Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATE 2017-12: I'm decreasing my rating from 5 down to 4. It's still a good camera and I just purchased two more of them, but it's not perfect. Unfortunately my home was burglarized a few weeks ago, coincidentally only about a week after I put up these cameras. Luckily the thief didn't get anything valuable and there was no damage to the house (hence I didn't even discover the burglary until a couple of days ago - I believe a neighbor arriving home spooked the thief and he left before finding anything of value). That being said, when he approached from my backyard at night, he walked right by one of my Yi outdoor security cameras, and it did record him. However, since the camera was on night-vision mode, the framerate was only 20 fps, which the description here calls smooth, but it is NOT smooth. The result is that the recording of the thief is motion-blurred so much that his face is completely unrecognizable. He was walking quickly, but not running. In order to get a recognizable capture, he'd have to stop and stare at the camera. So unfortunately even though I have this nice video of him approaching my house and shining a flashlight in every window, there's no real useful evidence. That being said, I had the audible security alert turned off because I get a lot of false alarms in my yard despite it being on the lowest sensitivity level (birds etc). I imagine if I had it turned on and the camera sounded an alarm, it could very well have scared the thief off, which obviously I'd have been very happy about. So again, good camera, but this was still a big disappointment. Some other notes: - I don't subscribe to the cloud service, and I discovered the burglary more than 1 week after it happened, so the clips on the cloud were no longer available. I do use SD cards in all of my cameras, so I figured it would be easy to download the clips from the SD cards using the Yi desktop app. Unfortunately that's not the case - it seems to be impossible to download an SD card clip through the app (although a cloud clip appears to be very easy to download). In order to retrieve the clips, I had to go to the camera and pull the SD card and pop it into my computer, copy the files over, and replace the card. I imagine (and hope) that this is an easy software fix that Yi will put through soon. - Someone correctly pointed out in a comment to my review - it would also be a very good idea to install the SD cards BEFORE installing the camera. The SD card slot is covered by a little panel which is held in my two small screws, which wouldn't be easy to work with while up on a ladder or something. Much easier to take care of that in your house on a countertop. Original review follows below: I already have two indoor Yi cameras, and I've been waiting for them to release an outdoor one. Finally this fall they did, so I ordered three and just installed them today. The picture quality is great, and camera setup was a piece of cake. Here are some pros/cons/tips that I've found so far: Pros: - Very easy to set up the camera using the app on the phone. Just scan the QR code on the back of the camera with your phone, punch in your wifi password, then scan the QR code on your phone with the camera. Takes maybe 5 minutes per camera, when you include time to download new firmware etc. - If you haven't used a Yi camera before, the app on the phone is great. You can name each of your cameras, and it shows a list of each camera on the main screen. Tap a camera and it brings up the live view. Very easy to use, never buggy. I've used Foscam (now Amcrest) cameras in the past and I've found their app to be very buggy (frequently can't connect, etc). Never had that problem with Yi. - Image is very clear and has a wide angle. Objects in foreground and background are clear - The camera is fairly small and lightweight - it's not very long lengthwise so it doesn't look bad. Because of the light weight, I was able to mount these on my soffits (eaves) without any extra support. I suppose if very big icicles form on them it could pull them down, but I don't expect that to happen. - There are lots of extra screws, which is nice. Cons: - It's a nice wide angle view, but not very "tall" vertically. Not a big deal at all, but just something to be aware of. - The zoom works, but it's digital zoom so things get blurry very quickly. Again, not a big deal and I knew that when I bought these. - I wonder if it would have been possible to make the lens face mostly white instead of black. That would have blended in with my soffits more. Tips: Just one tip really, about installation. While the camera setup is easy, if you're installing these on your soffits, it's hard work. Be prepared to run extension cords in your attic etc. For example my installation process for three cameras was: 1. Connect each camera to the app on your phone BEFORE the real installation. You'll be glad you did, you don't want to do that QR scanning while standing on a ladder. Don't connect the camera to the mount yet. 2. Go outside and drill a hole up through the soffit for the power cord, a little more than 1/2" to be wide enough for the USB plug. 3. Feed the power cord up through the hole. Leave the camera resting on something so it doesn't fall (that would be really annoying). 4. Go up in your attic, lay on your stomach and get as close to the soffit as you can. Don't accidentally stab yourself in the head on the shingle nails sticking down through your roof. Use a long metal hook or something (maybe from a hanger or whatever is handy) to fish around in the unseen soffit area until you get lucky and snag the power cord. If there's insulation and stuff, you'll have to pull it all out of the way and replace it later (this makes it a dusty and messy job). 5. Once you finally get lucky and snag the power cord, thank whatever deity you worship, and pull it up and plug it in to an extension cord. 6. Run that extension cord to a power outlet, stapling it up and out of the way. 7. Go back outside and install the mount for the camera (I just screwed it straight into the soffit). 8. Screw the camera onto the mount. 9. Pull up the app on your phone and align the camera how you want it, then tighten it in place. Anyway, it's not terrible, but the work in the attic isn't fun. Obviously this whole process can change depending on where you're installing the camera (except for the first and last steps I suppose).