Once you do the initial setup you absolutely can disconnect the base from the router and just use the wi-fi network which means that you can place the base a considerable distance from your wi-fi which will give you greater camera to base range. You can also take your base and cam with you to a different location say on vacation or business and simply change wi-fi networks. This is particularly handy if you are vacationing and you need to monitor outdoor activities or set up a motion detect security camera. I uses it to watch my motorcycle which had to be parked on the street and not visible from the vacation rental units we had. I works great and you have continuous remote security. The camera is always paired to that Wyze base station no matter what wi-fi network you are using.
I got mine on Saturday and put it up. I can watch it on my Alexa 8 screen. I haven't set it up to do anything yet. Picture is good. Thanks for the review and showing us the setup options.
Thank you for your in-depth review of WYZE’s outdoor camera. Was not aware that an ethernet connection was required at the base unit. Disappointed that Wi-Fi couldn’t be used. Excellent presentation! Thanks!
Bought the Wyze outdoor cam, said a backorder wait would be needed but they sent it out days later, I love their cams and really wanted one that required no wiring for power for areas I didn't have covered because of the lack of power, it is very well built and packaged and Wyze service is fantastic. I was worried about the wifi range from the base station but have it out 150' away and works great, haven't tested the drop off distance yet, but one of their other cameras worked at an out building 330' away! Impressive, Simplysafe cameras I tried has pathetic wifi distance, near useless. Wyze gets a 10 out of 10 for wifi connection distance. Night vision works great not at all washed out like this reviewers video stated. I did get an offer from Wyze for Cam Plus which lets your outdoor cam record any length video you want, not just the 12 sec and you can also adjust the cooldown between recordings even to zero cooldown! All for $14.99 a year....yes a year, a real bargain. I find Wyze products incredibly well built and engineered and a bargain, recommend them to anyone. Found Simplysafe as over priced junk.
Lon, I'm in the market to replace my no longer sold Amazon Cloud Cams. So thanks for the detailed review (and I really like the chapters in the time line !). You are an excellent tech reviewer!
Thanks for another pro review, Lon. I received one of these on early shipment and I agree, the Ethernet requirement on the base station is a major no-go for me. It would be great if they could add wi-fi with a firmware upgrade as you suggest. The only different viewpoint I would have is that I'd rather it require the two lithium batteries like Blink than rechargeables. I can take a couple of batteries to the camera and have it back in play in minutes without making multiple trips up and down the ladder, etc. Also, if the rechargeable gives up the ghost, I don't know if it's replaceable. Thanks again, really enjoy your reviews. (BTW, I don't remember seeing a review on the hair-cutting device. :-)
Lon, I like the Wyze over Blink except for two issues. 1) The SD card tends to stop working after a while in the Wyze Pan Cams. This happens more often when they are outdoors, under eaves of a home. Although this may void the warrantee, the same happens indoors yet less frequently. I am waiting to see how my experience differs with the Outdoor Cam. Changing the card usually does not work. The card will work elsewhere. I suspect cheepie card slot contacts. 2) The microphone is not at all close to the quality of Blink's microphone. You might be able to hear that a person is speaking from far away, but not understand what they are saying. Blink is a pretty good bugging device as well as a camera.
I think using ethernet for the base station is a wise move. I have a lot of experience with these wireless security cameras. So much so that I changed my whole house over to wired (8) cameras.
Everything you need to recharge or replace batteries in over a period of time is just a hassle. Wired stuff is just a peace of mind and one less thing to worry about.
I know I’m super late but I just ordered this yesterday because someone has been writing graffiti on our storage door in the complex we live in so I hope this works 🤞🏿🤞🏿👍🏿
Excellent review. I love the time-lapse feature and the fact it can record to the base station as well as the camera itself. It would be great if there was a way to switch to B&W for remote viewing so that I could connect from slower wifi connections when I travel. All things considered, this looks like a fantastic little security camera.
I Got An Wyze Outdoor Camera...Everything Works But, when we leave the house the camera does not transmit to our phones.......Is it because we hadn't bought a (Plan).....The Indoor cameras work....we can check the inside of the house while we are away....But not the Outdoors Cam.
Lon, very good review. I received the two I ordered. I’ll get them installed and see if I can come up with some creative way to utilize and integrate them with my other Wyze cameras and sensors. Thanks for all the videos. Looking forward to your review of the Dell XPS 15.
I bought the original wyze cam version 2 put it in a housing I got off Amazon it's been outside for over 2-years still works perfectly fine I wouldn't pay the extra for the new one as the original version works just fine even though it isn't waterproof for outside
I am not sure if I like this model. I have everything Wyze makes except the door lock. In 8 days of operation battery life is down to 63%. Liked you review..
Only just now getting outdoor cam going but one thing I noticed right off is connecting to camera an Ethernet connected base station is much faster than WiFi V2 and maybe more reliable
Just received my camera yesterday. Were you aware that the base station now works on WiFi? Appreciate your honest reviews. The only negative is that my wife says you are costing us money!! ;)
Build quality on the wyze is really poor but that's the trade off with it being so cheap. The video quality however is very good for the money. I personally have one camera in my kitchen just because of the smart detection of smoke/CO alarm. It sends a notification if it hears the alarm go off and that feature alone is worth the price of $25 I paid for the previous model cameras.
