A pan-and-tilt camera with solar charging

Verdict

Packed with intelligent options, the Eufy SoloCam S340 makes it simple to look at what’s necessary. Motorised pan-and-tilt with AI monitoring means this camera can seize extra of what’s occurring. With offline storage and no ongoing charges, this safety camera will get just about all the things proper, delivering sharp video (supplied you don’t activate the Twin-mode choice). The 2 cameras add some flexibility for guide viewing, providing telephoto and wide-angle choices. Nonetheless, in the event you can monitor an space with a hard and fast camera, you may get lots of the similar options for much less.

Introduction

Whereas a hard and fast exterior safety camera can present a lot of the monitoring you want, there are occasions when extra flexibility can be useful.

The Eufy SoloCam S340 presents that with a pan-and-tilt camera that may mechanically monitor targets and twin cameras that present optical zoom.

A usually well-designed app with sensible options and no want for month-to-month charges makes this a robust and well-priced safety camera.

Design and set up

• Must be put in excessive
• Could be wall- or ceiling-mounted
• Solar panel mount

A chunky field with the camera hanging beneath, the Eufy SoloCam S340 has a motorised pan and tilt function that provides it 360-degree horizontal motion and 70-degree vertical motion.

This offers a specific amount of set up flexibility, because the camera will be moved to level on the location you need to cowl after it has been put in.

There are caveats with that. Though the 70-degree vertical motion is nice, the camera goes from pointing just about straight forward to pointing in the direction of the bottom; there’s not a lot scope for trying up. Consequently, the camera must be positioned fairly excessive up, otherwise you danger reducing off individuals’s heads in recorded footage.

Set up is straightforward. There’s a easy mount that may be screwed to a wall or the ceiling of an overhang. The camera then clips onto this, with quick-release buttons on the aspect that permit the Eufy SoloCam S340 simply be eliminated.

That’s useful if that you must take away it to cost through the USB-C port on the rear – not that you simply’ll essentially have to do that, as there’s additionally a solar panel within the field that attaches to an adjustable mount, which will be screwed into the highest of the camera, or linked externally through the extension cable. This latter choice fixes the difficulty with many solar-powered cameras the place it may be laborious to put them in the appropriate place to maintain charged.

When put in direct daylight, the solar panel ought to maintain the camera charged sufficiently that you simply don’t must take away it, though that does rely upon many elements that I’ll discover later.

Set up is through the Eufy Safety app, which is residence to all the firm’s safety cameras. There are two set up choices: direct to Wi-Fi or a connection to an S380 HomeBase, which is out there individually or with the S330 cameras.

A HomeBase must be inside wi-fi vary of the Eufy SoloCam S340, and it gives onboard centralised storage for all linked cameras. Plus, it will increase detection, together with facial recognition.

Options

• Twin cameras
• Programmable residence place
• Sensible AI monitoring

As with the Eufy Safety Indoor Cam S350, the S340 is designed to maximise its pan-and-tilt capabilities. Core to that is the flexibility to set a default place that the camera returns to.

It’s a vital function; with out this selection, it’s all too simple to depart the camera pointing someplace it received’t seize an intruder. With a default place, the camera will be set as much as cowl the realm you need. You possibly can set extra preset positions too, which you should utilize within the reside view to shortly bounce to key areas of curiosity.

Returning to 1 location additionally signifies that it’s value utilizing exercise zones in order that movement detection solely happens in areas you’re excited about. With cameras that don’t return to a house location, exercise zones cowl the incorrect space.

Whereas exercise zones assist maintain down the variety of alerts I get, there’s additionally choices to solely alert for individuals, pets or different movement. Cleverly, that’s constructed into the camera, and this sort of detection doesn’t require a cloud subscription, as with rivals, such because the Ring Stick-Up Cam Professional. Use a HomeBase, and the camera can even spot faces, tagging footage with recognised individuals, which is neat.

As this can be a pan-and-tilt camera, it’s not restricted to solely recording whereas immobile. With AI monitoring turned on, the Eufy SoloCam S340 can mechanically monitor no matter triggered an occasion – that is the actually intelligent bit, as conventional safety cameras will give a glimpse of what occurred however then lose sight of the goal.

Monitoring may be very clean, and it labored fantastically after I examined it. Outdoors, I actually discovered this function helpful. The camera is mounted on my backyard workplace, pointing on the home.

Strolling out of my kitchen in the direction of the workplace, the camera might monitor me down the backyard after which flip to comply with me as I opened the workplace door. With a standard safety camera, I’d have to decide on to observe the home, or the workplace door, however I couldn’t do each.

