Review: eufyCam 2C Wireless Home Security Camera System

I hate the Internet of Things. It's a load of overpriced junk, which abuses your privacy and demands a monthly fee in return. That's why I was pleasantly surprised to see this fall out of the eufyCam 2C box.

There's no monthly fee. The recordings stay in your home. The batteries last for ages. I can get on board with this! The package costs around £220 (discount of £40 if you use my code) and you get a smart-hub, two cameras, mounting points, and some flat ethernet cable.

Set-up was easy. Install the requisite app (Android version worked fine), plug in the bits, and follow the on screen instructions. Took less than 5 minutes. There's almost zero configuration - that's because it comes with its own WiFi network. You don't have to fiddle connecting the cameras to your existing network, they connect to its own hub. That also means that guests on your WiFi network won't see the cameras. There are some lovely audio prompts from the hub to explain what you need to do.

Video quality was excellent, even in low light. The 1080p is super clear and the infrared works well. You can set movement detection zones so that it isn't set off by people walking by your home. It also uses thermal detection, rather than just looking for movement in the frame. Again, it means that a leaf blowing through your garden doesn't set the alarm off.

Audio was adequate - as a bonus, you can speak to people through the cameras! Hold down the mic button in the app. Or you can have an alarm sound when movement is detected. Again, volume was fine considering the small size of the camera.

The app lets you add guests - so multiple people in your household can get alerts. That's pretty handy. You can adjust the sensitivity of the detection algorithm, and tell it not to alert you when you're at home.

The mounting points came with screws and rawlplugs. But I used No More Nails adhesive to stick them to my walls - the cameras are pretty light.

Downsides

The Android app is pretty good. There are a few weird translations, but it's generally easy to use.

There's no 2FA for the website, so you have to use a strong password. On the subject of passwords... You're limited to 20 characters. But the app seems to let you enter more than 20 characters! It silently truncates it. Worse, not all the password fields in the system are limited to 20. I spent an annoying half an hour trying to work out why my password was failing!

The battery life claims 180 days. That means you have to mount the cameras somewhere hard for burglars to reach - but easy for you to get to. I ended up hanging out of a window to ensure optimal positioning. Because...

The camera mounts are firmly attached to the wall - but the camera is screwed into the mount via a plastic cover. Anyone can walk up and unscrew them with their fingers; no tools required. I'd have preferred something which at least required a screwdriver or allen key - something to make it a little more difficult to snatch them away. Of course, the cameras are pretty useless if they get stolen. And you want to be able to easily access them every 6 months for a recharge. Speaking of which...

On the bottom, covered by a little rubber flap, is a micro-USB recharging socket. They recharged pretty quickly, but I wish they were USB-C; like everything else in my house.

Openness

Bit of a mixed bag. The recordings all stay local to your home - but there's no direct way to access them apart from using the app. But, the hub will generate an RTSP stream which you can record on an external box. That's pretty nifty!

There are a few GitHub projects which work with EufyCam, but it is early days.

I'll spend the next few months seeing if I can bodge anything together. There's a lively community on the Eufy forums.

Verdict

No cloud! No subscription! No hassle! No brainer! If you want to stick up a couple of cameras and have everything just work - you can't go wrong with the Eufy Cam 2C.

Discount!

There's a £40 discount when you use my referral link.