#1:Google Nest Cam Outdoor - 1st Generation - Weatherproof Outdoor Camera - Surveillance Camera with Night Vision - Control with Your Phone
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5.0 out of 5 stars Theft caught on video
Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2016
Size: 1 Pack
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Had a Christmas package stolen form my driveway, because of the camera we were able to identify the license plate and the thief which ultimately resulted in his arrest. My package was recovered. I posted the video on social media and people were amazed at the quality.
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K.P.S.P.M.E
5.0 out of 5 stars YES- This Version DOES WORK WITH NEST APP--
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2022
Size: 2 PackVerified Purchase
Yes- These work with the original Nest App. So- I hate the fact that Google is forcing everyone out of the Nest App and all newer versions of Nest Cameras only work through Google Home- which is horrible and not as user-friendly. We purchased the wireless/battery ones and they do not work with the Nest App so we returned them. These (thankfully)- are still the ones that work on the original Nest App format. No issues connecting through the Nest App and they work great!! We own 10 of these specific Nest outdoor cameras and they all have worked flawlessly now for years and continue to do so..
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ColeOglesbee
5.0 out of 5 stars I decided to go with the Nest being that it had better and more reviews than the Canary
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I was in the market for an outdoor security camera and debated between the Nest Outdoor Camera and the Canary Flex. I decided to go with the Nest being that it had better and more reviews than the Canary. I received the camera on a Friday afternoon and installed it the following morning about 10:30am. Within 24 hours we captured video of a man searching our vehicles. The vehicles were locked and nothing valuable was in them. The suspect came Sunday morning at 5:45am. The Nest app sent me the notification stating that it detected activity, but I never heard my phone. When I woke up, I sent the video and a still shot of the suspect to my neighbor who happens to be captain of our local police department. It's now Wednesday and they already have him identified. I was kind of hesitant about spending $180 for a camera, but it has already paid for itself. Overall, this is a great product and I have already recommended it to many locals in our neighborhood. I'm already trying to decide where I want to install my next camera.
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JustLiftTheWeights
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to install and setup.
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2022
Size: 2 PackVerified Purchase
Only thing I did not like is that the cables are really made assuming you will be running wires OUTSIDE of the house. I installed mine at the soffit level and you need to drill an 11/16 inch hole to get the plug through into the attic. I just caulked the hole shut.
Setup was very easy, subscribed to Googles service for recording to the cloud, otherwise these are pretty useless as they only "monitor" and not "record" - you do get a 30 day trial of recording, however. But I would not recommend unless you plan the $120 per year services. They do pick up wifi very good, better than a phone in the same location outside the house....all in all, very happy.
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Prisoner of Planet Moron
5.0 out of 5 stars Quality Product, Easy to Install and Operate
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2020
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
My home faces onto a cul-de-sac, and I had previously installed a dusk-to-dawn light on the front wall of my garage. As added security (and for something fun to play with), I purchased this Nest Outdoor Cam.
The installation was completed today, and I am quite impressed with the quality of the product and the ease with which the camera was activated and integrated into my smart home environment.
The physical installation was a bit challenging, as I am very much a senior citizen and it is SUMMER (90+ degrees) in Gulf Coast Florida. Some years ago, installation of the dusk-to-dawn light required both a junction box and a corresponding hole through the soffit into my attic. With some difficulty, I enlarged the soffit hole, and with greater difficulty maneuvered the camera wiring through the junction box, through the soffit, and into the attic (warm up there!), where I connected the power cord.
Worked like a charm! The camera is at least 40' from my router, being separated by interior and outdoor walls, but connectivity has been rock solid. Alexa lives everywhere in my home, including garage and bathrooms, and Nest Hubs of various types are also well-represented. Using the Google Nest Skill, all these gadgets were soon happily co-existing with my new camera.
Pix include:
1) garage, showing Nest Outdoor Camera above pre-existing dawn-to-dusk security light
2) same, close-up
3) detail of connection through soffit
4) screenshot from my PC: daytime camera view
5) screenshot from my PC: nighttime camera view (dawn-to-dusk light is on)
I have yet to experiment with all the various settings, but simply using the camera defaults has provided very satisfactory results, including notifications via both push and email. Fine tuning to follow.
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The Mad Hermit
5.0 out of 5 stars I Love This Camera. Easy To Install And Simple To Use. Quality Product!
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2016
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
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I bought this to replace a Foscam Camera I had and I was not disappointed. The quality of the design is top notch. It is rugged, clean and sturdy.
It comes with an exceptionally long power cable so you can reach a distant outlet. My closest outlet was 10 feet away and I needed about 16 feet of cable to reach it if I wanted to route it neatly off to the side. I got there with several feet of extra cable to spare. It also comes with all the screws and fasteners one will need to mount it on a variety of surfaces. It's that kind of thought, care and attention to detail that make the Nest product brand stand-out. Quality all around.
Video stream quality is good (See the attached video) and includes audio so you can hear what is going on as well.
What makes this camera shine though is its ease of installation and turn-key setup and operation. Everything just works. No messing around with trying to figure out what app to get to see your camera's feed on your phone. The free Nest app is your gateway to your video stream and associates with your camera during the setup process in a dead simple way. No need to figure out what your camera's IP address, username and password are or deal with router port forwarding. I can't emphasize enough how approachable and friendly the whole setup process is. You can also access your stream from your computer's web browser. No special plugins required!
The app allows you to view your live stream and photos of activity from the last three hours, as well as receive email activity alerts when sound or motion is detected. But it is way better if you subscribe to their premium "Nest Aware" service which provides a full 10 or 30 day video history with cloud recording, depending on the subscription you choose. The premium service also includes person alerts (different then "activity" alerts which only detect motion), the ability to setup Activity Zones that provide notifications when motion is detected in a specific area in front of your camera. As well as the ability to create downloadable/shareable clips and timelapses of whatever is available in your history.
I really enjoy the email alerts. I typically receive a notification within 20 seconds of someone walking in front of my camera. This also creates a nice archive of events in my inbox. Activity events are also highlighted with a "dot" in your timeline, allowing you to easily jump from event-to-event without having to search through hours of uneventful activity. This is a really nice feature and makes reviewing the days activity a quick and painless endeavor.
I am normally not a fan of subscription-based services but I saved $100/month this year by replacing my cable and landline telephone subscriptions with lower-cost/subscriptionless services like TiVO and the Obi202 (which I shared on my YouTube channel HDGeekReview). As a result, I am OK with treating myself to a $10/month Nest Aware subscription to really glean the full benefits of this product.
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J. Stee
5.0 out of 5 stars Great product and a great value with the new 5 day recording option.
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
These outdoor Nest cameras are meeting every expectation for me. And a big bonus was the change in subscription plans. The new 5 day recording option really helps enhance the "bang for the buck" from these cameras. To have 5 days of 24/7 recordings on 2 cameras for $80 a year is a great value.
The cameras themselves are outstanding. The video quality is fantastic both night and day. The app for the iPhone is intuitive and easy to use. The activity log is quite powerful and makes for a quick review of the highlights of the day.
I have also noticed no decrease in my homes overall internet bandwidth. I'll likely add another camera to my home sometime this spring. These little buggers are addictive.
UPDATE 11/2018 - I've been very pleased with the usefulness of my first two cameras and ordered a third on Cyber Monday. Two things I learned during my second order from Nest. 1.) These cameras really would be worthless without Nest Aware. My third camera is currently waiting (up to 5 days) for my Nest Aware subscription to kick in. Going back and only getting the limited still images vs actual video from history seems worthless. You get only a fraction of a person, fraction of a car, etc and so on. I would not recommend buying these cam's if you plan to use it for live only. There are cheaper options. And 2.) I cannot believe Nest is taking up to 5 days to process an order for an existing account, new camera. It surely seems like they should be able to enable my camera the moment my credit card cleared. Very unusual.
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mxb
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic cameras, nice app - get a battery backup
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
These cameras are great. I can only speak from my experience with the app on iOS, but it works beautifully so far. I am a network engineer and had no problems installing, configuring, and since then keeping my 4x outdoor cameras connected and running. On that note: you will need a high quality wireless router and high speed internet connection for constant video uploading! Get this before you setup your system.
The app is nice and it alerts me any time any camera detects motion. I get alot of alarms for cars passing my house, but it definitely works. For those concerned these are easy to remove or steal - mount them higher out of reach. The magnet is STRONG and it would take pretty serious force to remove - if someone wants it that badly they probably also have no issue breaking into your home anyway. The cable is hard attached to the camera and cannot be used on any other account while they are paired to yours - so even if a camera is stolen, it's worthless for resale. Also, if it comes to that, you'll have the culprit on camera before it's stolen - so who cares?
I have one camera mounted above my garage door, one above my front door, and two in the backyard. They all look great in daylight and the infrared vision at night works nice too - but it isn't as clear, of course. I pay $25/mo for the 4x cameras with 10-days of Nest Aware backup (less than $1/day) and have had no issue at all reviewing past alerts from home or on-the-go. I can see when my mail is delivered, when my trash cans are picked up, etc - and the overall environment is cool since I have a Nest thermostat all tied into it.
Most importantly - if you get these cameras, ensure that you get a UPS battery backup for both the cameras and your internet router/modem. (I'd recommend 2x battery backups - one for your internet, one for the cameras). Because these stream over the internet - be careful not to leave a potential weak point of failure. I have heavy locks on my power box, my outdoor junction box where my cable comes into the house, and battery backups running on my router, modem, and another one where all my cameras connect for power. I tested it a few days after installation and each camera uses less than 10 watts even when using the IR lights, meaning all 4x cameras kept running on my battery backup for almost 8 hours.
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Joel P.
5.0 out of 5 stars Must have for homeowners
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
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Ok let me just start off by saying that like most shoppers I spent a lot of time researching and comparing different types of cameras and What I was looking for was for something easy to use, easy installations and wireless.
I’ve lived in my home for 2 1/2 years and never had a package stolen and within 2 weeks of installing the cam right around Christmas I had 2 packages stolen, and thanks to the crisp and clear image of the nest cam I was able to identify the car and spotted it the next day. I contacted my local precinct and they waited for the perpetrator to come back to his cAr and as it turns out he was still wearing the same clothing as captured in the video. He was subsequently arrested.
Bottom line is if you’re looking for a good quality image and a camera that is easy to use with awesome alerts look no further. I installed it with ease in 30 min or so and can now monitor my home from anywhere in the world. Not to mention the ability to talk to anyone coming to my door live.
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Sam P
5.0 out of 5 stars Huge Upgrade for Arlo
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2020
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The Nest Cam Outdoor was an upgrade from my three year old Arlo, and in a big way. The quality of the video, and the speed at which I could pull up a live view isn't even close to being comparable. The added bonus is the speed and accuracy that Nest Aware is able to see motion, identify it as a person, or other moving object, and then pop up the notification on my Apple Watch! It was easy to set up. Super happy with this camera.
5.0 out of 5 stars Works with nest app!
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2022
Size: 2 PackVerified Purchase
I bought the 2 pack when I got the sense from other reviews that the 2 pack works with the nest app instead of google home. They do!!! I hate the new version and google home, so i was glad to complete my set wolith what i wanted!
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Bado
5.0 out of 5 stars So far great, with just some minor nitpicks!
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
As an owner of many Nest products (4 Thermostats and 13 Protects), they were obviously my first choice when I decided to add some cameras. Since Amazon was having great Black Friday deals, I decided that it was time to pull the trigger.
Set up, as with all Nest products, was simple. Installation wasn't difficult at all, other than having to drill some pilot holes for the mounting plate and the cable clips.
A couple of minor nits:
1) I don't like that it has to plug into an outlet. I would prefer being able to have an electrician connect it to existing wiring in the walls. This would, of course, make installation harder and costlier as drywall/stucco etc repairs would need to be made, but it would be nice to have the option.
2) When I first connected, the video I was receiving was horrible. The camera is literally 6 ft from my router, on the other side of the wall (wood frame, stucco). Using my browser, connected via hardline Ethernet with a REALLY fast internet connection (100+ down, 5+ up), the signal coming from the Nest website was choppy, grainy, and continuous buffering. I did notice that I couldn't sign in to my app for a bit, so it's possible the site was just coincidentally having issues when I was trying to do this. However, the video feed in the phone app was better. The picture was clearer, though still choppy and buffering. I decided to order another network extender, just in case, that I could put on the other side fo the wall, right by the door where the camera is. As I was still setting the extender up, I noticed that the website's video feed was now working nicely. So, apparently it was a problem with the site, but still... was annoying. At any rate, I installed the extender and all seems to be well now
3) When I set up the network extender, I needed to change the wireless network the camera was connected to. This required re-setting up the camera from scratch again, which meant getting on a ladder to re-scan the QR code on the cam. That was obnoxious. Would have been nicer to just use the app to tell it which connection to switch to.
That being said, so far I really dig it. I have a second cam to set up out back this weekend, and an indoor cam to bring to our vacation condo
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Mikey
5.0 out of 5 stars Great security cameras
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2022
Size: 2 PackVerified Purchase
This is the third pair of Nest Cameras I’ve purchased in the past 12 months. I have been very pleased with the operation and function of these cameras. Two things I might complain about: the set up required going over some steps two or three times. Also, the motion detection sometimes misses some thing in that camera’s Field of view. Otherwise I think this is a very good value for the money.
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Boston Sports Fanatic
5.0 out of 5 stars 2nd order was a charm. I love Nest!
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2021
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I am a Nest-oholic. I have numerous outdoor and indoor cameras, some since the drop am days. I ordered a new outdoor cam to replace one I had in my carport that was an indoor but in a case (made before outdoor camera was available). Being well versed, the first Nest Cam I received from this order would not connect to the wifi at all. No matter what troubleshooting I did it just wouldn't work (even right next to the router). I completed the return and requested a new one knowing it had to defective camera. The new one arrived within the week and it hooked right up with absolutely no issues!
I love these products and with the new Google pricing for the service it is worth it. Much cheaper than old Nest program.
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Zunster
5.0 out of 5 stars Works with Nest app
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2022
Size: 2 PackVerified Purchase
There is some confusion about theses camera. The “Google nest cam outdoor “ is the old nest camera. It is wired plug in. It works with the Nest app. In my opinion it works much better than the new Google nest battery camera that I could never get to consistently connect to my iPad for viewing.
The picture quality isn’t 5 star but at least you get a picture.
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Little Jim
5.0 out of 5 stars Great product
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I'm really liking these Nest Outdoor Cameras. They were easy for me to get registered and set up online for the different locations. I hired an electrician to do the hardware install. It only took a few seconds after the cameras got power for me to see a picture on my iphone and have the electrician make slight changes in the field of view. The app is fairly intuitive and easy to figure out. I did have a slight problem with the two farthest cams from the router. The front door cam would reload quite often as would the driveway cam which also would drop out quite often. But moving my router off the floor and up to the top of a file cabinet about 5 feet off the ground seems to have solved that issue and now i'm not seeing any cams drop out and the only reloads i see is when i first open the app my iphone or launch the website on a computer. One of the things that held me back from getting Nest was the Nest Aware subscription price but they have added more options with lower prices that looked reasonable to me. There is now a 5 day option which lowers the price considerably. I bought the 5 day for two cams and the 10 day for another. But I'm thinking I'll probably go 5 days on all three cams as I really don't see the need to save 30 days or even 10 days worth of video. It's easy enough to download something to my computer if I see something I want to save on my hard drive. My electrician has installed a lot of security cams, though never any Nest cams, and he was very impressed by the video quality.
