If you are unfamiliar with OG cams, as I am, and you only had one spot to put a cam into, which cam would you buy first?
OG
or
OG-Telephoto
?
Thinking of possible cam growth. I can understand there being different use cases, but overall, what would be a good initial pick?
Use Wyze Cam OG for everyday use, with more light on the things that matter.
Cam OG is cheaper and is most comparable to the other typical Wyze Cam models. Depending on intended use, I think it stacks up very favorably against Cam v4. I think LifeHackster’s comparison of several Wyze Cam models on YouTube gives a decent overview (comparing Cam OG to other Wyze Cam models; Cam OG Telephoto isn’t included in the particular video I’m thinking about, though he did compare that one to other Wyze Cams in the use of window mounts in a different video), and what he demonstrates with respect to regular black & white night vision jibes with my own experience: My subjective impression is that Cam OG floods more IR than Cam v4 in terms of the ratio of “light” output to the camera’s sensor requirements for illumination, so Cam OG’s picture really looks better in dark environments, which is why mine has been living in a garage for a while.
I believe Cam OG Telephoto has no IR, so if you intend to use that one at night you’re going to have to rely upon external visible illumination and the camera’s Starlight Sensor…
I also think Cam OG is a great choice for a multi-purpose camera and seems well suited for a variety of tasks. Cam OG Telephoto strikes me as more specialized, and it’s something I’d probably consider if I had a particular requirement for it or just wanted something different to tinker with.
If you’re thinking about that, then possibly you already have some locations and use cases in mind. I’d consider whatever those ideas might be and look at each camera’s product page, paying attention to the specifications (like field of view) and factoring in the distance at which I’d want to see things and the lighting conditions available at that distance/area, especially at night.
The easy initial pick, though, is going to be the regular Cam OG.
I have several OG-Tele that I specifically bought because of the Tele lens. I have been happy with them.
The use-case is EVERYTHING for this question though.
If it was someone who had no other cameras, I would tell them to get a Regular OG cam so they can see more area. If someone already has some cameras, I’d probably tell them to get an OG-T so they can zoom in somewhere unless they need a functional Spotlight for some reason.
I think the OG is a great entry level camera, but that’s the reason I don’t have many of them. They are ENTRY LEVEL to me, and I’m mostly interested in the things with more features and higher quality, etc now (thus, I just bought more V4’s instead of OGs). At least the OG-T has something special about it.
That’s how I lean on the question. For a newbie with no other cameras, I’d tell them to get an OG for sure.
Otherwise I’d tell them to get an OG-T and stick with V4’s where they were considering OG’s.
My choice would be the OG for normal everyday use. It has all the things you would possibly want a security camera to do. The tele lens for me is a waste unless I want to zoom in on something specific.
I have 4 OGs and an OGT. The OGT was bought with a use case in mind that didn’t work out, so I found a different use case since it was part of a OG/OGT/stack kit and returning it would not have made sense. I could live without it, it has not added much value for me. So my vote would be start with OG.
Unless of course you have a specific use case for 3x zoom and narrower field of view that you need to fulfill.
Without knowing some paramaters or wants/needs, its hard to make a choice.
If I had one unknown spot, i would choose a OGS first, because it can monitor a lot wider and taller swatch of area whereas if i had one area to put a camera, and wanted to monitor one specific thing (garbage can, mail box, end of drive way) that is at a longer distance, i would choose the OGT for its zoom features.
My personal use case is my driveway where i have a OGT and a V3 right next to eachother, and each pointed in the same direction. The V3 gets the wide angle view of the front of my house whereas the OGT is aimed at the driveway to get any license plate or vehicle or person features and video that approach my house from the driveway.
As an owner of both, the OG cam is more versatile and the telephoto camera is really a niche product.
Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I believe your comments determined my purchase of a standard OG cam. I could see uses for both types, but might as well try the basic first.
For all practical purposes, the v3 is all I really need. I don’t use the flood light, siren, mic/speaker or even IR lights. The v4 is nice but overkill for my uses. I currently use a v4 in my prime camera location and enjoy it.
I could see using the telephoto OG, but it would be a limited enagagement as compared to using a regular monitoring camera.
All of my vantage points are covered with my arrangement of v4, v3 and v2 cams. I guess I need to replace my v2 cams with cams that offer better vision in low light. Currently, in my situation, the v2s are put to sleep after sundown with the exception of the v2 in the garage where I do use IR lights. So I guess I will replace one of two v2 to have the OG cam operate for 24 hours a day.
I did see one review that night vision isn’t as good as the v3, but I will take a chance as this view is not as important as my other views. All reviews that I have seen recommend the OG over the v3, as you have also stated.
I will replace my East cam with an OG and see how it goes. It’s worth a shot.
Currently, the v2 works great in daylight.
But the v2 can’t see much at night, even with one minimal light I installed recently.
Thanks again for your suggestions,
Steve.
Unfortunately the OG doesn’t do time lapse (well maybe with a subscription, not sure) so you won’t be able to watch your tree grow 
They both do time lapses.
Not for us freeloaders I guess
Guess I will find out, since I a non-subscriber.
There really isn’t much happening out that window to use timelapse. 
Yuh-huh! I have a Timelapse control under my Cam OG’s Live Stream pane, and I’m not a subscriber. I have to swipe that control strip right-to-left to see it just between Album and Turn Off. It’s enabled, so I can tap it to see options for setting it to run, but I haven’t actually tried it, and it kinda seems like a pointless thing to do in a mostly static garage.
Time Lapse has nothing to do with cloud based subscription service.
Odd, the one time I clicked it (over a year ago) I could swear it gave me the “upgrade” pop up. But now my OGs and Panv3 bring up a time selection, so unless it will prompt for upgrade after that, appears to work. Of course it is not a feature I’d ever use that I can think of (too bad it can’t be used on existing SD card footage, that might actually be useful).
Hey, a joke turned into a “teachable moment”.
Yeah I have PC software that can stitch the files then do a time lapse, but I have no real reason to do that. The useful thing I was thinking for time lapse would be reviewing footage to find something that happened that wasn’t caught as an event (such as on the street in front of my house that triggers motion every 5 minutes so the events are somewhat useless).
I guess if I really needed to find something and didn’t want to sift through, it might be an option. More than historical time lapse, I wish there were multiple speeds of FF/RW on the SD card, but I’m guessing the read speed of the cards and the CPU of the camera probably wouldn’t handle it well.
Maybe the next time there’s supposed to be some interesting event in the sky I’ll aim my Panv3 up and do a time lapse. But the skies around here are mostly filled with light pollution.
Unfortunately, the same goes for my neighborhood. All timelapses I made, so far, were events or day turning to night.
I wouldn’t waste time with older camera, In 2-3 years you’ll want to replace your v4 with v6 or something else.
