Home security cameras are commonplace at this point, but there’s something to be said about the ingenuity in the space. There’s a solution for every niche, and I think there are few better examples than the Wyze Bulb Cam and Wyze Duo Cam Pan I’ve been testing out as of late. They also serve as continued reminders of how much I wish Google would branch out a bit more.
Wyze Duo Cam Pan – Total coverage, minimal setup
Most security cameras are fixed in their position, which is why “pan” cameras have been relatively popular in recent years. But with the Wyze Duo Cam Pan, you’re not just getting a camera that moves.
The bottom half of this product is a fixed, wide-angle camera that provides a view of, well, whatever you point it at. From there, you get a second camera that can move around to track a subject or just give you a different angle. Depending on how you mount it, it can essentially deliver total coverage of an area – literally 360-degrees around and 180-degrees vertically – with no additional setup.
Why bother with two cameras at once? To me, the appeal of this is that it eliminates a blind spot. If a regular pan camera moves to track a subject but then ends up missing something that was originally in the frame, you’re out of luck. This solution ensures that you’ll always get a view of what’s most important, regardless of where the other camera moves to focus.
It works rather well, and this was also one of the rare cameras that I managed to see work in the Google Home app. In the Wyze app, the feed is split into two full frames, with controls available to manually move the pan camera. In the Home app, you get a simpler view of the fixed position with a small corner overlay to show the pan camera’s view.
Does the utility justify the cost? Absolutely.
At $70, this 2-in-1 is cheaper than buying two cameras on their own, all while delivering a simpler experience with less initial setup.
Wyze Bulb Cam – A simple solution to a common problem
The product I was a little more enamored with was the Wyze Bulb Cam, which really just delivers a dead simple solution to a common problem – power.
Running power to a camera is almost always a headache. Either you have to drill holes and get clever, or just have a cable sitting out in the open. The Wyze Bulb Cam solves this by just using an existing source of power, a light bulb socket.
Setup here truly was dead simple. Remove light bulb, screw in Wyze Bulb Cam, turn on switch, connect in app. It takes moments, and the results are just excellent. You end up with a camera that is going to be at least somewhat well-positioned, but also does a decent job of hiding itself in plain sight.
In the recessed lighting of my front porch, the Wyze Bulb Cam juts out just enough to get a clever view, but not so much that it draws attention to itself. Especially at night when it’s just acting as a light bulb, it really does hide itself unless it’s directly in your line of sight. You can also link additional bulbs to make it blend in even more.
In terms of the actual performance, it works rather well! Through the Wyze app I was able to load up feeds quickly, and notifications were delivered in a timely manner too. Unlike the Duo, I was never able to get the Bulb Cam working properly in the Google Home app, but that’s the case for 99% of third-party cameras anyway. It’s also nice that, like Google’s Nest Cam Floodlight, you can control the light bulb for Wyze’s camera through the same app.
At $50, it’s just a great little gadget. It solves a real headache and, in turn, presents places you can put a security camera that you may not have thought of previously.
Will Google Nest ever be this adventurous?
While I’m overall happy with Wyze’s package here, I still prefer the simplicity of the Google Home app, the ability to access both my cameras and the rest of my smart home in one place, and the promise of Gemini for Home as well.
That’s why it pains me to know that, realistically, Google will never put out the same clever hardware Wyze is making. Nest’s refreshes in 2021 and more recently this month show pretty clearly that Google wants to create hardware to cover the biggest possible audience, rather than service a niche. It’s respectable, but it’s a shame when Wyze is showing just how many different variations there can be on a security camera.
What do you think? Do you prefer Wyze’s hardware, or Google’s approach?
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