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Jordan W
5.0 out of 5 stars Peace of Mind
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
After a few looking sketchy characters showed up on my porch with what I hypothesized were bad intentions, I looked into security options. This camera fit the bill and had pretty good reviews. Install was extremely easy. I ran the power cable through the attic crawl space (had to use an extension as well) and then installed this camera right above my door. It uses a magnet (held on by a screw to the wall) to keep the unit actually attached to the wall. My first thought was: This could be relatively easy to rip off the wall. So, I made sure to wrap the attached power cable (it does NOT unnattach from the unit BTW) around a rafter to attempt to deter that. But, that was never an issue. The picture is good but don’t be expecting to be able to read license plates from the road. In your driveway, maybe, but the distance is not anything more than should be expected of a camera of this size. Connection to Wi-Fi was easy and I was up and running in less than 15 minutes after the install which took me probably about 45 minutes (longest part was running cable through crawl space and fishing it through the siding). Keep in mind a part of the power cable is roughly 3/4 inch wide, so that is something that needs to be accounted for when doing your install (as it CANNOT be detached or at least could not on my version). But, this was not a show stopper for me. Once installed, I was happy with the picture. Night vision is surprisingly good as well (close range). You will be able to make out a face if they get close enough to the area you have selected to overwatch. The app is very user friendly and allows you to attach and link other cameras, however, the montly price goes up the more cameras you add. But, the subscription service is a must have as it keeps 10 days of recorded material on the nest “cloud”. I paired with one indoor camera as well. (Of note, I hung some decoy cameras and also put up some Brink’s Home Security for additional deterrence). The notifications that the cameras send you can get old but it does differentiate between “motion” and “person”. Expect to get a notice everytime a car drives by or a bug crawls in front of the lens. But, this was not an issue for me. Also, the noticed stop when the app smartly detects that you are “home” once you link the app to your location. I used this product for over a year and the only time the camera quit working was when my internet or power went down. (That is the only draw back - no internet: no access to the camera from your smart phone which is the biggest plus of this product)
WAYS TO IMPROVE: There needs to be an option that if a “person” is detected during late night hours (ex. When you are sleeping) that you can set the app to wake you up. I know this was one of the things I wished that app had.
Also, removable storage in the camera that keeps recording when the internet is down so that it can be removed and viewed at a later time (with maybe up to a week of storage?) not sure how feasible this is since there is probably limited space.
Overall: highly recommended for peace of mind. Durable. Easy to install and de-install.
Note: I did not use this product in the extreme cold. Also, the spot I mounted it left it covered from rain/snow. It did survive Georgia heat with no issues though (do not mount in an area that is exposed to direct sunlight). Hope this helps!
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PVJ
5.0 out of 5 stars Not your mothers video surveillance - Great Product!
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2016
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I've put off video security for years because I couldn't make heads or tails out of the complicated systems which require a DVR, hard drive, etc, not to mention having to send cables through the crawl space.
This is a game changer! It's all in one little unit - NO OTHER COMPONENTS NEEDED!
Power: Needs to plug this in, however it comes with very long length of cable so it should accommodate most situations. The only issue I could see is if the plug is low enough for an intruder to unplug the unit. Of course they would likely (but not necessarily) be filmed walking up to it, which would trigger an alert - so maybe that's not a huge issue. A wireless unit however might be very convenient - except when it's time to change batteries ;)
Having an all in one unit like Nest Cam is a life saver - yes, it's pricier than the DVR kits but you get no muss, no fuss installation and the data is stored to the cloud so no one can simply take the hard drive and make off with evidence. Yes, there is a subscription fee - $100 for one year/ten day monitoring, which I believe means it will save ten consecutive days of data before it records over it. They also have a thirty day option. It's well worth it.
Set up: Easy to get up and running and attach. Can I just say the magnet option is AMAZING! I needed to attach one screw!! The instructions are blessedly super clear and well laid out with text and graphics - thank you! I typically dread setting up new electronics - there are always hiccups and lots of frustration - Not with this one!
Coverage: I thought I might need two cameras for the front of my home but the angle of the lens is wide enough that one gets the job done. I may need two for the back as there are some trees that obstruct the view.
Picture/audio: crystal clear and audio is very sensitive (also can be turned off).
I'm really impressed with the features: alerts if the camera detects a person in view, camera will shut on and off if it detects your phone in/out of the house, you can monitor on your phone or computer, and lots more features.
Cons: The upper limit for heat is 104 degrees - as I live in the desert where it can regularly be 110-118 degrees, I'm wondering if I need to bring the camera in or if I can take my chances. I'd hate to cook a $200 camera (or multiple as I plan to get more). I suppose I could bring it in during the day and put it back out at night as it cools off - but what a pain - not to mention not feasible when I go out of town in the summer for a few weeks.
I may experiment with setting the camera up indoors near a window - wonder what effect the glass will have on it?
I can't recommend this enough - go for it - it feels so good to have this level of security for just a few hundred dollars!
I'm on the fence as to whether to purchase the indoor camera - it's received some mixed reviews - so going to mull that over for a bit.
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Gary Woodsmith
5.0 out of 5 stars Yes buy this
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2016
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Good quality, nice design, strong magnet, good viewing angle, good software. Do note that these cameras will use quite a lot of bandwidth so keep an eye on your data caps for your ISP. The data usage estimation range is on nest cam outdoor webpage and located under specs. I talking a range around 60GB-300GB+ per month per camera depending on activity level and resolution. Just keep that in mind, it didn't really come to my attention until I saw the spec page myself.
The software features are really top notch, really makes it feel worth the monthly cost. You can set custom activity zones, name them, set their color and shape. You have the option of sharing a link to the camera with or without a password or you can invite someone to have full access to your cameras as long as they register their own free nest account. It feels as though they thoroughly thought this out and use their own products.
You can link your nest account to the MyQ liftmaster garage door app, a neat bonus feature.
cons:
Would like clearer video, but looks fine considering the price. It still gets the job done well, but don't expect to zoom in and get useful details. A suggestion to nest would be to design the attached cables in a way as to make it easier to run behind walls and holes.
Needs more color selection when creating activity zones, there are four colors to choose from, the washed out purple being difficult to distinguish from the regular gray activity dots on the nest aware feature.
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Alan Carter
5.0 out of 5 stars High quality hardware, great picture, and an amazing mobile interface.
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I have a home setup with all of the Nest home products. The thermostat, the Nest protect, and a collection of Nest cams (outdoors and indoors). My very first Nest Outdoor camera had an issue where it would frequently disconnect and was basically unusable. I contacted Nest support, gave them some information, and they shipped me a new camera within a day or two. I setup the new camera, shipped the old one back, and the new camera worked perfectly. The replacement camera has been operating continuously for about the last 6 months. The winter weather has had more than a few days below 0 Fahrenheit and the camera did not have any issues or lack of feed. The night vision sensors are great and have a decent range. As long as you have them enabled, you can see in the dark. I bought my second outdoor camera and haven't had any issues either. I installed a bunch more for family and they are also going strong.
One issue I have with this camera is the diameter of the cable connection between the AC adapter and the rest of the cable. It has about a three quarters of an inch diameter, so when you are running these cameras outside, you have to drill these huge holes in the wall (3/4" or bigger). They fixed the issue with the Nest Outdoor Cam IQ by reducing the diameter of said part, but I can't justify the extra cost for the change.
You are required to purchase a Nest Aware plan if you wish to watch your video history. I wish they had a free 1 day cloud video history option like some of the other brands of cameras have. I have these Nest Aware subscriptions and they will quickly cost you more than the actual hardware. The price point of the plans are definitely the biggest con here.
Overall though, I am very happy with the cameras. High quality hardware, great picture, and an amazing mobile interface. Customer service has been great also.
4.0 out of 5 stars I purchased an additional.
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2022
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I already have 13 Nest Cameras and this was the 3rd outdoor camera for out front of my house.
There is so much I could complain about but there is so many positive things I can say too.
Biggest issue is when Google took over. Connection problems… since Google took over I couldn't login in unless I switched to and used a gmail account. I also hate that they switched the status light option to where you can’t turn it off completely, you used to be able to but not now.
If you are trying to catch someone in your yard at night, it won’t be clear you not will you recognize the person. You can see almost everything during the day if it isn’t too far from your camera.
It’s frustrating that they don’t have a high enough wifi signal receiver and my house isn’t that big .. actually pretty tiny but I had to purchase another item in order to boost my wifi signal strength. I have other products with the same distance from my router and they don’t have an issue receiving wifi signal what so ever so idk how it works.
When these first came out, I spent thousands of dollars and now I continue to use them because I invested so much already. You also have to pay for a subscription if you want your camera to record. One thing I love that they changed is it is one transaction, one flat fee for all cameras, regardless of how many you have. Before, you had to pay for each camera, every single month/year (depending on which plan you choose) and now it’s any and all cameras you have for a flat rate. This saved me hundreds of dollars by switching to Geico … just kidding but it did save me hundreds by changing the plan the way they did
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John Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars Good but could be great
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Good but not great is the way I would sum up my Nest Cam Outdoor experience thus far. Installation can be simple if you don't mind an ugly cable going into an outlet. If you want a clean look, like my wife does, then you will need to get creative. Basically for me the best path was to drill through the exterior wall and then fish down the interior wall to an outlet. I had to drill a larger hole than I would like to as the USB connector is permanently affixed to the cable and you either have to fish the whole camera through or the large 3/4" USB end. This large end also makes fishing down the wall tricky. I saw a video on YouTube where someone cut the cable and then reconnected the wiring with electrical twist nuts. I didn't feel comfortable doing that. It would have been great if the cable had a disconnection to where you could fit it through small cable sized openings, however the waterproofing might be jeopardized then, IDK.....Overall the software is what makes the NEST, if your going to invest in a "security camera" then it needs to be reliable and easy to find something that it recorded, otherwise you have nothing. Due to Nest's expensive cloud recording services, I originally went with a Lorex NVR system, but after 9 months of having it drop cameras randomly and software that is confusing and not user friendly. I returned the system and decided the Nest monthly fees would be the cost of admission if I wanted reliability, simplicity, and usability. I'm not sure how many cameras I will be able to afford with the monthly fees, I really wish they would make it significantly less the more cameras you have.
UPDATE- added a second outdoor nestcam to my front door, I decided to go for cutting the wire and drilling a smaller hole and then splicing the wire back together. The end result was good and I would do it that way in the future. Also it appears that each nestcam is taking about .5 MBS of bandwidth from my internet connection.
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LF
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Camera if You Cut and Splice
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
This is a great security camera. The image quality is terrific. The features are rich and powerful, although you have to pay a pretty hefty monthly fee to take full advantage of its capabilities. Installation is very straightforward, with one huge caveat. If you are going push the cable through a wall to access inside power (and have a nice, clean installation without a bunch of wires crawling all over the outside of your home) you have two choices. (1) Drill an enormous hole in your outside wall to accommodate the non-removable waterproof housing on the end of the USB cable. (2) Cut the USB cable, which allows you to drill a very, very small hole, and splice it back together inside your house. We went with (2) and are very happy with the results.
Two things to bear in mind if you go the same route that we did. First, cutting the cable will void your warranty. Second, you only have to splice the red and black power lines, since the shielded data lines are not used by this WiFi-enabled camera.
One last point, if you do decide to cut and splice, you can discard the huge (weather resistant) transformer that comes with the device. Any standard 5V/1A USB wall outlet will suffice.
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Omar Siddique
TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE
4.0 out of 5 stars very easy, mostly weather-proof
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2021
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Decent, extremely easy setup. There's two major caveats, & a waterproofing issue that can be mitigated easily. Read on for details.
Pro:
* Extremely easy setup, even behind a stateful firewall. Literally seconds to get it working.
* Google apps are current, quick, and clean. Both Nest & Google Home work. Google Hub integration.
* Decent quality day & night.
* Withstands rain, snow, extreme heat, no problems yet except one (see "Cons").
* All mounting hardware provided, including a long power cable.
* Magnetic ball mount allows for incremental adjustments.
* Good looking camera, unobtrusive color.
* Easy Wifi connection-- no waiting for timeouts, worked fine through multiple walls with my Unifi AP. Most reviews with wifi issues are likely bad consumer setups (wifi being horrendously complex in reality, although it appears simple to the user).
Cons:
* That magnetic ball mount is VERY magnetic. It's difficult to adjust the angle by 1°, it always ends up jumping 5-10° by the time you apply enough pressure to move it.
* Field of view isn't fisheye or ultra-wide-angle that have become popular. You're going to be aiming the cam rather than a flat mount with 180° view.
* Daylight detail is good but not great.
* Night vision blows out if something is close to the lens. Ie, when I stand in front of the cam. See example pic: snow a few feet below the cam is blowing out the IR image. It gets worse the closer it is to the camera.
* No PoE. If you're making a long run or want a through-the-wall setup, PoE is far easier than AC power.
* DC adapter can seep & short out if not mounted just so (see below).
Like all the Nest cams, there's a big drawback: recording is a pay service.
Google's cloud service simplifies everything, but the recurring cost adds up quickly. Also there's no onboard webserver or published API, so you're stuck going through one of the two apps (Nest & Google Home) or the nest website. Even if you're just using the device as a live cam and don't care about cloud storage, or prefer to not send your camera footage outside of the confines of your home, you still have to.
The shorting issue: if condensation settles or frost forms where the USB cable connects into the round DC dongle, it'll seep into the connector. The problem is there's no waterproof gasket like a phone has, just a simple plastic sleeve. I lost one nest cam as a result, it shorted, and after prolonged exposure, it failed. It showed scorch marks inside the USB connector on inspection.
Solution: mount it with the USB port facing DOWN. I further wrapped it with electric tape. Not ideal, but the problem hasn't recurred.
Also like all Nest cams (and many other google consumer product choices), these are "old" hardware specs, with most of the progress made on the software side. These cams have changed little since before Nest was assimilated into the Google brand. This shows mostly in the limited optical performance, though the devices themselves were ahead of the pack originally.
For a small wireless outdoor cam with a no-fuss setup and no need for enterprise software, this was the best option I found. Recommended with caveats.
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Nimbo
4.0 out of 5 stars Nest servers use 9600 baud modems; updated review
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
C’mon guys... you charge an arm and a leg for Nest Aware, and during the day all we get is a spinning circle. I guess you guys figure that since we can view the stored video later ( like at midnight), it justifies the price. Ever try and use the microphone? The lag is like communicating with Voyager. Maybe I’ll hook up some orange juice cans and string.
Nest & Google should be embarrassed at the speed of the Nest cloud server. Perhaps Bezos can rent you some bandwidth. Or how about you replace your IBM XTs w NVIDIA 1u servers... or are you guys using those to mint bitcoin?
When you fix this issue, I’ll increase my rating.
True to my word, I’m increasing my rating to 4 stars. Cloud issues have been corrected and the cameras are very reliable, don’t kill my bandwidth and have very good compression. If the intercom feature actually worked without 5 second latency, it would get 5 stars.
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SharpieItBlack
4.0 out of 5 stars Works great for a small/medium home
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Update, A Year Later: Overall, I am still very happy with this camera. They have made app improvements I believe and therefore in the past year I feel the app and connection to their server has definitely improved since then. The only time my camera ever goes offline or drops connection is when my power or wifi goes out. But once reconnected it works perfectly fine. I only need one camera right now as it's on a patio of my apartment, but if I had a full house I would definitely invest in more.
Update July 3rd: The mobile app and desktop views of my camera keep saying I can't connect to Nest services. I got outside and the green led is lit saying it is connecting and streaming.
But every time I open the app it says I can't connect to Nest services. If I can get into my camera view, it does show recorded events while I was unable to see them. But it's a huge pain when the app won't connect to the server or cloud or wherever so I can actually use it.
Taking a star off for unstable app.
Original:
Shipping: Very fast so I could set it up really quickly.
