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A second camera adds useful utility to this doorbell camera, but the limited resolution and some wireless hiccups may give you pause.
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The problem with doorbell cameras (at least as Wyze sees it) is that you can’t get a good view of them, even with a large fisheye lens. It’s a problem that’s perhaps most serious when a delivery person leaves a package in an unexpected place, perhaps right under the doorbell camera, where the lens can’t quite capture it.
So why not just add a second camera? The Wyze Duo Cam Doorbell does just that, offering a standard front-facing camera lens, plus a second lens built into the bottom of the chassis, angled so it’s just shy of pointing directly downward. It’s not a completely new idea, Maximus did it firstAnd Eufy has oneat. But Wyze does it for a lot less money.
Christopher Null/Foundry
Both lenses on Wyze’s doorbell camera are wide-angle, although the front-facing lens is more so. The primary lens has a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels, with a viewing angle of 132 degrees (horizontal) and 100 degrees (vertical). The bottom lens is a less advanced model of 1920 x 1080 pixels with a viewing angle of 121 degrees (horizontal) and 60 degrees (vertical). Both capture 20 frames per second during the day and 15 fps with active night vision. None of these specs are cutting edge, but they aren’t the worst I’ve seen.
At nearly 6″ x 2″ and more than 1″ deep, it’s a larger and heavier doorbell camera than those from other vendors – as well as Wyze’s own single-camera video doorbells – but that’s perhaps understandable given the extra electronics inside sit. The device has a rather hard industrial look, all black, with a large button under the primary camera lens. The button lights up with a blue ring when someone approaches.
This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best video doorbells.
The doorbell can be powered by the included 6200 mAh battery (the standard cell used for most battery-powered Wyze equipment) or can be connected to the doorbell’s existing low-voltage electrical wiring. It can be mounted on the wall so it can face straight forward or at an angle depending on the frame you choose, and can be secured with screws or double-sided tape. Both options are included in the box, along with the wire nuts and pigtail wires needed to make a wired connection. I tested the device with the battery configuration. Setting up the hardware was a trivial matter.
Christopher Null/Foundry
Wyze continues to streamline its app-based installation process to the point where, like hardware installation, this too is extremely simple and largely automated. Once you slide the battery into place, the camera is ready to connect in seconds. Select the doorbell from the Add device menu and the app will do the rest. You don’t have to do anything other than enter your Wi-Fi credentials. (Both 2.4 and 5GHz networks are supported.)
In use, the camera behaves like most other Wyze video gear, only adding a dual view to the mix. A live view from your camera shows the two video frames stacked on top of each other. Turning your phone sideways gives you a picture-in-picture view, with one frame appearing as a repositionable thumbnail. Tap the thumbnail and the secondary image switches places and fills the screen, sending the primary camera to the PiP.
Video can be saved to a local microSD card (not included, capacities up to 256 GB supported) or stored on Wyze’s cloud storage service. There are multiple ways to view recorded videos, including a slider that appears directly below the image that allows you to cycle through motion detection events. With the Cam Unlimited plan, these are categorized by type, including person, package, vehicle, pet and more, across multiple cameras. The Events tab at the bottom of the interface provides a thumbnail view of all events, while the Monitor tab offers even more flexibility by taking all the events of the day and turning them into an animated GIF. There’s no shortage of ways to slice and dice your footage in the app, especially if you have a subscription. Alexa, Google Assistant and IFTTT are all supported too.
Christopher Null/Foundry
One of the most important functions of any doorbell camera is of course that it also works as a doorbell. Although the device includes a speaker that sounds an audible chime outside, there’s also a Wyze Chime in the box, which plugs into your home’s power supply and obviously serves to extend the doorbell to a place where you can hear it. to belong. The Wyze Chime is set up using an identical process to the doorbell camera, in addition to acting as an extension for when the doorbell button is pressed. It can also be programmed to emit a sound signal when motion is detected or when certain types of activity (vehicle, person, etc.) are recorded. You can even change the volume as well as the specific sound used for each of these, so you can really customize the way you receive audio alerts.
Most of these features worked well in my testing, although I did experience occasional wireless stuttering, where it took a few seconds for the camera to reconnect, and several instances where the indoor signal took up to 15 seconds to make a connection. to transmit the ringing signal. I don’t know about you, but my UPS driver never waits that long for me to get to the door.
The video quality is hardly outstanding, but it is detailed enough to make out facial features from about 15 feet away, and slightly less so at night. The bottom camera is really designed to keep an eye on packages, and it does that well when the range is limited.
Christopher Null/Foundry
Wyze’s plans are both worthwhile and haven’t changed lately. Cam Plus ($3/month or $20/year) adds 14 days of cloud-based storage, plus detection of people, pets, vehicles, and packages, all with no cooldowns. Cam Unlimited ($10/month or $100/year) offers these multi-camera features plus additions to facial recognition features. The first is a particularly good price if you only have one camera at home.
At just $90, the Wyze Duo Cam Doorbell is a great deal, which sets the standard for everything Wyze has released since its inception. While the camera’s sensors could use a resolution update and the connection between the doorbell and the bell isn’t the most robust, it still makes for an attractive entry-level doorbell camera for areas where you might not have to worry about receive extremely timely notifications from visitors, but where you still want a more robust image.
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