HomeKit Best HomeKit External Camera

[misterlwc]

I am finishing up building my new home in a rural remote area in Ireland although I do spend quite a bit of time away for work at my other home in London and therefore I am pretty concerned regarding security when I am not there. Therefore as an Apple fan boy I have decided to setup HomeKit Secure Video cameras around my new home. Presently I have numerous HomePods which are required as home hubs to support HomeKit Secure Video with the 2TB iCloud+ Plan, although internet speed is not in my favour due to the rural location of my property, and therefore I have concerns this project may not be feasible, although worth giving it go.

I have two camera systems in mind, the Eve Outdoor Camera and the Netatmo Smart Outdoor Camera. I have concerns regarding durability in bad weather, as I understand the Eve Outdoor Camera has an IP rating of IP55, which does not sound overly reassuring compared to the IP68 standard of our iPhones, especially for the weather in Ireland, and I am unable to find an IP rating on the Netatmo Smart Outdoor Camera. Other differences I have found is the field of view, where the Eve apparently is more supreme with 157 degrees of view compared to 100 degrees on Netatmo. Apart from that I can't find any other real differences, both supporting the same Wi-Fi standard and lighting solutions, however as I'm purchasing quite a few, I'm looking for the best product. Therefore I would like to heard opinions and experiences with your own Eve or Netatmo camera systems.

 

[Juicy Box]

I have two Eve Outdoor Cameras, and they are okay. The light could be better.

This is probably a HKSV issue, but my super cheap Wyze camera that I keep in my garage has a box to highlight motion detected, and the Eve camera doesn't have that.

The install is not straight forward replacing an existing outside lamp with the camera, and for me, it was a mod that I don't think many could easily do. It looks great in the end though.

I feel like the install could be made much easier if Eve would have used standard round gang box dimensions or include an adapter for one. The base is too small to fully cover standard round gang boxes, and even too small to cover the rectangle 1-gang boxes that my really old house uses for outside lights.

If you are wiring specifically for the camera, this would be much easier. I plan on adding another Eve Outdoor Camera sometime soon, and I will be running the power cable to it versus using an existing light gangbox. This will allow me to just attach the camera to a wall with the power light coming out of a small hole in the wall, making the install so much easier.

Although, I am speaking from a US perspective so electric work might be different for you.


Honestly, there isn't much to choose from for HKSV outdoor cameras.

I held out for a long time for a HKSV outdoor camera that had pan tilt and zoom or one that had a decent flood light, and eventually settled for the Eve Outdoor Camera. The options are few, especially for outdoor cameras.

I plan on adding more cameras, so I guess I like the Eve Outdoor Camera enough to keep investing in them.

 

[jedimasterkyle]

I can't speak to Eve or Netatmo camera systems but Eufy has done a fair job for me (and I'm emphasizing the fair)

Their Cam2C outdoor cameras do have HKSV and they have done ok for me. The one right above my front door does a fair job of identifying, recording and notifying me about packages, people and animals. It's great for package deliveries and keeping an eye on the old lady who lets her dog crap on my door step. All that being said, it's NOT perfect. All of my cameras are Eufy, just for the sake of saving money, and while these specific ones DO support HKSV, the way Eufy (or Anger) builds them makes it seem like HKSV is an after thought.

There have been many, many, many....MANY, days where I've wanted to toss the entire setup into the trash for one reason or another. Getting them to talk to HomeKit is a PITA sometimes and I've yelled, screamed, begged and pleaded with them to make it more compatible with HomeKit. Once it's setup and talking, I dont even look or touch anything because I'm worried that it's going to be like a jenga tower. One sneeze or cough and it's all over.

As for the weather resistance, I can say that my outdoor Eufy cam has withstood rain, snow, ice, freezing temps, wind storms, and over 100f temperatures and hasn't shown any inclination of being affected.

So in short, the hardware is fine. The software, when it works, is ok at best.

 

[AL2TEACH]

I'm waiting for Apple/Amazon to get over their child like behavior and have Ring work with the HomeKit without extra stuff.

 

[erihp]

I'm waiting for Apple/Amazon to get over their child like behavior and have Ring work with the HomeKit without extra stuff.

No thanks. I'll take the local control and the privacy angle Homekit enforces for the products provides over Ring's history and MO to want to provide access to its employees and law enforcement and who knows who else.

Who needs Ring.

If there are non-homekit cameras you have / like / need in iCloud there is always scryptyed or Homebridge.

 

[Hotfeet]

I feel like the install could be made much easier if Eve would have used standard round gang box dimensions or include an adapter for one. The base is too small to fully cover standard round gang boxes, and even too small to cover the rectangle 1-gang boxes that my really old house uses for outside lights.

If you are wiring specifically for the camera, this would be much easier. I plan on adding another Eve Outdoor Camera sometime soon, and I will be running the power cable to it versus using an existing light gangbox. This will allow me to just attach the camera to a wall with the power light coming out of a small hole in the wall, making the install so much easier.

JB, I'm wondering how you covered your existing gang box with the small base of the Eve camera. Did you make some sort of custom coupler or base, or did you just remove the existing gang box? I might sell the house in a couple of years so whatever I do will be subject to scrutiny by some home inspector just looking for electrical code violations.

 

[xxFoxtail]

I have two EufyCam 2 Pros. The batteries last roughly a year. They've already survived one winter just fine. They connect to the Home app and I think they're pretty reliable. Occasionally, I'll get a message where they go offline, but usually come right back up.

 

[jedimasterkyle]

I have two EufyCam 2 Pros. The batteries last roughly a year. They've already survived one winter just fine. They connect to the Home app and I think they're pretty reliable. Occasionally, I'll get a message where they go offline, but usually come right back up.

What voodoo did you do to make those batteries last a year?? I have to recharge mine every 4-6 weeks...

 

[xxFoxtail]

What voodoo did you do to make those batteries last a year?? I have to recharge mine every 4-6 weeks...

I don’t know, but if I had to recharge them every month, I’d get annoyed and get something else. I have mine mounted in hard to reach areas.

 

[Juicy Box]

JB, I'm wondering how you covered your existing gang box with the small base of the Eve camera. Did you make some sort of custom coupler or base, or did you just remove the existing gang box?

I modified the existing light fixture's base to accommodate the Eve Camera's base:






The color doesn't perfectly match, but it is close.

I honestly don't remember what exactly I did to modify the base, but from what I can remember it involved:

1. Removing the base from the existing light. Easy.
2. Modifying the existing mount adapter for the old light fixture. Hard, just because it was a lot of trial and error.
3. Drilling or tapping holes, I think to run bolts to mount the camera. Easy.
4. Assembling everything. APITA.

Other notes, my house is super old, so I was dealing with a regular, metal, rectangular gang box, with original screws broken and corroded stuck inside. The old mounting adapter was anchored to the brick, and not in a very good way. I basically had to figure out how to get everything to fit together, which took hours.

I am doing it again soon, and don't expect the second time to be as time consuming. I think if it was a typical round gang box for lighting, this would have gone a lot smoother, but still would have needed a base from the old light fixture.

I do will be subject to scrutiny by some home inspector just looking for electrical code violations.

I don't think this will be a problem, as it looks good, like there wasn't any modding. Well, unless the camera is removed and inspected.

Like I said, my house is really old, and I know for a fact that there are many things in the home that would not pass inspection, so a little light fixture mod didn't bother me one bit.

 

[AL2TEACH]

I'll take the local control and the privacy angle Homekit enforces for the products

Sorry, I thought that was implied if they were to ever work with HomeKit.