Actual Setup: Without revealing too much about my home; I have very fast internet both down/up speeds so the feed won't drop unless my wifi drops (the fault of my ISP not the camera itself). It took several tries for it to connect to the Wi-Fi network, however once I got it connected it has been quite streamlined.
The Nest app is installed on both my Android Galaxy phone and Android Galaxy Tablet. It runs well and simple to navigate. Not everything is available in app, and must be done on your computer (such as account details and subscription details, but that's to be expected and not an issue).
I live in a one bedroom apartment in a conservative area, and as a social minority I fear for my safety. As well as an owner of several gaming systems. This camera has alleviated tons of anxiety in regards to my safety and security.
Physical installation portrayed some road blocks. But after some thinking I got it eventually. Luckily there is wood around my patio door so I just screwed the clips into that. And luckily I have an exterior outlet as well so I don't have to risk breaking my lease by drilling into a wall.
Concealing it hasn't been as ideal but I got it to work eventually. The magnetic back is STRONG. Especially when attached to a metal object. I have a metal hanging planter I secured the magnet to and it holds well. I put flowers in the planter to better hide the camera.
Infrared lights are not seen at all from the outside unless you're staring directly at it and are extremely close in proximity. I mention this because I've seen some similar type cameras with IF lights that are really noticeable.
Suggestion: Add a feature to turn the green led off. The green light is fairly bright and noticeable when the surroundings are all dark (especially at night). Not sure how this would be implemented but it's a thought.
Video Quality: It is so so. For a smart phone security camera connected to Wi-Fi, if actually has way better quality than I expected. If people want better resolution they're gonna have to spend A LOT more and for way better business-grade cameras. This is for your home and it'll work just fine.
I only have the one camera so I cannot speak for a multi camera setup or a larger home. But for a small apartment it works great.
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Marta
4.0 out of 5 stars Lack of an Ethernet port is a minus
Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2019
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Hello and thank you for reading. I have been using the nest outdoor camera for well over a year now and I have to say that I am very pleased with the width of the lens. I would have to use two amcrest cameras that I have to cover the same area as the nest camera, a major plus. The motion detection is great. I really like the fact that you can set up different zones and get alarms based on what zone movement is detected in. I don't really care about when someone walks on the sidewalk, but when there is a movement detected on my stairs, I'd really like to know then. With this camera I can do just that.
A big minus and the reason I didn't give the product five starts is the lack of an Ethernet port. I understand that it's supposed to be wireless but I do loose signal from the camera, there are days I loose the signal several times a day, but that might be to an improper router placement, but I cannot change that at the moment. The WiFi signal isn't the major issue here though. No camera is truly wireless, you always have that power cable that you have to connect. If this camera had an Ethernet port I would be able to run a cable, up to a 100m I believe. This would allow me to place the camera wherever I want. Currently I am limited to the length of the cord and my power outlet placement. Besides, I can hide an Ethernet cable quite nicely, not so much with the power cord. Thank you for reading, I hope this review has been helpful.
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A. Hawley
4.0 out of 5 stars Slow app but excellent image
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I got this camera to monitor my front door and porch, mostly to see who's out there before I open my door. I'm home most of the time, so police-report quality images of thieves or vandals weren't really my goal, and I'm not concerned about weeks of backups.
The picture is wide angle, high resolution, full color during the day and vividly infrared in the dark. Installation was not complex (took me about an hour from start to finish). Sound quality is very good coming in from the camera's microphone, and maybe a little less brilliant going out via the camera's speaker. It does NOT do well if my phone is picking up my voice via bluetooth earbuds, which is, like, 98% of the time.
While this camera is very high quality--really, the picture is amazing, both night and day--I'm docking a star because even if I keep the app foregrounded on my phone, it takes a few seconds to load and show me the current picture, like, who's knocking on my door, or is the cat on the doorstep waiting for her dinner?
What would be ideal is a desktop app that I could just keep running in the corner of my monitor, where I'm working all day anyway. Barring that, this is a heck of a nice camera.
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tim
4.0 out of 5 stars For the most part it is easy to enstall
Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2022
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The cable that attaches to the camera has a large end on it. When I installed it, I wanted to run the cable straight through my wall to the inside. An finished exterior wall. I had to drill a large 1" hole through the wall to install the cable. The cable is small, a 1/4" hole would have been all I would have needed, but because of this large end I had to drill a huge hole.
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Ed Stubbs Jr.
4.0 out of 5 stars Way better then expected! Love the user experience
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I'm really enjoying my outdoor nest cam! It was a breeze to setup. The configuration to get the nest on my wifi took under 5 mins. The instructions are step by step and very easy that anyone could accomplish. After connected to wifi I took it outside to see if the wifi signal could reach my location and it did.. Great! So next all I had to do was drill a hole for cable.. I used a 3/4 drill bit which was just big enough to slide the end of the USB cable cord thru so it fit perfectly.. I mounted the cam mount and magnet.. plugged it in and we were in business..
The app for this thing is soo soo simple..It's great.. very user friendly and easy to use..I just love checking it all the time! And being able to see live coverage of Everything is awesome! I only have one camera and I don't think 100/yr for 7day footage is bad at all.. Also being able to make my own clips is amazing and great when you want to share something with someone.. I did a ton of research before I bought this, between arlo and ring and other systems out there and I'm glad I chose nest..
Now my only gripe about this is sometimes the live feed will go offline for a period of time randomly and I have no clue why. But it comes back on.. other then that I love this thing!
4.0 out of 5 stars Great video quality, App has some bugs, Some usability issues, Expensive cloud service, Reliable
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I purchased this to thwart package thieves and because I am a bit paranoid. So far I am pretty impressed with the my purchase. The video quality is great and the connection is reliable.
First, installation was pretty simple, though I wasn't thrilled with puncturing my exterior. I decided to mount this on the aluminum flashing that surrounds my front door, rather than drilling through the vinyl siding. Once I decided on location and got over having to drill into my house, installation was pretty simple.
I will echo other reviewers and state that the included cord is way too long if your outlet is near your camera. Following the lead of others, I did not connect the included AC adapter and instead plugged the USB end into an extra iPhone adapter I had laying around and it works just fine. This allowed me to reduce my slack from like 10 feet down to a foot.
I use the Nest app on my iPhone 7 Plus running iOS 10. I do have two Nest Protect sensors, but not the thermostat. While the Nest app works pretty well, there are a few bugs that still need to be worked out. My biggest annoyances are 1) only about 85% of the notifications include the GIF and I still get quite a few that include no preview and 2) there are times where the app just won't load the video when I click on a notification and I have to force quit and restart the app and then manually find that point in time.
Outside of these bugs, there are some usability annoyances. It would be nice if you could just arrow between events in the app. You can try clicking the little colored dots, but my experience is not consistent. Therefore, jumping from event to event is a bit of a pain. Also, it is annoying that the software cannot distinguish lights from people/animals/cars/etc. I often get notifications about activity only to have it be headlights that shine in the zone. Since my home is located at a "T" intersection, it is unfortunately very common to have headlights in my walkway.
The Nest Aware subscription is a bit expensive, but there are not many competitors out there, so it is what it is. Also, there hasn't been a firmware update in over a year (Jan 2016), which is a bit concerning. The picture quality is great, so no issues there. I would love to add more of these around my home, but given the cost of the camera and the subscription service, I don't think I will until things come down in price some.
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Charles V
4.0 out of 5 stars This is a 4.5 review with lots of advice
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
So far I have purchased and installed two of these and I am pretty happy. I am not concerned about the pricing plan assuming that I can utilize the create clip feature that I have not yet tried. Assuming that works I think the pricing is fair.
There are a few quirks:
1. When setting these up on your WiFi it takes a long time to get the appropriate responses back from Nest. I've become convinced there is an actual person there intervening on each connection. The set up app seems to work better than the PC version. The find networks function also seems faster if your device is on the same SSID that you want to use for the camera. I was unable to make use of the scan feature for set up (not sure why) and had to enter the numbers from the back of the camera. Do write these down before placing the camera or covering it with a skin.
Due to placement, I had weak WiFi signals and ended up using two NETGEAR AC750 WiFi Range Extenders (EX3700-100NAS) to create dedicated 2.4 Ghz SSID's for each camera. Someone else said it worked better on 2.4 so I just believed them.
My advice is to be very patient. Let the system respond before you start cursing much or give up.
2. I had an issue that ended up being related to power fluctuations where I installed one inside my garage. My window air conditioner in the garage is on the same circuit and as it would cycle this caused the issue. This was like a mini brownout (milliseconds) and would knock the camera offline sometimes without it ever coming back. Only the camera by the way and nothing else connected on the same circuit. If you are offline long enough, meaning not WiFi connected, you will sometimes lose your settings.
I ended up installing an APC Back-UPS 425VA UPS Battery Backup & Surge Protector (BE425M) between the camera and wall socket. This solved that issue and the camera is no longer dropping out.
3. A small issue on reflection due to putting one in my garage looking out to the porch. I like it much better than trying to find power anywhere convenient outside. It is about two inches from the glass. I have double pane windows. I mounted this on a standard camera tripod standing on top of a table using the threaded magnetic base that comes with the wall mount by Wasserstein.
After turning off the status lights I would get an "inside the garage" reflection at night if the garage was not completely dark. This was all due to backlighting. This was easily solved by making sure the camera had the window curtains pulled tight behind it completely blocking the light (plastic clothes pins work great for this).
4. There is a very brief time during the day (one minute or less) where one of my cameras ends up pointing toward the sun. This is really unavoidable given the placement restrictions. This causes a whiteout of the camera and it shuts off the view and (I think) recording feature for some time (longer than it should). The WiFi remains connected however and the camera will come back on automatically after about five minutes. This is somewhat annoying.
5. As several people have already mentioned. The second piece of the cord, the part that connects to the electric socket, has this ridiculously large round connector to push the USB male end into (coming from the camera). This is not a transformer or anything else useful. It merely adds a few more feet of cord between the camera and electric socket (if you need it).
Throw it away! You are better off using a normal USB wall adapter. If you need extra length you can also use an USB extension cable. Both are available on Amazon.
Hope this is useful.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars The best app features you will find (getting what you pay for)
Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Be forewarned: You really NEED to pay for the Nest Aware plan to make this the best camera available. Without it, you won't get zone alerts or video alert playback. Just snapshots of everything in frame for the last 3 hours- which works well, but not worth the price of the camera outright. I purchased a full year for $100, which is basically 12 months for the price of 11. Yes, I do think it should be 1/2 that or they should offer 3 days or even 24 hours footage options, but I digress. I'm sure they'll start to offer a variation of plans eventually, given all the feedback I've seen from customers.
Here's why I think it's worth it:
Nest has the absolute best app of any camera I've used. It's incredibly simple and FUN to use the video timeline to go through captured footage. Even my wife enjoys scrubbing through the video feed. She never before bothered to check the camera feed of our past cameras I had installed (Foscam, Blink & LAView to name a few).
Being able to set the camera's to automatically arm themselves when we're gone is incredible simple and totally hands-off. We only get notifications on our phones of zone activity if we are both out of the house. It's quick, seamless and it just works.
Yes, you can buy a Costco 8 camera DVR system for cheap, but you get what you pay for in software (or lack therof). And let's not discount the fact that you're then trusting some generally untrustworthy 3rd party to access your home network for remote viewing. I don't like opening ports on my router, and I fully trust Nest with their cloud service. I definitely do NOT trust Foscam, etc.
My criticisms:
IR could be a bit stronger.
Power cord is OK, but POE would have been great. An option for ethernet vs wifi would have been nice.
Wifi reception is decent, but being that these are outside cameras the wifi signal can get weak after getting through all those walls.
Nest aware needs to come down in price a bit.
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IB
4.0 out of 5 stars Expensive but very solid option if you’re able to spend the money.
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Overall, I think that these cameras are the best on the market. However, they are costly and do require a monthly fee to include storage of video footage, ability to review ANY past footage (even 1 minute ago), and to access all the valuable features.
Pros: Very easy installation, asthetically pleasing, intuitive usage. When all features are available (read: you pay the monthly fee for Nest Aware), I think these are likely the best cameras on the market. The ability to both watch, listen, and communicate (using the microphone) is a major plus. There are serveral accessories available as well—outer skins, mounting brackets, etc. The app is pretty easy to use. Adaptability with other “works with Nest” products.
Cons:
- Easily one of the most expensive popular home security cameras.
- Google’s proposed use of the footage from your home cameras for advertising purposes (search the web for stories—not used currently, but the plan has apparently been proposed).
- Quality of footage isn’t the clearest but it’s decent.
- The app is glitchy and often takes a while to load despite high level internet service.
- The cost of Nest Aware could be prohibitive if you’re looking to store video and/or review captured video rather than a still image. It’s currently $10/mo for the first camera and $5/mo for every camera after the first camera to the most basic access Nest Aware (acces 10 days of store video, set zones, and to receive “person alerts” rather than movement alerts). I haven’t found any decent alternative solution for for video storage.
- Vehicle headlights often trip the system and send alerts as cars drive by. We’re going to cut back on the monthly cost by only using Nest Aware for areas of the home that we feel would benefit for 10 day video history based on the likelihood that it could be useful in the event of a break in to the home of vehicle (i.e., front door, back door, and driveway), while also using a home security system to otherwise cover the windows and doors. This way, we have video evidence of the most likely area of a crime or property damage while relying on the ability to live monitor the other cameras should our home security alarm be activated.
Very expensive but decent if you’re willing to spend the money for the cameras and monthly Nest Aware subscription.
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YEMSG
4.0 out of 5 stars 30+ days in and loving it.
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
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One month in and I love it!
Our driveway is the only blindside of our house and it bugged me that I never knew if someone was coming in. The Nest Cam solved my problem.
For those worried about the yearly subscription, there is now a $50/year ($5/month) option. I’m ok with that. If something was to happen, you can save anything you have recorded to your phone or computer. Very easy.
Installation was easy for me. I took measurements and thought it out how I wanted to do it. The 1” housing on the USB plug is big and I definitely didn’t want to drill a hole that size in my house. So instead I was able to put the wire through the weather stripping for my garage door. I was able to attach the transmitter inside the garage and only needed 2ft of extension cord to reach the outlet. Definitely drill pilot holes for the bases, it’s your house, make it nice.
My router is about 15ft from the camera so connectivity is rarely an issue.
I’m getting push notifications into my phone for motion and person detection. Sometimes a big change in shadows or a tree nearby blowing in the wind will set it off but it’s not annoying to me and it’s nice to check in on the homestead.
I knocked one star for the large housing on the usb cord forcing many customers to drill a big hole in their house. I’m handy so I would have done it if it was necessary, but to a general consumer it’s intimidating and will probably add cost because they would have to hire a contractor. Another reason is the mic on the camera is cumbersome. Good investment so far. I’ll update if anything changes.
My ISP gives me 1000gb/month and I was under 300 for the first month of use. This includes streaming TV (no cable) + general web browsing.
My download speeds are anywhere from 20mbps to 65mbps and the picture quality is clear.
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Al bondigas
4.0 out of 5 stars Great idea, but still a little clunky and data hungry
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The delivery was the best part of the deal. That said, Nest is a great idea with a lot of functionality that needs a lot of tuning up for the mass market. The bluetooth configuration is clunky and disobedient. You really have to be right next to it within 10 ft of the camera to configure, so if you're trying to use it as a hidden camera it becomes a little obvious if you have to stand on a ladder with your mobile device to configure it if you change your wireless network.
The instructions are anemic and you really have to seem to will it to work navigating the websites FAQ's. Take a picture of the back of the nest camera so you can configure the device without having to remove it. It is easy to remove off the magnet base. Not easy enough to be moved by the wind, but a snowball or a branch might, so fasten the cable close to the camera base to prevent it from falling too far.
