This camera has worked well for me, a non-tech person. I have tried to answer as many of the common questions asked about this camera as I could.
I am not sure why, but there is a lot of misinformation out there, especially in some of the top reviews. Some of the problems have been fixed in software updates, but much of the information is just not correct. Hopefully these reviews will be updated at some point.
(Edit 8/11/2018 I have noticed many of those top reviews with bad info and most of those “camera caught the thief” video reviews are gone for some reason).
• You can download and watch videos on a PC with the free plan (in the last 24 hours)
• You can watch live stream on a computer via cloudcam.amazon.com
• You can turn off audio playback (from the app)
• You can invert the video (from the app)
• You can turn of the infrared night light (from the app)
UNPACKAGING
Package came on time and was without any damage, but there was no padding inside the shipping box. Included in the main box were the camera, USB cable, AC adaptor for 110 voltage, small setup manual, wall mount and two drywall screws (see photos).
OVERALL FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Camera seems well made and a little smaller than I thought it would be. All items were included and in good condition.
The image on the live view in daylight was good (see photo), images appeared sharp and easy to identify. Sound was crystal clear. I turned on the TV, went into another room and was easily able to watch the TV and hear the sound very clearly when it came through. There were some breakups of the sound at times though, making me miss some of the audio detail. But night vision is dark and grainy, it is not easy to make out items
SETUP
Set up took me less than 11 minutes which includes downloading the app and logging into all accounts. I am not a big tech guy but setup was quite easy. Basically you just plug the camera in to the AC adapter, download the Amazon Cloud Cam app to your phone, wait for the blue blinking light on the camera to change to a pulsating blue and green light, and you will hear a chime sound. This means the camera is ready for setup. Then you just hit the setup button on your phone and in about 3 minutes it is working. I am using a Moto E as my video source and for the app.
HOW IT WORKS
You can watch live view or see the video clips the camera took upon it detecting movement. It quickly took several short videos detecting movement when I walked around. I also received a sound and text notice on my phone of “Motion detected” every time it detected motion and took a video, and when I touch the notice it will play the video for me. I do seem to get a lot of “We were unable to play this video” error codes when I first try to play the video, but usually it will play when I hit the blue ‘replay’ button. I have not upgraded my plan so I will only get the last 24 hours of video. It does not take pictures but you can easily do this by just taking a screenshot (see photo) on your android phone, normally this is just hitting the power button and volume button at the same time. Or you could do a Print Screen on your computer when viewing recorded video clips. You can view the recorded videos AND download video clips from a PC with the free plan, just go to www.amazon.com/clouddrive, sign in, then when watching your videos in the upper right hand corner there is a download icon. You can also view live feed or videos up to 24 hours any time with the basic included plan on your cell phone or computer.
GLASS WINDOWS
It will take video through a window as it can detect movement. Image for me was still pretty good. But at night the infrared light will glare badly on the windows blurring your view almost completely. You can turn off the infrared light via the app though, and using just a porch light I captured cool videos of many animals at night.
WHAT I DO NOT LIKE
In my opinion this camera has poor night vision. It does have the ability to see live view from a computer even though many reviews say you cannot do this. Just go to cloudcam.amazon.com to set it up.
I set this camera up to watch my car in my driveway as a test, but at night even at low sensitivity it goes constantly, recoding everything. OK, no problem yet. But when I go to Amazon Drive, I see a lot of recorded videos that I just want to delete. But as of now, I have to look at each one individually, and then hit the delete button each time. I would think this could be MUCH easier. I might take a star off for this in the future (maybe it is just something I do not see or have figured out?).
Edit: Thx to “Regolith” who gave me an option to quickly delete the videos, see his/her two comments under the “comments” section, they worked well for me. It can work for the phone or the computer.
