Wireless outdoor security camera with free recording?

[conversationalphrase]

Are there any truly wireless (battery powered) outdoor security cameras that allow viewing event recordings without a subscription?

We are heavily invested in Wyze cameras, but they changed to a subscription plan to see anything other than a snapshot. You can view livestreams, but that's usually too late.

We live in the woods and mainly use these cameras to watch for wildlife around the property, we have separate wired cameras for security.

I've looked around but can't find anything that is:

1) Outdoor (weatherproof)
2) Battery powered
3) Allows FREE recording and viewing of triggered events.

Has anyone found something like this?

Please don't suggest just paying for the Wyze subscription. I'm too cheap for that.

 

[folivier]

I'm sure that any camera system out there if free will soon switch to subscription based.
My Wyze cameras do have recording using an SD card. If I see a "recent event" I make note of the time then switch to SD card and can then watch the recorded event.
Wyze also just released a new battery powered camera.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

Are you currently paying for an Apple iCloud+ subscription?

I pay Apple $2.99 per month for my iCloud+ subscription. That gives me 200GB of storage that I use for my photo collection and file storage. I would pay just for this.

However, that rate also gives me storage for up to 5 security cameras. The cameras need to support the Apple HomeKit integration. I have 2 indoor cameras from Eufy that work just fine. For 99 cents per month, you get support for 1 camera. For $9.99 per month, you get unlimited camera support.

 

[njhowie]

Eufy and Tapo. I'm using both. Eufy uses wifi, Tapo requires a hub (their own). Eufy does also have a hub solution of their own if you choose.

 

[mpeirce]

Are there any truly wireless (battery powered) outdoor security cameras that allow viewing event recordings without a subscription?

We are heavily invested in Wyze cameras, but they changed to a subscription plan to see anything other than a snapshot. You can view livestreams, but that's usually too late.

We live in the woods and mainly use these cameras to watch for wildlife around the property, we have separate wired cameras for security.

I've looked around but can't find anything that is:

1) Outdoor (weatherproof)
2) Battery powered
3) Allows FREE recording and viewing of triggered events.

Has anyone found something like this?

Please don't suggest just paying for the Wyze subscription. I'm too cheap for that.

It's a little old school, but what about a trail cam?

A while back we used one to get some great footage of a fox family on our property raising their kits.

The cheaper ones simply record to a SD card that you collect periodically, but that worked well for us.

 

[gwill1010]

I've looked quite a bit. My conclusion is "No".

 

[Sojourner]

Arlo meets all those requirements, AFAIK. I have three battery powered Arlo cams mounted around the perimeter of my house, and I can watch any events they record to the cloud for free. Zero monthly fees of any kind. The recordings can be up to 30 seconds each and are saved in my Arlo/Netgear cloud account for two weeks.

 

[njhowie]

I've looked quite a bit. My conclusion is "No".

Incorrect conclusion.

Eufy
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7W76S21
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZ55JZ4S
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W1HKYQK
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QVFY58M
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B79Q4S4P
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DY4M5P1

Tapo
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKZK4JGK

 

[gwill1010]

Incorrect conclusion.

Eufy
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7W76S21
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZ55JZ4S
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W1HKYQK
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QVFY58M
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B79Q4S4P
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DY4M5P1

Tapo
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKZK4JGK

When the OP said "viewing event recordings without a subscription" I'm sure he meant online/cloud. I still think the answer is no.

 

[njhowie]

When the OP said "viewing event recordings without a subscription" I'm sure he meant online/cloud. I still think the answer is no.

Why would you assume that? Whether it's local on a hub, on a memory card, or in the cloud you have the same capability to review the recordings regardless of where you are physically.

Further, if you have your own storage, whether hub or memory card, the vendor can't pop up in the future and decide to begin charging you for accessing it, as is the situation here.

 

[Spock]

I've got 2 sets of Eufy's... 2 homebases, a total of about 8 cameras and 2 doorbells for monitoring 2 houses 1500 miles apart.
Lately I'm getting a little frustrated... I'll set the cams to human-only and I'll still get triggers when a pigeon lands on the driveway.
One of the PTZ cams goes bananas every time I manually pan around the room with repeated triggers... I have to disable it for a couple of hours and then turn it back on (all remotely) to get it to calm down.
One doorbell works as expected, the other can not be used for speaking with the visitor... I probably should have returned that one, but I installed it on a vacant home and left so I couldn't do much about it for a couple of months.
But they're cheap and don't require a subscription. They work OK for monitoring, but I wouldn't depend on them for security. I placed a couple of big dial thermometers within FOV to monitor temp over the winter. It served the purpose well for that.
ETA: If you put a thermometer in FOV, a red indicator against a white background is almost invisible using IR at night...

 

[Affinity4Investing]

It's a little old school, but what about a trail cam?

A while back we used one to get some great footage of a fox family on our property raising their kits.

The cheaper ones simply record to a SD card that you collect periodically, but that worked well for us.