There is a huge advantage to keeping their wireless portion completely off the wifi protocol, it can't be de-auth attacked easily. If you see one of the old versions and can figure out what network it's on, you can de-auth everything on the network, that won't stop local storage, but still, no cloud uploads until then.. "When your Wyze Cam is offline, you will not be able to connect to the camera via the Wyze app to view the live stream video or change any of the camera settings. The camera also will not save any alert videos to the cloud, so none of the motion or sound detection features will work." so basically crippled.
As always a great review. A few weeks ago I did a pre-order and am waiting for it to arrive. If it is anywhere near as robust as my existing Wyze products then I will be very pleased. One question, did I see a tripod screw mount on the bottom of the camera?
Hey Lon, Is the data next to the HD icon on the UI at about 9:25 the amount of network data being used by the camera? alot of rural homes are still stuck at 1mpbs upload such as myself, so live viewing for many cameras is difficult
I'm considering purchasing a few of these. I have some non wyze smart devices like smart plugs and a smart garage door opener for example. Currently I'm using the TuyaSmart app to control those items. My question is, would I be able to control my non Wyze smart devices through the Wyze app and if not, is there one app that I could use to control both Wyze and non Wyze products, like Google home for example? Thanks.
I have a question when I connect to my enternet network the base is making it own network to connect but it ask me for password and I disconnected I felt something wrong can you help me?
I think the Wyze Outdoor Camera is not good. Because it Only Records for 12 Seconds what good is it. I own 7 Wyze V2 and they are good for indoor security cameras.
I have a Wyze V2 that I put the RTSP firmware on, and can monitor the camera in realtime using the free open source iSpy software. The only problem I have with it is the Wyze V2 loses connection to WIFI fairly frequently, but it will connect right back up when you click the Connect icon in iSpy. --- The Wyze Camera Outdoors is horrible.
I was excited for this but can’t get beyond the subscription fee. Sure you get the 12 seconds free but I don’t need another bill. I’d like to set and forget other then change batteries, then 5 years later look for a replacement.
Lon, I always enjoy your reviews but this one smell of being a Wyze fan boy. The majority of the other outdoor Wyze cam reviews on the internet have been "fail" - too many problems with this new cam. I pretty much have removed all Wyze products to a junk box - Poor notification / Just quit working / Zero support from Wyze. I may have give your reviews a bit more skepticism since your review seems a bit too positive for such a bad cam.
I do not like the camera basically since it does not have the same playback feature as the regular cameras and its not anywhere in the discription either.
I have one Outdoor Cam outside and one inside. The one outside has a battery life one fifth as long. I suspect the temperature. I will switch them and see.
I'm sending both of the ones I got back, they're not as good as their pan cam or their base cam... I think these are not ready for primetime with too many corners cut...
You can but you'll get reflections back from the IR if you don't disable that feature. My advice would be to go with their V3 camera that can be plugged into power inside and allow for continuous recording.
@@dinokross3844 Yes it can via the App... the app has internet connectivity if your phones.... the Cam has internet connectivity if your house does. i have checked on the house from all over the country
As a "security" cam the Wyze Cam Outdoor is all but useless. The motion detect is so slow if someone walks past the camera you "might" get to see their butt going out of the frame. Then the push notification is minimum 30 seconds. Then half the time the Wyze app won't play the video, saying it's "uploading to the cloud" try again later. What is the cloud? My videos are going somewhere on the internet? I never signed up for that. I don't want my videos somewhere on the internet. Some of these "uploading to the cloud" videos are never viewable even after several days. Battery life is horrible. After 1 week taking 1 to 4 videos per day the battery is already down to 50%. The Wyze Base Station puts out horrible RFI. I can "hear" it coming through my computer speakers and police scanner. I verified it is the Base Station causing the noise by unplugging the Base Station and the noise instantly stops. I have found though that if I put the Base Station antennas horizontal rather than vertical it reduces the radio interference. There is no desktop program to configure or view the camera, you MUST use a cell phone or tablet. The Android app crashes often. The camera has features that are disabled unless you PAY a monthly fee, and they spam you several times a week with emails trying to sell you the "extra" features, and the Wyze app spams you with ads to buy the extra features. Worst security camera I've ever bought.
Could you post the floor plans of your house and yard so we can calculated your noticed fail distance. If you don't want to post it, I can get you my email. It is hard for me to visualize the disance from were the garage base station and the bonus room on the other side of the house. Nice information otherwise.
Yeah seems like a big oversight with only having an Ethernet port to connect to the internet and not WiFi. I have a WiFi to Ethernet adapter but I'm pretty sure not everyone has that. Here's the adapter that I use www.amazon.com/VAP11G-300-Wireless-Dreambox-Network-Microsoft/dp/B005OIB6XI/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2R9DONEYBZ8U1&dchild=1&keywords=vonets&qid=1597359746&s=electronics&sprefix=vonet%2Celectronics%2C177&sr=1-5 (If they don't fix the no WiFi situation)
Wyze Outdoor Camera sucks. Only records 12 secs and has a cooldown of 5 mins to conserve battery life. Wyze promises 3-6 months of battery life, but my camera only last 2 weeks at most with about 15 captures a day. This camera is all hype. I should've went with Eufy cameras instead. Disappointed.
So sad the camera is wireless, battery, limited local storage. This pet project is a monster that meets zero needs of customers. Make a ethernet, POe, local storage, security camera, open standards for controlling them. Cloud storage should be OPTIONAL.
There is but your critique should be valid first. This is not a security camera or system. The SD card is only back up, so should someone steal a camera the sd card in the base in the house has that video also. Get it now?
