eufy dual-cam superb security – with optional Homebase recording (security camera review)

The eufy dual-cam range provides superb security with its four new models covering indoor (S350), outdoor with a solar panel (S340), floodlight camera (E340) and video doorbell (E340).

These Wi-Fi devices can connect to an optional HomeBase 3 (S380) for no-cost local hard disk storage and strong AI features.

We have written a first-look article eufy dual-cam security cameras and video doorbells, which gives a good overview. This review is all about tests for Wi-Fi distance, image quality, HomeBase 3 features and our overall impressions.

Spoiler Alert: If you want excellent gear, terrific image clarity, and avoid monthly subscription fees, this is for you.

What kind of security camera setup do you need?

Buying a security camera or three is not a decision on a whim. You can’t easily mix brands (different apps), so the brand you select must cover all bases.  Short of writing a CyberShack guide (we likely will), you need to consider:

• What areas do you need to cover? Security cameras are only useful if you can cover 100% of your property’s ingress – indoor entry/exit areas, outdoors, driveways, side fences, etc. To use an analogy, what is the point of locking the front door if you leave the back door unlocked?
• How far will the security cameras be from your Wi-Fi router? If any camera is more than 20-30 metres (especially if Wi-Fi passes through doors, walls, windows, etc) from a typical router, it won’t get a strong enough Wi-Fi signal. You must consider a Wi-Fi Mesh system or extenders to get close enough to your most distant camera.
• What environment will they be placed in? For example, near the sea (as we are) needs IP65 or better rated.
• Do you need event video clip storage, and for how long? That may be via microSD, a base station, or the cloud at a monthly subscription cost.
• Do you need remote access via a smart phone to see notifications, arm/disarm/view?
• Do you need to share the feeds/notifications with another?
• Do you need (or would like) basic AI detection and responses for familiar faces, animals, packages, cars, etc? This can reduce false positives.
• Does the App allow you to customise the setup, or is it a static, fixed-focus camera?
• Your budget. You can go cheap or pay what you must for a quality, long-term system.

Australian review: eufy dual-cam superb security cameras

Website	AU Website Product range Floodlight Camera E340 $449.95 Indoor camera S350 $279.95 Outdoor camera SoloCam with solar panel S340 $399.95 Video Doorbell E340 $349.95 HomeBase 3 S380 $349.95 plus 2.5” SATA HDD or SSD storage
Price	As above
From	Eufy Online, Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Good Guys, David Jones, Bunnings (these are specialist items and may not be kept in stock).
Warranty	1-year ACL
Made in	China
Company	Eufy is an Anker Innovations brand. Directed Electronics Australia and New Zealand exclusively distribute it. Anker is a Hong Kong-based Chinese electronics company that produces computer and mobile peripherals, including phone chargers, power banks, earbuds, headphones, speakers, data hubs, charging cables, torches, screen protectors, security cameras, and more under multiple brands. It sells mainly in the USA, Europe and ANZ.
More	CyberShack robot vacuum news and reviews

We use Fail (below expectations), Passable (meets low expectations), Pass (meets expectations), Pass+ (near Exceed but not class-leading) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

First Impression – substantial quality and capabilities – Exceed

First, I want to pay homage to Arlo for its excellent quality gear, longevity and Privacy as A Pledge. The main differences are that it has fixed focus cameras, and to store video event clips for up to 30 days and enable AI-assisted detection; you must take out an Arlo Secure subscription. That ranges from $3.99 per month per camera to $14.99 per month (paid annually at $179.88) for unlimited cameras (the practical limit is what your Wi-Fi can support).

Other brands we recommend are Swann and Uniden – great DIY Wi-Fi products.

eufy dual-cam is different. It has hit the sweet spot using PTZ (Pan/Tilt/Zoom) cameras with dual camera sensors to show from head to toe without fisheye image distortion. And its HomeBase 3 adds ‘free’ local storage and pretty good AI features (no subscription fees, but you must buy the HomeBase and a hard drive).

