I never love making a negative video, but when I figured out everything that was going on, I knew I had to. Next video is another fun smart home tour, subscribe so you don't miss it!
The truth is important to get out there. If someone is willing to put up with the downsides then at least they know up front and are able to make an informed decision.
this is exactly the public service that a channel on YT we need. Exposing these awful products and making buyers aware of the shady tactics some companies will resort to. Thanks for all your effort on our behalf.
I appreciate you calling this stuff out. It’s not fun being negative, but we do need to call out the problems and most of us don’t have the effect you do with your platform and reach.
Imagine 15 years ago HAVING a doorbell that provides HD video you can access from anywhere, notifications, and recording along with backup cloud storage. For free. And the company actually stayed in business. Now THAT would be ridiculous.
@@slottybadfast8826I grew up with a knocker, no bell. I now have a bell with no camera - I'm still alive, nothing bad has happened. Imagine being so scared you need a doorbell with a camera.
It's working how they want it... it makes them money more than the sale of the product... and most of them have no way to run it without their service... which even the free gives data they can sell (geolocation, how often you get packages, how often people come/go, how often the button is pressed... and also time of day...), with cellphone, it can track your location...
The eufy issue was also unencrypted video feeds being transmitted to their servers regardless of what settings you said even though they said it was all local. Not just snapshots…
@@1jzMKIII You need to tell that to some seriously reputable tech channels...they all apparently are wrong. With your backdoor knowledge, you need to educate them.
Well done! These camera subscriptions need to stop! DO NOT BUY ANY PRODUCT WITH A SUBSCRIPTION. They will change when their sales drop off a cliff. The problem is... this info needs to go viral.
There are a few options...charge more for the product, pay for it with ads, or pay to use it. The third option, sell a product at low profit margin and provide free and ad-free services for life...well, their sales will still drop off a cliff because they'll not be in business for long.
As an owner of the Eufy Doorbell you featured I agree that it is great and I have the Homebase so all the videos are stored in my home. I don't use the notification thumbnails and can open the app and see whats up in seconds. The cloud issue was way overblown in my opinion and I am very happy with all my Eufy Cameras and lights.
i'm here because Ring are putting up their subscription cost again, £60 a year to record 30 second clips! I'm specifically looking at the eufy doorbells and I agree, i don't really care if the Chinese government know what time I get home from work and how many times a week I get an amazon delivery.
So, Eufy+Homebase doesn't require anything outside the house? I might need to revisit that. I tried Eufy, didn't get the result I wanted, set it aside and tried an Amcrest doorbell. What I was looking for was a bell that would stream video to a 3rd party thing called zonekeeper, that I was trying out. It manages multiple camera streams, with alerts, and you can designate zones in the camera view that should be ignored. That stops it alerting on plants waving in the breeze.
Good video, I love my Reolink Wifi doorbell, it may not have a ton of features, but at least its not tied to subscription, works with Home Assistant, and isnt sharing my video.
I'm glad to hear this. I have the V2 door bell and I haven't noticed this yet. The problem I had with the V2 door bell is I didn't read in to it enough to know that it wouldn't work with the v1 chime. It never said it did but being that it is a V2 product I assumed it wouldn't remove features.
Hard to believe this one. Nice damage control though. Already returned mine and getting ready to transition away from all Wyze products. Your shift to subscription first mindset has ruined the good thing we had going. The Wyze glory days are over :(
I have had a Eufy doorbell camera for a couple of years now. Amazing , no monthly fees and you can add extra cameras if you want for other doors. Eufy is the only way to go , great camera and no extra monthly fees.
Highly unlikely. First of all some one would have to break into the house , which is possible, then they would have to locate then remove the base , which is also possible , but putting all scenarios together highly unlikely. You could make it easy for the thieves and put the base at the front door for them , but thats only if they know what the base looks like, so there again highly unlikely but possible.
Yeah no, I don't trust any company that was so insecure with their shit that, at 1 point in time, literally all you needed was a browser link to get live feed of people's cameras. There's no room for fuck ups when it comes to data security, they fucked up once already and deserve to be canned for their failure.
@@hosseinsabouri3121If you buy the doorbell with a repeater or a homebase then no. The data storage can be inserted into either of those and will be placed in your house.
The eufy issue wasn't so much that the thumbs and video were stored on the cloud it was how they were stored. Not being encrypted and easily viewed made the lie about storage so much worse and destroyed trust. Since then they made it clear where they are stored and encrypted things but it's real hard to get the trust back.
It doesn't have notification thumbnails without paying though. Sure, that's fine if you can compensate with home assistant or something. But I'd never get one for my parents.
Thank you for the honesty here. Ecobee burned a lot of trust on this one at the announcement. This is strike two after the door and window sensors also require a subscription.
An important part of the Ecobee value proposition is how it fits into the integration of sensors and cameras that are used for multiple purposes. If you value the integration then the Ecobee may be an excellent choice. I like how it uses the temperature sensors and camera and doorbells to provide energy conservation, monitoring doors, doorbell and security when away. It provides viewing within HomeKit and doorbell signaling. Display on the thermostat is something easy to do but very limited value. Overall, I am happy so far.
Moving from Ring to Reolink was a gamechanger for me. Even without offloading to a NAS, the local storage has been more than enough. PoE or AC, LAN or WiFi, local storage (SD) or NAS, mobile and desktop applications. It took a little more time and tweaking to get it right, but but it's been great so far.
I would definitely get the Eufy doorbell and there Camaras because it's like a One time payment. You pay for it once, and it's yours for life. Just how i like it. 😌💰
I commented this YESTERDAY on felllow UA-camr Technithusiast’s video about how their home was attempted to be broken into, and how they felt their smart home had failed, but I think it’s relevant here too… “ I think it’s insane that you need a subscription for any kind of recording with your camera like, I wouldn’t mind if they would 1. Give you a limited amount of time to mark your records as important with some kind of limit to the amount of saved ones you can have, and any not marked as important would delete after the short period of time! Or 2. Some way to allow on site recording to your own storage even if it’s not something your average user my do! I mean don’t purposefully obfuscate it but it doesn’t necessarily need to be plug and play But it’s insane that they can put such a major feature of a camera, recording behind a monthly paywall especially for something that can prevent crimes!!!!!! ”
I really don't like how so many companies are pushing subscriptions. Like it's a video doorbell. We've had cameras and doorbells for a long time. Why is it so hard to just make something slightly more expensive so it doesn't require a subscription. And the things that are behind a paywall are just ridiculous. Sure, 24/7 video recording. It makes sense. The companies have to maintain their servers, which costs money. But a cooldown on notifications? Like does it really cost that much more money to send a notification?
