this to zoom in on a particular location with the Telephoto lenses. Imagine if you linked the FLPro with a Telephoto cam using Picture-in-Picture! That would be so cool. Then weâd still have an option of a USB port in one version of the device. | Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro in black has already been manufactured and the first batch is already in the US preparing for the product launch. But we likely wonât be changing the product to add a USB port because it has an increased 180° field-of-view and 2.5K resolution offers more coverage in greater detail. Here are some additional reasons for the change: More seamless user experience: You no longer need to check multiple livestreams or get duplicate notifications from the same motion. Easier installation: With the 180-degree ultra-wide lens, you donât have to stand on a ladder to attach another camera to get the same coverage. Cost-effective in the long run: 1 service subscription will cover a wider area compared to 2 licenses to cover the same area with 2 cameras. Lower upfront cost for customers: You donât need to spend more on the extra USB port hardware, a second camera, and a second microSD card. -u/HongfeiN |
| If you already have some of the black ones in stock, why are you waiting until June-July to allow purchase of them? Are you just wanting build up the stock to be bigger first so they donât sell out right away for everyone who wants them? | Yes, we will need to ensure a launch-ready inventory status to launch the black version so we can avoid the out of stock situation right away.-u/HongfeiN |
| Why did you limit the detection capabilities to 30 feet away when this camera has no limiting PIR sensor and includes 2.5K resolution and should be able to see farther away, and it has onboard/local AI, so it wonât cost you more to analyze more events anyway? | Technically, youâre right. The AI computer vision does not have the 30-foot detection limitation. However, 30 feet is the range to get optimal AI motion detection performance considering low-light conditions and the quality of captured objects at a greater distance in the image. -u/HongfeiN |
| Are updates easier when there is less to consider? Considering this camera is not a V3 and itâs also not considered an accessory, is there less lines of code therefore easier to find and correct bugs quicker? | This product is one of the first to start with using the new Camera SDK. I know that adds some complexity. But Iâm not one of our Firmware Engineers so I canât give a real answer for this one. Itâs outside of my role scope. -u/HongfeiN |
| How will motion be detected if thereâs no PIR, and you donât apply camplus to this thing? Are you telling me every bit of motion from insects, dust, rain, fog, is going to trigger this floodlight on since you wonât be paying for object detection? | Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro comes with Person and Vehicle Detection available for all users by default. It uses an updated onboard AI computer vision algorithm to detect motion with much higher accuracy compared to the old PIR technology. The camera only records the motion (person or vehicle) that the user selects. It also only triggers the motion-activated light based on your selections. This means you can have individual settings for light activation and Event recording. We took a long time to make this product better and have better detection for actual movement (instead of parked vehicles). -u/HongfeiN |
| Since the PIR sensor is removed and the detection is all AI-based, whatâs the latency before detecting movement and the lights turning on? PIR is usually pretty instant. Not confident this will be as fast | I like this question. We did a lot of improvements to optimize the reaction time from detecting motion, processing the image in the AI model, and returning the results to activating the lights. The current reaction time is within 1 second in the entire process running on the device. You can adjust the sensitivity in the setting to further optimize the performance based on your needs (balance between accuracy and speed) -u/HongfeiN |
| Would you consider making this support Matter? (I know the Matter specifications havenât been finalized yet, but it seems like like this thing Uses BLE and has enough power, resources, etc to support local AI, so it seems like it should easily qualify no matter what other requirements there are since itâs better than basically all the other weaker cameras theyâll be considering supporting with the standard) | Weâre having a lot of discussions about Matter internally. We will have more information to share when the time is right -u/HongfeiN |
| What was the rationale for not having the Floodlight Pro be able to switch between cool lighting and warm lighting? (for the record, I prefer cool lighting, but some people want warm lighting). And will you consider offering a fitted light filter (ie: thin plastic or gel filter or whatever) we can paste over the top of the lights to make them warmer for those who really want that? | The cost was definitely the main reason we did not include the color temperature adjustable feature considering the target price range and the feature priorities. Having color temperature adjustable lights requires us to have both cool and warm LED bulbs on the light panels. It would make the light panel larger to achieve the same brightness. -u/HongfeiN |
| Does the AI Vision Vehicle detection turn on the floodlight for every single motion event if there is a parked vehicle in view of the camera, and if so, will that ever be updated to ignore parked/stationary cars since Wyze is already working on having the Cam Plus AI learn to only report moving objects? | We actually added more logic to the AI computer vision algorithm to address your concern about Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro. Only moving AI objects will trigger motion detection. If there is a parked vehicle and no other moving AI objects are detected in the frame, the camera will not treat it as motion so you will not be notified. However, if there is a person walking in the frame plus there is a vehicle parked in view, the Motion Event will tag both the person and the vehicle. The notification will say that a person and vehicle have been detected by your camera. In short, the AI model on Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro only reports moving AI objects. But it will include static AI objects if motion is triggered by other AI objects in the frame. -u/HongfeiN |
| As a product manager, when you have a new product like this finish development and finally launch, what kind of work do you do now? Do you move on to looking for and developing a new product, or where do you personally go from here now that your project it completed and live? Any hints you can give for what else you are currently working on? | Good question. Once our products are launched, we continue to improve them iteratively based on customer feedback and the plan we set before the product launch. Continuously supporting our products by working closely with customers and other teams is very important for product managers to get a deeper understanding of customer needs and gain the experience to plan for new products. Of course, I am working on other exciting new products so stay tuned. -u/HongfeiN |
