GoKawiilWhile up to 2K at 20 frames per second and a 133-degree field of view doesn’t sound great, this camera has a big image sensor, so it produces rich video and has impressive color night vision. The basics are solid, with AI detection that can divide subjects into people, vehicles, animals, and packages with few mistakes.
The real reason to consider it is that the camera doubles as a Matter controller and Thread border router. If you’re sick of your robot mower or outdoor smart lighting struggling to stay connected or they’re not as responsive to commands as you’d like, this camera can help. It can also work as a Zigbee hub for Aqara devices, and it continues to work, even when your Wi-Fi goes down. There are Wi-Fi and PoE versions of this camera. Support for Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) makes it easy to use with a third-party client on your NAS or with Home Assistant.
On the downside, Aqara’s app is sprawling and rough around the edges. It will likely take some tinkering to get it set up the way you want, and features like event filtering, SMS or email notifications, and video sharing require a subscription. If you do want to use HSV, you also need a HomeKit hub, such as a HomePod Mini or Apple TV, and an iCloud storage plan. But none of this is essential.
For indoors, the pan and tilt Camera Hub G3 is worth a look, and if you just want something basic, the Aqara Camera G100 ($40) is very affordable.
Other Manufacturers
I have excluded brands that require cloud connections, such as Google’s Nest (cloud-only) and Arlo (local option for backup only). I also decided not to include brands that only offer certain important features with subscriptions, such as Amazon’s Blink and Wyze. Other brands like Reolink, Ezviz, Lorex, Swann, Imilab, Baseus, Annke, and Safemo didn’t make the cut for several reasons, including video quality or performance that failed to match our picks above, quirky or buggy apps, and failure to alert for every event.
Recording locally can mean many things. Here are some of your options. It can also be a good idea to record to at least two locations, so you have a backup if one should fail.
Network Video Recorder (NVR): These boxes can record and store video from multiple cameras. If your NVR has 12 channels, then you can connect 12 cameras. If you have power over Ethernet (PoE) cameras, they will connect to your NVR using a single Ethernet cable that delivers video and power. Some NVRs can also connect to wireless cameras. They usually come with built-in expandable storage. You can also usually hook up a monitor to show live camera feeds and a mouse to navigate around. Older analog cameras tend to link to a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) instead.