“Long battery life means you can place the EufyCam 2 Pro without worrying about wires.”
- 365 days of battery life
- Loud siren
- Anti-theft option
- Faces aren't clear at night
- Camera could be better
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The eufyCam 2 Pro wireless home security camera system had the potential to shake up the flood of smart security cameras on the market. While it holds its own, it really doesn’t stand out.
Installation
The EufyCam 2 Pro comes as a single camera ($150) or as a two-pack with two cameras and the Eufy HomeBase 2 ($350). I would suggest springing for the pack with the HomeBase 2 if you don’t already have one. You can’t use the EufyCam 2 Pro without a HomeBase, so you’re going to need it anyway. The HomeBase 2 is a hub that connects cameras, stores footage, and works as a Wi-Fi repeater to boost your Wi-Fi, so your cameras get a strong signal.
This is really helpful if your signal isn’t the best or you have a long stretch of space between your router and your cameras. On the other hand, the HomeBase takes up yet another Ethernet port on your router and another power outlet that you probably can’t spare.
The installation of this camera is super simple. The EufyCam 2 Pro is magnetic, so you can stick it to a porch railing or just about any other metal surface. If you don’t have anything to stick it to, you can install a mounting bracket with a couple of screws and then twist the camera onto the bracket. All in all, it took about 10 minutes to get the camera mounted and another five minutes to get it set up with the app and Eufy HomeBase 2. Direct sunlight can blind the camera though, so take that into consideration when you’re thinking about a place to put it.
Video
Video from the EufyCam 2 Pro is on par with most other high-end security cameras, such as the Arlo Pro 3. It can be switched between HD 1080p or 2K HD with a large field of view of 140 degrees. If you place the camera 7 to 10 feet high, it can see a range of up to 30 feet, so one camera can cover a large area of your yard. Video clarity is pretty good, with realistic colors, very little distortion, and good contrast. While it’s decent, I wish Eufy had stepped up and went to 4K resolution, like the Arlo Ultra Smart Cam.
Eufy tackled the problem by adding Smart Image Enhancement.
A problem with some cameras is that the further away a person is, the grittier the image of the person becomes. Within a couple of feet, faces are crisp and clear with a lot of contrast. At around 10 feet, faces are much harder to make out; you can get the general shape, but you’d be hard-pressed to make out a stranger’s features. Eufy tackled the problem by adding Smart Image Enhancement. When a face is detected by the A.I., it brightens and clears up any pixelation in the image to make faces clearer.
Night vision is in black and white, but I really don’t mind the lack of color. The video is clear in very low light. The camera has trouble with faces at night, though, despite the Smart Image Enhancement. The camera washed out almost all facial features, even just a few feet away, on my lighter-skinned test subjects.
Other cameras, such as those from Ring and Arlo’s line of cameras, charge a subscription fee for video storage packages. I hate that. I have enough subscriptions in my life. One of my favorite features of the EufyCam 2 Pro is that you don’t need to pay for video storage. Video footage is stored locally in the HomeBase 2, instead of in the cloud. It has 16GB of storage, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but it gets the job done as long as you delete videos you don’t need. It does automatically delete old videos, but it’s probably better to go in and weed them out yourself so it doesn’t delete what you want to keep.
Extra features
Beyond the video clarity and storage, there are some notable features to the EufyCam 2 Pro that are useful. One surprising option is the ability to put each camera and the HomeBase 2 on Anti-Theft Detection Mode. This means if anyone moves the camera or HomeBase, an alarm will sound. It would be nice if Eufy also offered to replace stolen cameras like Ring does, but I still think the alarm feature is cool.
Many newer security cameras feature a mic and speaker, so you can talk to whoever is outside near the camera using the app on your phone. The EufyCam 2 Pro has this option as well. The two-way audio is OK and you can adjust the volume in the app. I wish that it had noise cancellation to make voices clearer, though, like the Ring Stick Up Cam. You can also mute the mic and the speaker independently.
It’s hard to say how true the claim of a year-long battery life really is in the everyday household.
The company says that the EufyCam 2 Pro can last for 365 days from just one charge, if the camera records around 300 seconds of footage per day. If that were true, it would most certainly stand out from other cameras for that alone. Six months is usually the max. Unfortunately, after using the cameras for just one day, the battery gauge said power had dropped by 1%, so it’s hard to say how true the claim of a year-long battery life really is in the everyday household.
The app has a Power Manager option for each camera that can make the battery last longer, though. You can set the camera to Optimal Battery Life Mode, which limits video clips to 20 seconds to prevent draining the battery. Meanwhile, an Optimal Surveillance Mode allows clips to be as long as 60 seconds and a Customize Recording Mode lets you choose how long clips last.
To save even more battery life (and lessen how many notifications you get), you can choose when your camera records by putting it on a schedule or by choosing a particular mode. You can also control how many alerts you get by turning off the motion detection feature, adjusting the motion sensitivity, choosing detection areas, or choosing to record only when the camera detects a human.
Like any good smart security camera, this one can connect to your home assistant. The EufyCam 2 Pro connects with the big three: Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa.
The EufyCam 2 Pro also has a siren that sounds at 100dB, which is loud enough to scare someone. If you really want to make a statement, you may want to go with the Ring Floodlight Cam, which has a siren that blasts at 110dB. Those extra 10dB makes a big difference.
Our take
The EufyCam 2 Pro at $350 is more affordable than the Arlo Pro 3 ($400), which also comes with two cameras and a base hub, but it’s still more expensive than other comparable wireless security video cameras and doesn’t really have any features that make it stand out from the pack. It’s also missing a big opportunity by not going 4K.
Overall, I just wasn’t wowed by this smart security camera. It’s a fine choice, but if you take out the claim that the battery lasts a year, there are better cameras on the market. Take a look at our roundup of the best outdoor home security cameras for 2020 for some alternate choices.
Is there a better alternative?
Yes. If you’re looking for great video quality, the Arlo Ultra Smart Cam is hard to beat. It has 4K resolution and a whopping 180-degree field of view. My personal favorite, though, is the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight. It not only has great resolution, but it also has a 160-degree field of view and a floodlight that will light up most of your yard. You can see how outdoor security cameras match up, head to head, in this scorecard.
Will it last?
The cameras are made of thick, hard plastic and have an IP67 weatherproof rating, so they are made to last. It also has a one-year limited warranty. You would think that sticking the cameras to things would be iffy to their longevity, but the magnets are super strong and once the cameras are stuck, you have to use some heft to remove them.
Should you buy it?
No. There are just too many other cameras on the market that have better features.