It uses tons of bandwidth, so make sure your wireless doesnt have limits. Its about 50 gigs/month. The resolution is pretty good, but not so good that a little compression would degrade the quality. It needs to implement a compression scheme for its cloud recording to storage of the video.
Seems like the best part is the design of the cloud part of the interface with the camera more so than on the home camera or delivery to the cloud system. Hopefully this will get more refined as time goes by.
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Secret MonkeyTop Contributor: Pets
4.0 out of 5 stars Best outdoor surveillance camera on the market
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I did a lot of research on the best outdoor cams and a super genius geek friend recommended these. Best buy i ever made. There has been soe wi fi connectivity problems on one, and some notification issues on one but the customer service is unbelievable. You get someone who reads the notes from previous calls and offers intelligent help to sort out issues. One of my original cams had some notification issues, and after trying a couple solutions, they sent me a replacement. And it wasn't one of those " when we get your first one back, we'll send you a replacement" deals. They sent me the new one and patiently waited for the bad one while i recouped from a hip injury. The replacement lost its wi fi connectivity but I'm not sure if that was a technical issue or a "non-geek" user issue :). At all times i had someone's direct contact info and had follow up emails to make sure all was in working order. Without me asking for it, they reimbursed me for a time when I lost the subscription to Nest Aware, and added on 2 months for free. Though I haven't caught any intruders in my back yard, I have to laugh when I see this HUGE spider walking nightly across its web directly in front of the camera!! Intruder alert indeed!
I love that It records sounds, and that I can talk through it! I live in a rural back woods community and I love to scare the pants off my handyman and the well guy when they enter my gate, and I speak through the camera to tell them the gate is unlocked hee hee:)
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GK
4.0 out of 5 stars Great camera but pricey and with some issues
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Excellent design, dual band (2.4 GHz & 5 GHz). Works great at 5 GHz but you need a dual band router to use this frequency. I've learned the hard way that the 2.4 GHz frequency band is very unreliable due to all the competing interference from other devices. There are some issues: First, since this is designed to be used outdoors you might not have a convenient power outlet outside your house. The problem is the power plug is about an inch in diameter and it is permanently connected to a power module that is the size of a hockey puck. The "hockey puck" then connects to the camera through a USB 2.0 type plug with a casing that is about 3/4" in diameter. So it is not possible to drill a small 1/4 inch hole in a wall to connect to the camera from a power source inside a home. The hole has to be about 3/4" in diameter and that will accommodate only the cord from the hockey puck to the camera. A good solution would be a USB 2.0 computer extension cord. I tried this and a standard extension cord of this type will not work properly with the camera. So you are very limited in where you can place the camera outdoors if don't have a convenient outdoor power plug. The USB extension cord will seem to work but the camera will only work intermittently and it took me hours to realize that camera placement and frequency band were not the problems - the problem was the brand new USB 2.0 extension cord I was using. Second major issue - you need to sign up for the monthly or yearly subscription to their cloud recording to really use this camera and that costs a minimum of $100 per year for the first camera and $50 for each additional camera. If you pay monthly it is more expensive. I'm very impressed with the superb quality of the video, the wide angle of the camera, the software, the design, etc but it's pricey. Overall however, the system is well worth it to me. The usual 720p camera resolution on competing WiFi cameras don't come close to the clarity and resolution of this camera. Also the setup and software that Nest supplies is excellent and trouble free.
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Denzil Khine
4.0 out of 5 stars For now, happy with the purchase.
Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Not going to bore you to death with why one needs this product. The camera works as advertised - running the wire can be tricky if you're doing on your own with limited knowledge on how to drill into siding or bricks. Once you have the wiring figured out, it is pretty straight forward install. I like the fact that nestaware comes with 30 days trial right out of the box but I wish there is a way to delay the start of the trial period (for me, it started as soon as I registered the product). The quality is pretty good for something that is constantly recording. Provided is the video quality comparison based on data usage setting.
One drawback is the notification for the zone movement. It can be overwhelming at times but other times, it downright doesn't notify you no matter the movements in the zones. The video streaming is also slightly delayed. It maybe because the videos are uploaded to the server first and you're streaming back from the server, in some sense it is like watching a slightly delayed DVR.
Pro:
- Easy install
- Looks good and blends in well.
Con:
- Slight delay with video feed
- Notification for zones
More updates to come as I just started using it.
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Chris J. Owen
4.0 out of 5 stars Recommended - with Modifications
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I'd recommend this camera. I use mine to watch the driveway of my mountain home-away-from-home for strangers parking and to see how much snow is piled up, especially after the plows have been through - useful for when I'm driving up there and need to park. Set-up was easy. For my purposes it works just fine. My reason for 4-stars and not 5 is that the cables are very long, I can see why but if you don't need all of that length what do you do? See photo for my solution, I bought a plastic electronics box from Amazon, modified it and stuffed everything inside, mounted the camera on the front, and just had a short power and camera leads coming out - a nice little self-contained unit.
3.0 out of 5 stars Nice but could be better
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I own three indoor nest cameras that I primarily use to keep an eye on my pets while I'm away. I decided to purchase the long-awaited outdoor nest cam. I have to say that I'm not impressed with the video quality. The picture looks sharp and bright but I could not give a detailed description of an intruder if I had to and that's during the day, during darkness, using night vision, forget it. Also the algorithm on this motion detection is weak. I get a motion alarm every time a fly or a nat gets near the camera, nearly every few seconds. The USB plug casing is so bulky I had to use a 1" huge PVC conduit to run the cable through. I've included a couple of images straight from my iPhone as a sample.
The number one reason for only three stars is the price for their nest aware recording. The first camera goes for $10 a month for a 10-day recording. Every camera after that is $5 a month. Now with four cameras I pay $25 a month, that's the price of a fully monitored alarm service.
The camera goes off line all the time. I’ve upgraded my bandwidth and now I’m up to $132 a month for fast service but camera keeps going off line. I’m very disappointed and now I’m invested with four cameras.
PROS:
Easy installation, Wireless, records to a cloud, self-monitoring on a smart phone.
CONS:
Goes off line constantly.
Price of recording for multiple cams, Picture pixalized at zoom, Magnet mount not secured enough, cable and plug too bulky for a clean install.
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Dennis L.
3.0 out of 5 stars So so image quality
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2022
Size: 2 PackVerified Purchase
Very easy to install. I like the fact that you don’t have to buy a separate power cable. The provided cable length may be a little bit short for some applications depending on where you want to put the camera. Very good field of view as I was able to cover two sets of windows and two separate entrances from a corner of my house. The shortcoming, in my opinion is the quality of the image. Once you start to pinch and zoom, there’s a lot of mottling / pixelation. There seems to be about a one second delay from the image acquisition and display on my phone. That doesn’t seem to be a big deal. Overall, satisfied with the Camera and Google Home ecosystem. Will be buying more cameras with the caveat that it could be a little bit better in terms of pitcher quality.
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Bliss
3.0 out of 5 stars Good camera very poor desig
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2022
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Two yrs ago I bought 2 Nest Outdoor IQ Security Cameras. They have been great. Apparently are not longer available and I wanted a wired one like the IQ for its memory and not to worry about changing the battery in something 8 ft up. I bought the regular wired Nest Outdoor. STUPID DESIGN. The wire is exposed on the outside of the Camera!!! So any thief can just cut the cord!!! On the IQ camera, everything is hidden from the outside and fed through a hole you drill in your siding to where it attaches to on outlet. You only had a small hole for the cable (like narrow computer cable) to fit through in the garage siding. The cable went through a plate outside that held the camera It is a very neat, clean and more secure arrangement that this plain outdoor camera. Also there are two gizmos in the wiring of the plain Outdoor which made for a very cluttered situation in the garage. I would have returned it but there doesn’t appear to be aNest product to replace the IQ and I want to stay with one network. If you want a Nest, you have to settle for this. Installed today, it seems to be working fine. Just very poor design change.
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Cartoon Head
3.0 out of 5 stars Great addition to the 3-cam indoor set - But be aware of installation issue
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2016
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Just as easy to install and setup as the other indoor Nest Cams.
The installation concept, however, isn't really practical (for us anyway).
The cam just connects to the holder by a magnet (just like the indoor cams). You run the hard-connected USB wire along your siding/wall, etc. and they give you nice strong plastic wire clips. That wire run (about 15' I think) ENDS at a GIGANTIC 3/4" permanently attached USB connector and weatherproof surround. The concept is, you connect that into a 2" round hub which is permanently attached to another 10-15' power cable, and you run THAT to the nearest outdoor outlet.
Problem is, our closest outdoor outlet is 100' away on the opposite side of the house! So we always knew we'd need to drill through the wall. But the only way to do this is to drill a 3/4" hole to feed that USB connector through. NO WAY that's happening!
So I built an insert for our vinyl window. Two pieces of square type 1-1/2" PVC cut to insert into the window frame (just like the sliding window). A small 5/16" x 1/8" channel cut into the top of one. Feed the flat outdoor cable through that channel, then screw the two PVC blocks together. Originally I had the cam installed right in front of that, but that blocked install of the screen. So instead I ran the flat cable under the screen, off to the side where there was a drainage slit anyway. Inside, everything mounts to the same PVC. I probably could have kept that off to the side too (2.0 version), but this works better for me. (See photos.) The result is a very clean install, no drilling through walls.
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UPDATED 1/10/2018: We bought into the product hard-core. We have 4 outdoor cams and 3 indoor, plus 4 of their smoke detectors, all on subscription. (Yes, VERY expensive... but this is our home security.) The service, however, has been a disappointment. It is not usual for us to get an ALERT for movement, then when we go to review it... nothing but the WAIT circle animation. In a critical situation, it can be 5-10 minutes later that we can connect in and see what HAPPENED 10 minutes ago. And it's not cell phone carrier delay or anything. Same thing happens when sitting at a WIRED connection to the web. So it's the SERVICE that is unresponsive. The SERVICE that we are paying $400 a year for ($50 fee + 7 times $50 per cam). This is unacceptable.
Really, this is a great product, but SO RIPE for competition. Aspiring competitors take note: Build THIS system with a LOCAL "cloud server" type 2-Tb+ hard drive (that are common place today) to store ALL of the digital video, have THAT accessible via the WEB or LOCAL (it's YOUR video, stored there IN YOUR HOUSE), and enable optional WIRED connection for all cams (where a wired port is less than 15' away), and you can DOMINATE the marketplace.
Because clearly the storage of video and streaming it instantly to customers is where Nest (GOOGLE!!!) is failing. Allow for an optional IN-HOUSE storage of video and it's a game changer.
We're considering replacing the entire system with a wired security/cam option, treating this as a "prototype" for better security systems (but we DO NOT want to pay for "monitoring". Thank you, we can do our OWN monitoring.)
A great disappointment to an otherwise terrific product.
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Chuck Brown
3.0 out of 5 stars Very expensive subscription service and not useful without paying a separate for each camera every month.
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I would not purchase this again. Very expensive subscription service (Nest Aware) that charges per camera per month or per year.
For one camera, on a monthly subscription service that saves the video for 10 days, the charge for the first camera is $10 per month.
Adding a second camera costs another $5 per month, and so on.
It will require 4-6 cameras to adequately monitor my home, making this a very expensive service.
Without paying for the Nest Aware service, the function is basically useless. I am not paying for the service now and get alerts on my cell phone all day long, but I rarely see any unusual activity so I am conditioned to ignore them.
I use the Nest thermostat and like the Nest products generally, but the price needs to be reduced on Nest Aware before I will recommend this to anyone.
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Jon W.
3.0 out of 5 stars Great setup, high price, mid-quality video
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
This is my third Dropcam/Nest Camera. I would say that the quality of the streamed video is on par with my Dropcam Pro. The specs may be better, but I can't tell the difference at all. Nest "automatically" detects your connection speed and chooses a resolution for you to view your streaming/recorded video in. My experience has been that it will lower the resolution significantly in that process so that you're viewing something roughly equal to VHS video quality the majority of the time. For the most part that's fine as you can tell if someone has broken into your house or if your dog has gotten into the trash. The problem is that you can't tell what he got out of the trash because it all just looks like a pixelated mess.
The setup for this camera is actually really nice though. The quality of the camera, the wiring, the mounting hardware and even the plug are fantastic. Everything feels really solid and made to last. The magnetic mount is probably the best thing ever. It allows you to perfectly position the camera where you want it to get the exact shot/angle you need. I'm actually using this camera indoors because I preferred this mounting method and the white case of the camera. The wide angle view allows the camera to be mounted in the corner of my home where it's able to see the front and back doors in the same shot. The night vision works well also. I'm able to see things (with drastically reduced resolution) in the dark up to 25 feet away. While I may not be able to see a person's full facial details in the shot, I can tell if they've broken into my back door 25 feet away. Within about 15 feet you're able to make out a pretty good amount of detail in the dark.
Last, and most importantly, this camera requires an expensive recurring service fee. The fees are as follows: $300/yr or $30/mo for 30 days of history for the first camera, and then a 50% discount on each additional camera ($150/yr). $100/yr or $5/mo for 10 days of history with a 50% discount on additional cameras ($50/yr). If you only had one camera and wanted just the 10 days of history you would pay $700 for the first 5 years of ownership. That's ok when compared to a monitored security service. However, if you wanted to have 3 cameras (front of house, back of house, and interior) you would pay $1,548 for that same 5 years of ownership ($348 for a 2-pack of outdoor camera, $200 for the interior, $200/yr of 10 day history). That starts to get pretty pricey. This is the primary reason I had to lower my stars on my review. There needs to be a better option for recording footage. The camera is completely worthless without their service - unless you only want low-resolution live streaming. I was considering an additional camera to look out my back porch but the additional monthly or annual service fee was too much. If there were a cheaper 48 hour option this would eliminate most of the cost concerns. You would have 2 days to login and download footage of an event if you needed it and it would reduce the amount of server space Nest had to make available while saving everyone money.
Pros:
GREAT installation options
Well made camera
Above average night-vision
Works with Alexa!
The Streaming timeline makes it easy to review the entire day
Simple, but useful web portal and phone/table apps
Cons:
Video has never looked even close to 720P quality
To make out facial details the person would need to look directly at the camera from no more than 15 feet away
Cost prohibitive for multiple cameras - a never-ending fee for every camera is not a good pricing structure
No Home server option to hold your videos locally instead of in the cloud
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brenda murray
3.0 out of 5 stars Impossible to get on more than one device !!!
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2021
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Camera works great, but after my husband downloaded to his phone, went to share/invite with me, and WILL NOT
Let me add to my phone or my iPad. I go through all the steps and at the end states I cannot connect because someone else has already
Got !!!
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Zoey S.
3.0 out of 5 stars Great camera, crappy subscription model and servers
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The camera is relatively easy to install and stays put even in heavy wind or hail. Video quality is pretty decent, even at night time, though don't expect to be able to make out faces of anyone more than 20 feet out.
Pretty decent camera all in all... except for the service required if you want to save any video from it. $100 per year to record 10 full days worth of video which is both expensive and way more footage than most people will ever need, especially since you can create and save clips indefinitely. On top of that, their service seems to go down pretty regularly and is extremely slow most of the time. Viewing a live feed is almost impossible as is viewing prerecorded content as it just keeps buffering. That's not to mention the constant disconnects it experiences despite the camera itself being right next to the wi-fi router inside and having the highest priority of all our devices.
It's still nice to have but if they would improve their servers to remove the constant slowness and disconnecting issues then offer a much cheaper alternative to saving the camera footage, I'd give this five stars. As it is, the Nest subscription and interface are the biggest problems with this product.
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John
3.0 out of 5 stars Super easy to setup and use, though video quality could be better
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
First, of, this is one really well built and clean design camera, and stellar build quality!