2:50 Hi Reed, Wyze has changed the Cooldown to 1 minute to solve the Issue with the doorbell, I have a Wyze Cam Including the Wyze Doorbell V2, I had a SD Card for 24/7 Recording and It works fine
The Wyze is kinda a Chinese company too. Also, you should have included the Reolink doorbell, it runs locally so you don't need internet and has on board storage with an SD card and 24/7 recording or you can use an NVR and the SD card is on the back so it's not easy to steal, also you need a special tool (or any pointy tool like a small screw driver in case you lose the tool) to remove the doorbell unlike the Wyze which you can just pop off. Last but not least it has 2.4 and 5 ghz wifi and even has ethernet if you want to prevent interference or deliberate jamming of the wifi signal and a much higher resolution. It doesn't have as tall an aspect ratio for seeing packages under it which is the only real downside. I guess you could say it's a Chinese company as well. Cloud recording is option for a fee or free trial which you can extend indefinitely but you don't need the cloud other than for rich notifications (and as additional backup to SD card and NVR).
Wyze, is a U.S. company based in Seattle, Washington, that specializes in smart home products and wireless cameras. Wyze Labs is a small start-up, formed by former Amazon employees..
A good topic to cover. I paid more for a Nest doorbell as it does all the basic stuff I needed without subscription. As an added bonus it alerts me on multiple google devices around the house, and my watch.
Thanks Reed, tired of features you want being tied behind a paywall! Love to see you make a video showing the best outdoor doorbell cameras that give you all the goodies without a monthly fee! Thanks!
Thanks for raising some of these pitfalls. I think all of the doorbell systems are missing support for apartments. Needing to have a doorbell unit down as the main building entrance but also one next to the apartment door. Well thats how it is in my part of the world. Not sure if on the other side of the Atlantic you have the same requirements for Condos and Apartments for two doorbell units to work as one. Maybe there is a system which can be paired.
I have an outdoor POE camera at my front door recording 24/7 and then I have a plain simple door bell button connected to the alarm input of the camera. A push on the door bell button gives a notification on my phone and then I just open 2 way audio. as simple as that.
This is why I have moved to Reolink. No monthly subscriptions. Only thing I still have is a ring doorbell because it rings all my Alexa devices and shows me who’s at the door.
I agree with you that it's deceptive to auto enroll people in a trial and not call out that features will be lost when it ends if they don't subscribe. But after looking at the subscription cost and comparing to Google and Ring (which are the two platforms I would go with since I don't want a Chinese company to run my smart home devices, thanks), they are all pretty similar. My home also has two Ecobee Premium thermostats and I like that I will be able view the doorbell on them, that they chime, and any Homepod or Echo devices I add will also chime. The Ecobee subscription is $5/month. A cup of coffee each day costs that so people kind of need to keep it in perspective.
I fully agree. All these companies are looking for recurring revenue streams and turning their products into services. I'm fine if it's really cutting edge features, but not for basic ones like notifications or watch the footage from the day or last few days. I finally got rid of the Ring 2 I bought 5 years ago because of that and was looking for a doorbell where I didn't have to pay for most features. I finally bought the latest doorbell from a small brand called Aosu. It's quite a clever set up: the 5MP doorbell (can be wired or battery) connects to a chime inside the house. All the footage is stored inside the chime so there's not chance of getting an SD card stolen. They do have a paid cloud offering that also has AI detection, but it's completely optional. I travelled abroad and was able to access video recordings for free very quickly. Notifications work well and are fast. The only slight downside is the battery if the motion detection is set to very sensitive. It lasted 2 months. But with adjustment it seems to be much better and hopefully will get close to the promised 5-6 months. It's not the cheapest doorbell at £120 or $150, but still worth it without monthly fees.
I had the first Wyze doorbell, which was great with cam plus, but it would constantly drop from the network or take forever to load. even with a WAP less than 20 feet away.. I changed to an Amcrest AD410 and it's rock solid. the night quality is worse with IR/"night vision", so I leave my porch light on at night using a shelly relay and timers, but I've been happy with it.
Paying for a subscription sounds awful, but I think we’re too used to things being free. Those servers cost money and you’re only buying that doorbell once. How do we know the company will still be around in 20 years? The consumer in me says by the time the company goes out of business there will be better options. But that’s an awful attitude for our plant. Personally, I always buy stuff that works locally with HomeAssistant. And I get not everyone can or should setup a homelab, but that’s why there’s a paid option for people without the know how.
Dude I really appreciate it. I was using my Wyze robot vacuum just now and saw the ad for the doorbell. I’m glad I searched Wyze vs Eufy doorbell and found your video. I have two Eufy doorbells and I really like them.
I have been struggling with the whole doorbell/camera issue for some time and I have switched products more often than is even healthy. I'm still looking for the ideal solution. Nest - Expensive plan, ridiculous cool-off period between notifications, unreliable service since Google purchased them Ring - poor, compressed 1080p footage, issues with live view even with a strong connection, no 24/7 recording option, expensive plan, inaccurate people detection Eufy - Issues with live view, even with a strong connection, inaccurate people detection Wyze - Expensive plan, horrible AI detection, notification issues I looked into Unifi, but aside from the cost of replacing all of my hardware, the individual camera prices are kind of high. I appreciate you making this video as you pointed out a lot of the same problems I have noticed with these products, but I'm no closer to finding a good solution for my needs.
