I’m done with Wyze. My OG pancam records to the SD card, picks up all motion, pet’s and people, but my 2 newer pan cams no longer will recognize any SD card (brand new, reformatted, etc), doesn’t pickup most motion, most people aren’tcaptured, and basically zero pets. I pay for the continuous recording yet most clips are 12 seconds. I’m tired of paying for something that is like a brick and I can’t pull anything up. You can file tickets all day and they go unanswered.
So, has anyone switched to another camera system that actually works (like Wyze used too)? Has support, records to an SD card, is relaible?
Probably not the appropriate place to get recommendations for other brands (though I’m sure a certain person will be happy to recommend a particular one). There are only a few common players so maybe have a look at their websites and forums and see which one fits your needs best.
Understood the Panv3 issue is frustrating, I’ve been lucky enough not to have it on any of mine, but is that one issue with one model of cam enough to ditch everything Wyze? Do you have other models with issues too?
I have the OG pans, one still mounted that usually works fine. It has a habit of skipping during an event recording, like a hiccup. But at least I’m able to access the SD card on that, but the actual nighttime video recording isn’t great and I like(d) the newer pancam bc of the quality of video for nighttime security. However, someone could break in and I will have no alert, nothing captured, nor able to review what happened.
Looking at the forum, the SD card issue is a widespread problem with many complaints, yet, nothing is being done to fix it. They don’t answer tickets, sending logs is pointless, So, time for something that does work.
The Panv1 and even v2 are old and nowhere comparable to the v3 or v4. Given the age it is not surprising they’re starting to wear out.
Yes the Panv3 SD card issue is frustrating and the issue is that nobody, even Wyze, has found an explanation for it. Possibly just a chip that was used in a particular batch that was prone to early failure (which I’m starting to suspect is the case since software or back end doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t seem to be firmware related). In reality Wyze should have some of these sent back and analyzed. Maybe you can convince support to give you a gift card that you can use toward replacement Panv3s or maybe even Panv4s if you want higher res (but granted those are much more expensive and some kinks still being worked out).
Tapo seems to be a common competitor but when I compared them, I did not like the image quality. Maybe they’ve got new ones that are better. Have a look at Lifehackster on youtube, he compares wyze cams vs other brands and does a very good job of comparing features and image quality.