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One of our favorite features about Eufy is super snappy notifications – all its processing is done locally, so you don’t have to wait for it to send video up to a cloud to be analyzed before sending an alert. This means we never missed any action when tapping in on a notification to view a live feed – not the case for all the other battery-powered cams we tested. Facial recognition intelligence lets the Netatmo create a database of your friends and family members' mugs so that you can tell it who to record and who not to record. At its most stringent it will only record if it spots a stranger.
Image quality is good both in good light and at night, audio is surprisingly clear, and it’s an absolute doddle to set up. Oh, and it also works seamlessly with screen-based Echo devices, allowing you to bring up the video feed from the camera with a simple voice command. And although the cloud video clip storage isn’t free on an ongoing basis – the first month comes gratis then you have to pay after that – the camera does have a microSD card slot so you can store clips locally and access them that way instead. Key specs – Size: 68 x 138 x 68mm; Weight: 200g; Field of view: 140 degrees; Video resolution: 1,920 x 1,080; Night vision: Up to 8m; Motion detection: Yes (PIR based); Free clip storage option: Yes, 6 seconds with cooldown period Smart assistant/speaker integration: Many manufacturers boast of integration with either Alexa or Google Assistant in their specifications but while some aspects of these features are useful, they’re worth taking with a pinch of salt. In most instances, they refer to the ability to ask the digital assistant to display the feed from your camera on your smart screen speaker, which isn’t all that useful in our experience.What marks out the best cameras, though, is the way that video is processed. The most important feature on this front is HDR. Cameras with HDR take the video signal from the camera and brighten up the dark areas while ensuring the bright areas of the image aren’t blown out and difficult to see. Cameras without HDR tend to struggle to balance areas of bright and dark with the result that it’s often difficult to make out crucial details. verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ Pros: Snappy alerts; person detection; lengthy battery life, excellent night vision Cons: No sound detection, limited zoom, no 24/7 continuous recording The field of view is narrower than most, just 110 degrees, and range was a bit of an issue in our testing – but we were stretching it by installing it in our bunny hutch halfway down the garden (which, yes, makes for some fun videos). You can comfortably put this about 20 metres from its hub and still get a good connection, any further and your recordings might drop out.
Indeed, some manufacturers don’t allow any access to online storage at all after an initial trial period, after which you need to pay for anything more than live feed access. It’s also worth bearing in mind that what starts out being free may not continue to be in future. Key specs – Size: Floodlight – 315 x 165 x 93mm (WDH), Camera – 83 x 83 x 83mm (WDH); Field of view: 130 degrees; Video resolution: 1,920 x 1,080; Night vision: yes; Motion detection: Yes Video quality: 1080p | Power options: Wired | Subscription fee: none | Works with: HomeKit, Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT Night vision is also a key consideration. Most cameras have a night vision mode these days using infrared LEDs to illuminate the area immediately in front of them so they can effectively see in the dark. One or two LEDs are usually enough to light up a small or medium-sized room but, for larger rooms and outdoor spaces, you may need a camera with multiple LEDs. You should also consider a floodlight camera for large outdoor areas, which pairs bright white floodlights and cameras for the ultimate intruder deterrent. How expensive is the subscription? With this in mind, it’s worth looking for cameras that can also record video clips locally to a microSD card. While this isn’t as flexible as cloud storage, it gives you the option to keep using a camera if the company hikes prices beyond what you’re willing to pay.
What's the best smart security camera system?
In our testing, we used this feature primarily as a way to keep tabs on our kids – the camera can send an alert when a certain person arrives home. We also set it to never record when the adults in the house were in its view and were able to set it to turn on and off based on geofencing and our smartphones. Crucially, it doesn't ever stop monitoring, it just stops recording. Which means you don’t end up with useless footage of you wandering around your house, but can feel confident knowing that if someone did sneak in, the camera would catch it. While you can also go wire-free indoors, bear in mind that battery-powered cameras need to be recharged from time to time, which is a faff, especially if you have the camera mounted in a hard-to-reach place. It also has no subscription fees, even for advanced features like person detection and motion zones that others charge for. Video is stored locally on the required HomeBase, which can hold 16GB of family snapshots, as well as extend the range of the cameras. We placed them a good 30 metres from the base, way into our garden, and still got a clear, consistent live feed and recorded video. The best thing about the SoloCam E40, however, is that it’s completely standalone, and not tied to proprietary hardware or expensive subscription-based cloud storage. Indeed, with 8GB of onboard storage, you will be able to access months of recorded video clips before the Eufy SoloCam E40 runs out of space and starts to overwrite old clips.
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