I have a "Ring" door bell which is now owned by Google. The original was returned after several months because it didn't work and it was replaced for free. The present one when someone pushes the button, it rings in the house, but not on my phone. Both Rings that I've had are slow to start recording, so if someone comes and steals a package, by the time it starts recording the person is out of range. The audio is also not good at all, I would not buy a "Ring" again. The Ring also has a yearly subscription which I pay. Thanks for your review.
We've got the Eufy Security 2K doorbell and its detection and alerts are both amazing and atrocious at the same time. What's excellent? Well, it very quickly detects cars, people, pets, moving tree limbs, stationary car tire rims, sunlight reflecting off of the packaging sitting on the porch...... and you get near-immediate notifications! Often four or five times within a single minute for the same detection! So it has excellent detection and notification speed. Our prior doorbell was a Google Nest and the notifications were very slow, up to 30 or 45 seconds after a detection had actually occurred, and then it might take well over a minute to actually connect to the doorbell to view the event, so by then the person who rung your doorbell is already leaving. But as for Eufy, I love how fast the detection is but the actual detection itself is often times complete garbage. My tire rims on my truck are five spoke, and for some reason I guess the doorbell thinks that a gingerbread man is standing in the yard? Or it'll detect a bright spot on a piece of tape on an Amazon package as a "human"..... but supposedly this thing has machine learning.... And there's no way to decrease the number of detections per minute like you have in most any other doorbell I've ever used. There were times we'd literally get identical "human" notifications twice within a ten second span, and there's zero way to stop this! I think Eufy is probably the best of the best as far as detection and notification speed as well as how quickly you can access an event's footage after it happened through the app, but the detection itself is just absolute dog shit.
The eufy one you ticked in the thumbnail I actually used 2 days ago, and when the person was talking back to me I could hear myself echoing with about a 5-10 second delay lol but the features are good with no subscription, because one thing that worries me about getting into smart home renovations is subscriptions. I don't wanna be paying a monthly fee for something I buy.
For the Wtyze doorbell, you mentioned clicking on the notification only goes to a snapshot but from there is there an icon you can click that brings directly to the motion event video on the microsd?
There is indeed. It's a button that says "jump to SD" and it takes your directly to that point in the full 24/7 recording. Thus it's not really a drawback but a feature, to me.
This is why I ended up going with the Ubiquiti Unifi Protect ecosystem. It doesn't integrate as well with other smart home tech. But, all the recording/features are on-prem and you pay once. No recurring monthly fees or anything. They're more expensive but I'm not paying for them forever. And you get new features as they add them to the Unifi Protect included with your purchase.
What has been your experience with human recognition? Facial recognition? I enjoy that Eufy *locally* processes the video and I do not have tons of unnecessary clips of myself.
I use Blink for doorbell and external cameras with local USB storage on my router. I get notifications in real time when motion is detected. No monthly fees required. You can view all clips with the Blink app on your phone. They have the “press to talk” option. I just have to remember to disable the system when I am working outside so I do not get tons of notifications.
I have a BUNCH of Wyze cams in two different states, and in three separate locations. I subscribe to the Cam Plus unlimited plan on a yearly plan to cover ALL of my cams. It's worth the annual expense because no other setup can come close to what I get (including hardware and subscription fees). If you only want a doorbell, I completely understand the reaction you demonstrated in this video, but for someone like me, this option is an incredible deal! 😃 The point in that the Wyze cam has an easily accessible micro-sd card, if you're a Cam Plus subscriber (not necessary in all situations), then if a person walks up and somehow knows this specifically is a Wyze Doorbell v2, and goes to remove the memory card, the video will have already been uploaded to the cloud. No memory card is needed because of the elapsed time from being triggered by the person's presence, and the video is being uploaded to the cloud. All things considered, I believe your review was a bit on the shallow side of not considering other situations where the Wyze option could be a good option for someone in my situation. I do appreciate that you did the review. It's not easy to stay on top of the ever-changing available options.
The only camera I would be interested in is one where no company has access to it. More than happy to configure port forwarding and dyndns to make it work. I know that's a niche but if there's a good quality product that caters to it I'd be interested. I used an old smartphone once but it didn't survive very long with the camera on constantly.
I opted for the Aqara Smart Video Doorbell G4. No fees incurred after original purchase. No time restricted features implemented. Can record video 24/7 to SD card stored on internal chime device. Or can opt to save video to NAS. Some people don't like the look or size of it. I do. So, I am a happy customer.
I have the wyze cam v2 . It seems like the winner overall . it’s great ! Also has that feature that you love on the eufy . Plays a sound message when someone is near or goes in that selected area .
4:06 you overlooked that the whole unit isn’t secured to the wall so not only is it easy to steal the sd card, but with a little yank you can steal the entire unit!
I’m a Home Automation Professional for over ten years, with over 50 Yelp reviews, ALL 5-Stars. The ecobee thermostat was the absolute *worst piece of carp* I’ve ever tried out.
Since I'm an ecobee thermostat user I got notified when the doorbell came out and was excited until I learned it's homekit compatible but doesn't use homekit secure video. Whomever made that decision cost them an enormous amount of sales. Since that can probably be fixed with software, I hope they see the light when they don't see the sales.
Out of the box, it's a very piecemeal solution. We get some features but not others. I firmly believe (and have observed) that a lot of these solutions are of the "see a need, fill multiple wants" type of products. That said, I'm an advocate of the "create a custom solution" to have all the features you'd like, if that's something that both interests the user _and_ something they're willing to put in the effort to learn. Scrypted using an Amcrest AD410 and an Aqara Smart Button make a fantastic doorbell system. Everything stays (or can stay) local; is supported by HKSV, and it's quite affordable. But being a self-admin for smart home thingies isn't everyone's cup of tea and for some people, it's not cognitively possible.
Love my Wyze v2. I live in the suburbs where the cooldown isn’t even close to an issue. I get maybe 3 notifications per week. I also was a bit surprised about the position of the SD slot but if I’m going to steal the card, I’m ripping the entire thing off and running.
