Wired security cam or wireless, Guru?
AThe world is going wired, and GaGu can see why. Wireless cams are all fancy and aesthetically pleasing, sure, but they have a number of fundamental flaws baked into them. One, it is a monumental pain in the unmentionables to have to whip out the ladder every couple of months for a battery change, not to mention trusting one of the junior members of the household to hold it without wandering off while muttering about Pokémon and YouTubers or something. Two, they place a heavy reliance on the integrity either of your Wi-Fi network or their own wireless protocols. Three, wireless cams can be (but aren’t always) a little punishing on the wallet.
Some cameras mitigate at least a subset of these concerns with clever design. The Blink Outdoor, now rolling out to replace the XT2, is a penny under $200, takes two AA batteries, and lasts up to two years without needing to be rejuiced. The new Sync Module 2, which deals with its wireless communication, can store captured footage locally, improving on the online-only storage of the previous generation. Some cameras can also work with solar panels, like the Ring Spotlight Cam Battery, or Reolink’s rather nifty little line of cams.
But with a wired camera and the willingness to drill holes in your walls, you get reliability and often far finer features at a lower price. Guru has been testing, for example, the Ezviz C3N ($99), which is a really rather good little camera with spotlights, strong night vision, and AI person detection. The company’s new C3X ($240) upgrades the ‘colour’ night vision of the lesser model (which really just switches on a spotlight at night) to actual dual-lens colour night vision, again at a more affordable price than many wireless alternatives.