Google Nest Cam (Outdoor/Indoor, Battery) Security Camera - Smart Home Wifi Camera - Wireless

I like how sleek and easy it is to install. that’s basically it. Everything else is somewhat of a nightmare.1. Because it is wireless it used up more battery than expected. I had to charge it atleast three times a week if the settings are on high or high movement detection. Not great at all. it dies pretty fast.2. Settings/features are seriously limited. you have to purchase or be a member of google nest so you could utilise its full potential. only two option for quality either Max or Default and both are battery draining.3. Default setting is pretty bad at detecting movement even if its within range either it won’t detect it at all or it is delayed. i.e. we had a package delivered out of our usual spot where our packages our usually delivered and we had to ... MoreI like how sleek and easy it is to install. that’s basically it. Everything else is somewhat of a nightmare.1. Because it is wireless it used up more battery than expected. I had to charge it atleast three times a week if the settings are on high or high movement detection. Not great at all. it dies pretty fast.2. Settings/features are seriously limited. you have to purchase or be a member of google nest so you could utilise its full potential. only two option for quality either Max or Default and both are battery draining.3. Default setting is pretty bad at detecting movement even if its within range either it won’t detect it at all or it is delayed. i.e. we had a package delivered out of our usual spot where our packages our usually delivered and we had to check the camera to see where/how was the package delivered there. to our surprise we couldn’t even find any history of it being recorded at all!4. we really like the doorbell version of this and it was worth it. so we had to purchase this for our porch area. however, the price is not worth all the hassle i’ve mentioned better to purchase something more reliable.

Disappointing captures and misleading performance

Very dsappointed with camera, I started the return procedure in the dead of the night on day of purchase and took it back the day after.Intened use: monitor childs nocturnal seizuresPros:It's Google; magnetic effortless placement; sleek design for indoors; super HD picture and super zoom-in; no delay live streaming on 5G wifi; 2-way audio; free cloud storage; can clear all recordings in google home app, easy setup and controlsCons:Misleading operations, a subscription is required to receive notification and save recordings beyond 3 hours not that you can store 3 hrs worth of recording at a time! Because even after I cleared the footage from the day time durning my setup of device and lounging around fiddling with it the camera only functioned as live stream ... MoreVery dsappointed with camera, I started the return procedure in the dead of the night on day of purchase and took it back the day after.Intened use: monitor childs nocturnal seizuresPros:It's Google; magnetic effortless placement; sleek design for indoors; super HD picture and super zoom-in; no delay live streaming on 5G wifi; 2-way audio; free cloud storage; can clear all recordings in google home app, easy setup and controlsCons:Misleading operations, a subscription is required to receive notification and save recordings beyond 3 hours not that you can store 3 hrs worth of recording at a time! Because even after I cleared the footage from the day time durning my setup of device and lounging around fiddling with it the camera only functioned as live stream with no more notifications before I subscribed to their trial. (researched confirmed in google community support forum post that this is intended)Cannot simply detect any motion by change of "pixles" and only detect by preset categories of person, animal, or vehicle etc.Does not record intial detection and records too long after detection. examples: Notification when child sat up in the middle of the night but only recorded as they were laying back down. Notification when child woke up and ran out of the room in the morning but only recorded an empty room not even a blur of child.We are required to set max length to limit individual recordings (10s, 15s, etc). Therefore unfortunately if an event is longer than the max recording limit, it just stops recording the event. You wont be given a series of notifications and clips for the duration of the event.

Don’t waste your money

I have both versions of google nest, wired/wireless. After 3 years of using the wired ones outdoors we thought we would add another camera. The staff advised us the wireless was the way to go. After purchasing and installing the wireless one outside it’s been nothing but trouble. As soon as weather drops below zero (8 months of the year here) the camera goes into safe mode and power saving mode and only catches half the activity in front of it. Not the worst thing ever in fact I was willing to accept it that it is what it is. But even the 50% it does capture it won’t allow you to load video it gives a prompt “video is not available yet check back later”… not at all what you want from a security system. My other wired nest cameras have immediate play back and ... MoreI have both versions of google nest, wired/wireless. After 3 years of using the wired ones outdoors we thought we would add another camera. The staff advised us the wireless was the way to go. After purchasing and installing the wireless one outside it’s been nothing but trouble. As soon as weather drops below zero (8 months of the year here) the camera goes into safe mode and power saving mode and only catches half the activity in front of it. Not the worst thing ever in fact I was willing to accept it that it is what it is. But even the 50% it does capture it won’t allow you to load video it gives a prompt “video is not available yet check back later”… not at all what you want from a security system. My other wired nest cameras have immediate play back and recording with zero issues.Overall forget the wireless camera for outdoors in Canada buy the wired one. Wireless has been nothing but a disappointment from point of purchase. 2/10

Easy set up & installation. Crisp day/night video.