From the moment you open the box, you can tell it is quality all around. The range is quite heavy and well-made. Of course, a review can’t give accurate longevity figures, but we know it is built to last – we expect 5-10 years (or more).

What we needed – it could be a good guide for your needs

• We live by the sea and require a camera that is at least IP65-rated to resist salt air. Tick. Most outdoor cameras are often IPX45 – not dustproof or waterproof. We have a 100-meter jetty requiring a sea-facing camera with at least 2K and 8X digital zoom. The eufy dual-cam SoloCam S340, 3K/8x with a solar panel, was ideal with dual camera sensors/lenses and subject tracking that covers most of the jetty. See the video below.

• We have a 40m long driveway that needs to be covered from the electric front gate to the entry walkways. The front gate presents Wi-Fi issues as the Wi-Fi range to the router was not strong enough. That was solved by a 3-pack TP-Link Deco BE85 Wi-Fi 7 BE22000 tri-band mesh router where one node is in the garage (behind a steel roller door) about 40 metres from the camera. The Floodlight camera E340 3K is ideal for the front gate as there is 240VC power, and the 2000-lumen floodlights assist with car entry at night. It is also a powerful visual deterrent. Forgive the video here – it was from a smart phone – not HomeBase.

• The driveway entry walkway needs wide-angle coverage to cover up the driveway towards the entry gate and sideways to the entry walkway. The Solocam S340 3K/8x with a solar panel is ideal (I hate charging security cameras) with its PTZ and zoom.

continued

• The walkway leads to our entry foyer, and the video doorbell E340 2K is perfect. We already have suitable 16VAC power from a previous doorbell cam.

• Indoors is easy for us as we have two adjacent entries to cover – the entry foyer and the pool access. The Indoor S350 wired camera covers both and, with PTZ, can also cover the open-plan living area.
• Finally, the pool entry; another video doorbell, E340, was perfect. We disable motion detection for privacy and only use the camera when someone rings the doorbell.

• The HomeBase 3 needs to be initially connected to the router via Ethernet but can then use Wi-Fi.

RRP for the above kit was $2179.70 plus a 1TB 2.5” SATA hard drive ($80) and a friendly electrician to wire in the floodlight cam (carton of beer or whatever price you negotiate), and we were all systems go.

Setup/placement – easy as – Exceed

These devices (apart from the video doorbell) have electronic PTZ that Pans (rotates) almost 360° with a 75° tilt and 8X zoom. You can establish various pre-set views, including the default view, which is handy to exclude areas you don’t want to cover. A gimbal control gives you complete control over coverage.

Ideally, these devices (apart from the video doorbell) are mounted 1.8-2m above the ground to avoid seeing too much of the top of people’s heads. Again, the PTZ gives you so much flexibility over a fixed-focus camera, even on an adjustable wall mount.

The Video doorbell comes with a wall mount and wedge to angle left or right (if needed). That is mounted at chest height.

The way PIR (passive infrared) motion detection works, it is also best to place the camera where people walk through the beam rather than head on to it.

All devices come with an integrated mount, wall plugs and timber/plasterboard screws. The App also includes comprehensive mounting instructions as you set up each device.

The App – very comprehensive – Exceed

The best thing about the Eufy Security App is its great default settings. It has way more power if you delve into it. Screenshots are below.

The App requires an eufy account and agreement with the Terms and Conditions and Privacy policy. We have read the 9000 or so words and congratulate eufy on its openness and willingness to disclose, almost on a product-by-product basis, all data it can record.

In summary, it collects only the data (telemetry) to ensure the product performs as advertised. No user data, photos, videos, etc., end up in its Asia-Pacific regional cloud as all are stored in on-device memory or the HomeBase 3. I have included PDF copies of the policies at the end of the review if you are keen!

Connection methods

During installation, you connect the eufy dual-cam to Wi-Fi 2.4GHz (some support 5GHz as well). It then updates the firmware, and you allocate names, locations, etc. If you don’t want to use the optional HomeBase 3, all videos are encrypted on the camera’s built-in memory. Each camera has basic AI, like subject tracking and zoom.

