I am considering buying several Wyze V3 cameras, but found a comment somewhere, that now recordings are deleted after 3 days if you don’t have subscription, no matter SD card size. Is that true?
What I would use is just 24/7 continuous recording without motion detection (as it is for the boat perimeter) and check the content if something happens - but 3 days is not enough for me.
I get about 3.5 days of Continuous Recording video with my 32GB cards. You should be able to store more days of video with larger cards even with no subscription.
Do you have WiFi coverage near your boat?
Also, consider mounting any cameras high enough to deter theft.
I’d be interested in the source of that information and what details or circumstances that’s supposed to describe. My experience with a microSD card of sufficient size is that I can get at least a couple of weeks’ worth of continuous recording, depending on the camera. Subscription status (even lack of a subscription) should have nothing to do with your microSD recordings.
This part of your post puzzles me a little:
If you’re going to do continuous recording, then I’m not sure why you wouldn’t just enable motion detection to potentially make events easier to find in your timeline. (Maybe it wouldn’t make things easier if the area is regularly busy.) I think @StevenA’s question about Wi-Fi availability at your intended location is a good one, too.
Welcome to the Forum, @nvalias4! 
Wouldn’t the OP get still picture alerts with no subscription?
If so that would be the minimum way to go to monitor a boat with no subscription.
I think so, but don’t hold me to that. That’s my recollection—receiving notifications that usually (not always) have thumbnails when I’ve used cameras without a subscription—but I’m trying Cam Unlimited right now and don’t have an easy way to stand up and test a non-subscribed camera. This might be a good reference for @nvalias4:
There might also be something in the Help Center about notifications without a subscription, but I’m not sure without searching for it.
That is absolutely incorrect. µSD card recordings have no relationship to any subscription. The larger the µSD card, the longer recordings are kept. When the card is full, the oldest hour of recordings are deleted to make room for new recordings, StevenA’s comment about 3.5 days with a 32 GB µSD card sounds about right. I am mostly using 64 GB cards with a few 128 and 256 GB cards. I have gone back a couple weeks with the larger cards. Note that those times are based on continuous recording. m If you record only events, it will last much longer - but you might miss something important.
Thank you.
OK, I found it. It is in a comment section of that YT video:
1 year ago, commentator @newvillagefilms wrote:
“The data retention on Wyze V3 is only 3 days regardless of what size SD card you have (I’ve 128 GB). This means you can only go back to 3 days of 24/7 recorded footage. Any recorded footage beyond 3 days, it’s gone and overwritten. This used to be not the case but they changed it with firmware when they realized they’ve can’t make money if people aren’t subscribing.”
I was not quite sure if that is true, that’s why I asked.
I more or less decided to buy 5 cameras V3, mostly because of the low power consumption, outdoor capabilities and low weight, but such a limitation would change the game completely for me.
The cameras will be put on a RIB boat where I have place only for 50-60W solar panels total. I researched a bit and concluded that the only option with so little power available is to record on the SD cards and view the content later, only in case if something happens.
They will be used only when boat is on the mooring, so I suspect that it would trigger all kind of alarms all the time when boat is swinging on the sea. That’s why I didn’t consider the motion detection.
I will have 4g router on the boat, I found one with very low consumption of about 1W. But it will not be uploading anything mostly because of the power restrictions.
Cameras will be on the roll bar and 4 of them will be placed in a 3d printed housing, watching in 360° circle around the boat, and the 5th will be hidden on the console in the middle of the boat and guard the 4 cameras on the roll bar in case that someone tries to remove or destroy them. This last one will probably have some motion detection and notification, because it will be directed upwards, so I hope it will not be so sensitive to false alarms. At least, that’s my plan for now.
@nvalias4 - This is a lesson to not use YouTube Comments as a source of information. Maybe just go to the website and read for yourself. There is no such language that says anything remotely resembling that as their business model.
Not to mention, NOWHERE ELSE on the internet can you find that.
[MOD Edit]
Thanks for finding the source! It’s good to ask! 
I don’t believe that comment is accurate, though. That hasn’t been my experience with various Wyze Cam models, but I don’t have a Cam v3 and can’t specifically speak to that particular device. I don’t know how or why recordings on that camera would be limited to 3 days, though, unless someone was just using 32 GB cards or something. I use 256 GB cards (specifically SanDisk High Endurance) in almost all of my cameras that allow for it.
For whatever it’s worth, I often see Cam v4 priced lower than Cam v3, and it has the same power consumption and officially supports microSD card sizes up to 512 GB, though users have reported success with cards of that size in other Wyze Cams.
My concern at this point, though, is power and Wi-Fi availability with your use case. I don’t know if your plan involves having the solar panels charge a battery and then use the battery to provide continuous power to the cameras. Also, without constant reliable Wi-Fi, you’re apt to see the Cam v3s reboot every 30 minutes they don’t have an Internet connection and then store recordings in an area of the microSD card that you don’t expect, because the camera is unable to set its clock with NTP without that connection. This phenomenon has been described in great detail elsewhere on the Forum, particularly by @grapefruityoda.