I got the Nest Cam to monitor activity on the side of our home that leads into our yard. This area is a blind spot for us and faces the entrance to our cul-de-sac. We own a couple of other Nest products and it is a reputable brand that I trust with performance and longevity. This camera also has several features which helped in making our decision to get this camera. It can be used indoors or outdoors, it is powered by the built-in rechargeable battery, and it can provide intelligent notifications (motion is caused by people, animals, or vehicles). This product was very easy to set up and install. You will first need to plug the Nest Cam into an outlet, download the Google Home app, create an account and follow the steps to set up the camera by selecting Nest ... MoreI got the Nest Cam to monitor activity on the side of our home that leads into our yard. This area is a blind spot for us and faces the entrance to our cul-de-sac. We own a couple of other Nest products and it is a reputable brand that I trust with performance and longevity. This camera also has several features which helped in making our decision to get this camera. It can be used indoors or outdoors, it is powered by the built-in rechargeable battery, and it can provide intelligent notifications (motion is caused by people, animals, or vehicles). This product was very easy to set up and install. You will first need to plug the Nest Cam into an outlet, download the Google Home app, create an account and follow the steps to set up the camera by selecting Nest Cam(battery). There is a sticker on the camera lens which has a QR code that you will need to scan to connect the camera to your home’s Wi-Fi network. After connecting, you will be given the opportunity to enroll in a 15-day Nest Aware trial period which one needs to view recordings longer than the most recent 3 hours and also the face recognition feature. This is a con to me when subscriptions are required to reap further benefits. Installing the Nest Cam was quite simple as all you need to do is attach the mounting plate, with the enclosed screws and anchors, to the area you want to place the camera then lock the magnetic plate onto the mounting plate and secure the camera to the magnetic plate. The camera holds steadily once installed. The beauty of it being battery powered is that you can place it anywhere! The video quality is superb for both day and night and the motion detection and intelligent notifications were precise. I liked that these alerts can be tailored such as you may only want to be notified when a person causes the motion and not a car or animal. The app is easy to use and we are reassured that we can readily monitor our house while we are home or away.

Google nest cams, yeah they were, but there's more

The install is pretty simple, just follow the instructions and have your Google Home application ready to go on your phone. Phone. If you're doing this, you probably already have smart devices, so you probably already have Google Home setup. If not, don't panic, Google Home is not that difficult to set up.Now the nest cams, whether they're wired or battery are designed for surveillance but not necessarily recording as much as we would like. Google has not quite gotten this correctly yet.Because this is a security application, you will want to opt for the Google aware premium program which is about $100 a year. Just fork it out and forget about it. This will allow you to at least view your videos going back several days and the events are what you're looking for. ... MoreThe install is pretty simple, just follow the instructions and have your Google Home application ready to go on your phone. Phone. If you're doing this, you probably already have smart devices, so you probably already have Google Home setup. If not, don't panic, Google Home is not that difficult to set up.Now the nest cams, whether they're wired or battery are designed for surveillance but not necessarily recording as much as we would like. Google has not quite gotten this correctly yet.Because this is a security application, you will want to opt for the Google aware premium program which is about $100 a year. Just fork it out and forget about it. This will allow you to at least view your videos going back several days and the events are what you're looking for. These are things you set up and you can ask for things like show me what animals are there or show me if there are people there. Things like that. Facial recognition is fine.But if you want to download, you're going to have to go through a lot to get things downloaded. Google did not provide a seamless application for this.See all of your cameras at once on any browser by typing. Home.google.com with your Google ID and password. You will see all the video cams up at once, if you have multiple. This is the live view only, you cannot see recorded events which is unfortunate. Another Google shortfall.When Google can give us the ability to download videos to our hard drive or cloud drive that would be really cool. When they do, this will go up to five stars. Until then, Google has some homework to do.Oh, and the nest program is probably not going to be there much longer. It seems to be devoted primarily to thermostats and things like that. It doesn't work for other smart appliances.Google needs an all-in-one app and that's going to be Google Home, I would bet.Google, do your homework, get your apps working together, and give the consumer anything that you can think they would want, like the idea of downloading videos so that we can look at things in detail if we have to. Don't make me have to fight for it with other technologies.Oh, and you cannot see these cameras at all on a Google Android TV at all. It's physically impossible. You can only see it on the Google Home app, or on one of the Google nest screens that you can buy for $100 or so.Google needs to fix that too. Everybody wants to see their video cameras on their TV without any hassle.So come on Google, go for the five-star rating.

