So many issues. Returning these after barely using for a week

Let me preface this by saying I’ve used Ring, Ring Pro, and eventually settled on using Nest Hello and Outdoor camera (pre-Google buyout) for several years and had no issues with it. So my frame of reference is based on developments and UX that is over six years old.

Probably going to send these back and suck it up and pay Google the $120/year for what I need.

Hardware:
I ordered 4 cameras. One of the AC adapters made an awful buzzing noise as soon as I plugged it in. One of the cameras has a line of distortion down the middle of the viewing area.

App (iOS):
-Timeline/playback feature is just bad. There is no event tagging on it, just a long green bar showing it recorded it. Not useful whatsoever. Apparently the V3 “PRO” has event tagging in the timeline, but not any of the others. Why? This is just a software feature, and has nothing to do with hardware.
-Scrubbing through the timeline is clunky and doesn’t show actual footage as you scroll through, so you must instead find a spot and wait for the video to load. Wyze could simply aggregate screenshots every 60 seconds to 5 mins and load those as you scroll through, but no. Buttons disappear and reappear when trying to press them (30 seconds forward and backwards when in fullscreen). Horizontal scroll bar is bad implementation, needs to be vertical.
-When viewing recorded events, the pause button is useless and does not pause where I want it to. When scrubbing the video in the event clip, it resumes playing for some reason and does not allow me to review each frame. Why is the scrubbing bar there at all, then?

Desktop version… so many problems too.
-When using the app I am able to view LIVE STREAM on all cameras regardless of subscription. However I am NOT able to to do this on the desktop browser even if I am on the same network as the cameras, saying I need “Cam Plus” for the cameras not subbed.
-I am also able to view events on the app that the desktop version says has an error, which makes no sense. I also cannot pull up live feed on desktop reliably compared to phone app.
-Again, scrub bar is almost as useless when viewing events here as it is in the mobile app.
-There is also no timeline or playback feature on the desktop app at all.
-When using fullscreen on desktop, it doesn’t resize the viewing area properly and cuts off the upper and lower parts of the video.
-I have to sign into the browser login every 24 hours… super annoying. Half the time, 2fa doesn’t even work right and says it’s invalid. I refresh the page though and viola, I’m in now.

Detection:
-Detection will mark an event as “vehicle” if any movement happens on camera when a stationary vehicle is in it. Erroneous “package” tagging occurs with vehicles and people as well.
-This is honestly my chief complaint. There are no options to add more than one detection zone. Only a single zone. Anything outside of it won’t be noted at all. This is not useful for prioritization of movement recording and notifications if you live in a busy area. At least record movements “inside” and “outside” of a zone, and have independent notification handling for each. Again, I am referencing six year old pre-Google Nest UX here, why Wyze doesn’t have this is beyond me.

There are three good things about this system, but they are far outweighed by the bad, I’m afraid to say. SD card recording is cool, as is the embedded timestamp. The night vision is also great.

However, with all of the above issues I’ve noted, I cannot sit around waiting for Wyze to fix them, and will be returning the cameras I purchased. I realize the issues I mentioned are 99% software related, so Wyze devs should really step up and focus more on this and stop worrying about smart bulbs and robot vacuums, but that’s just my opinion.

For now I will continue using my ancient Nest products as they seem to have a better UI/UX than Wyze does. That said, Wyze seems to listen and hopefully they will listen to my complaints. I am not a smart camera noobie, take my advice and you’ll have leading market share in no time.

My two suggestions: Fix your timeline to show event tags, and add more than a single detection zone. If that’s all you fixed, I’d reconsider my loyalty. But as it stands, I need those features more than anything and will go back to using my ancient Nest cameras to get them.

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Good, informed, constructive critique. :+1:

They do listen. And they do try to please everyone. And they do try to keep promises they have made, insofar as possible.

It would be interesting for you to see where they started (if you haven’t) with a single cam and a rudimentary app to ‘keep an eye on things.’

In three years out of the five or so they’ve existed, they were scrambling like crazy to adapt and stay afloat. (I can hear @bryonhu tearing up :face_holding_back_tears: :slight_smile: )

Welcome to the Wyze User Community Forum @ThunderOne! :raising_hand_man:

These were all V3 Cams? And have you contacted Customer Support to get Warranty Replacements on the one you had issues with?

Because the V3 Pro was built with a totally different updated UX. All the newer cams have the event tagging in the timeline because the SD Playback UI is built for it. The V3 does not because the old UI is not compatible. To update the older cams to the new UI would require a new firmware rewrite from the ground up if the hardware could even take it the processor OS is a factor. It isn’t financially feasible to retrofit all the old cams with the new doodads.

Scrubbing is designed to be used in conjunction with the Events that are uploaded to the server and listed in the Events tab. These are also the only events that will show tagged in the timeline of the newer cams. Each event has a SD Card Playback button that, when pushed, will jump directly to the SD Card at the exact time of the event. This works well.

The UI on the new cams (V3Pro, PanV3, OG, FLP) is vertical.

Wyze does not have a desktop version of the App. Are you talking about the Wyze Web View website? Wyze Web View is a premium feature limited to only Cam Plus subscribers.

But, your comments about Web View are valid. It isn’t very reliable or feature rich. SD Card is inaccessible as the Web View only accesses that which is on the server and a live stream for compatible cams.

I find that a single detection zone works for exactly what and where I want it to detect motion.

This has been requested on the wishlist previously and is in development. It has been implemented to some extent on the new FLP.

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Thanks for the replies. I have decided I will stick with Wyze after trying another competitor. My complaints are still valid, but I do hope those are fixed soon.

I will consider a V3 pro for one area and see what it looks like without a subscription, esp if person detection is free and the timeline is better.

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I’ll toss these up for others coming along… :slight_smile:

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The onboard AI Person detection on the V3Pro is not as strong as the Wyze Cloud Person Detection. It was designed on the cam to speed up Person Detection when used in concert with the Wyze Cloud Person Detection, which requires Cam Plus. So, without a subscription, you will have what could be referred to as Person Detection “Lite”. Also, while the cam may produce native Person Detection event uploads, these will be Thumbnail Snapshot uploads and you will not get notifications of Person Detection Events without Cam Plus.

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I’ve had a lot of issues with Wyze this year, hoping they get the kinks worked out.