Is Wyze Sense really useable or just a toy?

First of all, I love Wyze products. I have been using Sense since the middle of Dec 2019 but has never been able to stay online for more than a few days at a time after rebooting the camera to get the sensors to get online again. Sometimes after rebooting the Wyze camera that hosts the Bridge serving 4 contact sensors and one motion sensors. A day or two later, all sensors were showing offline again. So, I have to keep doing rebooting which can be done remotely but sometimes remotely rebooting the camera would not help and required physical pulling out plug and plug in again in order for the sensors to come online again. If I was not a home and remote reboot didnā€™t work, I was out of luck with those sensors. I do have everything up to the latest on the firmware but still not helping.
Just wonder if anyone really has any luck using these sensors for over a week. Or is the Wyze sense still just a toy that can not be used practically?

I have all my cameras set to restart via the rules engine at least once a day, some cameras, those with Bridges for example, I reboot twice a day. That has stopped all the sensors from going offline pretty much.

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WYZE Sense has worked well enough for me that I have begun to rely on it for things instead of just being something I mess around with.

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Same, it turns lights on when I walk into rooms. I use it as a more reliable motion sensor for my cameras mounted outside. And the contact sensors warn me if I have a door open too long.

I still have my Cat sensors that light a Hue bulb bright yellow and turn a fan on when the cats get up on the counter. It traps myself and the wife on occasion when we forget to turn it off! :rofl::rofl::rofl:

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You sir, are a lucky one.

It has worked well for me as well.
I use one door sensor on our dog food lid. It lets my girlfriend and I know if the dog has had breakfast or dinner. Iā€™m sure he doesnā€™t like being fed extra, but I like it.
Besides that, I have a motion sensor set at the end of a long hallway to turn on the light too.
Another door sensor is on my door to the basement. Turns on the light when it is opened and then delays to turn it off so it will give someone time to get to the bottom of the stairs.

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Cameras are eye candy. Nothing more. Sensors, plugs, bulbs and locks seem to be a step in the right direction. Scale and wrist thing also headed into some semblance of usefulness.

Speaking only about my own experiences, the bridge has been a weak link (motion sensors have been the most dependable). Once you find a sweet spot for the antennas to communicate, connection goes offline. I will try @rbruceporter scheme of rebooting, but that is a bandaid to workaround unreliable operation.

I would not rely on them for anything important. So, my answer leans towards"toy"

Ones mans tools are anotherā€™s toys and vice versa. Itā€™s all in your perception and expectations. :wink::wink:

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Iā€™m not understanding your statement about the bridge and the motion sensors. If the bridge isnā€™t working how can the motion sensor function?
That question aside, I guess every situation is different. My contacts have been the the most dependable, motion sensors are either spot on or spotty. Varies between the individual sensors.

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I have been using a Sense Contact and a Sense Motion for 6 months now without 1 single issue. My sensors are no more than 50ā€™ from the bridge/cameraV2.

I can appreciate that it seems to contradict, saying that the motion sensors are reliable and bridge not. Itā€™s like saying that my wife is a good communicator, but I donā€™t listen :slight_smile:

I tried 2 different bridges on at least 4 cameras (Pan, then V2), now in my second house. So, I donā€™t exactly make my comments flippantly.

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And not taken that way! I really didnā€™t see what you are referring to but your explanation makes sense (no pun intendedšŸ¤). In thinking about it I realized that I have two active bridges, yet I get better results with one over the other. Both with contacts and sensors, regardless of the distance apart
There are a lot of factors that could be the cause of this obviously but I have wound up putting most of my devices on one over the other.

I have a few sensors and only found a use for one. I have it on my fridge for every time that is opened and closed. Being that we have 7 kids in the house it serves itā€™s purpose for that very very well. Now trying to integrate it with Google or Alexa Iā€™m yeah. Itā€™s spotty for that. I want it to either announce or alarm if the fridge is open after a certain time at night when everyone is supposed to be sleep. It hasnā€™t worked for weeks, then all of a sudden last night it started working for no reason at all. Reset our Alexa and Wyzw devices again and now nothing. So not sure when why or how.

The cost was so low on getting them I just wrote it off as an oh well. The wyze app notification cool, but the notification and routines through something else seems to be a total miss for us so far.

Was hoping it would work because then we could Integrate it into putting them on the windows of the house and let us know if another door or window is opened and alarrt or alarm someone. Right now canā€™t trust or rely on it

Thanks all for sharing your experiences on this product. Based on all the responses, at least I see that this Sense component is not reliable enough for practical use. I know some people would set the rules to reboot the camera so that the bridge gets reboot as well. But how would a useful product work if a reboot needs to be done so frequently like every day or every other day. Just think about your phone per sec, would you reboot your phone may in the middle of a call in order for it to continue working? To me, either my bridge (yes Iā€™m blaming on the bridge itself instead of the contacts and motion sensor since they depends on the bridge to work), is a defective bridge or the Sense product is not ready for prime time. With this survey, I should contact Wyze for a replacement bridge to try. Thanks again!

Not sure if it helps or not but my bridge never disconnects from any of my wyze sensors. I use the door one to know if my daughter fully shut the sliding door when letting in or out the dogs, and the motion sensor one for my office which doesnt have a light switch in it but has a lamp with a wemo plug outlet so I use ifttt to have the motion sensor tell that light to turn on when I go into my office.

So yes I would see if you can get a replacement if yours keeps needing to be reset.

I tried the daily camera restart, but alas, the bridge stopped working last night. The cam restarts around midnight, so it did not resolve. The sensors still blink red, but no record of it on the app.
Sad, really. No lights came on when I went to pick out a wine (antioxidants are important during Corona lockdown). Now, I ended up with Malbec instead of Merlot.

I like this idea! How do I set it up to where my cameras restart automatically once a day?

You would need to create a new Schedule Rule per camera. Select a convenient time and Restart the camera as the action.

I tend to pick early morning like 6 AM or late night like 11 PM.

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Awesome thank you! :slight_smile:

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