Hey, thanks for the video. I've a short question. Is the Eufy video feed still p2p or finally RTSP? thanks for the answer and keep up the good work. greetings
Unifi door bell $299, and pretty sure it requires requires a $199+ NVR, FAR too much for someone that only wants a doorbell, and i personally think Unifi has gone overboard with their pricing
I've had a Eufy doorbell for over 6 months now (in the UK BTW)and no issues at all with it and it connects to google assistant amongst others. As its not wired into the mains, its needed charging only twice in that time. Where its positioned it looks over the fence and has spotted my crazy bat shit neighbour throwing rubbish across the fence. She has always denied it, I went and told her I now had video evidence, no more rubbish!!
Even if these companies change their scummy sub practices in the future, I would thoroughly boycott them for about a decade. The fact that they thought that blackmailing customers and holding their marketing promises hostage was a good thing in the first place tells me a lot about their future products. If they let up and then you give the company a try, later when you're already heavily invested in the ecosystem and would be asspensive to switch, that's when they sabotage you and hit you hard with this BS again.
I am looking into an option that beats them all with a raspberry pi. Yup I'm looking to make a raspberry pi doorbell that will record and save to a drive on a personal intranet, allows me to talk to someone at the door.
Don't buy eufy because they dont support 24/7 recording on their own basestation or RTSP or SD card. there is no reason why they cant support this other than mixed messages. I have complained and all you get is the company line that they take these things seriously. I swear Eufy has different departments that make each camera.... Eufy is such a liar to their all local and record to their dock.. its moton events only and it misses half the events.. They need to enable 24/7 recording and rtsp or their doorbells are useless!!!
Hmmm.... you must have different Eufy Cameras than I do. I only buy their 24/7 Cameras... The Battery powered ones are just event based. Every 24/7 Camera will have an SD Card slot that you can use as a backup to the Homebase. Dont tell people not to buy if you dont know all the facts...
@@1jzMKIII So what options do you have for doorbell? that's right none because they refuse to add 24/7 recording to their wired doorbells even though it's been begged for. Only certain cameras connect to their home base. The company is a joke of salt and pepper options and it's impossible to know what devices support what features. I went to Reolink 3 months ago and EVERY wired camera supports all the same features. 24/7 recording, RTSP, ONVIF, FTP, EMAIL they literally have a blanket statement that says this. That is how you run a camera company instead of leaving the user to figure out what cameras support what features. even their support has no clue and is AI run, Their baby camera does not support 24/7 recording so their AI told me to buy a GoPro to capture those precious memories.. WTF eufy?? Oh and the fact that I got paid $800 USD because they had no username or password on their baby camera. I got paid for finding the bug AKA eufy leaving the door wide open! Do not use their cameras!!!
The cloud is someone else's computer. I am trying the Hikvision variety that works with my NVR for local storage and will install it soon. I am sure it has goofy stuff about it too
Yeah there's no shot I'll install some cloud connected doorbell camera. Just not happening. Eufy for instance have massive warning signs about security already and not the best reputation. Door locks and cameras, neither's getting cloud-connected over here, no way.
I never love making a negative video, but when I figured out everything that was going on, I knew I had to. Next video is another fun smart home tour, subscribe so you don't miss it!
At this point, is there a smart doorbell that doesn't suck?
If I see a review with no negative points I know that it's a paid-for review and I'm not likely to trust it. So I appreciate your honesty. 👍
Great job on this video.
The truth is important to get out there. If someone is willing to put up with the downsides then at least they know up front and are able to make an informed decision.
You did a great job!
this is exactly the public service that a channel on YT we need. Exposing these awful products and making buyers aware of the shady tactics some companies will resort to. Thanks for all your effort on our behalf.
I appreciate you calling this stuff out. It’s not fun being negative, but we do need to call out the problems and most of us don’t have the effect you do with your platform and reach.
Imagine if you'd been told 15 years ago that you'd need to pay a subscription for your doorbell. You'd think it was the most ridiculous idea ever.
Imagine 15 years ago HAVING a doorbell that provides HD video you can access from anywhere, notifications, and recording along with backup cloud storage. For free. And the company actually stayed in business. Now THAT would be ridiculous.
It's not just cloud storage though is it.
@@slottybadfast8826I grew up with a knocker, no bell. I now have a bell with no camera - I'm still alive, nothing bad has happened.
Imagine being so scared you need a doorbell with a camera.
@@thebrowns5337I love the “knocker”
@@slottybadfast8826i guess a few more years and the only way to use a fridge is by subscription. Crazy world.😢
Thank you for being honest and real. Companies need to be called out on their BS. Putting this out there is the only way we will get this stuff fixed!
It's working how they want it... it makes them money more than the sale of the product... and most of them have no way to run it without their service... which even the free gives data they can sell (geolocation, how often you get packages, how often people come/go, how often the button is pressed... and also time of day...), with cellphone, it can track your location...
Great call outs Reed! These are so easy to miss when deciding on a doorbell.
The eufy issue was also unencrypted video feeds being transmitted to their servers regardless of what settings you said even though they said it was all local. Not just snapshots…
Exactly, crazy that this was overlooked in this video.
That was speculated and never confirmed... This has been talked about and basically debunked.
@@1jzMKIII You need to tell that to some seriously reputable tech channels...they all apparently are wrong. With your backdoor knowledge, you need to educate them.
@@1jzMKIIIthat’s completely straight up false. Weird you’re simping for them
@@claycassin8437 Watch the video from the hook up, and then come back with all of your knowledge...
that cooldown is insane
Well done! These camera subscriptions need to stop! DO NOT BUY ANY PRODUCT WITH A SUBSCRIPTION. They will change when their sales drop off a cliff. The problem is... this info needs to go viral.
There are a few options...charge more for the product, pay for it with ads, or pay to use it. The third option, sell a product at low profit margin and provide free and ad-free services for life...well, their sales will still drop off a cliff because they'll not be in business for long.
Reolink Video Doorbell is now the best option. 5MP and works with NVR, ONVIF, Blue Iris....
LMAO!! I love how you did the Spouse Approval droppage!
As an owner of the Eufy Doorbell you featured I agree that it is great and I have the Homebase so all the videos are stored in my home. I don't use the notification thumbnails and can open the app and see whats up in seconds. The cloud issue was way overblown in my opinion and I am very happy with all my Eufy Cameras and lights.
i'm here because Ring are putting up their subscription cost again, £60 a year to record 30 second clips! I'm specifically looking at the eufy doorbells and I agree, i don't really care if the Chinese government know what time I get home from work and how many times a week I get an amazon delivery.
