Nest Cam (battery) review

 

    Price and availability Nest Cam at Amazon for $129.99 The Nest Cam sells for $179. Pre-orders commenced in early August 2021, and the digital digicam is formally on sale today (August 24). It best is available in one color: White. Nest gives some add-ons for the digital digicam, consisting of a desk stand ($20) and a weatherproof cable ($35). However, the 1/3-birthday birthday celebration Wasserstein gives some of add-ons for the Nest Cam, consisting of sun panels, an anti-robbery mount, and a floodlight attachment.

 

 Nest Cam (battery) review: Design and installation

 

    The Nest Cam seems quite just like older gadgets that endure its name: it has a cylindrical frame with a flat face and rounded again. Its minimalist layout makes it seem like some thing you’d choose out up withinside the kitchen phase at IKEA. On the lowest is a screw mount, a port to connect a charging cable, and a small speaker. At the very again is a small button to reset the digital digicam. While you may use the screw mount, the curved rear of the digital digicam is designed to paintings with the covered magnetic base. This makes it some distance simpler to put the digital digicam than a few type of swivel mount. However, it additionally makes it some distance simpler to take away than different cameras, in order an introduced safety measure, the Nest Cam won’t activate till it’s on its mount (which you may’t purchase separately). Also covered withinside the container is a chunk to screw the bottom right into a wall or ceiling, and more than one screws and anchors.

 

 Nest Cam (battery) review: Audio and video performance

 

    As with maximum safety cameras, the Nest Cam has a decision of 1080p, which proved masses sharp in my tests. Night imaginative and prescient is rather clean I ought to effortlessly make out the phrases on my shirt. Among the great safety cameras, the Arlo Pro three and Arlo Pro four have 2K cameras, whilst the Arlo Ultra 2 boasts a 4K cam; they use their better resolutions to allow virtual pan-and-zoom. With this feature, they could routinely zoom in on subjects, that is specifically beneficial in an outside settings, wherein a person is probably to date away that it’s difficult to differentiate their functions. It’s one of the few functions I want the Nest Cam had. Its speaker and microphone had been capable of each undertaking my voice certainly and choose out up a visitor, in order that we ought to have a -manner communication effortlessly while not having to elevate our voices at all.

Nest Cam (battery) review: App

    As a part of the setup process, the Google Home app seems for close by Nest gadgets that might be used to assist installation the digital digicam. I want I ought to simply bypass this element and enter my Wi-Fi data myself, because it continually offers me trouble. Click at the Nest Cam’s icon withinside the Google Home app, and you’re proven a display screen that shows battery existence and the digital digicam’s status. From here, you may activate a stay view, see the video records, and extrade settings. You can view your digital digicam’s records both on a scrolling timeline or in a listing with thumbnail pix; cleverly, those pix are all little GIFs, displaying you in quick the entirety that happened. 

    I want the settings menu had been a bit clearer, because it’s now no longer at once apparent what every does. To extrade digital digicam settings, you need to appearance beneathneath the Device Features phase withinside the Settings menu, and choose Events, then both Seen Events or Heard Events to extrade what happens. Seen Events covers all matters visual: Activity Zones, Familiar Face detection, and what you’d want to be notified approximately (People, Animal, Vehicles). 

 

    Heard activities helps you to get signals if the digital digicam hears both carbon monoxide or smoke alarm sounds. However, you may’t activate those settings if the digital digicam is on battery electricity. Going again to the principle Settings menu, in case you click on on Video, you may set the most period of recorded videos (from 10 seconds to three minutes), extrade video quality, night time imaginative and prescient, and movement sensitivity.

 

Nest Cam (battery) review: Smart domestic functions

     Right now, the Nest Cam will best paintings in the Google Home ecosystem. If you've got got a clever display (consisting of the Nest Hub Max), you may view a stay feed from the Nest Cam, and communicate with the man or woman on the opposite end. Given that Nest’s older cameras paintings with Alexa clever shows, it’s affordable to count on that the brand new Nest Cam will too, in time.

 

Nest Cam (battery) review: Battery life 

 

    You can use the Nest Cam plugged in, or have it run on battery electricity alone. The corporation estimates that the battery will last as long as 7 months if it facts among to 4 activities in keeping with day, up to three months if it facts 9 to twelve activities in keeping with day, and approximately 1.five months if it facts 20 to 35 activities in keeping with day. As referred to earlier, Google does promote an outside extension twine for the digital digicam, however you’ll must appearance to 1/3 events in case you need add-ons like a sun panel.

 

Nest Cam (battery) review: Storage and subscription fees

    One of the important thing functions I like maximum approximately the brand new Nest cameras is that the corporation is presenting without spending a dime 3 hours of rolling video garage, in addition to people, animal, vehicle, and custom hobby zones. Because this 3 hours of video is saved at the digital digicam itself, it additionally way that in case your electricity or net connection is going down, you'll nonetheless be capable of view any pictures of a person who would possibly come on your door. If you need to shop video from longer periods, Nest gives plans: Nest Aware ($6/month, $60/year), which offers you 30 days of video recordings and Familiar Face detection, and Nest Aware Plus ($12/month, $120/year) which gives 60 days of video recordings, 10 days of non-stop video recording, and Familiar Face detection.

 

Nest Cam (battery) review: Verdict

    Nest has introduced a excellent domestic safety digital digicam that’s lots greater low priced than a number of its preceding offerings. Video is sharp and clean, the digital digicam is designed well, and the app is filled with functions. More importantly, a number of the ones functions — consisting of video garage — at the moment are covered with the fee of the digital digicam.