Right away, you’ll notice that this Wyze camera system requires a base station. It handles the power-hungry internet connection (using Wi-Fi or Ethernet) so the camera can use its wyze security camera battery more effectively. Unlike Arlo’s overly expensive base stations, this is one that we like. The Wyze Cam v3 is the highlight of Wyze’s entire security camera lineup.
Things seemed to be working fine for the first few days of testing until one morning I woke up and saw a motion alert that a person was on my back porch at 2 am. My heart began to race, as my general area has recently had several break-ins during the night. For the Cam Outdoor to feel like a true smart home security camera, you’ll have to spring for its Cam Plus subscription.
This is pretty important because if you live in a busy household and don’t set some parameters, your phone is going to be buzzing all day with motion alerts. Sure, you can run extension cords, but it is kind of frustrating to be so limited, especially with an outdoor application. If you’re looking for a great outdoor camera from Wyze, though, keep reading.
As for cloud storage options, there are paid subscriptions to the Eufy Cloud service ($3 per month or $30 per year per camera) or Apple HomeKit Secure Video, both of which cap video at 1080p resolution. Because of the format-conversion process, Eufy’s storage service downgrades all cloud recordings to 1080p. Although that could be interpreted as a bait and switch, functionally we didn’t find that wyze thermostat this trade-off mattered too much. The Eufy service costs $3 per month or $30 per year for 30 days of storage for one camera, and $10 per month or $100 per year for up to 10 cameras. It’s a pretty good deal compared with many camera subscriptions; Wyze’s Cam Plus, for example, costs $2 per month per camera for 14 days of video storage, or $20 annually, but Wyze doesn’t offer a multi-camera plan.
It’s possible to import one to countries like the UK, but certain features may be limited. Wyze hasn’t always had the best reputation when it comes to user privacy, but it seems that the brand has stepped up its game in recent years. When setting up a Wyze account, I was required to enable two-factor authentication, either via text message or an authenticator app such as Google Authenticator.