So, Eufy+Homebase doesn't require anything outside the house? I might need to revisit that. I tried Eufy, didn't get the result I wanted, set it aside and tried an Amcrest doorbell. What I was looking for was a bell that would stream video to a 3rd party thing called zonekeeper, that I was trying out. It manages multiple camera streams, with alerts, and you can designate zones in the camera view that should be ignored. That stops it alerting on plants waving in the breeze.
@@jezhayesdid you buy a eufy? I am looking to get away from ring and their subscription basic plan of 50 a year. Would like your input
I have a Eufy cam in my house and have found it to largely reliable but connecting to it from my work is hit or miss.
Love the honesty in this video since I've been looking at door cam's and have always been skeptical on which ones are actually worth paying for
Videos like this make UA-cam a more precious place. Keep up the good work
Good video, I love my Reolink Wifi doorbell, it may not have a ton of features, but at least its not tied to subscription, works with Home Assistant, and isnt sharing my video.
Woah. Thanks for the heads up on this, the 5 minute delay on doorbell presses is actually a firmware bug. Our team is working on this right now.
I'm glad to hear this. I have the V2 door bell and I haven't noticed this yet. The problem I had with the V2 door bell is I didn't read in to it enough to know that it wouldn't work with the v1 chime. It never said it did but being that it is a V2 product I assumed it wouldn't remove features.
Hard to believe this one. Nice damage control though.
Already returned mine and getting ready to transition away from all Wyze products. Your shift to subscription first mindset has ruined the good thing we had going. The Wyze glory days are over :(
Was about to say that 5 minute delay is some shady mcshady stuff
The update to fix this is going into Beta release today. Thank you so much for flagging this @SmartHomeSolver!
LOL😂🤣Bug, yeah right!!, what you wanted was more 💰💰💸💸🤑🤑from people you thought were potential sucke.....im mean customers!!!!
THANK YOU for the info and honesty. I get that companies need to make money, but subscriptions have gotten out of control.
I have had a Eufy doorbell camera for a couple of years now. Amazing , no monthly fees and you can add extra cameras if you want for other doors. Eufy is the only way to go , great camera and no extra monthly fees.
In case of theft, you would lose all your data and all recordings are gone right????
Highly unlikely. First of all some one would have to break into the house , which is possible, then they would have to locate then remove the base , which is also possible , but putting all scenarios together highly unlikely. You could make it easy for the thieves and put the base at the front door for them , but thats only if they know what the base looks like, so there again highly unlikely but possible.
Yeah no, I don't trust any company that was so insecure with their shit that, at 1 point in time, literally all you needed was a browser link to get live feed of people's cameras. There's no room for fuck ups when it comes to data security, they fucked up once already and deserve to be canned for their failure.
@@hosseinsabouri3121they don't need to steal the unit to steal your data when you have 1 of the least secure door cams on the market.
@@hosseinsabouri3121If you buy the doorbell with a repeater or a homebase then no. The data storage can be inserted into either of those and will be placed in your house.
Great video! I was actually looking at the ecobee doorbell, but I’m running the other way now 😂
The eufy issue wasn't so much that the thumbs and video were stored on the cloud it was how they were stored. Not being encrypted and easily viewed made the lie about storage so much worse and destroyed trust. Since then they made it clear where they are stored and encrypted things but it's real hard to get the trust back.
I have eufy and happy with it .
Left ring 3 years ago just because of their monthly subscription and 1080p 🤦
1080p is 2k.
@@MrPHUCKYOURSELF 2K resolution (QHD) has a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels, while 1080p (Full HD) has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels...
I've said it before, and I'll say it again (and again): I love the cutaway scenes/gags. So creative and amusing.
loving the reolink poe, records to sd card and blue iris nvr with great quality video. Has a wealth of control in home assistant.
It doesn't have notification thumbnails without paying though. Sure, that's fine if you can compensate with home assistant or something. But I'd never get one for my parents.
You have to pay for rich notifications thumbnails that's just so wrong especially if you have the camera NVR system
@@obi1998 that's a bummer, makes the google wired gen2 more worthwhile
Thank you for the honesty here. Ecobee burned a lot of trust on this one at the announcement. This is strike two after the door and window sensors also require a subscription.
I use the Reolink Video Doorbell PoE and I'm very pleased with it.
An important part of the Ecobee value proposition is how it fits into the integration of sensors and cameras that are used for multiple purposes. If you value the integration then the Ecobee may be an excellent choice. I like how it uses the temperature sensors and camera and doorbells to provide energy conservation, monitoring doors, doorbell and security when away. It provides viewing within HomeKit and doorbell signaling. Display on the thermostat is something easy to do but very limited value. Overall, I am happy so far.
Moving from Ring to Reolink was a gamechanger for me. Even without offloading to a NAS, the local storage has been more than enough. PoE or AC, LAN or WiFi, local storage (SD) or NAS, mobile and desktop applications. It took a little more time and tweaking to get it right, but but it's been great so far.
Hey Reed, nice job! You forgot to include a link to your Unifi doorbell! Details please..
I would definitely get the Eufy doorbell and there Camaras because it's like a One time payment. You pay for it once, and it's yours for life. Just how i like it. 😌💰
Unless they go out of business. Then their servers will no longer be active so you won't be able to remotely view the camera.
Bingo. This is why 100% local is the only way (for me, at least).
@@ACAIDC They are owned by Anker... They wont go out of business... They may be bought out... but they will be around for many years
I commented this YESTERDAY on felllow UA-camr Technithusiast’s video about how their home was attempted to be broken into, and how they felt their smart home had failed,
but I think it’s relevant here too…
“ I think it’s insane that you need a subscription for any kind of recording with your camera like, I wouldn’t mind if they would
1. Give you a limited amount of time to mark your records as important with some kind of limit to the amount of saved ones you can have, and any not marked as important would delete after the short period of time!