The positive:
- It's super easy to setup and get working
- It looks AMAZING on the wall!
- The phone app works great and is easy to use
- The web interface is ok, a little slow at times compared to the phone app.
- It's easy to download recorded video
The negative:
- The 1080p video is heavily compressed, especially when people or branches move, most of the time the moving person is just a blocky compression mess, especially if they are in the shade, little chance to identifying someone by there face. But if you just want a camera to see if the babysitter has arrived, or the courier guy is out front, this camera works great.
And this wasn't an issue with my internet, as I have 20 Megabits (1.25 Megabytes) upload speed, even the Nest support agent agreed, my internet should be fine.
- Night time video is very grainy and average.
- You get a lot of notifications if you have it turned on, even with the paid subscription, with only people alerts, often enough I'd get an alert with no one in it.
- The WiFi, it's great if you're close to an AP, but if not, it's not great... at all. I'd love for a PoE ethernet powered one, I don't see why not, you can power the camera and connect it to the network at once, everyone wins, no need to find a power outlet where ever the camera goes and will always have a reliable internet connection to the camera.
Also, something worth noting to international customers, it seems that Nest only has servers in the USA, so your footage will get uploaded to the US (at least if you live in NZ) and then back down to your country. I don't know how I feel about my security camera footage living in the US, I'd rather it be stored locally in NZ, under NZ laws.
Having said all this, I think this is probably the best outdoor security camera for this price and ease of use you can get. Just a shame you can't pay $x/m tp greatly increase the video quality which you upload to Nest, especially if your internet connection can handle it.
I returned this camera and bought a Hikvision DS-2CD2085FWD-I 2.8mm camera, which I would only recommend to advanced users. But it has AMAZON crystal clear 4K video and has little grain at night, and all for the same price as this Nest camera. The only downside with the Hikvision camera is that you pretty much have to do all the config/setup yourself, including your own inside or offsite video storage. It's not a plug and play elegant solution like the Nest.
If you want ease of use/setup, and don't mind lower quality video, the Nest is for you, but if you know your stuff when it comes to computers, and want to have manual control over everything, then I'd suggest getting the Hikvision camera.
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R. Marko
3.0 out of 5 stars 1080P?
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I will start with the negative. I am very disappointed with the resolution because I can not read a license plate 30 feet away. With 1080P I should be able to recognize people and read a license plate in daylight. It is set to 1080p and doesn't have the picture I was expecting. At night you can't recognize people at all. You can see someone is there but can't make out who it is (unless they are standing directly in front of the camera).
The plus is it notifies me if there is any movement or if a person is spotted. My wife is addicted to watching our chickens and ducks fly around. I can see when family members get home. The service is great and very affordable. Extremely easy to setup.
I am glad I bought it but wish the resolution was better.
3.0 out of 5 stars Live video lag on Wi-Fi
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2020
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
In my quest to purchase a good quality 1080p-4k camera under $500, I've gone through several and have found that the majority of them have some degree of delay and lag on live video. I can tolerate split-second delays, but 1-5 second delays make a huge difference where security monitoring is concerned.
I bought this Google Nest Outdoor Cam to replace the Logitech Circle (which doesn't suck but lacks a couple of key features that I require). I love 99% of everything about the Nest, from the way it mounts to its ease of use on my computer as well as my mobile devices. The video quality is, pretty much, as good as can be expected from a 1080p camera and is, indeed, better than the Logi Circle I've used for the past 4 years. Having said that, I will be returning it. The 1.2 second live video lag is completely unacceptable to me.
The search continues for a good quality 1080p-4k outdoor camera under $500. There has to be one out there somewhere.
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Dave Benton
3.0 out of 5 stars very reliable camera
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2022
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The camera itself works very well. The issue is, If you have you account under the actual Nest account then the new camera will only work with the Google account due to Google buying Nest. I have one camera on the Nest app and will have to set the 2nd one through the Google account
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Customer in Sacramento, CA
3.0 out of 5 stars Great Home Security Addition but data hog
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2016
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Update: After using both indoor and outdoor Nest cams for a couple of months I was forced to downgrade my rating due to the amount of data they use. Excellent hardware and software but I can't afford to exceed my 1TB cap every month. I dialed back the resolution to 360p but still found the cameras were chewing through data like it was going out of style. Going back to my tried and trusted NVR w POE cams. It would be nice if Nest had a setting to opt out of 24/7 uploading of footage and allowed the user to set the amount of footage to record per activation...Say 1 or 2 mins.
Over the last several years I've tried a variety of home surveillance systems. Started with four Hikvision IP cameras attached to a NVR. Great coverage, reliability and night vision but the install wasn't easy and the motion notifications were much too sensitive. Added some Kuna porch light cameras and was very impressed but those provide a limited field of view/installation options. Recently purchased a Nest Outdoor Cam. Installation and set up was extremely easy and took less than 20 mins. Accessing the cameras and receiving notifications via the Nest app was and continues to be simple and reliable. The price for the camera and monthly Nest Aware is a bit steep for me but you get what you pay for. I was so impressed I ended up purchasing another Nest Outdoor cam as well as an indoor one (after I was able to save up some money). The one thing I'd change about the design would be the power cord location on the camera itself. I would have it come out the top closer to the back of the camera. Otherwise the cameras look and work exceptionally well.
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B. Boyd
3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good with some serious defects
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I have 5 outdoor Nest cameras in two separate locations as well as several indoor cameras. In general they work, but there are a few serious defects you should know about before you buy one. Unfortunately, AFAIK no other vendor has a camera that covers all the bases so I've been willing to roll with Nest for now.
On the plus side, installation and setup are a snap. IOS app is easy to use as is the web interface. Cameras have been through one winter in a cold, wet place and one summer in a hot place and are still fine. The indoor cameras turn off when we enter the house and turn on when we leave.
On the negative side:
- You cannot get person alerts within a zone. In my case, a sidewalk is in view but I don't need to know about every person who walks by. Conversely, I don't need to know about every squirrel and rabbit in the motion zone I set up. I really want person alerts ONLY within the zone but Nest does not support that (I have confirmed it with Nest). If you have person alerts on it will notify you of any person detected in the camera's entire field of view.
- Image quality is good for things that are very close (under 10 feet) but not good for a greater distance. If you have a small, tight space - like a short driveway off an alley - you should be able to see a license plate. If you don't, you'll be able to describe a vehicle in general terms but that's about it.
- Alerts have a strange randomness. I'll get an alert for a bug or squirrel, but then when I review the timeline there was a person that I didn't get a notification for.
- If you have a lot of cameras, the spend for Nest Aware (even the 10-day history) starts to get into the hundreds of dollars a year (after, of course, you've already spent many hundreds on the cameras). The camera is pretty much useless without Nest Aware, as it's required for history, clips, person alerts, etc.
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Darren Venn
3.0 out of 5 stars Fundamental Problem with WiFi
Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
If I were just writing about the camera and Nest software I'd give this product 5 stars. The camera works really well and the Nest software records well. It is a beautiful looking design and I found installation to be straightforward.
The BIG fundamental problem is WiFi. We bought 5 of these cameras to install around the outside of our house. Once up and running, we found that they went offline ALL THE TIME. It was very frustrating. I called Nest support and they were extremely helpful. Seriously, their support line is great. But... they couldn't help me. After a long time on the phone the Nest support guy determined that I had an "environmental problem", i.e. the camera kept losing the connection to our home WiFi.
Anyways, after suffering through this for some time, I finally decided to get some WiFi Access Points to mount outside, right next to each camera. I chose WAPs that connected via ethernet cable to our Home Network. Voila! The problem is fixed! The WiFi signal from the WAPs is strong enough, and close enough, to avoid the camera's WiFi connection going out.
But... this now makes me think that the fundamental design of this device is silly. The whole point of WiFi is to avoid having to make hardware connections - but... you have to drill holes and make hardware connections for this device anyway. To install it, you have to drill holes to mount it, then drill holes and run the cable down the side of the house, then you have to drill THROUGH THE WALL to connect the power cable to an outlet. It would have been much more sensible for Nest to just have run two cables from this device, one for power, one for Ethernet (or maybe just one, with Power over Ethernet). As it is, I had to do double the wiring and mount extra devices to get this to work. I'm sure this is a problem for MANY people, as Home WiFi is designed to stay limited to the interior of your home. It's not designed to reach your outside walls.
I'm all installed now, so it's too late for me, but future purchasers would be well served by a redesign of this device that ran both power and Ethernet over the cable, and ditched WiFi altogether.
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San
3.0 out of 5 stars Decent, but it could improve a lot for it's price tag.
Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Every time that you have to reconfigure the camera, either because it's the first time you're setting it up, or you just changed the WiFi password, you have to connect it to your computer, I've never got the app to work well setting up the camera, and I'm an advanced computer and gadgets user and hardware technician. The app just doesn't recognize the camera, it doesn't find the signal from the camera. The other complaint is about the image quality, either on Auto or on 1080p only, the image is not good enough to capture the face o people or license plates of cars at a not that far distance, but I guess there's no other "smart" camera that has a better video quality for now. The most important feature of a security camera is, guess what, video quality to record the face of criminals or their license plates, the technology has to improve a lot. It's just too expensive to be just a toy that maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to use it to show to the cops.
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clib
3.0 out of 5 stars I installed the Nest Thermostat last year and love it. The camera was everything the Thermostat was ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
This is my second Nest Product. I installed the Nest Thermostat last year and love it.
The camera was everything the Thermostat was and is. Excellent packaging quality parts and a real APPLE EASE about the installation. The sophistication of the package assembly lends itself to a series of steps that are not only easy to follow, but flowed with the packaging. Right here I rate the product as superior.
Following installation and using my phone and my Mac to view various activity including sounds (alerted me by smart phone similar to a text message), I began to explore the HISTORY feature of the camera. To my great dismay after 30 days the history is completely unavailable on the computer and the prominent presence that it occupied (the bottom of the screen) is now blocked by a banner asking you to subscribe to Nest Aware. Very frustrating; I can see limiting the history, but to wipe it out all together renders the camera useless; unless of course you want to stair at your screen all day for what is available, which is the active or "Live" shot.
So when you consider the cost of the camera, be sure to include the History subscription fee...Because without it the camera is just a window.
I actually installed two of these for a friend of mine who had been recently broken into. Now I will have to explain the rest of the story and the $100+ dollars more that will need to be shelled out in order to restore the history function.
Live shot image attached.
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Steve E G
3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite as good as the hype
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The camera is only held on with a magnet to the mount, which makes aiming it easy, but worries me if a bird lands on it. And it gets warm, attracting bugs. I have very good WiFi at home, but the 1080 image quality is just flat out bad. Nowhere near what the hype would have you believe. I am seriously considering getting rid of these and investing in some wired cameras with a local hard drive system that backs up to the internet. The image quality is not good enough to clearly identify a stranger's face. The night vision is good if you have a camera that is not facing out a window (the infrared emitters reflect off the glass, ruining the image), and if you do, you can turn off the night-vision and still get a decent image if there is some light source. If it was just to see comings and goings, I would be satisfied. However, I really was expecting to be able to clearly identify people at a little distance, and these seem to struggle to provide good quality images, let alone 1080 images. plus, the 10 day history is a little expensive at $100 a year for one camera (then $50 per). For the cost and hype, I expected to see HD. Almost never actually get it.
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Timothy J Gale
3.0 out of 5 stars The camera has great video quality and functionality
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2016
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The camera has great video quality and functionality, but the wire makes it hard to easily mount. The USB end of the power cable has a locking ring that makes the hole need to run it through almost in inch wide and you are limited by its length. I do like the magnetic mount but unless it's up high, it would be very easy to steal this camera. By far the worst is the yearly fee for 10 and 30 days cloud access. NEST charges for each camera, $100.00 for the first and $50 for additional ones. So please beware that to get the functionality that NEST advertises, there is an excessive amount of yearly cost that must be factored in.
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upptick
3.0 out of 5 stars Lag time significantly degrades / renders inoperable real-time communication feature
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2016
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Camera set-up is straight forward. It took me about 40 minutes to get it programmed and mounted, then another 10 minutes to adjust the field of view. I would give it five stars but for the lag time between a triggering event and the report that appears on my android phone -- the delay is around 25 seconds. I get it that it takes time for the camera to gather the image, process it, and then send it via cellular link to my cell phone, but one of the advertised uses of the device is to communicate in real time with people in the camera's field of view and a 25 second lag renders that function impracticable. I would be interested in other user's experience with this feature, whether my lag time is typical or long, and any measures they have taken to abate the problem. Of course, if the Nest folks are reading this review, I would appreciate a response and some advice. I do have a wireless booster set up about 15 feet from the camera.
2.0 out of 5 stars Requires expensive service to be useful
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2016
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
A couple points
-requires a subscription to get real usability out of it. No option to record to your own local pc.
-subscriptions are expensive if you have multiple cameras. I bought 2 (front door / back door)
-installation options are limited due to the size of the usb connector on the end of the camera cord & the requirement for an outlet.
-packaging is simple and great, just like thermostats (i have 2 and installed them in my parents, and sisters houses, as well as several friends)
-they include everything you need including cable clamps & screws. (Seems minor, but not having to go to the store for these is an important detail that some companies miss)
-video is clear
-Amazon did not list the outdoor temperature range -4 to 104
I wanted something that would allow me to watch for package deliveries while away from home, and record them. The ability to talk to people at the fron door was a nice bonus.
Installation was fairly easy, except i could not install it exactly where i wanted as the cord was not long enough to reach the outlet. That was compromise number 1.
I also could not install it in any of the best secondary locations, as you have to screw in the mount. This is not a good option if you have concrete siding like me. This required me to find a location that had some wood trim i could mount it on. (This limitation will be shared with ANY camera mount that needs to be screwed in.)
-the camera does not provide video (live or recorded) without a subscription. This was not noted anywhere in the description before i bought it. THIS is my biggest problem. You spend a good amount of money on several of the cameras, but then you have to spend more per year to actually use it.
This is the huge failure in my view. (It is all about perspective). I was one of the first people to get the nest thermostat. I paid an outrageous amount of money at the time for 2 of them. I do NOT have to pay any monthly or yearly fees to use them.
This is what was in my head when i purchased these. Nest customer services is AWESOME for my thermostats. They work well. I was looking for the same key nd of experience with the nest oudoor cam.
If it wasn't for the subscription service i could deal with the other issues, but the monthly or yearly service to make the cameras useful is a deal breaker for me.
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runswithscissors
2.0 out of 5 stars What happened?!
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2019
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Worked great until Google took over. I'm not getting as many motion detected notifications as before, but whats worse is there are not as many clips on my sightline as before. Events that I know happened such as cars coming and going are not available on my sightline so therefore I cannot see or save events that happen in my yard. This completely defeats the purpose of this security system. NOT happy!
UPDATE 1-2-2020. NO HELP FROM GOOGLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! They asked me to submit screen shots of my timeline, twice. This means they don't understand the problem...show them a picture of whats NOT there?!
They also claimed I was not required to migrate from my NEST account to Google account, but I was prompted to do that over and over.
WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM NEST MFG., AMAZON CUSTOMER SERVICE OR GOOGLE!
This thing is useless if i'm not getting captures and alerts of the goings on at my home.
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Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars I no longer receive notifications when someone comes to my door
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2021
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Received app notifications for the first year when a person approached my door. I no longer receive them. The camera is hard wire mounted above the front door. UPS Fedex and USPS leave packages and do not ring my doorbell. I had 5 package deliveries yesterday to my door and did not receive one single app notification for those. I did however receive a notification for someone walking down the sidewalk. This has been going on for almost 2 years. I worked for months with Google tech support and they were not able to fix the issue. I am now stuck with a $200 camera that works great but the software no longer alerts me when a person approaches my front door.
