Hello,
I was recommended to Wyze from a friend today after my car was hit overnight and I had a few questions for any V4 users if you can answer.
Background for reference: I live in a apartment and will hopefully be placing the V4 outside my window on the 2nd story. I have a good view at my parking lot from my apartment, but the distance to the far side of my lot is about 100 feet (my landlord “has” cameras that do not work, and refuses to fix). Im looking at the V4 due to the night vision and license plate detection, especially since someone hit my car last night in a hit and run. I was also interested in the siren and audio to scare of potential theft or vandalism. Ive been watching some of the V4 clips that others have shared, although Im having a hard time judging distance due to being too close to objects (bird feeders or other lol) or it not showing how it looks at night. I was also wondering how everyone likes their Wyze systems as Im super new to the security system experience (I was put off online subscriptions for security after the Ring hijacking).
I also cleared getting my own personal security with my land lord. Its cool, the management just doesn’t want to pay for it.
If you could please try and answer my questions, or provide video/photos (that youre comfy sharing) it would be greatly appreciated!!
What is the distance that you can clearly record? Day and night? With or without spotlight?
How loud and clear is the Audio/Voice and siren?
How well does the zoom or license plate detection work? Day or night?
Do the Notifications seem to work well?
How well does the SD card 24/7 recording work?
Any tips or advice for my situation? And for the future when I dont live in an apartment?
Forget license plate detection on a moving vehicle with any WYZE cam day or night.
The V4 has only digital zoom not optical zoom.
Day time clear recording with detection/notification on my V4 works good at over 50 feet for vehicles forget 100 feet. (Exception to that may be at night if a vehicle has it’s headlights on, the cam will usually get the light change event before the vehicle is in view).
Never used the voice, the siren is quite loud.
I have Cam Plus Unlimited on my V4 along with all the other cameras and it also records 24/7 to a 256GB Samsung Pro Endurance SD card wich last about 23 days before writing over the oldest files.
Without a subscription (Cam Plus or CP unlimited) there will be a five minute cooldown period between events and you will not get any notification.
I agree with the recommendation to try the OG-Tele.
Here is a comparison I just shot with a V3 and a OG-Tele. The two cameras are essentially side by side looking in the same direction, The V3 and V4 have a fairly similar Field of View
As you can see, the V3 (and also a V4) would not give any substantial detail at 100 feet. The OG-Tele will. None of the Wyze cameras have a strong enough IR illumination to be useful at 100 feet. However, the color vision at night is fairly good. Essentially the same photos, however at night.
It’s obvious in the OG-Tele photo that there is a street light on the curb about 10 feet to the left of the address. So the address on the curb is not well lit and not overly easy to read. However you can clearly tell that my neighbor’s house is yellow and you can see a fair amount of detail of the front of her house. And yes, the two night images were taken at different times. I did not pay attention to when I scrolled back to and the V3 image was captured after it rained a bit so the road is wet. The bright white washed out area in the V3 night image is due to the column lights and primarily the white light pointing at the flagpole - just also happens to point at these cameras.
As for sound. At 100 feet, the audio monitoring and also talkback would be totally useless. You would hear a car crash, and that’s about it. The siren would be noticed by someone 100 feet away, but not loud.
I have uSD cards in all of my Wyze cameras that are set to continuous recording, and I have CamPlus on all cameras.
For future you should just get a premium dash cam, front rear view/ have it hardwired always powered. A cam with a good motion/impact or Buffered parking mode.
So the farthest point of my apartments parking lot is 100 feet, but there is only one driveway going in and out of our lot. Given that anyone coming in or out by car will be under 50 feet from the window I was thinking of using.
Ill have to check out the OG Tele too.
Ive thought about the dash cam for my cars, but given that I havent found a dash cam that uploads to the cloud for what I want… I figure a better bet would be something mounted at my apartment that does 24/7 recording and notifications.
The OG will not upload any of the event videos to the cloud either unless you pay for a subscription,(Cam Plus) something you said you wanted to avoid. Without CP you will get a thumbnail photo off the event, which you will then need tap on to playback the video from the SD. Also once you get a notification you will not get another for 5 minutes without CP.
I don’t have an OG of any flavor, Just the V3 cams, V3 Pro, V4 and some ancient Battery powered WCO version one cams.
Do you have WiFi coverage where your car is parked? If so, any of the Wyze cameras can be used as a DashCam. I have been using Wyze cameras for years. Currently I have a V4 pointing forward and a V3 pointed at the driver. The cameras are mounted to the windshield behind the rear view mirror. The cameras are powered 24 x 7 using a cigarette lighter to quad USB-A adapter.
Nope. Someone would really have to be picky to complain about it. From the driver’s seat the cameras are hardly visible - in other words, they are not blocking my view at all. There is also a control head for a two way radio up there.
The only time anyone has mentioned them was when entering a military base, I was told that I had to turn off the camera.