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ASKED
• You can download videos to a PC on the free plan in the last 24 hours
• You can view live stream on a PC via cloudcam.amazon.com
• It has no local SD storage
• Sound plays very clearly and loud
• You can turn off audio playback
• It only records if it detects movement
• This is an indoor camera only, it is not waterproof
• You can turn the camera on/off through the app
• When the camera detects motion, you receive a text and sound alert via a cell phone
• You can turn off the IR (infrared night light)
• It does not pan or zoom
• Night vision is dark and grainy, not easy to make out photos
• While camera viewing is wireless, it requires a wire to power it (it is not battery operated)
• You can have the camera image rotate 180 degrees for ceiling mounting
• Does not require a base station (some do, I have no idea what a base station is for)
THOUGHTS
I have not owned another camera to influence me one way or another.
I have continuously updated this review as I have used and tested this camera out. Sorry to write so much, I know most people do not like detailed long reviews but I always write what I would want to know about an item before I make a purchase. Any misinformation please let me know or if you have any questions please ask via comments, I will answer what I can.
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There is a lot of misinformation out there (Updated 6/16/2019)
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2017
This camera has worked well for me, a non-tech person. I have tried to answer as many of the common questions asked about this camera as I could.I am not sure why, but there is a lot of misinformation out there, especially in some of the top reviews. Some of the problems have been fixed in software updates, but much of the information is just not correct. Hopefully these reviews will be updated at some point.(Edit 8/11/2018 I have noticed many of those top reviews with bad info and most of those “camera caught the thief” video reviews are gone for some reason).• You can download and watch videos on a PC with the free plan (in the last 24 hours)• You can watch live stream on a computer via cloudcam.amazon.com• You can turn off audio playback (from the app)• You can invert the video (from the app)• You can turn of the infrared night light (from the app)UNPACKAGINGPackage came on time and was without any damage, but there was no padding inside the shipping box. Included in the main box were the camera, USB cable, AC adaptor for 110 voltage, small setup manual, wall mount and two drywall screws (see photos).OVERALL FIRST IMPRESSIONSCamera seems well made and a little smaller than I thought it would be. All items were included and in good condition.The image on the live view in daylight was good (see photo), images appeared sharp and easy to identify. Sound was crystal clear. I turned on the TV, went into another room and was easily able to watch the TV and hear the sound very clearly when it came through. There were some breakups of the sound at times though, making me miss some of the audio detail. But night vision is dark and grainy, it is not easy to make out itemsSETUPSet up took me less than 11 minutes which includes downloading the app and logging into all accounts. I am not a big tech guy but setup was quite easy. Basically you just plug the camera in to the AC adapter, download the Amazon Cloud Cam app to your phone, wait for the blue blinking light on the camera to change to a pulsating blue and green light, and you will hear a chime sound. This means the camera is ready for setup. Then you just hit the setup button on your phone and in about 3 minutes it is working. I am using a Moto E as my video source and for the app.HOW IT WORKSYou can watch live view or see the video clips the camera took upon it detecting movement. It quickly took several short videos detecting movement when I walked around. I also received a sound and text notice on my phone of “Motion detected” every time it detected motion and took a video, and when I touch the notice it will play the video for me. I do seem to get a lot of “We were unable to play this video” error codes when I first try to play the video, but usually it will play when I hit the blue ‘replay’ button. I have not upgraded my plan so I will only get the last 24 hours of video. It does not take pictures but you can easily do this by just taking a screenshot (see photo) on your android phone, normally this is just hitting the power button and volume button at the same time. Or you could do a Print Screen on your computer when viewing recorded video clips. You can view the recorded videos AND download video clips from a PC with the free plan, just go to www.amazon.com/clouddrive, sign in, then when watching your videos in the upper right hand corner there is a download icon. You can also view live feed or videos up to 24 hours any time