Not a security camera

I am a new owner of 2 of the Wyzecam V2 cameras and after 2 days of testing have concluded the cameras are entirely unsuited as security cameras. At best they serve as novelties, nothing more. It took me a while to understand why I was missing so many ‘events’ until I realized the camera stops alerting on motion for 5 minutes following a motion detection. A lot can happen in 5 minutes. Let’s say a car passes by. Both cameras ‘catch’ the action and set an alert, then they go into ‘cool down’ mode for the next 5 minutes. There could be a mugging on my front porch and both cameras would have missed it. Today, with two cameras monitoring my front porch, I missed my exiting the house through the front door and taking the trash cans in from the street and then returning through the same door. I also missed my USPS mail delivery, a UPS delivery and a FedEx delivery. At a minimum there were 4 people on my front porch at different times and neither camera was able to catch any of them. There were packages left on my porch that another person might very well have stolen but these cameras would have missed that as well. Please don’t suggest I could stream continuously to an sd card. You can’t find something you didn’t know happened. These cameras are being returned, you might consider the same if you are hoping to use them for security.

@fred.grandt
As per your request, I won’t suggest streaming continuously to an SD card.

Instead, I will suggest recording motion to the SD card. In that configuration, it will capture every 1-minute long interval that contains any motion (not just a 15-sec clip). On average, it will record what happened 30 seconds before the motion event started.

There’s no “cool-down” - if motion continues to be detected, it will keep recording to the SD card, in one-minute chunks.

You don’t have to go looking on the SD card for something that happened, as each 1-minute long chunk will contain a motion event.

To be sure, the Wyze motion detection algorithm is somewhat rudimentary. You can certainly find security cams with advanced image processing such as line-crossing detection, intrusion detection, and even people detection, but they cost a lot more than Wyzecam.

3 Likes

Wyze Cams are not intended to be pro level security cameras.

That said, in addition to what @kyphos points out, if you haven’t already you can set a detection zone and adjust the sensitivity to help eliminate the false alarms.

Also, Wyze is considering a paid option that would eliminate the 5 min cool down. You can vote for that here:

2 Likes

I am not sure why anyone would think that these are security cameras? Wyze itself doesn’t market it as such.

They are $20 home monitoring devices, nothing more.

That said, what you wrote about the cool down period & the detection issues is also present in lots of other “security” cams.

If you want an actual security cam, then that has to be monitored 24/7 by someone, and that is going to cost big $$$, and you will receive a certificate to present to your insurance agent to get a discount, and anything else is just pretending to be a security cam.

Are you talking about “Local recording to micro SD card”? Because I have that set but still only get 12 second videos. If not, then what?

@phakemail

Local recording to the microSD card is not limited to 12 seconds or subject to the 5 minute cool down. You can record either continuously or events only. In the latter mode, it saves every 1 minute segment that contains any motion with no limitations other than when the card becomes full.

Make sure you’re looking in the right place for the SD card video. This is played back by tapping the View Playback button in the live stream (not on the events tab).

1 Like

If you are going to include these cameras in the definition of “home monitoring devices” then the term “home monitoring devices” is too vague to represent anything meaningful at all. If used as designed they cannot do an effective job of home monitoring any more than my cat can, even if the cat stays awake. At best, these cameras are a novelty.
With respect to what Wzye marketing says, I quote “Clearly see the moments that matter” and “Receive notifications on your smartphone any time motion is detected.” Both are untrue with respect to the implementation as designed. I define the “moments that matter” as anything or anyone that enters the field of vision of my monitoring device. Not just the first person but the second and third. But even a more deceiving is the statement “Receive notifications on your smartphone any time motion is detected” without bothering to tell you the camera stops monitoring for motion for 5 minutes and 45 seconds out of every 6 minute interval. Clearly tell customers the camera only monitors 12 seconds out of every 6 minutes and see how many you sell. That works out to be 2 minutes out of every hour, or 58 minutes unmonitored.

2 Likes

It would indeed be better if they did list all the limitations up front, it would clear up some confusion.

1 Like

Do some research on a product before you buy it :thinking:

Ah but a smart and industrious consumer CAN use these as security cameras. Monitored 24/7 by ME and my cell phone via notifications.

I’ve known of EVERY car that’s pulled into my driveway. EVERY delivery to EVERY door. EVERY bird that’s perched on my porch. EVERY dog that’s walked by. EVERY passing cloud’s shadow. And with audio and crisp HD video. So hell yes… these are awesome security cameras.

Mine are all mounted up high, or inconspicuously. They all record to SD cards, with the only limit being I wish they had an API to allow my NAS to collect the recordings for centralized viewing and backup to OneDrive.

4 Likes