Is Anyone Actually Satisfied With Their Wyze Camera?

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When security cameras first started to become popular it was not at all unusual for some nefarious people to use class 3R lasers to knock security cameras out. These lasers are easy to obtain. Even cameras with smoke colored glass had pixel loss, etc.

While these lasers were rated as 3R they often had power above the 5 mW level. And the beam can travel 52ft+. I’m sure these older cameras are impervious to lasers. So various types of security has it’s limitations.

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@R_T @horn or anyone else inclined to respond:

Is this a canard?

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Another fan of the WCO, his name is Bernardus…

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WCO ‘man’, eh? Rootin’ for the underdog. :slight_smile:

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I think you bribed that racoon with some good snacks for the endorsement :cut_of_meat:

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I get why the WCO is not everyone’s favorite (it’s my least preferred cam too), but to be fair, WCO’s are AWESOME for particular use-cases:

  • Low traffic areas where we don’t need to record 24/7 and don’t need recording triggers far away.
  • Temporary timelapse projects. They’re so easy to move around and position perfectly. I have used them for lots of timelapse projects! They are really awesome for this
  • PIR triggered recording. For those who don’t want to pay for Cam Plus, but don’t like having basically anything trigger it, this PIR option is really helpful to reduce false detections or notifications, and it can be further improved with regular pixel detection zones even further, making this an awesome option for some use cases.
  • Traveling - using it in travel mode, such as in Hotel rooms to ensure hotel staff don’t steal your stuff, or watching your campsite, or to take on hikes and any number of pretty awesome things I’ve done with it.
  • I too have used my WCO to record Racoons or other animals eating up close next to it, they’re pretty cool for that, or for just occasional checking in on something.
  • Anywhere where electricity is very inconvenient to access.

In almost all other situations a V3 is better most of the time.

Things that would really make it better: Starlight lens (Wyze said in an AMA this summer that they will be adding this to a future version eventually as seen here:

I would also love for a future version to be able to have the option to be plugged in and record 24/7 if it is plugged in.

But even without those updates it’s a great cam for specific uses. But most of us are looking for most of our cams to work like standard security cams, and the other cams are much better for those purposes.
In that sense the WCO is the least useful cam because most of us want to be able to record all the time. Honestly, if Wyze made a WCO that allowed being plugged in and recording 24/7 and where the PIR was optional or not, it would be one of the best cams on the market in my opinion, especially with a starlight lens. I’d probably replace most all my cams with it. Make it a panning cam too and that would be an awesome market disrupter IMO. But as it is, I still love having a few of them for special projects, and now that the solar panel is available, it’s even a lot more useful than it used to be for permanent solutions in electricity limited areas!

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Nice write-up, carver’ :slight_smile:

Your informed enthusiasm is infectious, it rings sincere. And you acknowledge the product’s flaws and make suggestions for improvement.

You seem to be an honest man.

BTW, may I ask to what your handle refers?

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Thank you @peepeep You are right that my enthusiasm for Wyze is sincere, and also that I still believe there are a lot of ways that it can and should improve (and I would like to help influence said improvements in a good direction). I am very supportive of honest valid criticisms (at least when given in a respectful and reasonable way). Such criticisms are very, very helpful for businesses’ progress and improvement, including Wyze. I think there are productive ways to go about sharing our disappointments and criticisms to be the most effective.

My username is symbolic to me of many things and a continuous reminder to me. I'll collapse the details in this disclosure tag since it's not really on-topic (but can still be read by those who really wish to know)
  • My username reminds me of something I learned from Viktor Frankl. He taught me that I ALWAYS have a choice. Between any stimulus and response, there is ALWAYS choice. This reminds me of that. In the past, I have used negative self-talk with thoughts like “I had no choice”, or “I have to”, or “I can’t”. These thoughts and phrases are not really accurate (at least not without qualifiers) and have hurt me in the past to be used as excuses to myself instead of taking responsibility. It doesn’t matter what someone else does; it doesn’t matter what happens to me; it doesn’t matter what the situation is…I always have a choice in what I will do, or how I will respond, even if that choice isn’t the most ideal nor absolutely preferred (again, when understood in the context of Frankl’s life and book if you’ve ever read it, this makes a lot more sense as this is one of his major points), it is still a choice among others and what I decided. This perspective changed my life to one of immense empowerment instead of victimstancing (as I’d previously struggled with many years ago).
  • “carver” has multiple meanings. Besides being my actual last name, It is one who carves. Carve can mean to form, to decorate, design, make, create for oneself. So a carver can be one who creates, forms, designs, and makes things. In this case, a reminder that I “carve” my own choices. I design, make and form my choices. while the final decision and act is the end of such a choice, part of it starts long before then…with the situations I put myself in, the habits I adopt, those people I associate with, my mindset, etc. Many things influence my choices, and thus I am ALWAYS designing, or “carving” my choices, both current and future choices.
  • In the past I have also struggled with insecurities such as inadequacy, depression, lack of self-esteem, self-worth, etc. “choice” can refer to something that is valued or of very good quality (often used related to good quality food, but is used for anything of good quality or value). It can remind me that I have worth and am valued. Also, that I can DO something about it. This has not been an issue for me for a long time, but it is a good reminder.
  • Combining multiple versions of the definitions and symbolic nature of the words (such as those I described above) have different meanings and are symbolic or act as a reminder to me or things that are helpful to me. I design/make my choices, I take ownership of my thoughts/choices, there is no “have to” nor “no-choice”, I remind myself of my self-worth to never go back to the dark days of my depression more than a decade ago., etc. Basically just a lot of symbolic wordplay on the word “carver” and “choice” in different variations as reminders and uplifting meaning to myself.