Or
2. Some way to allow on site recording to your own storage even if it’s not something your average user my do! I mean don’t purposefully obfuscate it but it doesn’t necessarily need to be plug and play
But it’s insane that they can put such a major feature of a camera, recording behind a monthly paywall especially for something that can prevent crimes!!!!!! ”
did you try out the reolink doorbell yet?
I really don't like how so many companies are pushing subscriptions. Like it's a video doorbell. We've had cameras and doorbells for a long time. Why is it so hard to just make something slightly more expensive so it doesn't require a subscription. And the things that are behind a paywall are just ridiculous. Sure, 24/7 video recording. It makes sense. The companies have to maintain their servers, which costs money. But a cooldown on notifications? Like does it really cost that much more money to send a notification?
Disgusting consumer practices! Your reviews can save so many people from these predatory companies. Thanks
2:50 Hi Reed, Wyze has changed the Cooldown to 1 minute to solve the Issue with the doorbell, I have a Wyze Cam Including the Wyze Doorbell V2, I had a SD Card for 24/7 Recording and It works fine
The Wyze is kinda a Chinese company too. Also, you should have included the Reolink doorbell, it runs locally so you don't need internet and has on board storage with an SD card and 24/7 recording or you can use an NVR and the SD card is on the back so it's not easy to steal, also you need a special tool (or any pointy tool like a small screw driver in case you lose the tool) to remove the doorbell unlike the Wyze which you can just pop off. Last but not least it has 2.4 and 5 ghz wifi and even has ethernet if you want to prevent interference or deliberate jamming of the wifi signal and a much higher resolution. It doesn't have as tall an aspect ratio for seeing packages under it which is the only real downside. I guess you could say it's a Chinese company as well. Cloud recording is option for a fee or free trial which you can extend indefinitely but you don't need the cloud other than for rich notifications (and as additional backup to SD card and NVR).
Wyze, is a U.S. company based in Seattle, Washington, that specializes in smart home products and wireless cameras. Wyze Labs is a small start-up, formed by former Amazon employees..
Love the Spousal approval decreasing part of the vid!
When hard wired the battery works like a power backup. Eufy is by far the best doorbell security by far.
A good topic to cover. I paid more for a Nest doorbell as it does all the basic stuff I needed without subscription. As an added bonus it alerts me on multiple google devices around the house, and my watch.
Thanks Reed, tired of features you want being tied behind a paywall! Love to see you make a video showing the best outdoor doorbell cameras that give you all the goodies without a monthly fee! Thanks!
Thanks for raising some of these pitfalls. I think all of the doorbell systems are missing support for apartments. Needing to have a doorbell unit down as the main building entrance but also one next to the apartment door. Well thats how it is in my part of the world. Not sure if on the other side of the Atlantic you have the same requirements for Condos and Apartments for two doorbell units to work as one. Maybe there is a system which can be paired.
I have an outdoor POE camera at my front door recording 24/7 and then I have a plain simple door bell button connected to the alarm input of the camera. A push on the door bell button gives a notification on my phone and then I just open 2 way audio. as simple as that.
Ring doorbell gone and Eufy is amazing!!
This is why I have moved to Reolink. No monthly subscriptions. Only thing I still have is a ring doorbell because it rings all my Alexa devices and shows me who’s at the door.
Kids plus subscription! We need this dude.
I agree with you that it's deceptive to auto enroll people in a trial and not call out that features will be lost when it ends if they don't subscribe. But after looking at the subscription cost and comparing to Google and Ring (which are the two platforms I would go with since I don't want a Chinese company to run my smart home devices, thanks), they are all pretty similar. My home also has two Ecobee Premium thermostats and I like that I will be able view the doorbell on them, that they chime, and any Homepod or Echo devices I add will also chime.
The Ecobee subscription is $5/month. A cup of coffee each day costs that so people kind of need to keep it in perspective.
1:48 that's a missed dad joke opportunity there: Ecobee carefull!
Great video, keep it up 👍🏾 💯
Appreciate the honest reviews Reed!
I fully agree. All these companies are looking for recurring revenue streams and turning their products into services. I'm fine if it's really cutting edge features, but not for basic ones like notifications or watch the footage from the day or last few days. I finally got rid of the Ring 2 I bought 5 years ago because of that and was looking for a doorbell where I didn't have to pay for most features. I finally bought the latest doorbell from a small brand called Aosu. It's quite a clever set up: the 5MP doorbell (can be wired or battery) connects to a chime inside the house. All the footage is stored inside the chime so there's not chance of getting an SD card stolen. They do have a paid cloud offering that also has AI detection, but it's completely optional. I travelled abroad and was able to access video recordings for free very quickly. Notifications work well and are fast. The only slight downside is the battery if the motion detection is set to very sensitive. It lasted 2 months. But with adjustment it seems to be much better and hopefully will get close to the promised 5-6 months. It's not the cheapest doorbell at £120 or $150, but still worth it without monthly fees.
I had the first Wyze doorbell, which was great with cam plus, but it would constantly drop from the network or take forever to load. even with a WAP less than 20 feet away.. I changed to an Amcrest AD410 and it's rock solid. the night quality is worse with IR/"night vision", so I leave my porch light on at night using a shelly relay and timers, but I've been happy with it.
What do you think about the Reolink doorbell cam?
Paying for a subscription sounds awful, but I think we’re too used to things being free. Those servers cost money and you’re only buying that doorbell once. How do we know the company will still be around in 20 years? The consumer in me says by the time the company goes out of business there will be better options. But that’s an awful attitude for our plant. Personally, I always buy stuff that works locally with HomeAssistant. And I get not everyone can or should setup a homelab, but that’s why there’s a paid option for people without the know how.
I have a Reolink PoE and I'm really happy with it.
Dude I really appreciate it. I was using my Wyze robot vacuum just now and saw the ad for the doorbell. I’m glad I searched Wyze vs Eufy doorbell and found your video. I have two Eufy doorbells and I really like them.
I understand the main point was to talk about the paywalls, but curious how the Wyze V2 Doorbell holds up if we're already subscribed to Wyze.
