Like most of you, since their short history, I have purchased Wyze cameras in their different variations and for their advertised capabilities. I think my decisions were based on the hopes that the products would improve with each software update within their expected lifetime.
I recently purchased two of the Floodlight V2 and couldn’t be more disappointed in their performance. Both cameras replaced two Costco 2K lumens floodlights. However, the Wyze floodlights which are rated at 2.8K lumens are not as nearly as bright as the 2K lumens floodlights that they replaced. Additional, they do not work when set for PIR only, even if you are standing 5ft away from it and will only detect you if motion is enabled. They are also extremely difficult to adjust to blend just the right amount of motion and PIR.
Based on their ability to detect person and pets, setting them as such with motion on, the lights will turn on for every other motion such as insects, branches, etc. In other words they do not work for what they are supposed to do.
I find that Wyze developers are consistently either breaking a function that was working or new functionalities are failing miserably in accurately and consistently working according to their advertised capabilities.
Increasing, I have realized that the Wyze cameras have failed at their basic purpose of reliably and consistently detecting what they are set for and notifying you accordingly.
The amount of money I have invested in the Wyze ecosystem would have easily paid for a decent quality wired 4K system. Food for thought for anyone who are considering Wyze as a replacement for a decent wired system.
As many of you have pointed out, it would have been better if their policy was to develop a product that is true to its described capabilities rather than introducing something that somewhat does what it is supposed to do instead of dumping a lot of mediocre products and expects their customers to just “deal with it”.
I don’t mind supporting a brand that stands out but I honestly cannot continue to support Wyze on their trajectory.
Dang. Sorry to hear this was your experience. I don’t personally own a Wyze Floodlight v2, but I do own a Wyze Floodlight Pro and I’m extremely impressed with it. I’ve recommended it to a couple friends as well and all of them have been super happy with it. A couple people internally here at Wyze have said it’s currently their favorite product we have out of all the products. I still think that for me that product is Wyze Lock Bolt, but the Floodlight Pro is truly a fantastic camera and light.
Sorry your experience with FLv2 was so bad. I’ll pass this along to the product manager.
I have 4 Floodlight V2s. In my opinion the lights are much brighter than the floodlights I replaced. Is your floodlight brightness set on 100? I am pretty sure out of the box none of mine were on the max setting of 100.
It really does take a lot of fine tuning to get the motion and PIR detections settings right where you get the least amount of random light turn ons. All 4 of mine have different settings and even one of them I have motion turned off with only PIR on to help with random light turn ons.
Overall I am very happy with my Floodlight V2s. The lights illuminate my entire yard and even some of the street, much better than my old standard floodlights. The cameras give a really wide field of view in my opinion. For the 90ish bucks they cost I feel like they were a very good upgrade for me.
The lock bolt is my wife’s favorite device. The main reason that can’t be my favorite device is because it has no internet connectivity and can’t really connect to home assistant in any way either. Plus it doesn’t have a sensor to prevent it locking while the door is opened. So my wife wants more, but I probably won’t get more due to those limitations. But it’s an awesome offline service.
I appreciate your input and yes, they are set to max brightness. To compensate for the inability to use the PIR only, I’ve set the on times to 30 seconds. This will at least keep down my electricity bill.
To be clear, I’m in no way suggesting either the lockbolt or my Floodlight V2) doesn’t work as advertised or the way I intended to use it.
When I got the lock bolt, I fully understood it didn’t have Internet access. Wyze was extremely clear about this. I also knew in advance that it didn’t have a position sensor. I was not misled in any way because I always read the tech specs and features and FAQ before I buy something. Plus I ask about the products in the forums and read what what employees say. Then Wyze offers a 30 day return policy on their products so I have enough time to ensure everything works up my satisfaction. If something is not currently working exactly the way I need it to right now, I just return it, not keep it anyway and hope they eventually do something different. If I don’t return something, it’s because I’m satisfied with how it currently works at exactly this moment even if nothing changes.
I have no complaints of “false advertising.”
Having said that, I am"satisfied" with the lock bolt and it is exactly what I expected it to be (and my wife loves it). But it is not enough to be my favorite Wyze device without Internet and a position sensor. For me to get up to 7 more of them (home and offices) it would need internet and a position sensor for those particular use cases where I want to check from home if someone accessed the office after hours, and which code/finger.
I also have not had the same bad experience with my Floodlight V2, but I have mine set to balanced instead of low. I will switch mine to PIR only and see if I can replicate your PIR struggles. Keep in mind that PIR works by ambient heat changes though and is most effective with side to side motion changes and not as good at front and back changes or little movement. This is something lots of PIR sensor devices can struggle with because of how PIR is designed. Still, being really close to it should work, so I’ll test it out on mine.
But it’s worked really well for me on the balanced setting that relies on either PIR or smart detections and it does seem to be the correct amount of lumens for me.
Understood your points and yes, I agree with doing research and buying what satisfies your needs. Unfortunately, when these came out, there wasn’t much feedback on experiences so they were purchased based on the write-up.
I also hired an electrician to install them so getting them down and repackaged for return. Unfortunately I can’t get that done in the return window due to my work schedule and the electrician’s schedule.
I did switch mine to only use the PIR, to test it out for you, and it is working for me, even up close. I wonder if you could have someone adjust the angle a little bit and see if that helps.
I recently bought the wyze cam battery pro and the Wyze floodlight pro and its the last product I will buy from Wyze. Unless you subscribe to cam + they are worthless even with the sd cards installed. Both have sd cards and I see them activate and when I go to events all I get is a snapshot. I have to literally go outside and remove sd cards and bring in and put on computer to see what triggered the camera’s.
Wyze just lost a long time customer for this reason. I am trashing all my Wyze products and going to a wired system which works.
John
umm no you don’t? You can view what is saved on the sd card right from the app without a subscription. Those snapshot events are even marked on the timeline for the playback from the sd card. Wyze has a good deal of features available on the free accounts for wifi cameras compared to what else is out there.
Wired systems are great, you should never have all your eggs in one basket. I have a wired system as well so I am not completely dependent on one or the other.
Well it must be pretty well hidden as I’ve spent hours trying to view what is on the card from the app. Yes I have the latest firmware and app on my phone.
John
Everything is viewable from the SD card depending on if you selected events only or continuous as well as it you set it to record “smart events only or all motion. I find the “smart events” less than desirable and are mostly hit or miss in my experience. So while viewing the live stream, you need to select the option for SD card or view playback to see what is on the SD card.
In their basic functionality of recording and playing back video, if you are recording to SD card, I believe that they do that consistently if you have your cameras set to continuous without all the other fluff.
So I’ve all my cameras set for continuous which negates the benefits of the smart features that attracted me in the first place. I also still need to have a fair idea of the timeline that I want to see as not everything captured is indicated on the timeline. This is no different from a dumb wired system in this regard. Too heavily invested to change right now.
Agreed. I am just sick of cameras not opening on the app, but working fine online or vice-versa. Happens across all models and software versions too. I updated to the latest firmware and all of a sudden it no longer works in the app… Just so annoying.
My floodlight V2 also has a horrible image. It is nowhere near 2k, more like 480 if even:
