Wyze Cam Outdoor review: A weatherproof version of the awesome indoor security camera

The $50 Wyze Cam Outdoor Starter Bundle usually takes the ideal areas of the $20 indoor Wyze Cam, and adds a weatherproof design and battery-driven overall flexibility. It really is a good camera that looks nice and is uncomplicated to set up and use — at a ridiculously reduced selling price. Wyze carries on to supply two weeks of totally free cloud storage with this camera, as nicely as a created-in microSD card slot if nearby storage is much more your matter. (You will will need to use the microSD card slot in any case if you want to take benefit of this camera’s Travel Method — much more on that afterwards.)

Like

  • Costs just $50
  • Uncomplicated to set up
  • 2 weeks of totally free cloud storage
  • Constructed-in microSD card slot

Never Like

  • You have to spend for individual alerts
  • The battery is not removable

Wyze’s final decision to introduce an solution to spend for its lengthy-awaited individual alerts, returning this September, is the a single matter trying to keep me from providing this product a CNET Editors’ Option Award (much more on individual alerts afterwards). 

General, though, this $50 camera is a good price range solution that expands on Wyze’s fantastic line of economical sensible property products and solutions. Starter Bundles and standalone cameras are obtainable for preorder now.  

Read through much more: The ideal outside protection cameras to purchase in 2020

The basics 

With your Starter Bundle, you get a single Wyze Cam Outdoor, a single Foundation Station and mounting components. Like Arlo’s Pro collection of cameras, the Wyze Cam Outdoor requirements to be employed with a hub, the Foundation Station, which you join to your router with an integrated cable. Extra cameras will be sold individually for $forty each — and you can join up to four cameras to a single Foundation Station.

The concept right here is that the Foundation Station will both of those lengthen your Wi-Fi assortment and enhance your camera’s battery daily life. Even though its battery daily life can differ based mostly on utilization, the outside temperature and other factors, it really is intended to previous a few to six months. Regretably, you do have to provide the camera in when you will need to demand it — it doesn’t have a removable battery. 

  • 1080p Hd livestreaming
  • Motion detection
  • Customizable movement detection zone
  • Night time eyesight
  • Two-way audio
  • Constructed-in microSD card slot
  • Cost-free 14-working day cloud storage
  • Time lapses
  • Supports Alexa and Google Assistant
  • Travel mode
  • Optional Cam As well as membership coming September, together with individual alerts


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A lot more aspects

Setting up the Wyze Cam Outdoor is straightforward it really is the equivalent to putting in the indoor Wyze Cam, with the addition of connecting the Foundation Station to the application. Examine out my Wyze Cam how-to article detailing each action for much more details. But, in quick, you will need to down load the Wyze application, build an account (if you you should not alread have a single) and comply with the prompts to join your camera. 

The application will talk to you to plug the Foundation Station into your router and identify your Foundation Station. Then incorporate your camera, inserting it in close proximity to the Foundation Station and turning on the electricity switch behind the camera. Hit the sync button on the base of the camera, identify your camera and you might be pretty substantially completed. You do also have the solution to share your device with a family members member or mate. Also, you can comply with recommendations in the application tutorial to mount your camera. The camera has a created-in foundation equivalent to the indoor Wyze Cam, so I opted to set it on the railing of the again deck alternatively than mounting it.

All advised it took a minor in excess of 5 minutes whole to set up, although it will take lengthier if you mount your camera much more permanently. 

Just like the indoor Wyze Cam, the Wyze Cam Outdoor gives adjustable online video excellent (auto, Hd, SD and 360p), livestreaming, movement alerts, a movement detection zone and time lapse, two-way audio and totally free saved clips in the app’s situations tab. 

The camera also works with Alexa and Google Assistant. I you should not have a sensible show at property to examination this out, but you really should be in a position to talk to your Alexa- or Google-Assistant-enabled sensible show to exhibit your camera’s live feed. The Travel Method solution is intended to file movement and time-lapse clips to a microSD card devoid of remaining connected to the Wyze Foundation Station or your property Wi-Fi community. Once again, I didn’t have a microSD card useful when I was testing out this camera. 

That brings me to individual alerts. Wyze employed to have a totally free individual detection feature that labored actually nicely, but got rid of it in January, promising to provide it again shortly — and to proceed to supply it as a totally free company. An excerpt from the Nov. 26, 2019, email alerting customers to the upcoming modify study: “The excellent information is that when we do reroll out this feature [individual detection] it will even now be totally free for you — even if we finish up making use of the cloud in its place if edge-AI.” 

On July 20 of this yr, Wyze contacted pick out early customers, permitting them know that individual detection would be returning this September and that anyone who experienced created a Wyze account before Nov. 26, 2019, would proceed to get individual detection for totally free. But, thanks to costs Wyze didn’t foresee, anyone else will have to spend for individual detection by way of an upcoming optional company identified as Cam As well as. I you should not have the pricing aspects for this optional membership program still, but will update this critique when I do.

Luckily, you even now get two weeks of cloud storage — and the other existing options, like movement zones and time lapses — for totally free. 

Privacy chat

User privateness is an crucial thought when you might be searching for a protection camera or any camera-enabled sensible property device. 

A Wyze details leak exposed consumer details for 22 days in December 2019. Client credit score card info and passwords have been not section of the leak, but Wyze logged all consumers out of their accounts and reset integrations with Alexa, Google Assistant and other 3rd-social gathering associates. To guard yourself just after the leak, CNET’s Jason Cipriani prompt building a new password (and switching any other accounts that may have the very same password), as nicely as signing up for two-factor authentication and reconnecting your 3rd-social gathering integrations. 

Examine out Wyze’s privateness policy to understand much more about what details it collects and how it really is employed. 

Should you purchase it?

If you might be wanting for an economical weatherproof property protection camera, the Wyze Cam Outdoor really should surely be in the jogging. This product combines an outside-rated housing with a rechargeable battery so you can place it pretty substantially wherever within just assortment of your Wi-Fi community — and, if you use Travel Method, nicely outside of the reaches of Wi-Fi. 

Wyze gives you storage possibilities with two weeks of totally free event-based mostly online video clips and the created-in microSD card slot. The camera itself is uncomplicated to install and performs nicely. It really is a disgrace Wyze was not in a position to provide again totally free individual alerts for anyone, although the business states it will revisit no matter whether to demand for the feature in the long run, if it really is in a position to. No matter, this is a good camera that brings the ideal of the initial indoor Wyze Cam outside.