Finally saying goodbye to Wyze

I have used Wyze cams since close to teh beginning. I still have one V1 that was working a long time but then stopped. I hope to revive it eventually.

V2 Wyzecams (I have several) have been a mixed bag. My most reliable cam stopped working after a recent firmware upgrade. I need to make time to learn how to load older firmware.

SD Card behaviour with Wyze cams is an ongoing issue. I use the (excellent!) SDCARD free app on Win 10. It can revive a failed card,
But not always.

What strikes me is how unstable the firmware and app have been. It seems that in recent months there are more frequent issues. I hope they are able to dramatically improve software quality processes.

I used to reccomend Wyze to friends and family. I’ no longer do that because my experience has been so uneven. I’d like to try the lock, but just don’t want to go through their “Work in progress” ongoing situation.

I could use several more cams. I am pausing, hoping for a replacement cam that has more memory and CPU resources. It can cost more than $26. I’d rather pay more and avoid drama.

My Pan still works, There’s that.

Wyze has super smart employees, and has been an amazing success so far. They are on the cusp of an even bigger win, but MUST solve quality and reliability issues. For now I am looking at alternatives. I bought one Blink Mini (similar price) to test, will try Eufy also.

In closing and as context, I also operate three Nest cams (yes they cost a lot more). They have been totally solid for several years. I am NOT hating on Wyze. I am just frustrated by an ongoing series of hassles.

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You are correct, many people experience wifi issues that affect their Wyze cams…

Not me. Mine is solid as a rock but I have had multiple V2 cams with SD card issues. Replacing with a freshly formatted card (using SDCARD utility on W10) may fix, but sometimes cam is borked.

Ouch.

Was your friend wearing pants during V2 setup? I’ve had some weird problems with mine when not. :wink:

Wyze seems to have an SD card issue. I have had new high quality SD cards fail way too quickly. I hope it gets fixed when they release a new model.

Different Nest experience here: One Nest Hello, works flawlessly, great video quality and really good audio. Two Net cams, both very reliable. Nest cloud serviec is not expensive and has very few outages.

I was troubleshooting for last 3days why my browser slow. (internet speed) etc.

Turns out not wifi but it was Google Chrome using " Deep Link". They call it an upgrade. It basically running in background sucking all your cpu resources for their own purposess.
I have to completely uninstall Chrome and Google Search app. Also disable them.
Immediately everything came alive in speeds.

I have Chrome installed but never use them. But their process kept running in the background starting by themself. See if this fix your wifi issue . I have a very basic Android unit cannot handle too many processes.

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Yea and most times door sensor… Alarm does not sound u at all… I Wil not but again

Buy again… Hell 29 mins later the door sensor let’s you now that a door or window was open???

Feel your pain. My camera with the sense bridge, sits about 5 ft (line-of-sight) from my router and I have super high speed internet. My door sensor is less than 10ft from the camera (again, line-of-sight) and sometimes alerts me almost immediately when the door is open and sometimes, as you say, 29 mins later. NO FREAKING RELIABILITY!!!

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The TP-Link Kasa range is designed and developed by TP-Link Research America (USA), not TP-Link Technologies (CN). I’ve been using the Kasa equipment for a while and it has been exceedingly reliable receiving the necessary updates. I’ve kept an eye on the network traffic and worked through a security audit, with no issues. Only issue was the weak encryption initially used for local network communication.

You’ll notice TP-Link actually has two ranges of cameras: Kasa and Tapo. Kasa is the US developed range and Tapo is developed in CN by the same team doing the routers.

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Yes I just quit buying now… Instead on worrying about what they came out to be… A reliable camera system… That was ok at first… Now lots of times when basement door or a window is open… You don’t even get a notification… Hell… That’s what I got all sensors and 3 motion detectors… It’s sad… If you get a notice half hour later.

Interesting! Thanks for the clarification.

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Thanks. Interesting data point!

I haven’t made a big stink about it but even for “just” $25, I have been let down by a couple of the same issue I see a lot of people are complaining about here.

First off and the one rhst doesn’t make sense to me is its trouble working with google assistant… It worked for the first two weeks I’ve had the cameras, then just all of the sudden it stopped. No matter what I try it won’t link the accounts, so all the fancy screens I have in my house where I expected to be able to ask to see what/who is on the other side of the door before opening it doesn’t happen. It just doesn’t make sense this being something they advertise rhst you get in that low low price… Luckily they didn’t talk about releasing the door bell camera until after I already bought a Google/Nest Hello. But at least I was able to compare a super cheap budget camera against a top price and main name in the market against each other.

