Pros
- Easy to install
- Various storage options
- High-quality video resolution
- Weatherproof construction
- Can be angled easily
- High-quality audio
- Great price
Cons
- Can’t directly interact with other smart home devices
- Motion sensor can be too sensitive
- No sound detection
There are lots of tech products that are overhyped and overpriced. They’ll be the talk of the town thanks to their team’s amazing marketing campaign but will fall short when it comes to performance. However, there are also quite a few amazing products that are quite a steal for their friendly price tag and amazing performance.
For its price and list of features, the Ezviz Outdoor Security Camera can be deemed as one. This feature-packed item will shock you and make you think that there’s something wrong with the listing as it’s so affordable. For its long list of functionalities, its asking price is certainly surprisingly friendly.
If you’re drawn into this product by this fact, you might also want to get to know more about this item. Is it too good to be true? Does it deliver great results? Is it the steal you’re looking for? Find out in our review below.
A Detailed Review of the Ezviz Outdoor Security Camera
Design and Features
Described as a bullet camera by some, the Ezviz Outdoor Security Camera or Ezguard is actually a more modern version of the classic bullet design. While it’s still seated on a swivel base, it’s a lot more flexible and less bulky in appearance. This is mostly because of its rounded head which helps make it smaller and softer in appearance. Its white coloring with thin red lines also adds to its modern minimalist style.
You won’t mistake it for anything other than a surveillance camera, however. Its lens is prominent on its head and it also has two antennas on the side of its head.
Aside from its lens, however, the head also houses other key components of the Ezguard. Around the lens is its strobe light that you can turn on remotely through the app. The siren, mic, and speaker are also all located inside.
Positioning the Ezguard is also perfectly simple and easy to do. Its 360-degree swivel base will make it easy for you to install it on a wall, ceiling, or under an eave. You can easily position it so it can get the exact angle you want to have when monitoring your property or surroundings.
Setup and Usage
You don’t have to break a sweat to set up this security camera. You just have to plug it in, download the app, create an account, connect the unit to your wi-fi network, then follow the prompts on the app for installation. It’s a rather simple and straightforward process even if it takes a few steps to accomplish.
What might take you longer, however, is the actual mounting of the camera. Since the Ezguard isn’t a battery-powered camera, you will need to do some electrical work to plug it in if you’re placing the unit outside. The drilling, wiring, and cable management will surely consume more time than getting the camera to work. Tweaking its settings might also take you a while as well since this camera comes with a lot of functionalities.
Using the camera is also pretty straightforward. Some users still ask for improvements on the Ezviz app but it’s already decent and workable as it is. There are some things that they can improve on to make it more user-friendly, however.
Video Quality
Among the many reasons that the Ezviz Outdoor Security Camera was able to gain a lot of attention is its high-quality video. It offers true 1080p resolution. Coupled with its 92-degree field of view, it can help you cover a lot of ground when monitoring your property.
Its night vision mode is also impressive, thanks, mostly to its combination of infrared lighting, ICR infrared filter, and anti-reflection panel. It can also give you a clear shot of what’s up to 30 meters away, giving you more coverage even in the dark.
Track and Zoom
Unsurprisingly, this item doesn’t come with a tracking feature that is common in high-end products. With its price tag, you can’t really count on such a feature. It has an 8x zoom, however, so you can still look more closely at certain areas within your footage.
Audio Quality
We’re also very glad to share that the audio quality of the Ezguard is quite reliable. With its help, you can record clear sounds without a hitch. If you’re also going to use the camera to converse with the person in front of the camera, you won’t have a hard time understanding each other as the speakers are also good. Lots of users find it useful in various situations.
Motion and Sound Detection
Another strength the Ezguard has is its powerful motion sensor. It’s very accurate that some folks tend to find it as its major flaw. It does really well in detecting motions that sometimes it overperforms.
How? It can be overly sensitive at times. On some occasions, it has detected lights from cars, flying insects and debris, as well as plant movements caused by the wind as legitimate motions to alarm homeowners about. This can make false alarms quite frequent unless you tweak the sensor’s sensitivity settings.
The good news is, you can do something about its very responsive sensor. You can set its activity zones and limit the areas where it should set off. You can also lessen its sensitivity or set a schedule for its alarms to limit their frequency.
Cloud Storage Costs
Here is where Ezguard’s other strength lies as it’s very flexible when it comes to storage. You can either pay for a cloud subscription, use a microSD card, or hook up your camera to an NVR unit.
The purchase of a new Ezviz Outdoor Security Camera comes with a free 1-month subscription to the CloudPlay plan. With its bank encryption and a variety of inclusions, it certainly makes a good case for users to continue their subscription. However, it’s not necessarily required and you can still use most of the camera’s features even without it. So you won’t feel like you’ll be forced to pay for the services should you opt for it.
Local storage through the microSD card slot is possible. This device can work with cards up to 128 GB in size and will continue to record and live stream through the app the same way as it will when you’re connected to the cloud. The only difference is that to retrieve the clips, you’ll need to access the SD card directly. Recording through the NVR is pretty much the same.
Smart Home Compatibility
While the Ezguard camera doesn’t interact with the other devices connected in a smart home environment, but it works with IFTTT, Google Assistant, and Alexa devices so it’s not that primitive.
Mobile Apps and Web Portals
You can view the stream of your Ezguard through the Ezviz app on your phone or the Ezviz Studio for your PC. Both are rather simple to use and navigate so you won’t have a hard time tweaking the settings and using the features of your camera. Both software applications are free to download and use, so you don’t have to worry about spending more than the camera’s listing price.
FAQs
Does this camera have to be plugged in or does it run off a battery?
The Ezviz Outdoor Security Camera is not a battery-powered camera so you will still need to plug it into a power source for it to work. This can be the trickiest part of its installation, especially if you’re going to put the camera outside. Its power cord is 10 feet long, however, so it should be long enough to reach a reliable power outlet.
Can you record without the cloud service?
This Ezviz camera can record even if you are not subscribed to a cloud service as long as you have inserted a micro SD card in the unit.
Can you turn off the siren and motion detection?
Yes, you can customize the settings and how the camera works using the app according to your preferences.
Do you need a base station for this camera?
No, this camera will connect directly to your router and wifi network so there’s no need to connect it to a base station.
Does this camera work without WiFi or internet?
One of the best things about this product is that it can still work without wi-fi or internet. You will lose lots of functionalities like the ability to watch the live view on the app, however. It can still record clips in its local storage even without an internet connection so you can just watch the footage later.
How do I install Ezviz outdoor camera?
As mentioned above, the manual installation of the Ezviz outdoor camera can be the trickiest thing to do when setting it up. The power cord tends to complicate things as it requires some wiring and cable management.
How do you install it, then? It’s really up to you and where you intend to place the camera. The wall mount is easy to deal with as you only really need to drill it into a wall or onto the ceiling. The cable management is up to you, though.
Do Ezviz cameras deter burglars?
Yes, cameras are quite effective deterrents against burglars and intruders. Just their presence will already make folks with malicious intent think twice about what they plan to do as there’s a high likelihood of them getting caught red-handed.
With this item’s features meant to deter burglars and intruders, you have more chances of driving such people or pests away. The 2-way audio, loud siren, and bright LED strobe lights are great extras if you want to spook intruders and let them know that you’re watching.
Conclusion
Compared to other IP cameras three to four times its price, it can be said that the Ezviz Outdoor Security Camera can hold its ground. With its friendly price tag and set of advanced features, it will prove to be an attractive option as setting up a security system with these cameras will be a lot friendlier to your wallet than other brands. You’ll also get the same performance and features, so why not give it a try?