I need a Nanny cam (Success!)

[SawMaster]

Just an update. I finally chose this cam https://www.amazon.com/gp/B01IJPH22Gand it just arrived today. Though the seller said it could be left plugged in for constant power, they failed to mention the power port is on the side under the endcap which hides the SD card giving the game away But luck did come my way, this cam is powered by an 18650 LiIon cell which is easily changed out and I've got good ones to use instead of the generic one they supply. And I'd recommend not leaving this cam plugged in constantly as the charger parameters are unknown and with LiIon cells if things go wrong the results can be very, very nasty But with one of my 30Q cells I expect that it will work for long enough as this cam uses motion detect so it's not a constant high current draw. Not mentioned in the ad is that it comes with a generic 8GB card, which I'll test with but I also got a Transcend 400X 32 GB card that should work in it. That card will be rotated with my old Samsung EVO 32GB card until I can get another Transcend. Given the expected usage this should be more than enough card size.

It does seem well made from the outside and extra effort went into that packaging and user-manual English translation which usually means the product will be equally good. And it's as stealthy as the pictures suggest. Only those looking for a hidden cam with some knowledge of them would ever notice the ruse with this one.

I'll post more on this later when I've had a chance to test it properly.

Phil

 

[kamkar]

By 30Q SawMaster mean Samsung 30Q batteries, he just forgot he are not on the flashlight forum where most people know such things

 

[SawMaster]

Not good news. In very limited testing motion detect wasn't very sensitive- the range appears to be 2m or a little less. Still usable for my installation though. The bad news is that I formatted the 32GB Transcend card to fat32 in Mini-Aide which has always worked well in all my other cams but it didn't here The really bad news is that I also did that with the card they sent and now it doesn't work either So now I've got to discover what card formatting is used which may take awhile. Will try all the sdformatter tool and windows tool first in case my freeware program has a problem And there's been almost no time in the last two days to fool with this so maybe this weekend

The files which did play were .avi and for a somewhat cheap cam they looked OK- good enough to clearly identify a person across a large room. The bottom of the images are level with the base of the cam so I'm going to add something to tilt it forward a few degrees to help with that. I'm not going to recommend until it proves itself. As always more later when I can!

Phil

 

[SawMaster]

OK, I finally had enough time to deal with this thing and I've made some discoveries. First is that it needs standard SD formatting and something in the Mini-Aide program isn't the same Wundows did the trick by clicking 'default' settings. Second is that the supplied 18650 LiIon battery is crap, as I expected It wouldn't keep motion detect going for 8 hours though it kept the clock running. I had to switch to a better cell (Samsung 30Q) that went 10 hours yesterday and flawlessly recorded a dozen 3 minute clips which is what it should have captured where it was located. I don't see cards larger than 16GB being needed as the battery won't last long enough to fill them. It has a narrow FOV and a walking person will need to be within 2m of the cam pretty close to center to activate it It does not save uncompleted files such as when you grab the cam to remove the card for reviewing, so if you need that file best wait 3 minutes for it to complete The vids are grainy but usable. They claim 1920*1080/30fps but if that's true they're using a crappy sensor. The lens sees OK with little distortion. I don't have time to do a teardown as it needs to go into service ASAP but when we're done with it I will add my findings to this thread

Can I recommend it? Yes, but ONLY with an understanding of it's shortcomings. It's a cheap but highly discreet 'Nanny cam' and that's all you can expect of it. I did notice a 'clone' listed on Amazon at $29 and TBH I think this one is just an over-priced version of that based on the performance I'm getting- later on I may try that one just to see. It could be a very different cam so my recommendation is only for this exact cam.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B01IJPH22G
Phil

 

[Dashmellow]

This cam has been around for years. I almost bought one a long time ago. As for "clones" they are basically all generics and these cameras are available for quite a range of prices with somewhat different specs and features.

Here's an identical looking one on Banggood which shoots 1280x720 AVI with the remote control and it costs $17.98 if it ships from China. All the Chinese vendors Like GearBest, DX and Bangood sell this camera, often several versions.

There's also a zillion of these cameras selling on eBay.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nk...12&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_sadis=&LH_CAds=&rmvSB=true

 

[Nigel]

And I'd recommend not leaving this cam plugged in constantly as the charger parameters are unknown and with LiIon cells if things go wrong the results can be very, very nasty ...

You could use a protected 18650, then there is not much to worry about.

