The Wyze Cam v3 is the third iteration of this camera. Wyze is a smart home ecosystem company, so the Wyze Cam v3 is just one piece of a more comprehensive suite of smart home product categories including smart bulbs, switches, light strips, doorbells, sprinkler controllers, garage door controllers, smartwatches, and more. As such, you get more value as you add more products to your smart home setup, the ‘Ecosystem‘ style. The Wyze Cam v3 checks most boxes for what you would want in a modern home security camera. It’s small and light with a magnetic base. This means you can just snap it on any metal surface without the need to drill and screw walls. My house’s front door happens to have a metal frame, so it just snaps in place without any effort. That said, even if you had a wooden frame or brick wall, Wyze has added some accessories so you can drill it in place. You get a circular metal plate and a screw kit for that purpose. This camera is wired, so it comes with a 6 ft USB power cable used to power the camera using the nearest wall socket. If you don’t have a power socket close by, Wyze has the Wyze Lamp socket sold separately which enables you to tap power from an outdoor light bulb socket.
This camera is designed to work both indoors and outdoors as opposed to its brother the Wyze cam pan v2. It’s rated IP65 which means it’s protected against dust and other particulates as well as directed water from any angle.
Wyze Cam v3 full Specs
Dimensions: 2.51 x 2.24 x 3.93 inchesWeight: 7.5 ouncesColor: White, with black accentsBody material: Polycarbonate Lens material: glass + Plastic Audio: ECM microphone, 80db waterproof speaker, two-way talk and sirenInput power: 5v/1ASensor: CMOS Starlight sensorLED Indicator: Red + BlueConnectivity: 2.4Ghz WifiStorage: Local storage via microSD card and cloud storageWeather resistance: IP65 Resolution: 1920x1080pFrame rate: 20fps(day) and 15 fps(night)
In the box
Quick start guide, wall mount plate, wall mount plate tape, screw kit, indoor USB Power adapter, 6 feet outdoor-rated USB cable.
Setting up the Wyze Cam v3 camera is relatively easy. You’ll need to download the Wyze app from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Then ensure that you have a WiFi network on the 2.4GHz band. So if you have a dual-band WiFi router, then make sure that it’s set up with two separate SSIDs or WiFi names; one on the WiFi 2.4Ghz and the other on the 5Ghz band. This way, you can connect the security camera to the right WiFi band which is the 2.4GHz band.
After you’ve downloaded the Wyze app, follow the instructions or you can read our setup guide. You’ll be asked to sign in or create a Wyze account, then connect to a 2.4Ghz WiFi network, and then scan a QR code before the setup is done. This will enable you to control the camera from your smartphone, view live camera feed, update the firmware, talk to the camera, set off the siren, and much more. You can also choose between local storage through a microSD card purchased separately or cloud storage. Local storage is cheap or actually free. You can set up continuous 24/7 recording or event-based recording with a microSD card. This camera supports Class 10 UHS-1 MicroSD cards with capacities up to 32GB only. A 32GB card for instance can store upto 48 hours or two days of HD footage, 168 hours or a week of SD video, and approximately 4,200 16MP photos. Read more:
How to install MicroSD card on Wyze cams
Local storage, however, has its drawbacks. If the camera is stolen or damaged, say in a storm, then you lose the video footage. You can also opt to go with cloud storage with any of Wyze’s subscription plans.
There are three cloud storage plans; Basic plan, Cam Plus Lite, and Cam Plus. The Basic plan is free but you get only snapshots of event videos. Then the Cam Plus Lite is also technically free but with person detection. It’s a community-funded service meaning you have the option to name your price. With this plan, you get 12-second event videos with 5 minutes cool-down periods as well as person detection. But if you want back-to-back recordings with unlimited event video length and person, package, vehicle, pet detection as well as web view, then you go with the $1.99/month Cam Plus plan.
I subscribed to Cam Plus Lite. As such I get 12-second long event videos with 5-minute cool-down periods. I am kinda cool with that. Wyze motion detection AI is still not smart enough. My event feed includes motion detection from insects flying across the camera. But it gets person detection for the most part. You can set up alerts or push notifications to your smartphone whenever an event is detected. I prefer to turn these off by default and only turn them on when I am away.
I like the Wyze app interface. It’s a lot cleaner than other smart home security camera vendors I used such as the Yi camera or Xiaomi’s Mi Smart Home 360 Security camera. You can view a live video feed of the camera from the App. Those that are subscribed to Cam Plus can view the live feed from their web browser on any device including computers, and tablets. You also get to view an event feed that lists event videos triggered by motion, person, package sound, pet, and vehicle detection. The particular detection is based on which subscription plan you paid for as I have already mentioned above.
The Wyze App also offers two-way audio. So you can speak into the app and the person close to the camera can hear you and can also talk back to you. I rarely use this feature because my house is quite small. But for people with bigger houses, this feature can be quite useful. Additionally, Wyze added a siren that you can activate. This I suppose is meant to scare off thieves or intruders. The siren is surprisingly quite loud for the size of this camera.
Another cool feature of this Wyze Cam v3 is 1080p Full HD color night vision thanks to the Starlight CMOS sensor that’s super sensitive to light and an f/1.6 aperture lens. This enables you to see full color in low light conditions such as at night. The camera is surprisingly good even in low-light areas although, for best results, you want to have the camera mounted in a well-lit area. My setup is simply an outdoor security light bulb. If you don’t have one of these, then you can purchase an additional spotlight kit that attaches to the camera. Now with all the great features that Wyze has packed into this camera, I must say I miss just two; being battery-powered and the Pan & Tilt movement. I know Wyze already has other cameras with these features. For instance, the Wyze Cam Pan v2 supports Pan and Tilt movements, but is designed to be used indoors and doesn’t come with a battery. The Wyze Cam Outdoor v2 meanwhile is battery-powered and is designed for outdoor use but doesn’t support Pan and Tilt movements. But for $35, it’s difficult to ask Wyze to pack more value into this camera than it already has.
Conclusion