| Is this device running Linux with RISC-V or RTOS on ARM? Why did you pick to go that route instead of the other way for this device? | Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro is running Linux with an LTS kernel because of our selection of system on a chip (SoC) solution. -u/HongfeiN |
| How much of this floodlight was user inspired? Whether through feedback, general limitations seen by the previous generation, etc. | Our users definitely inspired us a lot when we developed this product. We learned a lot from the feedback of the previous generation and that encouraged us to provide a solution with a much wider field of view, better resolution, much more accurate motion detection technology, and brighter lights on the Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro. -u/HongfeiN |
| This floodlight/device is quite the shift from previous years where the V3 was the brains and everything else was an added accessory. Are we beginning to see the start of the V3 being phased out in favor of newer more capable devices being able to be their âownâ device? | Wyze Cam v3 is our versatile solution to cover as many use cases as it can by working with different accessories. However, to provide more exciting features and a âproâ user experience to meet customer needs in specific areas, weâre working hard to introduce more products and solutions like Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro. -u/HongfeiN |
| Can I use this camera with slow WAN uploads of say 10-20mbps, will data be buffered to SD/internal storage for upload during motion events? | 10 - 20mbps upload speeds should not be a problem for Motion Events or livestream viewing based on our testing. Yes, we use internal storage to buffer data in some cases. -u/HongfeiN |
| I have a simple question: When will other cameras have 5ghz? Is it on the roadmap for 2023? I am willing to pay double. My channel saturation is at 80% for a single camera while uploading to cam plus and attempting to view live feed. This is on an enterprise grade hardware and tweaked. When we getting 5ghz? | Please forgive me for using a response to an earlier question on this topic. Weâre having a lot of discussions about this internally. Weâll have a balanced solution to make sure we deliver a good user experience while providing too-good-to-be-true (TGTBT) prices on our future products. -u/HongfeiN |
| What are you most proud of on the floodlight!? | I would say the quality of the super wide-angle 2.5K camera and the performance of AI computer vision. The super wide-angle view is an important upgrade considering the floodlight camera use cases. Wider coverage means fewer blind spots and more secure for home security. The reinforced AI computer vision truly reduces the endless false notification and motion light triggers that many floodlight users (and their neighbors) complain about. -u/HongfeiN |
| While this product seems to be complete and excellent as it is now, are there any additional features you are considering adding to the Floodlight Pro in future updates? | Yes, we are considering adding a couple more software features while polishing the user experience of existing features we have on Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro. We will share more information about this in the future. -u/HongfeiN |
| Is the free local AI used solely for controlling the lights, or does it also use the local AI to give users notifications &/or AI Event tags for person/vehicle too (for those who donât use Cam Plus with it) since it is already able to detect those locally without cam plus? | Yes, the free local AI is not only for controlling the lights but also for triggering the event recording and notifications. You can also have individual AI settings for the light control and the event recording/notification. For example, you can have Wyze Cam Floodlight Pro record and notify when a person and vehicle are detected while having the lights only be triggered by person detection. -u/HongfeiN |
This would be great! A camera with an OG operating system and speaker/mic combo, spotlight, and the FLP lense!
Maybe even put it on a doorbell?
Can this new floodlight be adjusted so itâs a soft light and not like the first version floodlight that is a cool LED light?
I donât believe so. I read somewhere in the FAQ that it has the same cool white as the original floodlight to help with visibility. I think generally itâs easier to see in cooler light.
Note, I have posted a copy of the answers from this AMA up above at the top of this thread in Post 2 for easy reference:
Also, here is a reminder of an effective way to quote/reference things in a table in case you want to share just a selection of it with others:
First I select the part that says âQuestion & Replyâ at the top of the table and select âQuoteâ so it shows up like this:
[quote="carverofchoice, post:3, topic:268289"]
|Question|Reply|
| --- | --- |
||
[/quote]
Then I go find the text I actually want to quote and copy and paste it just above that double â||â line, (making sure there is a â|â mark before the Question, between the Question and the Answer, and one after the Answer, so it would look like this:
[quote="carverofchoice, post:3, topic:268289"]
|Question|Reply|
| --- | --- |
|Question Text | Answer Text |
||
[/quote]
And then will show up like this:
Or you can just ignore the question, and select the answer text and click quote. That might be easiest for most people to be honest. Then just paraphrase or give context about what the question or subject is that they were answering before posting the quote.
Big thanks to @WyzeHongfei for taking so much time to answer all the questions he did! Iâm feeling pretty convinced that this is the best device Wyze has made so far! Especially in comparison to the competition, even before taking price comparisons into consideration. Amazing work WyzeHongfei, thanks for taking the time to share everything you did in the AMA. It is appreciated.
Dude like you say YOUR A VOLUNTEER. [mod edit]
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Yep you guys can do what you do best. Feelings police in WYZE. I tought that was N not in the constitute
You can say what the heck you want. Itâs not your money cause you test for free
âwill you consider offering a fitted light filter (ie: thin plastic or gel filter or whatever) we can paste over the top of the lights to make them warmer for those who really want that?â
This was never answered, and was wondering if Wyze is considering this option as an accessory for the Floodlight Pro.