Once installed, you can connect to HomeBase 3 for central storage and AI BionicMind features. HomeBase is a 2.4GHz router, siren, and doorbell chime with 16GB built-in storage and up to 16GB 2.4” SATA III HDD/SSD. To be clear, the camera moves from your home Wi-Fi to the HomeBase 3 hidden Wi-Fi, which may or may not cause issues with lag and coverage.

Like any 2.4GHz router, its maximum effective Wi-Fi signal range is about 30m line-of-sight in a circle around it – a little less if it passes through walls, etc. It can stretch further, but you may have to reduce camera resolution to 1080p or 720p to suit the available bandwidth. Or think about where you could locate the HomeBase to give all devices the best strength. You can use AV2000 Ethernet over Power Adapters or Ethernet cable to connect to the main router.

We have asked eufy about using multiple HomeBases to extend distance and will publish any response here.

HomeBase 3 AI Bionic Mind – Pass+

The cameras have basic AI like person tracking and zoom. But to leverage all AI, you need the HomeBase 3.

Eufy Labs is always working on new AI features. For example

• Vehicle detection can tell you what type it is (sedan, wagon, SUV, truck, van, bus, etc), whether it is running, filtering out frequently parked vehicles, etc.
• Pet Detection types and recognition
• Face detection – family, friends, contractors, etc., can be added and filtered out. Strangers faces can be added to familiar faces via the notification.
• Crying – no information
• Package detection

All this is done for free on HomeBase 3 – no information goes to the cloud.

HomeBase Storage – Pass+

All eufy dual-cam have some built-in storage (usually 8 or 16GB) or a microSD storage slot. It is not necessary to use the HomeBase, but the added rolling storage and AI BionicMind make it a great choice.

The HomeBase 3 supports up to 16TB 2.5” SATA III HDD or SSD. At this time, 4TB is the maximum capacity you can buy. For <$100, you can purchase a 1GB or a 4TB at <$400.

It also has a USB-A 3.0 480Mbps (60MBps half-duplex) slot for flash drive backup. We tested with a 2TB Kingston XS1000 USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 external SSD, and it backed up 19 days, 1607 clips/9.2GB, in 9 minutes (20MBps). Clips are encrypted, so only you or a nominated person/share can access them via the app, copy them to the external backup, and view them unencrypted in an MP4 player.

The clip length and video quality can be set – the default is 20 seconds, and each clip varies between 1 and 5MB. When the HDD is full, it starts recording over the oldest recordings. Clips viewed on your smart phone are highly compressed to minimise mobile data bandwidth.

SoloCam solar panels – Exceed

Despite heavy rain, the highly efficient 5V/.5A/2.5W solar panels have kept both SoloCam S340 fully charged. Batteries deplete about 4% overnight. At that rate, you could go for a month without charging (based on our high number of activations).

Two-way comms – Passable

No matter which brand and model promises you real-time 2-way talk, they do not deliver. Why? The camera’s communicate over (generally) 2.4GHz half-duplex Wi-Fi. The further they are from the router/HomeBase, the more lag they have – from 24ms to over 200m2. If you are using the phone/app to talk, you also are communicating over Wi-Fi or mobile data, adding anywhere from 24ms to 200ms lag.

The front gate Floodlight cam had a more than 10-second delay between activation and showing in the app. The SoloCams were closer to 5 seconds, and the doorbell was about 2-3 seconds.

What you hear is more like the old walkie-talkies – push to talk, Roger, over…

eufy dual-cam (2 camera sensors) specs

All have onboard AI movement tracking, zoom, Privacy mode, Siren and speaker/mic.

