I’ve read dozens of posts on this community forum trying to figure out what Wyze camera is best for my use. I’m impressed and grateful to all of the authors, but I am confused. Perhaps if I explain my needs, I can get some clear and simple advice.
We have a remote cabin. No Wi Fi signal except via our ATT cell phone hot spot, which has about 1/2 strength cell signal. Our closest neighbor was burglarized and we want to install a system that will 1) capture and record the culprits’ faces, 2) notify us when a break-in occurs, and 3) provide us with remote real-time viewing.
As an added bonus, it would be a pleasure to be able to tell the robbers to “get the !@#% out of my house” via two-way voice communication.
I’ve read we need to be aware of our hot spot gigabyte usage (we have 30gb limit monthly). But unless / until the cameras are activated by motion or “called up” on the Wyze app, they are not using hot spot gigabytes, are they?
We’d like to have one camera concealed outside on the porch and one camera concealed inside. Wyze outdoor cam is not an option because we don’t have a router, correct? Can Wyze v3 operate without being connected to a router? Does v3 require a base station? Am I missing any other limitations/requirements? Your advice is appreciated. Thank you.
Basically true. There is a small amount of checking-in with Wyze servers. But if you have event recording to the “cloud” turned on, each event (leaf motion, animals, weather) will take bandwidth to upload. This can add up.
Not correct. The hotspot is already acting as your router. However the Wyze Cam Outdoor requires a battery charge and is not optimal if you can run USB power to the location.
No, not really. Again, your hotspot acts as your router.
No.
If you really want to capture faces in detail you should consider a higher resolution camera or one with zoom.
In my opinion there isn’t much choice. The V3 is one of the two that is available and much superior to the WCO.
Thanks for your answers. I have one more question. Since concealment is important, do these cameras emit any light, such as “on” indicators or camera flash when video taping?
On the V3 camera there are two IR light modes “near” and “far”. The difference is the wavelength of the IR light. One is not visible to humans, and the other is a little.
Don’t forget the camera has a cool down period. Either get a reliable µSD card or subscribe to Cam Plus service. If not, you might not be able to record the burglar.
Yes, you can select the IR lights to be off, Near, or Far. I can’t remember which one is invisible to humans, but it’s easy to test. Set it for one and in the dark look at the camera. Then set for the other and look again.
There’s always going to be some minimum amount of traffic going. But that will be small compared to a live stream or video clip being uploaded. Now, that being said, you’ll get a LOT of motion detection and video uploads. You’ve got to remember how these detect motion. They detect motion based on pixel changes. So, you’ll get a lot of videos of leaves blowing in the wind… of shadows moving on a sunny day… bugs flying by at night. And worst of all… let a spider build a web across the front. Until you clean that web off, you’ll get a video every 5 minutes ALL NIGHT LONG. Lol
This is referring to the default behavior of the camera our of the box. You have some free cloud storage that is included with the purchase of the camera. When the camera detects motion, it uploads a 12 second video clip of the motion to the cloud, then sends an alert to your phone, where you can view that video. To keep costs down for the cloud storage, first, these clips are limited to 12 seconds, and it will only upload one video every 5 minutes, even if the motion is continuous. That’s where the subscription service comes in to play. With the subscription service, it does away with the 12 second limit as well as the “cool down” period. So, if something moves in front of the camera, then 30 seconds later, it comes back by the camera, you’ll get video clips of both. (Without the subscription, you’d get the first movement, but not the 2nd 30 seconds later.)
The other option you have, is to add a micro SD card into the camera. This gives you a few more options. You can set it up to record 24x7 video to the card. (How far you can go back and review depends on size of card.) Or you can set it to record all motion to the card. It will record as long as their is motion. This doesn’t affect the 12s video upload, but you can go back and review the longer videos from the SD card.