Anyway, I took your poll and marked WCO as “the worst cam” even though I don’t really think of it negatively as “worst” implies, but I think polls can be helpful indicators. I am glad Wyze said they are working toward making improvements to this WCO. I will probably buy another one when they come out with the Starlight sensor. better processor, louder speaker, etc as Dave said. It’s nice they are listening to reasonable criticisms and suggestions to make these improvements. This is why it’s important for people to give honest feedback as you mentioned so we can keep getting good improvements. I look forward to even more improvements in future models too … at good prices of course :slight_smile:

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I wish they would make a Hi end cam with 5 pixels and a true 10× zoom where atv1 to 10 the picture is clear…just like my Sony cams

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Oh yeah! I am dying for them to do a cam with 2K or 4K resolution. I think the main issue is the cloud storage model. Too many consumers don’t have good enough internet to stream many cams at resolution higher than 1K, and then Wyze would have huge cloud storage costs for it all. A solution might be to try to find a way to stream to the cloud in a lower resolution while still locally recording in a higher resolution, or allowing local only with higher resolution. I imagine it’s a tough thing for them to figure out from a business standpoint, but I too would still love to have some cams with better resolution.

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I am one of those customers being in the Eldorado National Forest my bandwidth is 5 down / 5 up, and I have 24 cameras on CamPlus.

Occasionally a camera doesn’t make the upload due to other ones using the bandwidth I have available.
I have tested this theory and found it is the most likely reason…

I am on the Starlink waiting list and once that happens then I will have REAL Bandwidth, but my estimated installation is late 2022 to early 2023 according to my reservation slot.

My current Internet is Cellular Router based with one cell router dedicated to just Wyze Cams and VOIP.

My second Cell router is for home use like smartphones, Video Streaming, laptops, etc…

My Third Cell Router is for business purposes only on a private cellular APN

Then I also have SLOW DSL as backup which is actually slower than all 3 cellular paths, plus a landline.

I work with many telecommunications companies so I really only pay for 2 services (DSL & landline)
The other carriers I work with are kind enough to provide their comms for my business relationship I have with them.

Being 7 miles in the forest from nearest cell towers does have it’s limitations, Can’t wait for Starlink :exclamation:

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I here that

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I have 3 V3 cameras outdoors all with cam+ and now all of a sudden 2 of them are going offline intermittently. Nothing works except removing power and waiting and then giving power again. Otherwise I’m really happy.

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Very cool disclosure tag payload, thanks buddy! :slight_smile:

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Likely a WiFi signal issue, try closer to WiFi/Router

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This seems to have started a flurry of posts, but is totally normal operation. The app NEVER downloads to the camera’s SD card. Only the camera can do that. All other manual captures go to the device (i.e. tablet).

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The App does not download to the Device’s SD card. It downloads to the Device’s internal memory. I want it to download to the Device’s SD card.

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I am by no means an Android expert (I use iOS), but I believe what you seek is a device-specific change, and is not under control of the Wyze app.

If this process doesn’t help, try Googling how to use micro SD card as internal storage on android for your specific device:

  1. Clear your SD card of anything you want to save, and put it back in your Android device
  2. Open Android settings on your device
  3. Tap ‘Storage’
  4. You should see ‘Internal Storage’ entry and a ‘SD Card Storage’ entry. Do not select either.
  5. Below the SD Card Storage entry will hopefully be “Format as Internal Storage” or similar wording. Select that.
  6. It should ask if you want to format your SD card as internal storage.

That should add the SD card’s capacity to your internal storage capacity.

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They are on different sides of the house. The one on front door never goes out. Both the ones going out have a steady 2 out of 3 bars for reception. I would have to rewire to move modem. Guess if it keeps happening I will have to try a signal booster.

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Or upgrade to a Mesh WiFi as I had to do, never had issues since.

I have master mesh at router and 3 satellite mesh wireless access points placed strategically to cover all cameras on 4.5 Acres of my property.

Wyze needs to bring back actual signal strength in dBm besides just the 1-3 Bars (used to have that :exclamation:)

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Click Image to enlarge, then zoom as needed by clicking again or by fingers on smartphone…

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To keep certain Mods happy I am Mostly Satisfied with currently ONLY V2, V3, and Pan-Cams… :smiley:

Note my oldest Wyze Cam was activated in August of 2018 so I have been using Wyze for awhile…

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