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Henyaman
2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I had hoped, and getting worse with more Google's interference
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2019
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
There are quite a few issues here on these cameras. I've had the indoor and outdoor both for a few years. The software, on Apple or Android is too slow to really use alerts. If someone is at your door you won't get the picture up before they walk off. The cable setup is pretty terrible if you have to run it through walls (I think this was modified in the newest outdoor cam) but the most worrisome part for me and what is making finally move off Nest products has been the "integration" with Google lately. They are moving off Nest and slowly starting to have people login to Google first. Sure, just what I want a company that makes money collecting info and data to be behind my cloud cameras. Then, as if to give everyone an extra swift kick they decide to showcase the biggest drawback to cloud products. That being you have no control. This week they removed the ability to shut off the LED that shows the camera is on. We have ours off outside so someone sneaking around at night wouldn't locate and avoid them. Same internally, we have it on most of the time and I don't want to see an LED on my mantle but now that Google is in play they decide to just remove that feature and force it always on because of some complex they have trying to improve the world or whatever. I bought the cameras, I can decide how I set them up on my house. Or, apparently not. So goodbye Nest. There are more pro's and cons of these you can read all over the reviews here, I decided to post mine as I have had these for a few years and am unhappy in the current direction of Nest and would not buy them again.
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Chris C
2.0 out of 5 stars Best on the market but that's not saying a lot
Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Good camera, though constantly says it sees motion anytime the suns comes in an out of the clouds changing the lighting of the ground where the camera is aiming. We have 3 cameras an all of them have several false positives every day. Unfortunately no way to unplug the wire from the camera itself. So if you run the wires through the walls down in the basement etc, and put silicone to seal it, if and when you have to replace the camera that will be a bit of a nightmare since you can't just swap out the camera and keep the cable. It automatically blurs out license plates so if someone parks in your driveway you won't be able to call the police with their license plate number. Every few weeks they disconnect from the wifi and go offline for a moment even though everything else in the house continues to work fine. The biggest issue is no HomeKit support. That all being said currently its your best option if you need such an outdoor cam now. Otherwise I'd recommend waiting a bit until they fix all the false positives and release an updated version with HomeKit and a removable cable.
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B-Rad
2.0 out of 5 stars Can't recommend if you want this for security purposes
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Pros:
Install is relatively straight forward.
Overall, it's just easy to setup and get going. Maybe takes an hour total for a one camera install. This is its biggest pro. Ease of setup and use.
They lowered the cost to $50/yr for 5-days continuous recording. Not bad. Does feel like robbery though considering the quality of the video...
Cons:
* Over alerts for random things. "spotted movement". You watch, maybe a piece of paper fluttered in the wind on your patio table. Who knows what you're looking for. It'd be nice if it showed you a box where it spotted movement.
* You'll get alerts every time you go into the things periphery. Annoying for us because I put this on our patio and we spend quite a bit of time out there. I guess the Nest IQ is supposed to fix this issue by recognizing faces.
* The video compression is extreme. If you have a lot of movement going on, it will be a pixelated mess! If a robber didn't want to get spotted, all they gotta do is bob and weave their head and you'll never be able to identify them. If a person just stood still for 10 seconds, you might be able to identify them. Maybe this is better with the Nest Outdoor IQ but that's to be determined. And for twice the cost (I paid $150 for this), that's a big gamble to take.
* The delay between live and what you see on your phone is several seconds. I can't imagine trying to talk to someone with this thing.
* The cord sticking out the bottom of the camera is pretty annoying. It isn't super flexible either. It looks ugly.
* Google could cut this at any time and then you have a worthless piece of tech. Plenty of startups out there that were cloud cameras have already done just that. Just know what you're getting yourself into on that front.
Biggest issue here is that the compression (even on highest quality - I have a high-end 802.11ac router with a gigabit internet connection through AT&T Fiber) is horrendous. I am really disappointed as review videos I saw didn't make it seem like it was that bad but it is actually terrible. You will not be able to make out faces at a distance. You will probably need a camera to be right in the face of someone AND hope they remain still because if the video has a big change (like a fast moving object taking up a lot of the screen) then the video just turns into pure confetti. Watch some videos online to get an idea of what I mean about video compression - if you don't know.
Verdict: Don't buy. I will probably end up selling this on Craigslist at some point but until I find something better, it's what I am using.
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E.T.
2.0 out of 5 stars Good at the beginning.
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2022
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Pros:
Easy to install
Picture quality in the first few month is good
Sound quality is good
Cons:
Plans with Google nest too expensive
Quality of camera and cables very poor
Which results in pictures you can not use. For me it was after 1year the lense got foggy and water condensation was inside the camera. My camera was like others with the same problem described under my covered entrance. See pictures
When I removed the camera I noticed that the cable was pretty messed up from weather conditions here in Georgia. See pictures.
It would be a good camera if it would last muuuch longer.
Completely overpriced for a product you can use a year max 1.5 years
I would not recommend except you want to buy every year a new one
Customer imageCustomer image
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Erock
2.0 out of 5 stars OK but has a lot of issues
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I currently use Foscam wifi cameras and had one die so was looking for replacements. The Nest Outdoor Cam seemed to have all the features I wanted, the one in particular which I contacted them to make sure it did was be able to watch live feed 24x7 without any timeouts so I can have the feed up all the time on one of my monitors. After using the camera for about a month here's what I found:
Live feed - the live feed is NEVER truly live, it always lags about 30-45 seconds behind what is happening in real time. I have it pointed at the same area as my Foscam and I always see everything first there and then 30-45 seconds later on the Nest live feed. I believe the reason for this is no matter how you connect to the Nest Cam (ios/android app, browser) you are always connecting to their servers and not the camera directly if you are on the same wifi network as it. So the cam is sending the video feed to Nest over the internet and then you are pulling it back from Nest's servers to view it. And this camera is essentially sending and saving all video on Nest server which can chew up a lot of bandwidth.
No open standard support - you're locked in to using the Nest website or app, you cannot use any 3rd party cam monitoring tools like Blue Iris, ContaCam that leverage the universal RTMPS streaming protocol.
Lag, lag, lag - It's always laggy either watching live or already recorded video. At times it will just sit there and blue circle for a while and looking at the real time feed or playback of recorded video either via a web browser or the ipad app is always slow and laggy as well. You would think already recorded video would playback smoothly as I'm just streaming video from Nest servers but that is super laggy, I have to create clips and download them to watch it smoothly which is a pain. I doubt it's my network either as I have gigabit cable (700Mbps down, 45Mbps up) and a high performance mesh wifi system (Netgear Orbi) as well. I've tried it on medium video quality also and still laggy.
Mounting - the mount could be better, almost impossible to mount it on a horizontal surface like under a soffit and have it point in the direction you want, limited to pointed downwards. I had to end up buying a 3rd party mount that had more flexibility in setting a viewing angle.
Pay to save - Unless you subscribe to Nest Aware it's only going to show a live feed. With my Foscam I use ContaCam on my PC which records clips when motion is detected and then Dropbox replicates them to the cloud which costs me nothing. I'm OK with paying a bit for Nest to save my footage by $10 for 10 days is not really worth it, add more cams and you're paying even more. If the $10 got me 30 days I'd be happy.
Clips - creating clips with the web browser (can't do it in the ios/android app) is cludgy and difficult. Moving there little controls around is cumbersome and laggy.
All in all I really wanted to like this cam but I doubt I would by another one or recommend it to anyone else, the lag is mainly what killed it for me.
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Gabe G.
2.0 out of 5 stars No Local storage!
Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The Camera itself is great! The reasons why I rated it 2 rather than 5 is that there is no local storage or viewing.
- If the internet goes out it is useless.
- With Comcast's new data cap it makes it an even harder sell. It uploads 24-7, so if you have it set on 1080p (which looks awesome, by the way) it will eat up close to 500GB of data on its's own. You can set it to only be on during certain times, but I don't know when you would not want to monitor your front door.
- Also, if you want to take advantage of any of its features (besides live viewing) you MUST pay a monthly fee which makes an expensive product even more expensive.
Like I said, the build quality and picture quality is awesome, but be prepared to keep paying for it through the subscription service and additional data if you have a cap. I would not recommend this camera to a friend due to it being exclusively tied to the internet ($$$).
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Nickski
2.0 out of 5 stars Too Many False Alerts - Updated
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I will start by saying that this product does almost everything that it is supposed to do.
My complaint is that they advertise that the camera can tell the difference between people and small animals. It can't. As a result, I get lots of false motion alert notifications of someone approaching the zone, when it is just a squirrel or a cat.
This becomes frustrating after awhile.
I also had to disable the noise alert, because many times when a car goes by on out street, it sends a false alert.
Update 4/29/17
Still too many false alerts! I will say that every time a squirrel, or a cat walks across our porch, I get a motion alert. This gets a bit frustrating and, like the boy who cried wolf, you start to not pay attention to the alerts. Of course it will be one of these occasions when a legitimate intruder will be detected and we will not know about it, until the damage is done.
Also, I added another camera in another location/zone. Be aware that for each camera you want on your recording subscription account, it costs $100/year for a 10 day recording period before recording overwrite occurs. So, if you have 5 zones to monitor, it will cost you $500 per year!
It would really be nice if Nest had an option for local recording on my computer. I suppose that the subscription fees is how they make their millions of dollars per month.
Update - I feel like I am a victim of "the boy who cried wolf" so many times, I don't even bother to look at the images when notified of activity anymore because there is a bug that flew in front of the camera, or a squirrel went by on the ground. Also, both of the cameras that I currently have in use go offline on a regular basis, even though the camera that is furthest away is only about 25 feet away from the WiFi signal and the other is only 9 feet away.
Multitude of problems for something that is so expensive. And then I have to pay an expensive subscription cost in order to get full functionality.
I would not recommend these cameras to anyone.
2.0 out of 5 stars Motion detection has become intermittent!
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2021
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
My Nest cameras used to work perfectly under the Nest service; then Google bought them out. That was the downfall of a quality security camera. Now I have intermittent motion detection. My daughter goes out directly in front of the camera to go to her car.. no motion detected. I have people come to my house, again DIRECTLY in front of the camera, and again no motion detected. Sorry, Google ruined what used to be the best security camera service.. Of course I am one person, but do a search, you will see others have the same issues.
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Ed Fisher
2.0 out of 5 stars Just buy the pro
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2020
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Don’t look at this as the more affordable Nest outdoor camera, look at it as the cheap version and just spend the money for the ‘real’ one. The cable is permanently stacked and can’t be run through the wall behind the mount, the mount is a strong magnet that still feels like it’s going to let go unless you have the camera facing straight out, it loses WiFi at least four times a week, and the power line has a huge coupler at the halfway point that needs a thumb sized hole to pass through. After buying three outdoor pros I wanted to save a bit, but I’m going to have to buy another pro (which I love) to replace this. If this is your first camera you will wonder why everyone loves Nest. If this is an additional to add to a system that has pro models already, you’re going to be disappointed.
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StarMile
2.0 out of 5 stars The cons outweigh the good for me.
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Some days I love it, other days I hate it. Check your wifi signal where you want to install thoroughly before installing! The whole point of this camera is that it is outside, which inherently means that your wifi signal is probably weak. I have bought extenders, and gone through heroics trying to make this thing work. Some days it is fine, other days it just straight up does not pickup a wifi signal. Nest support has been little help.
Should also note that this requires an ADDITIONAL subscription for saving videos. If you have another Nest cam, you will need an additional subscription, it is not one fee. This wasn't clear to me so I was disappointed in this. Other cameras like Blink I believe are one fee for all cameras.
Other complaint is that you should be completely and totally happy with where you are installing before actually installing. The dock what goes onto the wall for holding the cord cannot be moved without ripping it out of the wall. It clips into place, but then cannot be unclipped. When I didn't have a wifi signal and needed to take the camera down and bring it inside where there was a definite strong signal, I needed to rip this out in order to troubleshoot. This was very annoying.
PROS: Good image quality. Sensitive motion detection means you get notifications for passing cars, but sometimes wildlife doesn't set it off. I like that I can speak through it for when people are visiting the house and I am not home.
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Kristofer r Miller
2.0 out of 5 stars I wanted to love this, But became Aware (pun intended) of some issues
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
This is probably my most regretted investment in a long time. It may be because I am ignorant and didn't know this has a 100% required to be useful subscription service. AFTER you already pay a price higher than any other cameras on the market.
It is totally awesome when you first get it and have the 10 day recording. But after it becomes almost completely useless. It starts spamming you notification every time the sun shifts, or if there are squirrels in your yard, or literally anything. Than it only gives you snap shots for the last 3 hours, that seem to not even catch anything and it seems to even be a lower resolution and is less responsive after the subscription. I tested this by leaving the door my camera is watching at a normal pace multiple times, only to either get a picture of the door after it has closed, or to get maybe my arm or the back of my head, but never anything that would be useful if I were to be robbed.
Again, the camera itself has a lot of potential, but the fact that they tie this already expensive product to a subscription that at minimum costs you 100, a year, not including the cost of purchase.
In addition, you can get some home security systems installed and serviced for aa similar price to the equipment breakdown of Nest with 1 camera running a 30 day recording. Only difference is, for the 66 a month you pay for a security company, they actually put sensors on multiple doors, often a few cameras.
This just feels like Nest wanted to utilize the Cell phone marketing strategy, of sell you something that is super powerful, but unless you pay them for a subscription, your very useful thing becomes unusable. The only way I feel this would be morally acceptable is if it were a rental or exclusively a service, where you didn't purchase equipment that you expected to have a reasonable value.
I figured I would at least be able to use this as a security camera I could record to my own storage locally. However, you can't without a lot of hoops and purchasing 3rd party software.
In addition, there have been a lot of articles about how easy it is to hack into a Nest camera, since it is wireless. And since it is easier to hack into the camera, that means anyone who want's to that has the knowledge, can enter your personal network through your now useless security camera and then have access to the rest of your network.
If you sell a product... at least be openly blunt about how tethered it is to your personal subscriptions.
To me this feels like buying a vacuum cleaner, that works for a month as advertised, then sends you a message saying you can no longer store any dirt in the vacuum, and the motor will no longer turn as fast, and will only be functional as a heavy broom at best until you purchase the subscription to the hardware you already purchased and own.
I really wanted to love this, and if you don't care about having a company lock your personally owned hardware to a subscription service, which makes it almost impossible to use 3rd party non subscription services without making your security footage publicly available, then recording it at a lower quality from a live stream... then this is an awesome product. I just can't justify this purchase to anyone, when you can use the same third party software, and make rasbarry pi security camera array of multiple cameras, that you can record to your own storage (on or off site) for the same or less money. Yes it will have a few less frills, but this is a security camera, not a toy.
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RF
2.0 out of 5 stars Great product if you buy the service
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
First the good parts:
- beautiful design
- very easy to set up
- very easy to mount and operate
- phone app is simple and intuitive, well designed
And of course, the not-so-good parts:
- this product won't help you unless you buy the NestAware service
- without NestAware, even if an event is detected there's no way to see it: phone app doesn't show it well, and if you send yourself email alerts and click on the link to see the event you'll get a page with a progress meter that never loads anything. So if you have a break-in you won't be able to show a video to the police
- after purchasing I got a 30-day trial of NestAware and everything worked like a charm: I could see the events detected by the camera, download clips, make timelapse videos..