with the basic included plan on your cell phone or computer.GLASS WINDOWSIt will take video through a window as it can detect movement. Image for me was still pretty good. But at night the infrared light will glare badly on the windows blurring your view almost completely. You can turn off the infrared light via the app though, and using just a porch light I captured cool videos of many animals at night.WHAT I DO NOT LIKEIn my opinion this camera has poor night vision. It does have the ability to see live view from a computer even though many reviews say you cannot do this. Just go to cloudcam.amazon.com to set it up.I set this camera up to watch my car in my driveway as a test, but at night even at low sensitivity it goes constantly, recoding everything. OK, no problem yet. But when I go to Amazon Drive, I see a lot of recorded videos that I just want to delete. But as of now, I have to look at each one individually, and then hit the delete button each time. I would think this could be MUCH easier. I might take a star off for this in the future (maybe it is just something I do not see or have figured out?).Edit: Thx to “Regolith” who gave me an option to quickly delete the videos, see his/her two comments under the “comments” section, they worked well for me. It can work for the phone or the computer.ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ASKED• You can download videos to a PC on the free plan in the last 24 hours• You can view live stream on a PC via cloudcam.amazon.com• It has no local SD storage• Sound plays very clearly and loud• You can turn off audio playback• It only records if it detects movement• This is an indoor camera only, it is not waterproof• You can turn the camera on/off through the app• When the camera detects motion, you receive a text and sound alert via a cell phone• You can turn off the IR (infrared night light)• It does not pan or zoom• Night vision is dark and grainy, not easy to make out photos• While camera viewing is wireless, it requires a wire to power it (it is not battery operated)• You can have the camera image rotate 180 degrees for ceiling mounting• Does not require a base station (some do, I have no idea what a base station is for)THOUGHTSI have not owned another camera to influence me one way or another.I have continuously updated this review as I have used and tested this camera out. Sorry to write so much, I know most people do not like detailed long reviews but I always write what I would want to know about an item before I make a purchase. Any misinformation please let me know or if you have any questions please ask via comments, I will answer what I can.
Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2017
Images in this review
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 12, 2017
I am not sure why, but there is a lot of misinformation out there, especially in some of the top reviews. Some of the problems have been fixed in software updates, but much of the information is just not correct. Hopefully these reviews will be updated at some point.
(Edit 8/11/2018 I have noticed many of those top reviews with bad info and most of those “camera caught the thief” video reviews are gone for some reason).
• You can download and watch videos on a PC with the free plan (in the last 24 hours)
• You can watch live stream on a computer via cloudcam.amazon.com
• You can turn off audio playback (from the app)
• You can invert the video (from the app)
• You can turn of the infrared night light (from the app)
UNPACKAGING
Package came on time and was without any damage, but there was no padding inside the shipping box. Included in the main box were the camera, USB cable, AC adaptor for 110 voltage, small setup manual, wall mount and two drywall screws (see photos).
OVERALL FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Camera seems well made and a little smaller than I thought it would be. All items were included and in good condition.
The image on the live view in daylight was good (see photo), images appeared sharp and easy to identify. Sound was crystal clear. I turned on the TV, went into another room and was easily able to watch the TV and hear the sound very clearly when it came through. There were some breakups of the sound at times though, making me miss some of the audio detail. But night vision is dark and grainy, it is not easy to make out items
SETUP
Set up took me less than 11 minutes which includes downloading the app and logging into all accounts. I am not a big tech guy but setup was quite easy. Basically you just plug the camera in to the AC adapter, download the Amazon Cloud Cam app to your phone, wait for the blue blinking light on the camera to change to a pulsating blue and green light, and you will hear a chime sound. This means the camera is ready for setup. Then you just hit the setup button on your phone and in about 3 minutes it is working. I am using a Moto E as my video source and for the app.
