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Anker today announced the launch of the eufyCam 2 Pro, a new home security camera available under the company's eufy brand.

eufycamera.jpg

The eufyCam 2 Pro features a 2K resolution for crisp, sharp video, and it is compatible with HomeKit. According to Anker, the eufyCam 2 Pro features support for HomeKit Secure Video, which means video is encrypted and stored in iCloud and footage is viewed in the Home app. All detection is also done on-device for privacy purposes, with no data sent to eufy.

HomeKit Secure Video requires an upgraded iCloud storage plan. The 200GB plan supports one camera while the 1TB plan supports up to five HomeKit Secure Video cameras, but the camera can also be used with local storage options.

The camera has a 140 degree field of view, customizable notifications, two-way audio, and support for night vision in infrared and color.

As with other cameras made by eufy, the eufyCam 2 Pro has a battery that lasts for 12 months before it needs to be recharged.

The eufyCam 2 Pro can be purchased exclusively from Best Buy for $150 for a single camera (hub required, the camera doesn't work on its own) and $350 for a bundle that includes a home base and two cameras.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Article Link: Anker Launches New eufyCam 2 Pro 2K Camera With HomeKit Secure Video Support
 
I believe HomeKit Secure Video is 1080p only right? so you are better off just buying one of the cheaper ones if you want HSV
 
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I got the indoor cam 2k (one standard and one pan and tilt) when they were on preorder and they are the real deal for the right price, but even though they advertised HomeKit support I discovered when we received them that the HomeKit support is pending a firmware release this month. So far they are really are just as good as competing indoor cams and baby monitors (which is what we got them for, probably some reason they don’t advertise them as such.) for a fraction of the price, but still waiting for the HomeKit integration to give them the full 👍.
 
Man these WiFi cameras are so expensive but if you were a real thief you would know to cut the power so peoples wifi goes offline. Then go to town and rob them. Unless they have a power backup you are free.
I have cameras everywhere in my home but I am aware if someone wants to get in they will - we use it as a knowing who is knocking the door for deliveries, etc.
 
No thanks.

I'm not going to start having to maintain a pile of hub/bridges for various HomeKit devices.
To Anker's credit, the hub can connect your network via Wi-Fi (Ethernet is also provided) with 16GB central storage for storing video locally. This allows each camera to use proprietary wireless radio for less impact on your Wi-Fi network (your Wi-Fi degrades with each additional device), easier HomeKit configuration, faster overall performance, and improved battery life.

Speaking of battery life, however, good luck getting anywhere near 1-year battery life with HomeKit Secure Video turned on. I am getting 2 month battery life on non-Pro eufyCam 2.
 
"The eufyCam 2 Pro features a 2K resolution for crisp, sharp video, and it is compatible with HomeKit"
^^^ this
don't get it, what am I missing? are you planning to watch an Avenger movie at home? sounds like a lot of wasted storage and bandwidth
 
you were a real thief you would know to cut the power so peoples wifi goes offline. Then go to town and rob them.

You don't even need to cut anything in many cases - newer homes have exterior main power switches for use in the event of a fire.

But a thief sophisticated enough to cut power/data lines is going to be able to get around most consumer-level security systems. If that much premeditation is going into robbing a home, you're going to need something way more complex and expensive to stop them.

I see such inexpensive wifi cameras more as a deterrent to opportunity thieves. Porch pirates and dishonest cleaners or babysitters. That kind of thing. They're not plotting a scheme to steal, they just see something and decide to take it on the spot.
 
"The eufyCam 2 Pro features a 2K resolution for crisp, sharp video, and it is compatible with HomeKit"
^^^ this
don't get it, what am I missing? are you planning to watch an Avenger movie at home? sounds like a lot of wasted storage and bandwidth
2K is not as significant of an upgrade as you think. It's roughly 10% sharper:
  • eufyCam 2: 1920 by 1080 (2,073,600 pixels)
  • eufyCam 2 Pro: 2048 by 1080 (2,211,840 pixels)
 
"The eufyCam 2 Pro features a 2K resolution for crisp, sharp video, and it is compatible with HomeKit"
^^^ this
don't get it, what am I missing? are you planning to watch an Avenger movie at home? sounds like a lot of wasted storage and bandwidth
What good is it to have a camera to let you know someone is in the house, but not able to pick out any specific features about them?
 