We need @ssummerlin to chime in. I believe he uses Wyze cameras with no subscription.
Regardless of what the case is today, the reality of the situation is that I would not recommend Wyze to anyone that does not want to pay at least the lower-price CamPlus.
Here’s why:
Essentially, I have recommended Wyze to people and the ones who like it are the ones who went with CamPlus. If you don’t want to pay for any subscription, you’ll have a better experience now & in the future with something other than Wyze.
Something else to know: The V3s used to be pretty unreliable when you set them to 24x7 record. They’re better now, BUT watching footage back on the V3 is a pain compared to on the V3Pro and newer … watching SD footage back uses an older interface for the V3 than the newer V3Pro and V4. If you plan to look at footage regularly, the V3Pro is much better.
Also, the V3Pro can be set to do offline (subscription-free) Person detection which is much better than pixel motion detection on the V3. Consider a V3Pro if you aren’t going to buy CamPlus. (Don’t buy the V4 without CamPlus, it’s basically a requirement.)
What? Source? Example?
True
That depends what your expectations are.
This is NOT true. No camera cuts you off from SD-Recording. You ALWAYS have that. Even on the V4. CAM Plus is ONLY for Event Recording and AI Detection.
You are spreading a lot of misinformation here.
With a subscription, clips are held in the cloud for 14 days. There is also a new subscription tier that holds them for something like 6 months, but it is a lot more expensive (but it does also include the descriptive AI etc too).
On the SD card, you’re limited only by the size of the card. My 128GB cards get anywhere from 9 to 11 days depending on the cam and what it is looking at. That is whether you have a subscription or not (SD card recordings are not impacted by subscription). You can go as high as 512GB in most of the cams (probably even higher). They record approximately 10 megabytes per minute or 0.6 gb/hour or 14.5GB per day.
I have never had a subscription, going on 2 years now, I strictly use the SD cards. Really the only impacts I notice without a subscription are:
-No smart detections (Person, pet, etc). Not a huge deal for me and my use case, others may find it worth the cost though.
-Max of 1 notification/event tag every 5 minutes. Everything is still recorded, but it won’t tag it as an event/send a notifcation/save a still frame more frequently than that. If you subscribe, this limit is removed. Again, for me, this is not an issue, since the recording itself is there no matter what, and the cams where I want events always listed I’ve set up to minimize any extraneous events so it is rare for there to be more than 1 in 5 mins.
Just saw this chime request. Anything specific you want me to advise/speak about?
I have been using Wyze cams since 2019 with no subscription. I did not even concern myself with the free Lite. I just use mine for monitoring and checking the situation outside. I have v2, v3, v4, OG and recently a Bulb Cam. I have no need for a subscription.
Most of my cams are sitting on a window ledge, except for the v2 in the garage and the bulb cam on the back pool deck.
I live in a quiet, suburban part of the city. I have very few visitors that arrive unexpectedly. Door bell hasn’t worked in more than 10 years. I don’t answer phone calls from unknown numbers.
Haven’t noticed.
Haven’t seen any adverts.
Don’t use notifications. I can review footage on SD.
Micro SD cards work fine on v2, v3, v4, OG-Regular, OG-Tel and Bulb cam. I generally use 32GB Non-high performance micro SD cards of a reputable charater. On the 2K cams I have increased storage to 64GB non-high performance. I cannot see how your information about SD recording requirements could be true, in my experiences.
Not with my recommended user friends, who don’t use a subscription.
Opinion.
Only use “record alerts only”. No need to record everything and then sit around to scour entire capture.
Basically? What? My single v4 works fine.
Actually, all I really need are V3s since I don’t use the floodlights or Infra-Red or microphone or speaker. Never had the urge to go Pro. Not a fan of any cam with a motor in it.
Your opinions are your opinions and I can honor that, but some claims are not true.
I am a pretty easy-going guy. I don’t need the bells and whistles. Opinions vary. I hope mine are not offensive.
Echoing this, it is 100% not true. I have OGs, an OG-T, a v4, and 3x Panv3s. I also briefly had a regular v3. None require a subscription to work nor have I heard of any Wyze cam that does.
I’m wondering if this is a duplicate account for a certain other member…
Why buy several if you have concerns. Buy one and do your personal research. Are you limited to receiving multiple shipments?
That’s a matter of opinion. I MUCH prefer the old UI.
I miss the arrows in the old SD card timeline that allow to go back/forward to the next event when recording “Events Only”.
I find that some cloud clips are missing and I have to go to the SD card to see them.
Old timers don’t like change. The new interface is on all the new Wyze cams for a reason.