Footage is recorded to the built-in 8GB of storage, which isn’t upgradeable. If you need extra storage, it’s also possible to use a HomeBase and match that with a 2.5-inch SSD or laborious disk. Whether or not you do that or stick with the onboard storage, it means you’ll be able to function this camera with none ongoing month-to-month prices.

With the Eufy S350, when on the reside view display, the camera had a button to view captured footage, scrolling via a timeline. Unusually, this selection isn’t obtainable right here, and the S340’s footage is just viewable via the Occasions tab on the app.

Recordings will be filtered by machine, date and set off (individuals, animals, different movement or perhaps a particular individual), with a thumbnail checklist of occasions generated. Any clip will be downloaded and saved to your cellphone.

There are two built-in cameras: one wide-angle to seize extra of what’s happening and telephoto zoom. With the wide-angle lens you get a 3K decision, whereas the telephoto lens has a 2K decision.

It’s the wide-angle lens that’s the default for recording, capturing as broad a view as doable. There’s no choice for the camera to mechanically change cameras whereas recording.

There may be an choice to file from each cameras on the similar time, though the Eufy Indoor Cam S350 does this by layering one feed above the opposite, and compressing them right into a decrease high quality video. It’s actually not value bothering with.

That’s to not say that the S350’s twin cameras are pointless, and so they’re fairly helpful when within the reside feed. Distant viewing the camera, I might transfer it round to get a greater look of my again backyard and use the telephoto camera to zoom in and get a close-up view of what was happening. For me, I can use the camera to zoom in and look into the kitchen, with out having to place a extra intrusive indoor camera in place.

By default, the camera will file in black and white at evening, utilizing its IR lights. Nonetheless, there’s an choice to show a highlight on in the primary settings, plus an choice to make use of color evening imaginative and prescient utilizing the button obtainable when utilizing reside view. It could be helpful if these choices had been in the identical place within the app.

Modes can be found within the app, with Residence, Away and Disarmed choices. For every, you’ll be able to set which cameras ought to be energetic. Modes will be triggered manually, on a schedule or by geofencing (a number of customers supported).

It’s a disgrace that there isn’t IFTTT help or tighter integration with different sensible residence programs, comparable to HomeKit, in order that Modes could possibly be triggered by different units, comparable to when setting a wise alarm.

Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant help can be found, and the Eufy Indoor Cam S350 can ship a reside stream to a appropriate sensible show.

Efficiency

• Sharp 3K video
• Spectacular at evening
• Twin-mode dramatically reduces high quality

With a 3K sensor, the Eufy SoloCam S340 shoots video at 2880×1616, which is a step down from 4K, however fairly a number of pixels greater than a 2K camera can shoot at. In apply, the 3K decision is great.

Outdoors, dealing with in the direction of the solar, I discovered that the Eufy SoloCam S340 shot brilliant, sharp and detailed photos. Impressively, with AI monitoring turned on, the camera might transfer its physique to maintain up with me with out introducing movement blur.

At evening, the camera can swap on its IR LEDs taking pictures in black and white. This does have a softening impact on the image, and a few particulars are obscured. Nonetheless, the IR LEDs are highly effective and long-reaching, and I used to be impressed with the ultimate footage.

The S340 can shoot in full-colour, supplied there’s sufficient mild and/otherwise you’ve turned on the camera’s highlight. I discovered that the color evening imaginative and prescient wasn’t fairly as clean as footage shot within the day, with some movement blur; nevertheless, it does ship extra element than the IR model, so I’d use this selection.

Twin-mode taking pictures is much less spectacular. Squeezing each cameras right into a 2304×2592 body, the excessive compression and discount in picture high quality is noticeable, so I’d not use this mode.

Plus, when monitoring what’s happening the Eufy SoloCam S340 solely manages to make use of its primary camera to maintain objects in body; I discovered that the telephoto lens ended up reducing my head out of the image, which meant that the footage wasn’t that helpful.

Battery life is quoted at three months for a single cost, assuming 300 seconds of recording time a day. If positioned in direct daylight, then the camera ought to have the ability to maintain itself topped up, however you want sufficient daylight per day. I discovered that in my south-facing workplace, there was sufficient daylight, however I’m on just about the best face.

It’s necessary to level the camera away from areas which might be too busy, comparable to a avenue, as a number of movement detection alerts will drain the battery quick, to not point out trigger a number of annoying notifications.

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