Inconsistent Event Detection & Notifications

The inconsistency of event detection and push notifications with this camera is very frustrating. Some days, the camera won't even push a single notification. I have mine mounted above my garage, facing the street, and we get a lot of foot traffic and cars passing our house, so we should get a lot of activity being captured throughout the day. It's not a settings issue, both my Google Home app and my phone push notification settings are properly configured.My settings:Wake-up Sensitivity: HighMaximum Event Length: 1 minVideo quality: MaxPush Notifications: All (Motion, People, Animals, Vehicles) I've tried resetting the camera, and reinstalling it into my Google Home App, but nothing has fixed the issue. If you're in the market for a home security system, ... MoreThe inconsistency of event detection and push notifications with this camera is very frustrating. Some days, the camera won't even push a single notification. I have mine mounted above my garage, facing the street, and we get a lot of foot traffic and cars passing our house, so we should get a lot of activity being captured throughout the day. It's not a settings issue, both my Google Home app and my phone push notification settings are properly configured.My settings:Wake-up Sensitivity: HighMaximum Event Length: 1 minVideo quality: MaxPush Notifications: All (Motion, People, Animals, Vehicles) I've tried resetting the camera, and reinstalling it into my Google Home App, but nothing has fixed the issue. If you're in the market for a home security system, I wouldn't recommend the Google camera system at this point. The only reason I haven't switched already is because I've already invested a lot of money into this system, and switching brands/devices, plus subscription will just further incur more costs. I'm overall unsatisfied with the performance of this device. I'm not getting what I'm paying for with the Nest Aware subscription using this camera. I have little-to-no confidence that this camera would detect anything if someone were to vandalize or steal my property within line-of-sight of the camera. Do some thorough review comparisons with competitive brands! Hopefully this helps!

Nest cameras highly recommended

I use my nest cameras thru a window to see the outside. (Cameras are positioned as close to the window pane as I can get .... one hangs from a curtain rod and i have 2 on purchased bases. all have the infrared turned off). Outside below the windows i have sòlar led garden ĺights for lighted outside night viewing. i can vìew my property añytime of day from anywhere using the Home app on a tablet, phòne, hub etc. i have 3 Nest cameras in use and recommend the use of Nest cameras thru a window using Wi-Fi. Setting the camera views up I hold a tablet nearby so i can see exactly where the cameras is going to be pointing. Saves a lot of setup time doing it this way. These cameras are very useful for personal safety. It should also be mentioned the ease of saving video and ... MoreI use my nest cameras thru a window to see the outside. (Cameras are positioned as close to the window pane as I can get .... one hangs from a curtain rod and i have 2 on purchased bases. all have the infrared turned off). Outside below the windows i have sòlar led garden ĺights for lighted outside night viewing. i can vìew my property añytime of day from anywhere using the Home app on a tablet, phòne, hub etc. i have 3 Nest cameras in use and recommend the use of Nest cameras thru a window using Wi-Fi. Setting the camera views up I hold a tablet nearby so i can see exactly where the cameras is going to be pointing. Saves a lot of setup time doing it this way. These cameras are very useful for personal safety. It should also be mentioned the ease of saving video and screenshots to your device for future reference. I recommend stopping your video close to where you want to note, enlarge the scene by pinching and stretching then screenshotting a view to save. i find Nest cameras do satifactorly what I expect of them by developing useful tricks to accomplish what I need. Nest products are recommended for your peace of mind.

Not fit for purpose at all

I have 8 of these cameras and they have never performed as advertised. A total waste of over $2000. ""These cameras are not fit for purpose at all and never have been"". The google home app that operates these cameras is constantly faulty and being constantly updated and it just never improves it only gets worse. Google support is non existent in Australia if you're an aussie do not buy these cameras there's zero support and if you do happen to contact support somehow google will blame everything except their own products. These cameras are totally and utterly useless unless you pay for the top tier subscription. The subsciption is expensive especially after how expensive the cameras are to buy. The free subsciption option renders the cameras worthless they do not ... MoreI have 8 of these cameras and they have never performed as advertised. A total waste of over $2000. ""These cameras are not fit for purpose at all and never have been"". The google home app that operates these cameras is constantly faulty and being constantly updated and it just never improves it only gets worse. Google support is non existent in Australia if you're an aussie do not buy these cameras there's zero support and if you do happen to contact support somehow google will blame everything except their own products. These cameras are totally and utterly useless unless you pay for the top tier subscription. The subsciption is expensive especially after how expensive the cameras are to buy. The free subsciption option renders the cameras worthless they do not operate properly at all with the free subscription. The night vision is non existent. The cameras constantly go offline for no reason even with a strong wifi signal. The talk to talk is so delayed its unusable. The event notifications are always late and can be hours late or never arrive at all. The battery usage is ridiculous they need constant recharging. The data usage is abhorrent even when turned off "as in not active" the cameras use up to 500mb in a 24 hour period "yes even when not active". The movement sensor used is pathetic 4 to 5 meters is the furthest distance the cameras movement sensor will wake up to start recording any further than that the cameras do not wake up so they're rendered useless again. Video footage is grainy and second rate. Sound recording is horrible. I could keep writing for ages as to how bad these cameras are. THESE CAMERAS ARE SIMPLY NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE DO NOT BUY THESE CAMERAS. HEED THIS WARNING CONSUMERS YOU WILL REGRET BUYING THESE CAMERAS. WALK AWAY BUY ANOTHER BRAND OF CAMERA