HOW IT WORKS
You can watch live view or see the video clips the camera took upon it detecting movement. It quickly took several short videos detecting movement when I walked around. I also received a sound and text notice on my phone of “Motion detected” every time it detected motion and took a video, and when I touch the notice it will play the video for me. I do seem to get a lot of “We were unable to play this video” error codes when I first try to play the video, but usually it will play when I hit the blue ‘replay’ button. I have not upgraded my plan so I will only get the last 24 hours of video. It does not take pictures but you can easily do this by just taking a screenshot (see photo) on your android phone, normally this is just hitting the power button and volume button at the same time. Or you could do a Print Screen on your computer when viewing recorded video clips. You can view the recorded videos AND download video clips from a PC with the free plan, just go to www.amazon.com/clouddrive, sign in, then when watching your videos in the upper right hand corner there is a download icon. You can also view live feed or videos up to 24 hours any time with the basic included plan on your cell phone or computer.
GLASS WINDOWS
It will take video through a window as it can detect movement. Image for me was still pretty good. But at night the infrared light will glare badly on the windows blurring your view almost completely. You can turn off the infrared light via the app though, and using just a porch light I captured cool videos of many animals at night.
WHAT I DO NOT LIKE
In my opinion this camera has poor night vision. It does have the ability to see live view from a computer even though many reviews say you cannot do this. Just go to cloudcam.amazon.com to set it up.
I set this camera up to watch my car in my driveway as a test, but at night even at low sensitivity it goes constantly, recoding everything. OK, no problem yet. But when I go to Amazon Drive, I see a lot of recorded videos that I just want to delete. But as of now, I have to look at each one individually, and then hit the delete button each time. I would think this could be MUCH easier. I might take a star off for this in the future (maybe it is just something I do not see or have figured out?).
Edit: Thx to “Regolith” who gave me an option to quickly delete the videos, see his/her two comments under the “comments” section, they worked well for me. It can work for the phone or the computer.
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ASKED
• You can download videos to a PC on the free plan in the last 24 hours
• You can view live stream on a PC via cloudcam.amazon.com
• It has no local SD storage
• Sound plays very clearly and loud
• You can turn off audio playback
• It only records if it detects movement
• This is an indoor camera only, it is not waterproof
• You can turn the camera on/off through the app
• When the camera detects motion, you receive a text and sound alert via a cell phone
• You can turn off the IR (infrared night light)
• It does not pan or zoom
• Night vision is dark and grainy, not easy to make out photos
• While camera viewing is wireless, it requires a wire to power it (it is not battery operated)
• You can have the camera image rotate 180 degrees for ceiling mounting
• Does not require a base station (some do, I have no idea what a base station is for)
THOUGHTS
I have not owned another camera to influence me one way or another.
I have continuously updated this review as I have used and tested this camera out. Sorry to write so much, I know most people do not like detailed long reviews but I always write what I would want to know about an item before I make a purchase. Any misinformation please let me know or if you have any questions please ask via comments, I will answer what I can.
There is a lot of misinformation out there (Updated 6/16/2019)
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 12, 2017
This camera has worked well for me, a non-tech person. I have tried to answer as many of the common questions asked about this camera as I could.Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 12, 2017
I am not sure why, but there is a lot of misinformation out there, especially in some of the top reviews. Some of the problems have been fixed in software updates, but much of the information is just not correct. Hopefully these reviews will be updated at some point.
(Edit 8/11/2018 I have noticed many of those top reviews with bad info and most of those “camera caught the thief” video reviews are gone for some reason).
• You can download and watch videos on a PC with the free plan (in the last 24 hours)
• You can watch live stream on a computer via cloudcam.amazon.com
• You can turn off audio playback (from the app)
• You can invert the video (from the app)
• You can turn of the infrared night light (from the app)
UNPACKAGING
Package came on time and was without any damage, but there was no padding inside the shipping box. Included in the main box were the camera, USB cable, AC adaptor for 110 voltage, small setup manual, wall mount and two drywall screws (see photos).
OVERALL FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Camera seems well made and a little smaller than I thought it would be. All items were included and in good condition.