"The eufyCam 2 Pro features a 2K resolution for crisp, sharp video, and it is compatible with HomeKit"
^^^ this
don't get it, what am I missing? are you planning to watch an Avenger movies at home? sounds like a lot of wasted storage and bandwidth

With a field-of-view of 140deg, you need those pixels to really be able to see detail at any normal distance. Think about pointing a camera at your driveway trying to catch some porch pirates or someone that dumped some crap on your lawn - can you see their license plate from a distance?

Do the math. How many pixels will a car license plate (12inches wide) be at 30ft away with a 140deg FOV? Assuming it's perfectly head-on.
  • At 1080 (1920px horizontally) resolution, it will be 34 pixels wide.
  • At 2k (2560px horizontally) resolution, it will be 45 pixels wide.
  • At 4k (3840px horizontally) resolution, it will be 68 pixels wide.
30ft isn't that far. But a license plate at that distance will be REALLY small with a 140deg FOV. At 34px wide, it would probably be totally illegible - a single letter would only be a few pixels wide, no way to differentiate between any letters, and keep in mind most of the time it won't be a perfect head-on shot but rather at an angle with some blurring. Even at 4k the license plate will be barely legible, each letter would be 5-6 pixels wide - that might be enough to differentiate between M and W.
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2K is not as significant of an upgrade as you think. It's roughly 10% sharper:
  • eufyCam 2: 1920 by 1080 (2,073,600 pixels)
  • eufyCam 2 Pro: 2048 by 1080 (2,211,840 pixels)

I might have missed it in the spec, I thought 2k was 2560x1440.
 
Speaking of battery life, however, good luck getting anywhere near 1-year battery life with HomeKit Secure Video turned on. I am getting 2 month battery life on non-Pro eufyCam 2.
Depends a lot on how often they trigger - and if something moves within the sensor’s field of view, the rest of the camera is going to wake up, even if it then looks at the result, decides the movement is outside of the selected area, and goes back to sleep without recording or sending video, or notifying anyone. iOS 14 may help with things a little, because HomeKit is getting support for arbitrary trigger zones (draw a polygon around the part of the frame you care about, then you won’t get alerts or recordings if movement is outside that range), which should be pretty nice.

FWIW, I have the EufyCam 2C, which has half the battery capacity of the EufyCam 2 (the 2C contains two 18650 li-ion batteries, the 2 has 4 of them). My first use, got about 3.5 months, down to about 1/3rd of a charge, so empty would have been around 5.3 months. Not the advertised 6, but close enough. Recharged in place by parking a 20,000mAh Anker battery pack next to it and plugging them together. I don’t mind doing that every 3-4 months. And HomeKit Secure Video for the 2C came out of beta a month or two ago. Works a treat.
 
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No thanks.

I'm not going to start having to maintain a pile of hub/bridges for various HomeKit devices.

Initially, Apple required that there not be a hub and the device must make a direct connection to the network, in order to meet the HomeKit standard. Wish they would have stuck with that. No one wants extra hubs and having to plug in extra devices.
 
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I've been looking for 2-3 quality cams' to keep an eye on my four pups and deliveries when I'm not around. I prefer a hardwired cam option like the Nest Cam IQ series to easily access the feed and save the footage for the past few hours.
 
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I believe battery powered cameras require a hub for lower power usage. Otherwise you'd have cameras that need to be charged weekly.
This. The cameras could sense, record, and send video on their own, only powering up the WiFi when they need it, but, they have to be constantly listening for requests to display current video right now. Which means an always-on radio (eh, I would bet they only turn it on, say, once a second or so, to see if anyone is sending a command, but it’s close to always on). And always-on WiFi takes still more power, for something that’s already driving a microprocessor, a camera, and/or infrared sensor, and is expected to survive on its batteries for months at a time. Also, these designs all originated before HomeKit video was a thing. I don’t begrudge the camera its hub.
 
I've been looking for 2-3 quality cams' to keep an eye on my four pups and deliveries when I'm not around. I prefer a hardwired cam option like the Nest Cam IQ series to easily access the feed and save the footage for a few days'.

The OMNA 180 cams are good for this. They have an SD card slot so you don't have to worry about uploading your video to external services.

They also have a nice grid interface so you can set hot areas for movement notifications... Say for example, you make the grid view of the kitchen table to watch for motion so you can get a notification of the dog is trying to get to something they shouldn't.
 
What good is it to have a camera to let you know someone is in the house, but not able to pick out any specific features about them?

1080p and/or "2K" is plenty to pick out specific features. The camera sensor and lens quality are way more important than raw resolution specs.
 
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