I have been struggling with the whole doorbell/camera issue for some time and I have switched products more often than is even healthy. I'm still looking for the ideal solution.
Nest - Expensive plan, ridiculous cool-off period between notifications, unreliable service since Google purchased them
Ring - poor, compressed 1080p footage, issues with live view even with a strong connection, no 24/7 recording option, expensive plan, inaccurate people detection
Eufy - Issues with live view, even with a strong connection, inaccurate people detection
Wyze - Expensive plan, horrible AI detection, notification issues
I looked into Unifi, but aside from the cost of replacing all of my hardware, the individual camera prices are kind of high. I appreciate you making this video as you pointed out a lot of the same problems I have noticed with these products, but I'm no closer to finding a good solution for my needs.
Try out the reolink been brilliant especially being poe with extetnal recording to eg blue iris
reolink or unifi
I have a "Ring" door bell which is now owned by Google. The original was returned after several months because it didn't work and it was replaced for free. The present one when someone pushes the button, it rings in the house, but not on my phone. Both Rings that I've had are slow to start recording, so if someone comes and steals a package, by the time it starts recording the person is out of range. The audio is also not good at all, I would not buy a "Ring" again. The Ring also has a yearly subscription which I pay. Thanks for your review.
We've got the Eufy Security 2K doorbell and its detection and alerts are both amazing and atrocious at the same time. What's excellent? Well, it very quickly detects cars, people, pets, moving tree limbs, stationary car tire rims, sunlight reflecting off of the packaging sitting on the porch...... and you get near-immediate notifications! Often four or five times within a single minute for the same detection! So it has excellent detection and notification speed. Our prior doorbell was a Google Nest and the notifications were very slow, up to 30 or 45 seconds after a detection had actually occurred, and then it might take well over a minute to actually connect to the doorbell to view the event, so by then the person who rung your doorbell is already leaving. But as for Eufy, I love how fast the detection is but the actual detection itself is often times complete garbage. My tire rims on my truck are five spoke, and for some reason I guess the doorbell thinks that a gingerbread man is standing in the yard? Or it'll detect a bright spot on a piece of tape on an Amazon package as a "human"..... but supposedly this thing has machine learning.... And there's no way to decrease the number of detections per minute like you have in most any other doorbell I've ever used. There were times we'd literally get identical "human" notifications twice within a ten second span, and there's zero way to stop this! I think Eufy is probably the best of the best as far as detection and notification speed as well as how quickly you can access an event's footage after it happened through the app, but the detection itself is just absolute dog shit.
The eufy one you ticked in the thumbnail I actually used 2 days ago, and when the person was talking back to me I could hear myself echoing with about a 5-10 second delay lol but the features are good with no subscription, because one thing that worries me about getting into smart home renovations is subscriptions. I don't wanna be paying a monthly fee for something I buy.
Lots more REAALY BAD news about Eufy since this video was made! Definitely don't buy Eufy!
For the Wtyze doorbell, you mentioned clicking on the notification only goes to a snapshot but from there is there an icon you can click that brings directly to the motion event video on the microsd?
There is indeed. It's a button that says "jump to SD" and it takes your directly to that point in the full 24/7 recording. Thus it's not really a drawback but a feature, to me.
So without a subscription, do you still get a notification from motion triggered events or only from doorbell presses?
This is why I ended up going with the Ubiquiti Unifi Protect ecosystem. It doesn't integrate as well with other smart home tech. But, all the recording/features are on-prem and you pay once. No recurring monthly fees or anything. They're more expensive but I'm not paying for them forever. And you get new features as they add them to the Unifi Protect included with your purchase.
What has been your experience with human recognition? Facial recognition?
I enjoy that Eufy *locally* processes the video and I do not have tons of unnecessary clips of myself.
Thanks. I got the Ring doorbell and Eufy cameras , I got notification galore lol
I use Blink for doorbell and external cameras with local USB storage on my router. I get notifications in real time when motion is detected. No monthly fees required. You can view all clips with the Blink app on your phone. They have the “press to talk” option. I just have to remember to disable the system when I am working outside so I do not get tons of notifications.
Appreciate the work here. Yes Ecobee was a hug disappointment.
The trial window thing got me with the Ring. Amazon still agreed to a return
I have a BUNCH of Wyze cams in two different states, and in three separate locations. I subscribe to the Cam Plus unlimited plan on a yearly plan to cover ALL of my cams. It's worth the annual expense because no other setup can come close to what I get (including hardware and subscription fees).
If you only want a doorbell, I completely understand the reaction you demonstrated in this video, but for someone like me, this option is an incredible deal! 😃
The point in that the Wyze cam has an easily accessible micro-sd card, if you're a Cam Plus subscriber (not necessary in all situations), then if a person walks up and somehow knows this specifically is a Wyze Doorbell v2, and goes to remove the memory card, the video will have already been uploaded to the cloud. No memory card is needed because of the elapsed time from being triggered by the person's presence, and the video is being uploaded to the cloud.
All things considered, I believe your review was a bit on the shallow side of not considering other situations where the Wyze option could be a good option for someone in my situation.
I do appreciate that you did the review. It's not easy to stay on top of the ever-changing available options.
The only camera I would be interested in is one where no company has access to it. More than happy to configure port forwarding and dyndns to make it work. I know that's a niche but if there's a good quality product that caters to it I'd be interested. I used an old smartphone once but it didn't survive very long with the camera on constantly.
I opted for the Aqara Smart Video Doorbell G4.
No fees incurred after original purchase.
No time restricted features implemented.
Can record video 24/7 to SD card stored on internal chime device.
Or can opt to save video to NAS.
Some people don't like the look or size of it.
I do.
So, I am a happy customer.
Integrity ✅ I applaud your courage for helping so many people starting out from getting bait and switch by all these companies. Sub'd!
Would love to hear your thoughts about the Reolink. Just bought it but haven't moved into my new house yet.
The only negative I can think of is that they don't use pre-existing chimes.
The outro on this one was *chef’s kiss* 🤌🏽
This is why the Reolink 5MP is the way to go. It has RTSP so you can add it to your NVR or Home Assistant. No monthly fees!
The end is so cute. Love it!