This leads me to my second complaint, even if I know the exact time I want to go back and look at (stored on a SD card), the scrubbing feature is near useless… I don’t get it, it can take 30 to 60 seconds to start playing back if at all (I have selected a time based off of a warning I got from another camera and it started playing but wasn’t even the right video as it was totally a different time of day)

I’ve seen minor glitchy stuff happen here or there like a camera needing to be reset(by manually power cycling it) to having to select rhe camera two or three times from the app before it will connect, not to mention the issue with the Pan Cam constantly going from extreme to extreme with over corrections when trying to track anything with motion. Honestly, all of that I’m OK with since it cost litterally 1/10 the price of a Nest cam. I just bough two of these cameras (one of each model) to try them out for a year and see if they could deviver on what they a said it could do for the price and the bottom line is that for me, it’s just not enough. Hell if just the Google integration and the scrubbing worked better I would be all on board, but unfortunately cost really isn’t everything. Also before I get told like other have been rhst its probably their networking equipment, I can assure you it’s not, they are connected to an Asus AX3000 router, with all the most heavy usage devices being plugging in to a gigabit wired connection accessing a 600mbps internet connection. Not to mention the 2.4ghz channel is near empty as most wifi devices are using the 5ghz channel. Also the farthest camera is 15’ feet away from the access point, no other device on the network has any issues.

Going in I was planning on needing 8 cameras total. While I’m not excited about the total cost, I’m just going to bite the bullet and buy 7 more Nest Cams and be happy with a good and reliable working system. #BuyOnceCryOnce

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What rtsp url do you use? I don’t see any open ports when I nmap my wyzecams. Do you have to ‘activate’ it somehow?

I’ve heard of ‘the rtsp firmware’ but my understanding is that completely replaces the wyze app functionality of the cams.

Apparently the Wyze app will generate the URL for you

I know how to install wyze firmware from microsd card. But that’s a non-starter for me. I have wyze cams in 5 states, over a dozen in physically restricted areas that only have human access a couple times a year, and four that are in locations that are risky enough to physically access I’m not going to do it or send someone else unless they stop working and power cycling doesn’t fix it. And that’s not even considering the health risk posed by covid-19 affecting all cams that aren’t physically in the same building as myself right now.

This needs to be a setting that can be activated remotely.

Yeah the app will generate a URL but at this stage I think the only way is to flash the beta firmware to the microSD card

It’s nothing to do with lazy. They can’t be 100% reliable because of the fact the internet isn’t. Any lag time negates the use as a true security camera. They’ve been up front with that. They are not classified as security cameras. They can be used in that arena if you’re understanding the lag time can be an issue at times.

Hi Daniel,

Speaking with experience of SA from my days in its army and PNW (Pacific North West); and spending time in both locations, my comments. I think what the reality is that the main reasons for your dissatisfaction are not related to Wyze cameras at all but related to cameras in general. Hence, be careful of rejecting them for your needs; you will only suffer the same disappointment you expressed with Wyze. If, after reading my comments you still want to pursue “better” camaras then, my experience is that the best of the next level up are cameras from a Company called “Reolink”, a Taiwanese company. When I checked this year they had just started to be available in SA. They are of course larger and operate with more power consumption (run at 48V compared to 12V), and cost more.

  1. The main reason. Your idea of what constitutes “security” has changed by the use of the camera (but would have happened with any camera), particularly the place in the levels of security required to satisfy your anxiety regarding your person and your assets. Speaking to the SA homeowner definition (as observed prior to lockdown). Dogs that react to threat with sound and fury; but training and maintenance is an issue. Electric fence is the main passive deterrent (a visible barrier) , Blue beams and alarms follow (since they have the threat of armed response; even if you are lying). Cameras are only to record actions for later analysis of how EF and BB could be improved. Some thought cameras were imminent danger warning devices or perp identification (as you seem to). But this is not so. Imminent danger has to be tied to a response to be a valid security means (which is why industrial facilities employ armed guards to watch monitors); so for a small business would be ineffective security. Camera records for individual identification are too easy to defeat - one perp looks like another and use of a “hoody” too ubiquitous (now officially accepted facemasks are replacing the “hoody”). So Wyze as a security camera works fine - records events for later analysis of “holes” in the other security layers. I use my Wyze cameras for this record purpose, but mainly only use them as a "peephole’ in the front door (the “don’t open your home to strangers”).
  2. You have an unrealistic view of the technical status of engineering with regard to camera communication and miniaturization - it is not nearly at the level you see in the movies (remember they have huge budgets and are “Fiction” or more accurately “science fiction”). Wyze is as good as the software and hardware technology on which it is based. All camera manufacturers suffer the same fate. Wifi is wifi (high latency, short range with low power, middling range with high power). Bluetooth is worse. To make low cost portable cameras Wyze had reduce the power of the device since >50% of the hardware cost is due to the power supply. Lower power means slower CPU and shorter wifi range. Surveillance cameras are one technical areas where the IBM Law has been broken (“choose your software before you choose your hardware is the road to computer success”). The software available to Wyze (and all camera manufacturers) lags behind the hardware capability. Wyze understood that and decided to downsize the hardware until it came close to the current and near future (edge person detection which they originally shared) software ability. There has been better software developed in the 21st century (the subject of the movies you watch) but it has been developed by Government R&D and has not, except in drips and drabs (edge photon basics for facial recognition developed in the 1970’s) been released into the public domain - they have not shared or licensed the IP, even though, in theory, it is owned by the citizens that they Govern. So all other “commercially available” systems (including Wyze) are in the same boat. The statements of functionality that you state you desire for camera system are not available by Government dictate. Remember that for an app (including Wyze’s, the UI may be new but the foundation bricks that give it functionality are not. They are copied (or reverse engineered) from code that others developed. So- don’t be hard on Wyze.