 

[SawMaster]

@Dashmellow - Where were you when I needed you? Wish I'd known that sooner. The moment something becomes "special purpose" the price goes up so I expected a cheap cam for this price, not a good one. The whole mess took longer than I'd expected or I'd have used a Mobius and a powerbank and hid the that in something myself (which will be my future approach should the need arise again). I can do worlds better than this myself and I wish I had now, but we're here so let's go with it

@Nigel- the only protected cells I have are old Efests which started life at 2500mA and may hold 1800 now- they're quite worn. The 30q's I have are new and much better. I'm good with using them and know how to use them safely My sister who will be dealing with this can follow instructions on charging and that won't be done in-cam, but with a Xtar MC-1 which is a good safe CC/CV charger made for the purpose. I don't trust generic LiIon chargers or generic LiIon cells

Phil

 

[Dashmellow]

@Dashmellow - Where were you when I needed you? Wish I'd known that sooner. The moment something becomes "special purpose" the price goes up so I expected a cheap cam for this price, not a good one. The whole mess took longer than I'd expected or I'd have used a Mobius and a powerbank and hid the that in something myself (which will be my future approach should the need arise again). I can do worlds better than this myself and I wish I had now, but we're here so let's go with it

Phil

When I saw what you bought and what you paid for that camera I was wishing you had posted about it before going ahead with the purchase as I certainly would have said something. Since it was from Amazon maybe you still can return it and buy the same thing for half the price or better elsewhere?

I just bought a WyzeCam for 20 bucks! I haven't received it yet but I got word that it was shipped out to me 11/2. The camera has only been on the market for a few weeks and they are constantly on back-order because they can't seem to build them fast enough. I've been considering an indoor IP camera like this for a long time but I've been on the fence until now. As soon as I read about this one I ordered it immediately. I'll post about my results with it after I've had it for awhile.

"WyzeCam: $20 Security Cam Designed to Destroy All Competitors"

"WyzeCam hands-on: A $20 camera that's almost too good to be true"

• Height: 2.20″
• Width: 1.97″
• Depth: 1.97″

 

[SawMaster]

Just poking fun at you It was late and I was tired and jaded when I clicked "checkout". No matter where I looked on the web, there was little info to be found on these cams which I felt was comprehensive and worth hearing. I should have posted an inquiry here first to be sure Already thought about returning it but with all the time lost already that can't happen. It should be enough but just barely. What I really wanted was a wall clock cam, but the prices on those were astronomical. And they probably have equally crappy cams in them I detest Ebay so didn't go there and that left me stores and Amazon for what should have been quick shipping which didn't happen here either.

Maybe someone like DashCamMan will start a hidden cam forum so that people will have much improved chances at getting good products and a good value for their money. There's as many rip-offs in these as their are with dashcams

Phil

 

[Dashmellow]

Just poking fun at you It was late and I was tired and jaded when I clicked "checkout". No matter where I looked on the web, there was little info to be found on these cams which I felt was comprehensive and worth hearing. I should have posted an inquiry here first to be sure Already thought about returning it but with all the time lost already that can't happen. It should be enough but just barely. What I really wanted was a wall clock cam, but the prices on those were astronomical. And they probably have equally crappy cams in them I detest Ebay so didn't go there and that left me stores and Amazon for what should have been quick shipping which didn't happen here either.

Maybe someone like DashCamMan will start a hidden cam forum so that people will have much improved chances at getting good products and a good value for their money. There's as many rip-offs in these as their are with dashcams

Phil

Wish you had mentioned your desire for an affordable hidden wall clock camera. I think I might have recommend this one from Banggood.


Banggood has a nice selection of hidden cams as a mater of fact, which I stumbled upon when I posted the link above to the Banggood version of the one you bought.

 

[SawMaster]

Just didn't want to wait on the slow-boat-from-China Probably would have happened as quickly as it ended up doing.

Phil

 

[Dashmellow]

Just didn't want to wait on the slow-boat-from-China Probably would have happened as quickly as it ended up doing.

Phil

I consistently receive Chinese shipped goods I order from Banggood in exactly 16 days. Some of their items are available from a US warehouse.

 

[DashcamDPR]

I really like the look of that Wyzecam, on paper its exactly what I'd want, there does seem to be a lot of negative reviews or edited reviews from users finding issues after a couple of weeks... added to the fact it doesn't appear to be available in the uk!

 

[Dashmellow]

I really like the look of that Wyzecam, on paper its exactly what I'd want, there does seem to be a lot of negative reviews or edited reviews from users finding issues after a couple of weeks... added to the fact it doesn't appear to be available in the uk!

I've been pretty impressed with my WyzeCam so far and the company has updated the App twice already. For twenty bucks the thing is a bargain.

It turns out that the WyzeCam is actually manufactured by Xiaomi and sells as the Mijia XiaoFang Smart Home WIFI IP Camera in the Chinese market. The WyzeCam is the same device but uses proprietary firmware and WyzeCam develops their own App. The Mijia XiaoFang version is widely available from places like Banggood and Gearbest but is restricted to China for the App and after-sales support. My understanding is it "should" work in Europe if you set the Mi Home APP to the Chinese mainland locale and language to English. I've also heard that the XiaoFang camera has either been or is soon to be unlocked for the European market. For the time being at least, the WyzeCam is restricted to the US market.

 

[DashcamDPR]

Would the Wyezcam firmware not be usable on the Xiaomi cam?

The Xiaomi appears to cost less too

despite all the sellers stating it cant be used in the UK, what exactly can't be used? surely it can still be plugged in and set to record onto a memory card no matter what country its in

 

[kamkar]

One would think that, and its only things like a cloud service that might not work.
This often get quite confusing and some people burn their fingers buying a model meant for the local market in China, and though there are a similar EU/World model then you cant just turn the Chine camera into a world camera.