Overall nice Google backed product, read more

Overall a well integrated Google product, seemless connectivity with Google home, which works on Apple and Android. After 11 months of usage, no issues with connectivity, was able access the camera remotely, even from otherside of planet , thanks to powerof Internet. Got two cameras, one is flickering in the night, looks like IR (infra red) module could be broken. Functinality in Day is good. Is battery powered, however needs charging, but also can take external power. So if you are planning for leaving long term 2 weeks or more, recommend buying external cable, costs extra. Also has magnetic bases, gives flexibility with installing on doors without additional tools. Pricing is on the higher side.I am hoping Google will replace my faulty camera ... MoreOverall a well integrated Google product, seemless connectivity with Google home, which works on Apple and Android. After 11 months of usage, no issues with connectivity, was able access the camera remotely, even from otherside of planet , thanks to powerof Internet. Got two cameras, one is flickering in the night, looks like IR (infra red) module could be broken. Functinality in Day is good. Is battery powered, however needs charging, but also can take external power. So if you are planning for leaving long term 2 weeks or more, recommend buying external cable, costs extra. Also has magnetic bases, gives flexibility with installing on doors without additional tools. Pricing is on the higher side.I am hoping Google will replace my faulty camera whichisstillinwarranty, that is one of the reasons I bought this camera, my experience with Google with another claim was good. If you have a slightly higher budget and want Google backed product, i would go with this. Also for camera recordings, default free event history you only see last 3 hours of information, the monthly plan costs extra.

Such a bummer

I was so excited to get this but was extremely let down. Long story short it requires a subscription, the battery life is a joke, and it is absolutely TERRIBLE at detecting & recording movement AKA not helpful for security at all. First off, you need a subscription to do anything except view the live feed. There’s one level where you pay for restricted recording and history that auto deletes at a specific amount of days, or you pay more and get unlimited recording and saving. Second, if you have all notifications/recording on, the battery lasts MAYBE 2 days. If you have half the notifications/recording on, you get up to a week if nothing happens. I had to turn off all notifications and really restrict the movement it records to get this to last 1 week at a time ... MoreI was so excited to get this but was extremely let down. Long story short it requires a subscription, the battery life is a joke, and it is absolutely TERRIBLE at detecting & recording movement AKA not helpful for security at all. First off, you need a subscription to do anything except view the live feed. There’s one level where you pay for restricted recording and history that auto deletes at a specific amount of days, or you pay more and get unlimited recording and saving. Second, if you have all notifications/recording on, the battery lasts MAYBE 2 days. If you have half the notifications/recording on, you get up to a week if nothing happens. I had to turn off all notifications and really restrict the movement it records to get this to last 1 week at a time before I have to recharge it. I purchased this BATTERY camera because the ideal place for it does not have access to a plug unless I trail an extension cord along the floor or ceiling. Another big con is with the limited recording AKA can never and will never record the entire time, it will ONLY record when there is movement. This thing is so so bad at “detecting” movement. I will be moving all around my apartment for hours and the camera will MAYBE detect my movement once, unless I’m super close to the camera. When I try to use it to watch my dog, it doesn’t detect his movements at all so I can’t see anything since there is no recordings to watch. Do not purchase this camera. If you are set on getting a camera from google, get the regular plug in kind since the battery barely adds any life. Even better, to purchase a cheaper version on a big marketplace website (hint hint) that’s actually worth the money. Also if you do decide to keep this plugged in, you’ll have to purchase additional pieces for it to stand upright, another non-win for the item. P.S. I figured since this is so easily portable I could hook it up and use it at other places. NOT the case, trying to make it work has completely wiped the history and now it won’t even work with my regular home Wifi/google devices and is now a piece of junk taking up space.