- this indicates that the software works great -- but unless you pay for it all you get is a beautiful paperweight. I don't appreciate companies that make me feel like I'm being held for ransom
- the worst part: the camera misses around 5-10% of events, even with the NestAware subscription
I bought an Arlo at the same time, and here's the comparison:
- Nest phone app is nicer and more intuitive
- Arlo not only hasn't missed one event, but notifications are immediate (Nest takes 10-30 seconds to send a phone notification)
- Arlo records video for free -- no subscription needed
- At 1080p, Arlo has some issues with capturing movement: people's faces show blurry at times. Haven't tried other resolutions yet, but not being able to see neat faces of people moving is a showstopper for a security camera...
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Chris McCluskey
2.0 out of 5 stars Unreliable
Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2022
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Camera is alright. It’s supposed to monitor 24/7 but it seems like at night it stops recording which is when I need the camera most to watch my driveway. I have good Wi-Fi connection but every other day the camera is offline. Honestly the camera is unreliable. The only reason it gets 2 stars is because of how easy it is to set up. And the camera itself is decent. Video play back is slower than dog crap and the app is pretty sucky too.
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GF12
2.0 out of 5 stars WiFi link and app issues
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Nest Windows 10 app is non-functional. Nest will try to steer you to chrome (of course google owns them), but firefox does work. Just don't ever expect a Microsoft compatible app if you were thinking of viewing on a PC. "Camera off" notifications (which cannot be blocked unless you turn off all Nest notifications in your iPhone settings) are actually WiFi signal lost. Not a big deal unless you get a wake up notification at 2am. And no turning ringer off on your phones doesn't block these notifications nor can the Nest app. Nest considers this a safety feature. At my house common to get brief cable issues multiple times a day briefly losing WiFi. Never did get the "away from home" feature to work that supposedly sends notifications only when phone out of range. Bottom line is you have to activate camera notifications from your phone settings rather than Nest app unless you want stray notifications all day. Resolution is okay - but not as sharp as you might think for 1080p. Cable connector is large - about five times the size of the cable so expect to be drilling a large hole if you have to go through a wall - on the order of an inch in diameter. Nice concept, but WiFi link and Nest app leave a lot to be desired.
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SeminoleCountyDinoDude
2.0 out of 5 stars Was much better before Google acquired Nest
Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2021
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
This was a much better service before Google acquired Nest. Now you have to install two apps (Nest and Google Home). While the management of the camera is okay, the app seems to run slower. Video retrieval is slower. Subscription management has become a nightmare ... you have to deal with Google's support, which is usually good, but not great for Nest products.
It's almost as thought Google bought Nest and starved the business unit's budget. If I didn't have a small fortune invested, I'd find a better product (and no, Ring is not it.)
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D. L. Munchrath
2.0 out of 5 stars Good cameras but lacks basic scheduling logic for notifications.
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Pros: Outstanding packaging. Quality build. Clean Look. Ease of set up. Quality images. Wide viewing angle. Sound and speech. Full time recording to the cloud.
Negative: Unable to schedule when motion alerts are on/off (Are you kidding me?!? So I either have to manually turn off the camera when we are using the area, schedule it to turn off completely, OR put up with non-stop alerts telling me that I am on my own patio). Fairly expensive on the cloud recording. Must be near a plug in that can be covered with the camera view or it could easily be disabled by a bad guy.
UPDATE: Nests response to my inquiry:
"Thank you for getting back to us about this. Besides creating a schedule for your camera (which turns the camera on or off as mentioned previously), you can also either set the Nest Cam to only send alerts when no one is home, or you could manually turn off notifications under your camera's settings. Note that there is not a separate setting that you can enable/disable for personal alerts, as these are only a certain type of activity alert. Since this is always how our cameras have functioned, I'd be unable to provide information as far as if or when we'd offer the ability to schedule alerts while having the Nest Cam remain on or enable/disable person alerts separately."
So they are aware but because THAT'S THE WAY IT'S ALWAYS BEEN they don't intend to do anything about it even though their competition has the feature and it would seem to be very basic logic to program. I downgraded to a 2 star as a result of this response.
Our apologies for any trouble this may cause you, and as always don't hesitate to let us know if there's anything else we can do for you at this time.
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Dan Schultz
2.0 out of 5 stars Horrible software
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2021
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The camera is average and not worth the money. The software is miserable. It doesn't have many features nor is it very intuitive. It is so below par that I would never by another Nest product. Save yourself some money and check out the hugh variety of other cams out there. Google Nest is just waiting to become an actual product. When you dole out the kind of money they charge you expect the best. Far from it. Sorry to say.
1.0 out of 5 stars Good at first, then becomes terrible VERY quickly once your return/trial period is over due to provider issues on backend
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Good at first, then becomes terrible VERY quickly once your return/trial period is over.
Really wanted to like this item, and I would have written a glowing review during the 30 day Nest Aware trial period. Installation was relatively easy (more on that later), and the app worked wonderfully, as did viewing of historic footage. Clearly my home internet was quite capable of delivering the upstream needed, and I viewed the cam from a number of different apps and internet connections without issue and with very limited buffering (1-2 seconds at the most, one time). Alerts worked great.
After the trial period ended and Nest charged me for my first month of service, everything went downhill. Alerts stopped firing. Viewing live was impossible. Viewing historic footage became impossible. The buffering wheel became my best friend. Nest said it was my internet connection, either on the camera or wherever I was connecting from. Nothing had changed on my home network, and I was accessing the camera over 50+ gig LTE and from a business fiber connection, same as before the paid period started, along with the issues. This was NOT on my end, but they refused to continue to help me because it was an internet issue "on my end". Throughput on my home network is the same as it was a month ago. My downstream speeds are the same at the other locations as they were a month ago.
From here, Nest basically ignored the issue, and a quick search reveals this is NOT an uncommon problem. Think about millions of these cameras, each uploading 300 GB of data per month, and millions of users trying to stream that data--I just don't think Nest has the hardware infrastructure to serve that sort of data load, and the company just gives you a "priority lane" during the trial period to fool you into thinking the service is reliable until your return period has ended.
As to installation--Everything was easy and straightforward except for the power cable design. On one end is a huge white block of plastic--the camera. On the other, a huge white block of plastic surrounding a USB plug in the interest of weatherproofing it. This is a wire you're going to have to pass through an opening in your house's structure, and they made the thing nearly an inch in diameter, requiring you to drill a MUCH larger hole than is actually necessary. Luckily, I was able to go in through a plastic attic vent in the eave and down through sheetrock, but it was far more complicated than it should have been, since I was replacing a camera with a normal DC barrel connector wire and had to enlarge all the pass-throughs.
Also, watch your fingers around the magnet mount.
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Elijah Fulton
1.0 out of 5 stars This COULD be the best with a few changes to the services.
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
If you don't plan on paying for nest aware which is either $100/year or $300/year then this camera isn't very useful. You will either get too many annoying alerts that aren't important or basically no alerts. They don't really tell you how bad the camera is without nest aware.
Without Nest Aware.
You only get live feed with video.
You get (Some) snapshots of alerts. You can only look at the previous 3 hours.
No Zone alerts. (This means you're probably going to get a lot of annoying alerts that don't matter to you, or you can basically not get any alerts)
Since you only have picture snapshots, a lot of alerts won't even have anything in the picture because the motion detected it too late. It also makes it hard to tell what the EVENT is sometimes.
Easy Solution to make this $200 hardware usable...
1) Allow zone alerts.
2) Instead of photo snapshots, make 5-10 second video (that starts just before the motion activation was triggered).
3) Keep more than 3 hrs. I think 24 hrs is the least you should do.
Alternatively.
Do a 5 day feed for $50/year...
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Cssmgt
1.0 out of 5 stars I love it, I hate it - Nest Aware service needs more subscription offers
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2016
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I have mixed emotions about this product for a number of reasons. I bought 5 of these with the intention of installing all of them on the same day, so far I installed 2 - I might return the rest. The good - it was very simple to install, offers great video and audio quality, great features for motoring and play back, 2 way audio etc. I was doing some research and this is probably one of the best security cams out there. If you have a strong WiFi signal in many areas (I have access points all over my property) of your home and a power outlet you are good to go. No worries about changing camera batteries, connecting to a proprietary hub with a limited range, etc. Pretty much it is plug and play, almost. The bad: Had issues with the Nest app setting up my first cam on my iPhone (iOS 10) - the app just hung on Looking for WiFi networks. So I plugged the USB end of the cam into my computer, ran the .exe and set it up that way. The USB power connection with the cylinder lock mechanism from the camera to the power connector caused me to drill a hole much larger than theoretically needed when installing the camera wire through walls. They should have offered some sort of disconnect or a locking plug-thing on both ends that way you don't have to drill such a large hole to feed it through. Once I had it installed it worked but then stopped. I needed to reboot my router and change the WiFi channel from 1 to auto - so far so good. My biggest gripe is the Nest Aware cloud storage service to provide monitoring features and storage of your history. I found this out AFTER I bought the product - they need this information to be clear in the description of the product on Amazon's site as it is no where to be found. The problem is that they only offer 2 cloud storage option subscriptions to store your history with their Nest Aware cloud storage offering. Don't get me wrong you get some great features for it but those prices are also a bit high for cloud storage especially if you have multiple cameras. Here is the break-down: Currently as of 10/24/2016:
1) 10 day - $100 per year per camera with a $50 discount for each additional camera
So for me - that would be $300 / year - to store 10 days of history for 5 of my cameras. That I already spent $1000 on.
OR - They also have:
2) 30 day - $300 per year / camera with a discount 50% discount per camera ($150 per year)
This is ridiculous for home consumers who want simple home security. I used this for home security, if nothing happens on that day - it can be overwritten the next day for all I care. Nest - please make a subscription option for home security for owners to choose how much storage they want or offer and entry level package to store 1 or 2 days storage at a reasonable price.
I found out that if you contact Nest and make this suggestion - they will provide your feedback and report it to the Sale organization for consideration. I lived chat with a Nest rep yesterday and that is what he told me.
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nomiketyson
1.0 out of 5 stars Do NOT buy
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2021
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Google bought Nest and has basically ruined the customer experience. You can no longer use the existing Nest app to add new cameras. That is in the fine print that nobody reads. Nobody wants to use the Google Home app as it isn’t nearly as good/functional as the Nest app. So now I’m left with two $99 cameras that are unfit for my purposes.
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JandA
1.0 out of 5 stars Nice looking camera. So-so performance and value. Update: Completely misses obvious events (people). Warranty not honored.
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
So I've had it for a month now and my free trial of Nest Aware just expired. Not sure if I'll sign up for the service ($100/year for 10 days or $300 per year for 30 days of recorded history) even though you lose at least half of the usefulness of the system without that service. They ought to give you at least an hour or two of recorded history so you can really see the events that they notify you about. Instead all you get is the snapshot which doesn't always capture the event well. The camera is OK but not spectacular. The picture is clear but not so much that you could identify a stranger from it. Too often it's difficult to tell what triggered the events as I often can't see any movement. I suppose it could be getting triggered by sound even though I've set it to not notify me of sound events. Too often the snapshot they send with the email doesn't show what the trigger was. I agree with other reviewers that the USB connector was a poor design choice requiring a 3/4"+ hole for it to pass through. They could have done that much better. I do like that you can flip the picture 180 degrees as I mounted mine with the cable going up. The "walkie talkie" talk/listen method is poor at best especially with the ~2 second delay in both the video and sound making that feature virtually unusable. I've got excellent signal strength on my WiFi and it has 25Mbs down and 5Mbs up so that's not the problem. Not sure what would have been so hard for them to make it full duplex. They ought to provide the ability to hardwire the network to avoid weak signal issues as not everyone has great signal strength where they need the camara. They'd probably sell more cameras if they had that as people could put the cameras anywhere without worrying about the WiFi.
Update: If I knew then what I know now I wouldn't have bought it. I learned recently that the camera completely misses obvious events. Several times recently I had walked directly by my camera but my timeline shows NO events. No person, no activity, nothing. I reviewed the recording on line and can clearly see my self walking up to the camera but for some reason Nest misses the event. Nothing else was going on at the time so this is not a case of an event getting lost in a lot of activity. It just was not recognized by Nest as an event. That is very troubling since I have no way of knowing if an important event was missed and it's virtually impossible to scan the stored recording trying to find an event as even when I knew what time the activity took place the recording review tools are pretty worthless and you end up having to watch the recording in real time to find what you're looking for. I chatted on line with tech support but they were unable to help beyond their suggestion of turning settings off and then on. Really? That's hopeless.
Yet another update: I decided to give Nest Support a chance to address the issue where my camera completely misses obvious events such as a person walking directly up to or away from the camera. I spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone working my way through 1st level support and their manager/supervisor until finally the Nest Senior Support rep said he had to turn it over to the engineers because he could not figure out why it wasn't working. I provided detailed video evidence of the missed events and they agree it's not working but they don't know why and they won't replace the camera under warranty. The bottom line here is that Nest does not honor their warranty.
Yet another update: I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, Nest contacted me the next day. I spent the next week jumping through their hoops trying different things so they could figure out what was wrong. They weren't able to so they agreed to refund my money. They even paid for the return shipping. Although it did take 6 weeks for the refund check to arrive, it did arrive. As of today Nest Labs has a D- rating on BBB. Well earned if you ask me as the level of effort required to get their warranty honored was far too excessive.
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Raj
1.0 out of 5 stars This company is as greedy as TV cable companies
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2018
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The camera works okay but the subscription price of $10 a month for first camera and $5 for any additional camera is too high. And without the subscription the camera does not work the way it is designed to work. An average home has four cameras. That's $25 a month. For that kind of money I can have a free hardwired security system with monitoring installed. I found out about the subscription price after I bought the camera. And once you have the cameras you have no choice but to pay the subscription or the camera is basically useless. This company is as greedy as the TV cable companies. RING charges $3 a month for each camera. Everybody reviewing this camera should give them one star so that they would have a cheaper subscription plan available and not gouge its customers.
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kbs125
1.0 out of 5 stars Great camera, disappointed with cord and privacy policy!
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2016
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
UPDATE: 8/26/19
The cameras continue to operate wonderfully, but I can no longer endorse them due to Google/Nest’s recent change to their privacy policies. They have disabled the ability for the user to control the status light on the front of the camera. This is the light that shows that the camera is on, and it now blinks when the video is being viewed via the app or online. This completely changes the usefulness of this camera as a security device, drawing attention to its presence by a bright green light. Of course, I could cover up the light with tape or some other means, but I shouldn’t have to.
UPDATE: 3/8/18
Nest has now introduced other pricing options for the Nest Aware recording service. The 5 day plan is $5 monthly for the first camera, and $3 for each additional camera. They also offer annual pricing. We switched to the 5 day, and feel it is a much better value.
We’ve had the cameras installed for a year and a half now, and they’re still going strong. Other than occasional blips of WiFi connectivity, we’re had no issues with the cameras at all. Recommend them to everyone. We’re also picking up the new Nest Hello doorbell camera.
UPDATE: 9/8/17
I figured I'd give a quick update now that I've had the cameras for about a year and they've been through summer and winter. I've been very pleased with the cameras - in fact, we added more and are now up to 5 of them installed on our property. The video quality has been exceptional - both day and night - even in below freezing and 100+ degree temperatures. We've had occasional situations where a camera has gone offline, but I attribute that to a flaky WiFi signal and not necessarily the camera.
Regarding the Nest video recording service, we pay the monthly fee for all of our cameras. The cameras are a key part of our home security, and I view the cost of recording as no different than paying for a security monitoring service. I guess it really depends on what you intend to use the cameras for, but for me it is worth it to be able to review past events and set up custom activity zones and notifications. I agree that it would be nice if Nest would offer additional options regarding length of storage (currently limited to 10-day or 30-day options). I seldom need to review anything other than same or prior day.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I'm a longtime user of Dropcam and Nest products having owned several indoor cameras, 2 different generations of thermostats, and smoke detectors. I've been waiting for years for Nest to announce an outdoor camera, and eagerly snapped up several of them when they were announced. I just got around to installing the first yesterday, above my front door.