The image on the live view in daylight was good (see photo), images appeared sharp and easy to identify. Sound was crystal clear. I turned on the TV, went into another room and was easily able to watch the TV and hear the sound very clearly when it came through. There were some breakups of the sound at times though, making me miss some of the audio detail. But night vision is dark and grainy, it is not easy to make out items
SETUP
Set up took me less than 11 minutes which includes downloading the app and logging into all accounts. I am not a big tech guy but setup was quite easy. Basically you just plug the camera in to the AC adapter, download the Amazon Cloud Cam app to your phone, wait for the blue blinking light on the camera to change to a pulsating blue and green light, and you will hear a chime sound. This means the camera is ready for setup. Then you just hit the setup button on your phone and in about 3 minutes it is working. I am using a Moto E as my video source and for the app.
HOW IT WORKS
You can watch live view or see the video clips the camera took upon it detecting movement. It quickly took several short videos detecting movement when I walked around. I also received a sound and text notice on my phone of “Motion detected” every time it detected motion and took a video, and when I touch the notice it will play the video for me. I do seem to get a lot of “We were unable to play this video” error codes when I first try to play the video, but usually it will play when I hit the blue ‘replay’ button. I have not upgraded my plan so I will only get the last 24 hours of video. It does not take pictures but you can easily do this by just taking a screenshot (see photo) on your android phone, normally this is just hitting the power button and volume button at the same time. Or you could do a Print Screen on your computer when viewing recorded video clips. You can view the recorded videos AND download video clips from a PC with the free plan, just go to www.amazon.com/clouddrive, sign in, then when watching your videos in the upper right hand corner there is a download icon. You can also view live feed or videos up to 24 hours any time with the basic included plan on your cell phone or computer.
GLASS WINDOWS
It will take video through a window as it can detect movement. Image for me was still pretty good. But at night the infrared light will glare badly on the windows blurring your view almost completely. You can turn off the infrared light via the app though, and using just a porch light I captured cool videos of many animals at night.
WHAT I DO NOT LIKE
In my opinion this camera has poor night vision. It does have the ability to see live view from a computer even though many reviews say you cannot do this. Just go to cloudcam.amazon.com to set it up.
I set this camera up to watch my car in my driveway as a test, but at night even at low sensitivity it goes constantly, recoding everything. OK, no problem yet. But when I go to Amazon Drive, I see a lot of recorded videos that I just want to delete. But as of now, I have to look at each one individually, and then hit the delete button each time. I would think this could be MUCH easier. I might take a star off for this in the future (maybe it is just something I do not see or have figured out?).
Edit: Thx to “Regolith” who gave me an option to quickly delete the videos, see his/her two comments under the “comments” section, they worked well for me. It can work for the phone or the computer.
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ASKED
• You can download videos to a PC on the free plan in the last 24 hours
• You can view live stream on a PC via cloudcam.amazon.com
• It has no local SD storage
• Sound plays very clearly and loud
• You can turn off audio playback
• It only records if it detects movement
• This is an indoor camera only, it is not waterproof
• You can turn the camera on/off through the app
• When the camera detects motion, you receive a text and sound alert via a cell phone
• You can turn off the IR (infrared night light)
• It does not pan or zoom
• Night vision is dark and grainy, not easy to make out photos
• While camera viewing is wireless, it requires a wire to power it (it is not battery operated)
• You can have the camera image rotate 180 degrees for ceiling mounting
• Does not require a base station (some do, I have no idea what a base station is for)
THOUGHTS
I have not owned another camera to influence me one way or another.
I have continuously updated this review as I have used and tested this camera out. Sorry to write so much, I know most people do not like detailed long reviews but I always write what I would want to know about an item before I make a purchase. Any misinformation please let me know or if you have any questions please ask via comments, I will answer what I can.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 7, 2019
PICTURE QUALITY:
Picture quality isn't everything if it doesn't do a stellar job in motion detection, people detection, alerting without being too noisy and ignored, and easy access to view such events. Honestly, the Cloud Cams picture quality is 3/5, but is still my pick and recommendation overall. Picture-wise, all the WiFi cameras seem fine for indoors. But even though it is "HD" remember it isn't focusing like a normal camera that focuses variably at a specific distance or else it is blurry. So overall it looks fine, but nothing like a still photo from a camera that focuses. The Cloud Cams are really nothing compared to the wired HD+ IP-based security camera system I have outside which has a much better focal length and night vision. I was most surprised at the Amazon Cloud Cam picture quality seeming the least in picture quality. But as I have found out, that is really not the point of the indoor cameras for me, it is noticing an intruder, not trying to catch them after the fact.
