We’ve been in our new forever home for almost a year now and we’ve finally done the very South African thing and got security and monitoring cameras up. I’ve tested a multitude of brands over the years but for this home set up we went for the eufy camera eco-system. Our decision was primarily because the eufy eco-system doesn’t lock you into monthly cloud storage fees. But there are a few other positives and I thought I’d share them with you, if you’re looking into setting something similar up.
We utilised three key products from the eufy range: The Indoor Cam E220, the Video Doorbell C30 and the eufyCam S3 Pro 2-Cam Kit. A bit of information on each of these: The indoor Cam is perfect if you want to set it up inside to monitor pets or any general indoor activity in key locations in your home. It has smart AI detection which means it can tell the difference between your pets or humans. This works a treat BUT we had to switch off the ID at some point because the app kept notifying us every time one of the dogs was spotted! It has a 2K resolution and a nice pan-and-tilt functionality as well as two-way audio. We also set up the eufy Video Doorbell C30. I know there is a very popular video doorbell on the market but this was our choice because we can use our own local recordings. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with the doorbell so far. It has really good 2K Video Quality, motion detection and also sends notifications when someone is at the door, whether they ring the bell or not. It runs off battery but a single charge is set to last months and when that goes flat it is really easy to take it down for the day, plug it in and charge it up.
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Pairing up with these two products is the eufyCam S3 Pro-2-Cam Kit. You get two outdoor cameras and they’re really such value for money. They’re wireless 4K cameras that offer up one-year battery life BUT they’re solar-powered too. Living in South Africa means we can keep them fully juiced. They have colour night vision, the AI-powered motion detection I mentioned and two way talk back. In the box you even have the various stencils and templates to make drilling and set up so much easier. We put these up first and then easily integrated the other eufy products into the mix.
Quick & Painless Setup
Some smart home systems can make you feel like you need an IT degree just to get them running. Once you’ve downloaded the proprietry app, which is standard, you’ve got to jump through a million hoops to get things linked and sorted. The eufy Security App (available on iOS and Android) is not that. Super simple: plug in the device, scan the QR code and follow a few prompts. You’re not forced into any long-winded “create an account, verify your email, add your bank details” nonsense just to use the cameras. You can get straight to business. However, once you’ve set up an account it is so simple to share your home (and all linked devices) to another account. That means you and your partner can have access to the cameras at all times and share the same set up – without having to link devices to new accounts.
No Mandatory Cloud Subscription
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – this was what won me over with eufy: no compulsory cloud storage. You can store all your video recordings locally on the HomeBase or microSD cards without paying a cent extra. Obviously if you want to sign up to cloud storage the option exists but not being forced into that? Huge win for me. Most of the other devices I’ve tested out push you into monthly plans just to be able to record footage. We wanted to be able to record movement and noise with the live access. We can do that without an additional monthly fee. I’m a fan.
I really do think eufy has nailed the balance between ease of use, great features and cost-effective security. The set up was relatively hassle free and the long-lasting batteries (with solar backup) made this a user friendly option for us and one we’ve now committed to. So definitely a brand and set of devices I’d suggest checking out.