Agreed. Sounds like a generic trail cam would do. Many have solar power/charging.

 

[gwill1010]

Why would you assume that? Whether it's local on a hub, on a memory card, or in the cloud you have the same capability to review the recordings regardless of where you are physically.

Further, if you have your own storage, whether hub or memory card, the vendor can't pop up in the future and decide to begin charging you for accessing it, as is the situation here.

I didn't think you could live stream w/o cloud storage, not sure why I thought that.

Since you know all about this... Regarding Eufy
Do you need homebase to stream over the internet and review recordings?
Pretty sure there's no support NAS or FTP, only sd card. If someone steals your camera and/or base you out of luck.

Eufy's documentation (On their website at least) is non existent. Would love to read a manual for the S220.

I have Wyze cams that I can remotely pan & tilt and was $31 on sale. $2/month for cloud, $10/month for unlimited cameras. We all wish we could design our own.

Thanks.

 

[njhowie]

Do you need homebase to stream over the internet and review recordings?

No. Using their app, you can stream directly from the camera - wherever you are. The app makes it seamless. The C120 (aka E40) camera is standalone as is the S230 (aka S40). They do not even have the ability to work with homebase. Newer cameras have homebase compatibility, but not required - the C210 and S220, for example.

Pretty sure there's no support NAS or FTP, only sd card. If someone steals your camera and/or base you out of luck.

Actually not even SD card. With Eufy, the memory is integrated. Tapo lets you use your own SD card.

Some of the cameras do provide NAS support, but I believe their future plans are to utilize homebase more.

The 2C camera (requires homebase) for example does provide NAS support:
https://community.anker.com/t/how-t...-to-stream-video-to-your-compatible-nas/64833

Eufy's documentation (On their website at least) is non existent. Would love to read a manual for the S220.

I don't believe there is a manual - there's just the small quick start booklet. On the website, there is a fair number of FAQs that they address.

You can buy it from Amazon, you have 30 days, and if it does not meet your expectations, you can always return it. I do see that the S220 is $99 right now for Prime Members, and that's a really great price for it.

I have a couple of the S230 cameras - prior version of the S220. The integrated solar panel keeps the battery always at 100%. It's been outside for 6 months now. I did have to get up on the ladder and clean some bird droppings off of one of them, but other than that, no issues. I also have few E40s (C120) and have $15 external solar panels plugged in. They do the equivalent and those cameras are also always at 100% charge.

I have Wyze cams that I can remotely pan & tilt and was $31 on sale. $2/month for cloud, $10/month for unlimited cameras. We all wish we could design our own.

For an outdoor wireless camera to have pan/tilt for $31 is really incredible.

 

[conversationalphrase]

Are you currently paying for an Apple iCloud+ subscription?

I pay Apple $2.99 per month for my iCloud+ subscription. That gives me 200GB of storage that I use for my photo collection and file storage. I would pay just for this.

However, that rate also gives me storage for up to 5 security cameras. The cameras need to support the Apple HomeKit integration. I have 2 indoor cameras from Eufy that work just fine. For 99 cents per month, you get support for 1 camera. For $9.99 per month, you get unlimited camera support.

Good to know, however I am and Android person.

It's a little old school, but what about a trail cam?

A while back we used one to get some great footage of a fox family on our property raising their kits.

The cheaper ones simply record to a SD card that you collect periodically, but that worked well for us.

I have two trail cams. They work great but you have to retrieve the memory card to view pics.

Arlo meets all those requirements, AFAIK. I have three battery powered Arlo cams mounted around the perimeter of my house, and I can watch any events they record to the cloud for free. Zero monthly fees of any kind. The recordings can be up to 30 seconds each and are saved in my Arlo/Netgear cloud account for two weeks.

I'm looking at Arlo cameras and it seems that they now require a subscription to Arlo Secure at $4.99/mo for cloud storage. It wasn't clear that I could retrieve video from the local SD card without a subscription. However, this wasn't entirely clear to me when I went to their website.

When the OP said "viewing event recordings without a subscription" I'm sure he meant online/cloud. I still think the answer is no.

I meant view remotely via the internet. Cloud storage is not required, my Wyze cameras have an SD card.






Eufy looks like it may be what I am looking for. I was not aware of them before this thread. Thank you to those who suggested them!

 

[MaxFIRE]

Check out Reolink. I have 3 outdoor cameras that are battery powered and use small solar charging panels. A fourth camera is plugged into AC power. These utilize SD cards for storage, and you can view live streams and recordings without a subscription.

 

[OldShooter]

Synology “Surveillance Station” free software handles everything locally but can be connected to via the internet. https://www.synology.com/en-us/surveillance Their camera offerings are POE I think but there appear to be a jillion compatible cameras. Probably some with WiFi.

Single or dual disk NAS boxes to run the software can be had for a few hundred bucks even new. Lots of used ones usually on eBay too. For example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/225716209360