 

[Dashmellow]

Would the Wyezcam firmware not be usable on the Xiaomi cam?

The Xiaomi appears to cost less too

despite all the sellers stating it cant be used in the UK, what exactly can't be used? surely it can still be plugged in and set to record onto a memory card no matter what country its in

As I've already mentioned the WyzeCam programs the camera with their own proprietary firmware and they also provide their own proprietary mobile app. Despite the same hardware, they are essentially two different cameras that function somewhat differently. The WyseCam also uses their own proprietary cloud service that functions in concert with their App.

Purchasing a WyzeCam directly from their web site rather than Amazon the price is only 20 dollars, so it does not cost more than the Xiaomi.

Until quite recently the Xiaomi was locked out of Europe and North America. As it says right in the Banggood link I posted above, "We are sorry that this item cannot be sent to your location." "It can only be used in non-European and non-American region right now".

I suppose it could be used with just a memory card but what's the point of buying an IP smartcam designed specifically to be used with smartphones or tablets and then not being able to use it that way? There are plenty of similar IP cams available other than the Xiami Xiofang that you can buy and use in the UK. Some are even made by Xiaomi.

 

[DashcamDPR]

The Xiaomi is available from some Chinese sellers on Ebay shipping to the UK for just $16. It's just that I personally don't need anything other than a cam to record motion detect files to a memory card while plugged into the wall near the windows I want it pointing out of, I just really like the look of this cam, it's much more "hideable" where I want it to be, than other cams I've seen

(I apologise for coming across as ridiculously stupid re home cctv )

 

[Dashmellow]

The Xiaomi is available from some Chinese sellers on Ebay shipping to the UK for just $16. It's just that I personally don't need anything other than a cam to record motion detect files to a memory card while plugged into the wall near the windows I want it pointing out of, I just really like the look of this cam, it's much more "hideable" where I want it to be, than other cams I've seen

(I apologise for coming across as ridiculously stupid re home cctv )

For only $16, it might be worth taking a chance on the Xiaomi Xiofang. Then again, it sounds like you don't really need an IP camera at all if you don't need to observe what's going on remotely from a smartphone or record to the cloud. I've actually used old dash cams to do exactly what you have in mind. In some instances, I've used a Mobius for this purpose and they are ideal for that use, especially because they are so discreet and reliable. The Mobius will do time lapse capture along with standard motion detection. I especially like using the Mobius as a temporary surveillance camera on my rural property as they are perfect for that and can even be clipped to the branch of a tree. For example, the Mobius was very handy in identifying the hunters who were leaving beer cans and trash in the woods on my land next to where they park their vehicles. Of course, you won't be able to buy a Mobius for 16 dollars but I think you get the idea. There are many alternative surveillance products on the market other than WiFi IP cameras.

To be honest with you the WyzseCam is the first WiFi enabled IP camera I've owned and I have only been playing around with it for a very short time, so my experience is very limited so far.

One thing to keep in with the WyzeCam or the Xiaomi however, even if you should only wish to record to a memory card is that you still need the WiFi app on a smartphone or tablet to activate, control and aim the camera even if you don't want to view the image remotely or use the cloud service so you'll need to go through the whole set-up process anyway. All the options and controls for recording to a memory card are via the WiFi app only. I assume that you would need Xiamoi's European/UK location unlocked app to do this and that could be the key factor you will need to clarify if you decide to buy one.

Oh, BTW, after you mentioned the bad reviews for the WyseCam I looked into it a bit further and most of the complaints seemed to be in regard to the Andriod app and less so for the iPhone app. I use the app on an iPad mini and it generally works quite well. The only problem I've encountered is that it can have some trouble recognizing the QR code that activates and syncs the camera with the app. The instructions tell you to hold your mobile's screen five inches in front of the camera's lens so it can scan the large QR image the app displays but I find I need to hold it about ten inches away to get it to work. Apparently, the larger screen on an iPad vs the iPhone confuses the camera but they don't mention that. As this is such a new product on the market here in the US I imagine more people will report the same issue and it will get addressed by the company as they seem responsive to customer input so far. The WyzeCam people have plans to build an entire smart home product line around the camera which is only their first offering. As it is, the camera will already remotely alert you to motion in the room, smoke alarms and C02 alarms and log those events if you select those functions in the app. As for the smartphone app for the Xiamoi Xiofang, it may function quite differently than the WyzeCam app.

 

[Dashmellow]

Would the Wyezcam firmware not be usable on the Xiaomi cam?

I was thinking about your initial question here and had some further thoughts. I'm not aware that WyzeCam has as yet provided any downloadable firmware for this camera. So far, any upgrades or additional features appear to be made through the WiFi smartphone app that work in concert with the camera's firmware. Until or unless firmware is provided publicly, you would be unable to flash it to the Xiaomi even if you wanted to, and even then, it still might not work.

As for Xiaomi IP cam firmware, I saw a post from someone who flashed an upgrade and suddenly encountered a voice prompt that said, “you can only use this camera within China”.