The camera itself is very solid and seems durable for the outdoors. The attached cable is about 10 feet long and ends in a USB male connector which attaches to a female USB port on a second length of cord - amounting to 25 feet of cord total. The box also includes all the clips, wall anchors, screws you'll need for most installations.
In the simplest of installations, you'd mount your camera in the desired location and then run the cord to an outdoor power outlet, securing the cord along the way with the included clips. In other instances, a hole might be drilled through the exterior wall or into attic space (7/8" is required to pass the connector through) and the cord connected to a power source inside, thereby hiding most or all of it.
In my situation, our home was built with cat5e wiring to various exterior points specifically for connecting security cameras. I wanted to use this wiring so I was able to use a power over ethernet (POE) splitter and injector (bought on Amazon) to run power to the camera and then connected the splitter to the camera's power cable using a USB adapter. It worked flawlessly. Including a link to the adapter. WS-POE-USB-Kit for iPad or Tablet, Remote USB Charger Via PoE Ethernet Cable up To 328 Feet With 5 Volts 10 Watts and Female USB
My biggest gripe about my installation is the length of cable that I needed to conceal. Because the cable is permanently attached to the camera itself (which isn't inherently a bad thing, and probably has to do with waterproofing), installations like mine which don't require the cable to span a long distance to connect to power end up with a long mess of extra cord.
I ended up buying a weatherproof electrical box at the local home improvement store, mounting it near the camera, and tucking the cables inside (see picture). It looks clean, but it would have been nice to not have to take that extra step. I'll probably paint the box eventually to better match the brick color. For my other installs I plan to route the cable through attic space which will fully conceal it. It would be nice if Nest offered a shorter or alternative cord option, but I made it work.
Aside from the physical installation, Nest makes it simple to connect and configure the camera to your home wifi. Download the Nest app, select the option to add a new device, and scan the QR code on the camera. The only remaining step is to enter your wifi password, and everything connects automatically. Using the app you can view your camera's live feed, view past motion events (still images if you don't subscribe to the Nest Aware service to record your video), configure settings like night vision, sound, etc., as well as turn the camera off and on (if you ever need to).
Overall, I'm very happy with the camera. The image quality is great - full 1080p HD. I appreciate the option to receive motion and/or sound alerts, which I can customize with zones to minimize "false alarms" from passing cars, etc. There is also a built in speaker and microphone, so you can talk through the camera to "visitors" - invited or otherwise.
I've tried other camera options - ones with a DVR, Arlo (feared the batteries dying and hated the motion activated recording). Nest wins hands down!
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Barb
1.0 out of 5 stars WARNING Google controls status lights not you
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2019
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
WARNING
GOOGLE/NEST have forced a change to the status light!!! You can no longer shut it off so now the cameras will be easy to find with their beaming status light. See below DO NOT PURCHASE they have stolen your rights to how you can control the settings of your cameras
Recently, we shared our commitment to privacy to outline how our products work in your home. As part of that commitment, we explained that you will always see a clear visual indicator when your Nest cameras are on and sending video and audio to Nest.
So we’re changing how the status lights function on Nest cameras, Dropcam, and Nest Hello. You will be able to dim the light on your camera, but it will always be on when the camera is on. We’re doing this to make sure you, and those around your camera, are aware when the camera is on and recording.
Starting today, we’re rolling out the following changes:
• In Settings for all Nest cameras and Nest Hello, the ability to turn off the status light will be removed. Instead, you’ll be able to dim the status light. When the camera is on, the status light will glow green.
• For Dropcam, the setting to turn off the status light will be removed. When the camera is on, the status light will glow blue.
• On Nest Cam, Dropcam, and Nest Hello, the status light will blink when the camera’s live video is streamed from the Nest app. The setting to turn this off will be removed.
We’re making these changes for greater transparency and privacy in your home. You can learn more about the status light updates here.
If you have questions or need additional details, please contact support.
- The Google Nest team
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Kristian Andersen
1.0 out of 5 stars Trust me - don't believe the glowing reviews
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The Good: if you want an expensive outdoor camera with decent images that you can place in an area with high-strength wifi - and don't need the ability to store your data - go ahead and buy this.
The Bad: pretty much everything else. First of, if you want to store images for more than three hours, you need to buy a subscription. PER camera. $100/year for the first one, and $50 for EVERY other camera. That's outrageous.
With this subscription you get some fancy features too - like the ability to receive notifications when motion is observed in certain 'zones' that you can specify. The problem with these features? They don't work. I have had two cameras for several months and these features work maybe 5% of the times (yes, that's WORKING 5% of the time - not the other way around) - not acceptable. Which brings me to the next issue - support. Or rather, lack thereof. You have an issue? They'll tell you to reinstall everything and start from scratch. Of course this won't work, so you'll ask them to look deeper at the problem. They'll come back a week later and tell you to reinstall everything and start from scratch again. Repeat. I have had this going on for several months - same thing, no solutions.
Which brings me to the last problem that you need to be aware of. Remember the wifi I talked about? Well, you better have amazing wifi where you are planning on installing your camera, since these cameras have super weak wifi. When I installed mine, my phone had full wifi, but the cameras could barely connect. They still don't connect properly, although I have tweaked the install location so they can be as close to the router as possible. And no, this is not an issue with my wifi - all other devices connect without a glitch in the install locations.
Suffice to say, I'll be uninstalling my system shortly and asking for a full refund - including what I have paid for the subscriptions ($150 for two cameras). The Nest system is extremely expensive, with an outrageous subscription model (that they don't tell you about up front), and under the pretty surface they have a mega bloated clunky backend.
Don't do it - find something better.
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NaPaAs
1.0 out of 5 stars Camera is fair, Nest Aware upgrade is NOT worth it
Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2020
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The Nest Outdoor camera is a decent camera. The resolution isn't as good as I wish it was but you get a vague idea of what you're looking at. The night vision is better than what the human sees without a flashlight. My rating is based on the Nest Aware subscription.
I had one camera with Nest Aware and was happy with it. I added a second camera. Nest upgraded their Nest Aware making my original subscription obsolete so the only way I could have history on the cloud for the second camera was to upgrade to the "New and improved" Nest Aware. It may be new but I don't think it's improved. The old Nest Aware ($60 per year) had a rolling five day history on the cloud with the option to create video clips of events I felt were important to save. That is no longer an option. Now they have it so the cloud only saves what the camera notices. So, if the camera doesn't notice it (what Nest calls an "event"), it doesn't record it. This would be fine if the camera noticed what I needed it to. It doesn't. The only way to have a rolling history is to pay $120 a year.
My second camera is set up in my back yard and I got it to monitor animals getting into my yard. Well, evidently the animals are ninja's because the camera isn't recording them and I can't determine whether it's wild life or a stray cat causing my problems. All I see is the aftermath because the camera didn't "see" enough of it to record and save the footage.
All I wanted was a rolling five day history for both cameras. I don't need it to save events like a bird or bug flying past the lens. I don't have a need for a large amount of storage. I sure don't need to pay $120 a year just so I can review the last weeks history. It's not worth it. I'm returning my second camera and selling my first camera and going to find something that saves to a hard drive in my home.
Nest Aware was perfectly fine in my opinion. I understand the desire for new and improved, however they seem to have overlooked any possibility that their customer might feel the service they have is enough. I don't consider their upgrade an improvement.
Update: Another star was deducted because customer support said the problem was my iPhone and iPad. Tried telling me my devices were the reason I wasn’t receiving notifications or emails. Refused to take responsibility for their faulty programming. I don’t care how good the camera is, if you can’t use the services provided to use with the camera all it the camera does is provide another window you have to sit and monitor because their Nest Aware sure doesn’t monitor things like it’s supposed to.
1.0 out of 5 stars Useless as Security Camera with the most recent software update.
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2019
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
With the recent software update, Google forces the status LED to be on at all times. At night this camera stands out in the darkness, actually alerting the potential intruder of its location and field of view. This blatant and intentional flaw makes my house actually less secure because potential intrude is made aware of camera's location and is able to bypass it. I called Nest and requested to return the camera for a refund, since the camera is now useless as a security device, and my request was denied. Google cares more about someone else's "privacy" than about the security of its paying customers. Will never purchase Nest or Google again.
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Sernc
1.0 out of 5 stars My time is valuable and I have already wasted too much it
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The product worked as advertised for 6 months then failed. After it failed, I tried reinstalling everything from scratch and that didn't resolve the problem. I've just spent the last two hours on the phone with the Nest Support going through a very detailed trouble shooting process and they failed to resolve the issue. I asked to if I could return the product under the 1 year warranty. They would not approve the return. Two hours on the a support call and that wasn't enough for them. My time is valuable and I have already wasted too much it. They clearly do NOT live up to their warranty nor are they able to resolve problems remotely. I expected more from Nest. I will not buy anything else from Nest in the future.
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Saraja
1.0 out of 5 stars Zero customer service
Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2021
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I had to be one of their first customers when they first came out with the nest thermostat. I own several. Long story short and fast forward I've been buying nests indoor cams for quite a while and finally decided to buy their outdoor cameras. Once Google bought nest, their customer service became zero. Once you used to be able to call a phone number and get customer service. That is gone. Today just to ask one product question, it took me over 2 hours, 5 people and they ultimately said they would need a supervisor get ahold of me. And that supervisor will not be able to call me they will only be able to email me. So I asked them, what will they be emailing me? And they had no idea. They didn't even know what I was asking! I lost a lot of work today just trying to ask the simple question of, what replaced the Wasserstein security floodlight... There used to be a partnership there.
This should have been a simple answer because they have their own now. But it wasn't. Naturally they do not utilize any in-house customer service it is all farmed out.
For a pricey product, you get cheap cheap non-existent customer service. I will now be switching to ring or simply safe. If you don't value your customer you will eventually lose them.
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Michael Albany
1.0 out of 5 stars Too expensive, you can do better.
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2019
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I got this product because the flag on our porch was stolen. After about 6 months the network connection kept going out and support suggested that I move the camera closer to the router. I repositioned the camera from the left of our door to the right taking it from 20’ away to about 15’. It got worse. After a bunch of back and forth it was determined that a direct line of sight to the router was required. This meant the camera now faces away from the street so we can see the front door. Flag was stolen again.
Network issue resolved I looked into getting it to playback video so I could see when a package was stolen. Video is only available if you have a subscription. Stills are only kept for 3 hours without one as well. No stills or video of a package suspected to be stolen.
2 $30 flags, 1 $15 package in 18 months and nothing caught on camera. Subscription cost is about $300 a year after the first year. No. Can’t justify that cost.
Video quality is ok but not great. At high resolution it’s good in daylight and night vision works, but it’s not going to be admissible in court unless the crook waits to have their picture taken. It’s also slow to respond. My mail person doesn’t move fast but she can get to the door, drop the mail in the slot ant leave and IF the camera catches it at all, I get a blurred image of the top of her head as she’s leaving our 9ft long patio.
The motion detector is great at catching the leaves on the plants moving in the wind. I have 70 notification of that over the last 3 hours. Oh and one possum visiting.
Very disappointed in this system, the video quality, and the cost of the subscription for 1 camera. Don’t waste your money.
All I use it for these days is to watch the feral cats that visit our porch now.
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BK63
1.0 out of 5 stars Combobulation of wires....
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2022
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I have to revise my review of this camera. First of all my original review gave it 3 stars because of the wiring. No easy way to get the LARGE plugs they make on the wiring through a wall into your house. After a month, this camera goes offline every day at least once or twice. I've been online with support and it seems many many people have this same issue with no resolution. Support tells me that my wifi is resetting itself and it is not. The camera powers itself off. When it goes off I have been right at the wifi point next to the camera and it is fully working. The camera takes about 15 minutes to turn itself back on. Also, if they say my wifi has reset itself, why didn't my indoor Nest cam that I've had for 10 years also go offline? Nest has a serious issue with their outdoor camera and they refuse to acknowledge it. Think twice before you buy their outdoor camera. Very disappointed after many solid years of use with the indoor model which by the way, after 10 years is still solid, while their outdoor model camera is a failure.
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NewMe!
1.0 out of 5 stars Warranty is no good and product!
Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2020
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Nest outdoor camera purchased July 28 2018 with 4 yr square trade warranty. It stopped working July 2020, and I called Square trade. They didn't even try to help me. Now I go on there website and it doesn't even show my device.
Do not waste your money with the warranty or this outdoor item. I even purchased the cover. Squaretradw and Google are not responding to any emails,chats or calls.
The camera was installed and mounted with the proper nest mounts under my deck and it worked fine. Then it looked like the weather caused the wire cover to crack and the screen got cloudy. As you can see from the picks there is no water in the screen .
Do Not purchase and do not waste your money with the warranty because you will never get any assistance or repairs!!
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Johnnie Galt
1.0 out of 5 stars Do Not Buy - cannot turn status light off
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2019
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
We have nest cams all over our house. And one is in our childs room as a monitor. Well...google/nest in their infinite wisdom modified the camera settings in an update. So now instead of being able to turn the status light off (so it doesn't shine in a dark room with a sleeping child)...it's now on all the time. And get this!!! It's even better!!! It blinks when you are watching the video. So my daughter wakes up...I check the camera...and now I see her staring at a blinking light wondering what the heck is going on. Whoever runs product development at Nest should be fired and never work in tech again. How can you be so disconnected from your customers?? Let's not even mention that the ones pointing outside to monitor the driveway or back yard now have lights that won't turn off so you know exactly where not to go if you are a bad guy and what part of the house to avoid. I'm seriously appalled by this company right now.
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Nick
1.0 out of 5 stars Camera is ok but online service sucks.
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2017
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
The camera itself is ok but the the cloud service provided doesn't work half the time. I'm consistently fighting with the app and website to try an view my PAID service. The camera you pay for CANNOT run consistently at 1080p because the camera over heats. I have 100mb by 10mb internet service which is more then enough to run 1 camera but the website and app are always telling me I need to the lower the resolution. If I put the camera on auto resolution it's always at the lowest setting so its useless because you can 't make out anyone's face. Even with nothing else using internet in my house the camera is constantly going offline so I only get footage half the time if I'm lucky. Let me also state that I work on networks for a living, this problem has nothing to do with my network setup and the camera is 10 feet from my router.
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whatslove
VINE VOICE
1.0 out of 5 stars Not impressed. Constantly keeps disconnecting
Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2021
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
I’m all about the Google platform and have the best hello too. But something about this camera is wonky. Maybe a dud? Keeps disconnecting. Cord for it is also way too short. But don’t want to go to the newest ones on battery because … well battery and no 24/7 recording
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars The longer I have it the more disappointed I have become
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2016
Size: 1 PackVerified Purchase
Had to revise this review after a few months of use. As others have pointed out, if you don't subscribe to Nest Aware, the camera is VERY LIMITED. You will get notifications of events but they appear as snapshots and half the time you can't get them to play. So MAYBE you have an event with something in it and maybe you can play the event to see everything. Also, after 12 hours the events are gone. It looks like Nest Aware makes all these issues go away but if you don't want to spend $10 per month for that, don't buy this camera.
Prior review: Happy with the camera. Install was pretty easy. One reviewer already pointed out that a smaller plug on the cord or way to disconnect cord would be nice. As it is now designed you must drill a 5/8" hole or larger to thread the plug through (even though the cable is much smaller). Picture quality is quite good. Slight delay but not too bad. The one other think that prevented me from putting 5 stars is the constant reminder in the app that I can upgrade my storage. I know that, I'm not going to do it, so stop reminding me. It gets really annoying to x out of that message over and over again.
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