MOTION DETECTION & ALERTS:
None of my other cameras can detect motion, people, and alert me to legitimate cases as well without false alarms as the stellar service Cloud Cam does. You can have them turn on only when you phone leaves the home so you don't get alerts while you are home. But you will when a family member is home when you are not. But you have a lot of control for how frequently you want it to notify you. I choose once every 4-hours, but you can go longer or shorter depending on how noisy you want it to be. Surprisingly, others don't seem to offer this level of flexibility to mitigate noisy alerts. I get alerts from every camera when my wife comes home before me, but it is at the time she would come home and I just wipe and ignore, and don't get bugged again unless I am 4+ hours late. But if it isn't timed right, then I want to know. When I took my first trip away from my house, these were such a peace of mind to have. Every alert was legitimate movement. I saw a bug fly by, a spider, a temporary curtain partially fall down after tape let go from the wall.
SERVICE PLANS:
I find that 5 Cloud Cams are the optimal number to combine with their very reasonably priced cloud service package that for the same price supports up to a certain number at each price tier. For the easiest and most reliable remote viewing and alerting for any camera, you really need it backed by a cloud service so it can notify you and pull up the clip instantly for what was going on, and go back a bit in time. For all of the WiFi cameras of any kind, you can view the live stream just fine, and most let it save to a local SD card, but usually never let you remotely view it without grabbing the SD card and view it directly or paying for some extra service. I don't bother much with SD cards because I never end up watching it. I want to know when something unexpected happens and see what is going on, especially when I am not there. Just look at the Ring doorbell reviews for people who liked it while they had the service, but didn't when they didn't pay for it. In my opinion, the two best priced service plans for surveillance things are Amazon & Ring because everything isn't "a la carte" and they have scale to keep costs low. I suspect that Blink, Arlo, and Nest may be reasonable and reliable too. Honestly, I'd only trust cloud storage with a reputable large US company to save & stream securely.
VERSUS OTHER CAMERAS:
Honestly, the most difficult and tech savvy solution was the Swann 12-camera wired surveillance system and really tricky to get remote viewing to work, but still my 2nd favorite. But I wish Amazon's cloud service could replace its remote access app that is so hard to make work. Nobody seems to make a great surveillance NVR or DVR for excellent remote viewing and alerts. For all other cameras, I actually have to keep my username and password with me because I always find that apps eventually make me login again, or when I do something doesn't work and I have to tinker with the camera again. I just want to set it and forget it, until I am alerted when I should be, and be able to see what is going on. Cloud Cam is the one that does that.
DRAWBACKS:
(1) Overall picture quality not as sharp as some other cameras.
(2) Kind of expensive for the camera itself, but you will save a lot on the cloud service plan, and be better off for it than with higher recurring charges.