I have the wyze cam v2 . It seems like the winner overall . it’s great ! Also has that feature that you love on the eufy . Plays a sound message when someone is near or goes in that selected area .
Same, combined with other cams and sensors it's the best bet. Gives me what I need. Throw an SD card in and rely on that for video.
4:06 you overlooked that the whole unit isn’t secured to the wall so not only is it easy to steal the sd card, but with a little yank you can steal the entire unit!
I’m a Home Automation Professional for over ten years, with over 50 Yelp reviews, ALL 5-Stars. The ecobee thermostat was the absolute *worst piece of carp* I’ve ever tried out.
Since I'm an ecobee thermostat user I got notified when the doorbell came out and was excited until I learned it's homekit compatible but doesn't use homekit secure video. Whomever made that decision cost them an enormous amount of sales. Since that can probably be fixed with software, I hope they see the light when they don't see the sales.
Out of the box, it's a very piecemeal solution. We get some features but not others. I firmly believe (and have observed) that a lot of these solutions are of the "see a need, fill multiple wants" type of products.
That said, I'm an advocate of the "create a custom solution" to have all the features you'd like, if that's something that both interests the user _and_ something they're willing to put in the effort to learn.
Scrypted using an Amcrest AD410 and an Aqara Smart Button make a fantastic doorbell system. Everything stays (or can stay) local; is supported by HKSV, and it's quite affordable. But being a self-admin for smart home thingies isn't everyone's cup of tea and for some people, it's not cognitively possible.
Love my Wyze v2. I live in the suburbs where the cooldown isn’t even close to an issue. I get maybe 3 notifications per week.
I also was a bit surprised about the position of the SD slot but if I’m going to steal the card, I’m ripping the entire thing off and running.
Wyze just released their Duo Cam Doorbell today that looks oddly like this, with improvements.
Hey, thanks for the video. I've a short question. Is the Eufy video feed still p2p or finally RTSP? thanks for the answer and keep up the good work. greetings
My Wemo door bell has been great! I just wish it had color night vision
You are not being negative, just factual. Thank you for this! The "Kid Plus Plan." Funny!
Unifi door bell $299, and pretty sure it requires requires a $199+ NVR, FAR too much for someone that only wants a doorbell, and i personally think Unifi has gone overboard with their pricing
I've had a Eufy doorbell for over 6 months now (in the UK BTW)and no issues at all with it and it connects to google assistant amongst others. As its not wired into the mains, its needed charging only twice in that time. Where its positioned it looks over the fence and has spotted my crazy bat shit neighbour throwing rubbish across the fence. She has always denied it, I went and told her I now had video evidence, no more rubbish!!
Even if these companies change their scummy sub practices in the future, I would thoroughly boycott them for about a decade. The fact that they thought that blackmailing customers and holding their marketing promises hostage was a good thing in the first place tells me a lot about their future products. If they let up and then you give the company a try, later when you're already heavily invested in the ecosystem and would be asspensive to switch, that's when they sabotage you and hit you hard with this BS again.
The Eufy would be almost perfect if it was compatible with Blue Iris. Check out the Reolink doorbell camera!
I just use a conventional door bell. I do have another security camera mounted on top of my front door tho.
For the super cheap subscription for Wyze though, you get probably the best doorbell camera out there with the subscription included.
thanks for being a voice for the rest of us
Great video! Yet another reason why having fully local functionality is better.
Reolink doorbell, fully offline (no cloud BS requirements), pair it up with Frigate and Home-Assistant and you're all set.
I am looking into an option that beats them all with a raspberry pi. Yup I'm looking to make a raspberry pi doorbell that will record and save to a drive on a personal intranet, allows me to talk to someone at the door.
Don't buy eufy because they dont support 24/7 recording on their own basestation or RTSP or SD card. there is no reason why they cant support this other than mixed messages. I have complained and all you get is the company line that they take these things seriously. I swear Eufy has different departments that make each camera.... Eufy is such a liar to their all local and record to their dock.. its moton events only and it misses half the events.. They need to enable 24/7 recording and rtsp or their doorbells are useless!!!
Hmmm.... you must have different Eufy Cameras than I do. I only buy their 24/7 Cameras... The Battery powered ones are just event based. Every 24/7 Camera will have an SD Card slot that you can use as a backup to the Homebase. Dont tell people not to buy if you dont know all the facts...
Mine seems to record everything I want. I just have to do a lil pruning from time to time and delete stuff. Rather do that than pay a subscription.
@@1jzMKIII So what options do you have for doorbell? that's right none because they refuse to add 24/7 recording to their wired doorbells even though it's been begged for. Only certain cameras connect to their home base. The company is a joke of salt and pepper options and it's impossible to know what devices support what features. I went to Reolink 3 months ago and EVERY wired camera supports all the same features. 24/7 recording, RTSP, ONVIF, FTP, EMAIL they literally have a blanket statement that says this. That is how you run a camera company instead of leaving the user to figure out what cameras support what features. even their support has no clue and is AI run, Their baby camera does not support 24/7 recording so their AI told me to buy a GoPro to capture those precious memories.. WTF eufy?? Oh and the fact that I got paid $800 USD because they had no username or password on their baby camera. I got paid for finding the bug AKA eufy leaving the door wide open! Do not use their cameras!!!
@@Orangestardust Never said they don't record I said it's all over the place what cameras support 24/7 recording what ones only do motion recording.
Reolink, doorbell has local storage and no subscription. $99. Home assistant sees it and can alert off it
The cloud is someone else's computer. I am trying the Hikvision variety that works with my NVR for local storage and will install it soon. I am sure it has goofy stuff about it too
Would love to see a Doorbell cam, that is 100% local, with homeassistant integration
That would be the Unifi doorbells then. Mine works flawlessly in homeassistant, and is 100% local storage on a NVR.
Kudos to you for pointing out the issues with these products but you're still happy to earn from sales of them! :-)
Yeah there's no shot I'll install some cloud connected doorbell camera. Just not happening. Eufy for instance have massive warning signs about security already and not the best reputation. Door locks and cameras, neither's getting cloud-connected over here, no way.