Sponsored post and review, Posted January 10, 2019. Updated February 19, 2019.
For a while now, I have wanted to set up a security camera or system so I can monitor it from my iPhone. If I’m in my working on my laptop, working on an SEO project for a client or simply updating my Twitter or Facebook, my eyes and ears aren’t glued to the front door or whatever else is going on outside. For that reason, I’ve always I wanted to have a decent security camera setup.
Because of the unique nature the way my house is set up (I literally have a singlewide mobile home trailer inside the middle of my house), running wires and wireless signals aren’t very easy to get configured properly so they’ll work. I recently got the eufyCam E Wire-Free HD Security Camera from Anker, and I’m pleasantly surprised at the features and how it actually works for my unique situation. Anker Innovations sent me the eufyCam E Wire-Free HD Security Camera in exchange for a review of it. Here’s how the unboxing, setup, and using it has gone so far.
I understand that the eufyCam E Wire-Free HD Security Camera was part of a kickstarter campaign back in the Fall of 2018, and I honestly wasn’t aware of this camera or the fact that Anker made or sold security cameras. I’ve been a big fan of their other products, such as the batteries and chargers, and use them a lot. It looks like they’re using the battery technology in the eufyCam E Wire-Free HD Security Camera, and that’s why the camera is so heavy. I’ll get to that later. But it’s worth saying right up front: I’m very impressed that the battery in this wire free camera lasts 365 days after one 4 hour charge.
What’s In The Box
Here’s a view of the eufyCam E Wire-Free HD Security Camera and what you get in the box:
The camera was shipped by Amazon, and comes in one box. Here’s a few photos of the box it ships in, and the packaging:
As you can see, the camera is 1080p quality and IP65 weather proof. One charge for four hours equals 365 days of battery life, which is pretty impressive. If that changes, and I need to charge it at any point, I’ll update this post. The Kickstarter campaign says that most batteries last about 2 months for other cameras, so we’ll see if this statement is true. I’ll guess I’ll update this point in a year, hopefully.
The camera connects to your wifi, and you can see all of the videos that were recorded right on your iPhone using their app. The camera as an infrared motion sensing technology, and if it senses motion it will start recording and send an alert to your phone. At any time you can connect to the camera and watch the live video feed.
One comment that I do have about the packing, though: there are a lot of features and a lot of text on the back side of the box. I’d increase the font size of that text. I’d keep it the same, but even for someone my age, it’s difficult to read. Increasing the font size on the text on the back of the box will really help. I could imagine that if it’s tough for me to read, then someone who has worse eyesight would have to pull out their reading glasses in order to read it.
The box is packed really well, and there’s enough foam in there. That means that even the most dramatic and ambitious delivery drivers won’t be able to mess up this camera before it’s unpacked. Here’s a few photos of the box and it’s contents, and the camera itself:
The eufyCam E comes with a fairly large sticker, along with a smaller insert that tells you about their customer service:
I don’t plan on putting the sticker anywhere, but I guess it’s nice to have if you wanted to put it somewhere outside to notify people that they’re on camera.
eufyCam E Connection to Internet
One of the ways that the camera connects to the internet is through their home base unit. You have to connect the home base unit directly to your internet router. This is essentially an additional device that sends the signal to the camera. This is fine, as I could imagine that some people might not have wifi, they might actually only have a router. So, this home base unit is required, and it talks directly to the camera. You can also add additional cameras, as well. I plan on adding additional cameras later on.
Connect the home base directly to a router. I initially connected it to the main router, but I ended up connecting the home base directly to one of the Google Wifi devices that I have in the house, which is in another room. The location of the Google Wifi device was in a better location, which allows the home base to give a better signal to and from the camera and where I wanted to mount it. During the installation process, it allows you to check the signal strength once you have the app installed. I wanted to mount the camera in a better location, so I had to move the home base.
eufyCam E Mounts
The camera comes with two different mounts. One is an indoor mount and the other is a screw type mount where the camera screws directly to the base. Here’s a view of the eufyCam E Wire-Free HD Security Camera and it’s indoor mount. Notice that it mounts via a strong magnet.
I chose to use the outdoor mount, which is ceramic, and you screw it to the pole (I mounted it on a wooden pole), and then you screw the camera onto the ceramic mount. You can mount it in various directions. With a very large viewing area (the camera covers nearly 140 degrees, it actually covers just about all of the land that I own in front of my house, which is great. The motion detection, though, only really works for something that travels within about 30-40 feet of the camera, which is acceptable. It doesn’t work for me based on the amount of property I have, but it does allow for quite a view–although it isn’t always recorded. Additional cameras, strategically placed, will help. But if you’re in a typical neighborhood, this will work great.
eufyCam E Setup
The setup via the app was pretty easy, it the app walks you through the process. It didn’t take long. The base connects to your router, and plug in. You download the app, hit the button on the top of the home base, and go through the installation process. I think the most difficult part of it was deciding on the proper location to mount the camera.
eufyCam E Overall Impression
My overall impression of the eufyCam E is that it’s actually a great product. While I’ve only had it installed for a few hours, it totally fits my unique needs. I do like how the battery life is apparently 365 days after a 4 hour charge. The quality is good at 1080p, and that’s a lot better than other cameras that I’ve seen at this price point. The notifications on the app are a really good feature, and I have seen them work when I have walked in front of the camera. I do like the fact that it has face recognition, but I don’t think this particular version has it–it wouldn’t work or was greyed out on the app when I tried to set it up. Overall, for the price, the features are great, and it’s definitely worth it. I look forward to adding additional cameras, as well.
Update: One Month Using the eufyCam E
I’ve been using the eufyCam E for about 1.5 months now, and I can tell you that I’m pleasantly surprised with this wireless security camera. So far we haven’t had any issues at all with the battery, and have not had to charge it at all. I have not had a similar wireless camera installed that has the features that this camera and unit has. The main feature that I do like is the notification right on my iPhone that motion has been detected. I can either go directly to the app and bring up the live view of the camera and it’s audio, or I can watch the recording.
There has only really been one time when the camera went off unexpectedly, which was fairly rare: a bird flew in front of the camera. setting it off. We did try to change the sensitivity on the camera, and we moved it up to 100 percent. Turns on that 100 percent sensitivity is too sensitive (which is good?), and it had to be turned down to about 90 percent. The issue was that the wind blows really hard here in Texas sometimes, and there were things blowing around that set off the camera. Not a big deal–and changing it down to 90 percent fixed the issue.
So, as “one and a half month” update, I’m really very happy with the eufyCam E, and it’s features. We have two other family members that have the app on their smartphones, and they actually rely on it, just like I do. One is even out of state–but he enjoys keeping an eye on the house.
Update: 3 Months Using the eufyCam E
So, after 3 months of using the eufyCam E, I have to say that I’m really pleased. There have been some app updates, which is to be expected. A few times I’ve been logged out of the app, but it hasn’t been so many times that it’s been annoying or anything like that. It may have to do more with updates, etc. than anything else. We have had to tweak the sensitivity settings a bit to get them right for our particular camera location. For example, there have been days when it’s been really REALLY windy here in Texas, and there were some weeds or something else that we couldn’t figure out setting the camera off and giving us a notification on our phones. But just an adjustment down a few points (like going down from 95 to 90) was all it took. Will probably buy a few more cameras to add to this system, they’re that good.
Disclaimer: I was compensated with product in exchange for this post. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own and not influenced by the product manufacturer or it’s affiliated companies in any way.