The Best Overall for Easy & Reliable Remote Alerting & Viewing Motion Alerts
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 7, 2019
I own a lot of security cameras, and Amazon Cloud Cam is by far the easiest and most reliable to alert you and view, and the only one fully recommend to my friends & family. I have 5 Amazon Cloud Cams, WiFi indoor cameras from TP-Link (PZT), D_Link, Bosma (X1) and Oco, and a 12-camera wired surveillance system from Swann (better-than-HD, digital, and PoE with NVR for continuous recordings and access). But I have no opinion yet on Ring Security cameras that I plan to eventually add to my Ring Alarm system. All of the others I have tried over the years are more cumbersome to setup and keep access working through the app, or their alerts are less reliable, or too noisy with notices, or possibly too risky of back-end infrastructure that I am not comfortable with. You can count on Amazon to be backed by their own secure & reliable cloud computing and storage, and develop an intuitive UI that is easy to setup and use, and access that is immaculately reliable. All others work, but with more drawbacks. Cloud Cam is the only one I currently recommend to my non-tech-savvy parents and relatives.Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 7, 2019
PICTURE QUALITY:
Picture quality isn't everything if it doesn't do a stellar job in motion detection, people detection, alerting without being too noisy and ignored, and easy access to view such events. Honestly, the Cloud Cams picture quality is 3/5, but is still my pick and recommendation overall. Picture-wise, all the WiFi cameras seem fine for indoors. But even though it is "HD" remember it isn't focusing like a normal camera that focuses variably at a specific distance or else it is blurry. So overall it looks fine, but nothing like a still photo from a camera that focuses. The Cloud Cams are really nothing compared to the wired HD+ IP-based security camera system I have outside which has a much better focal length and night vision. I was most surprised at the Amazon Cloud Cam picture quality seeming the least in picture quality. But as I have found out, that is really not the point of the indoor cameras for me, it is noticing an intruder, not trying to catch them after the fact.
MOTION DETECTION & ALERTS:
None of my other cameras can detect motion, people, and alert me to legitimate cases as well without false alarms as the stellar service Cloud Cam does. You can have them turn on only when you phone leaves the home so you don't get alerts while you are home. But you will when a family member is home when you are not. But you have a lot of control for how frequently you want it to notify you. I choose once every 4-hours, but you can go longer or shorter depending on how noisy you want it to be. Surprisingly, others don't seem to offer this level of flexibility to mitigate noisy alerts. I get alerts from every camera when my wife comes home before me, but it is at the time she would come home and I just wipe and ignore, and don't get bugged again unless I am 4+ hours late. But if it isn't timed right, then I want to know. When I took my first trip away from my house, these were such a peace of mind to have. Every alert was legitimate movement. I saw a bug fly by, a spider, a temporary curtain partially fall down after tape let go from the wall.
SERVICE PLANS:
I find that 5 Cloud Cams are the optimal number to combine with their very reasonably priced cloud service package that for the same price supports up to a certain number at each price tier. For the easiest and most reliable remote viewing and alerting for any camera, you really need it backed by a cloud service so it can notify you and pull up the clip instantly for what was going on, and go back a bit in time. For all of the WiFi cameras of any kind, you can view the live stream just fine, and most let it save to a local SD card, but usually never let you remotely view it without grabbing the SD card and view it directly or paying for some extra service. I don't bother much with SD cards because I never end up watching it. I want to know when something unexpected happens and see what is going on, especially when I am not there. Just look at the Ring doorbell reviews for people who liked it while they had the service, but didn't when they didn't pay for it. In my opinion, the two best priced service plans for surveillance things are Amazon & Ring because everything isn't "a la carte" and they have scale to keep costs low. I suspect that Blink, Arlo, and Nest may be reasonable and reliable too. Honestly, I'd only trust cloud storage with a reputable large US company to save & stream securely.
VERSUS OTHER CAMERAS:
Honestly, the most difficult and tech savvy solution was the Swann 12-camera wired surveillance system and really tricky to get remote viewing to work, but still my 2nd favorite. But I wish Amazon's cloud service could replace its remote access app that is so hard to make work. Nobody seems to make a great surveillance NVR or DVR for excellent remote viewing and alerts. For all other cameras, I actually have to keep my username and password with me because I always find that apps eventually make me login again, or when I do something doesn't work and I have to tinker with the camera again. I just want to set it and forget it, until I am alerted when I should be, and be able to see what is going on. Cloud Cam is the one that does that.
DRAWBACKS:
(1) Overall picture quality not as sharp as some other cameras.
(2) Kind of expensive for the camera itself, but you will save a lot on the cloud service plan, and be better off for it than with higher recurring charges.
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