Item	Indoor S350	SoloCam S340	Floodlight Cam E340	Video Door Bell E340
Resolution	4K wide angle 2K telephoto	3K wide angle Same	3K wide angle Same	2K 2K
FOV	130°	135°	same	same
F-stop	f1.6	Same	same	same
PTZ (up to)	360/75°	360/120°	360/120°	160/75°
Zoom	3X Optical and 8x digital	Same	Same	Same
PIR	Up to 10m	6-8m day 4-6m night	Same	same
Internal storage	Up to 128GB MicroSD	8GB	Up to 128GB MicroSD	8GB
Voice Assistant	Google, Alexa and Siri	Same	Same	Same
Power		Built-in rechargeable battery, USB-C or solar panel (supplied)	240V AC wired in	Built-in rechargeable battery OR16VAC wired-in
Mount	Desktop, wall or ceiling.	Wall mount supplied or ceiling mount via ¼” tripod socket. Extn cable for USB-C solar panel.	Wall or ceiling mount supplied	Wall mount supplied.
IP Rating	N/A	65	65	65
Light	IR night vision to 10m	100 lumen Spotlight for colour night vision to 8m	2000 lumens for colour night vision	Courtesy light top and dual LEDs bottom
Other	Patrol points of interest. Crying detection. Human and Pet Detection.	Motion, human and vehicle detection.	Capable of continuous recording with HomeBase 3. Smart patrol.	Delivery Guard

eufy dual-cam observations after four weeks of use

Video Doorbell E340 – Exceed

Special mention to this for the excellent colour day and night vision (few video doorbells do this) and Delivery Guard. The latter identifies a package has been left. Any more movement near that package will activate a preset or custom voice recording.

We used an AC wired connection (highly recommended), so I can’t comment on battery life as it is highly dependent on activations. For example, if it faces the street where cars or pedestrians could set it off, it will last a few weeks. It is USB-C chargeable and takes about 3 hours.

It has separate activity zones for the front and down-facing camera, and you can adjust sensitivity.

I would have liked a wireless chime, but eufy Australia currently does not have these. The chime can ring on the voice assistant or the optional HomeBase 3.

SoloCam S340 – Exceed

My favourite – the workhorse. Pros include a ‘Forever Power’ solar panel (that works very well), marine environment rating, numerous preset zones, and superb day and night colour. Again, the dual cam and PTZ make this easy to set up and customise.

Floodlight Cam – Exceed

The visual deterrent that this provides is enormously effective. We have it on the front gate, and we can tell from the video of passersby it is noticed. It provides much-needed ambient light to access the keypad entry and walk down the drive at night. Mounting was easy – we used a shelf bracket from Bunnings, and all it needed was a length of 240V cable and a plug attached. A qualified electrician should do all 240V wiring.

Indoor Cam – Pass+

One eufy dual-cam with PTZ replaces three fixed cameras. We learned that the privacy mode was easy to implement and set up a routine for arming when we are away.

Google Assistant Commands

It can use Alexa or Google (Tested)

The following voice commands view the camera’s Live Stream.

• “OK Google, show me [eufy device name]”
• “OK Google, show my [eufy device name]”
• “OK Google, show the [eufy device name]”
• “OK Google, show [eufy device name]”

Say either of the following to stop viewing your camera’s Livestream ‘Ok Google, stop’.”

HomeBase 3 – Pass+

It does not have as strong an antenna signal as our TP-Link Deco BE85 Wi-Fi 7 BE22000 tri-band mesh router and introduces more lag than the Deco. Still, you can use Wi-Fi and each device’s local storage.

But it is the only way to enable AI BionicMind and local recording. We are keen to see if eufy can mesh HomeBases together. Highly recommended if al cameras can use it.

CyberShack’s view – eufy dual-cam superb security

It is tough to review security cameras unless you install them and use them for a month or more. That is what we did, and their performance, convenience (PTZ) and reliability mean that we can recommend the eufy dual-cam security camera system to readers.

We will have to let the images below do the talking. We have not seen such clarity and detail in PTZ cameras.

Ratings

We will apply one rating for all four eufy dual-cam security cameras. They are PTZ cameras; apart from the video doorbell, the latter has dual cameras and Delivery Guard.

• Features: 95 – All are fully featured, have built-in storage, and 2-way comms.
• Value: 90 At the top of the price bracket but fair for dual camera, PTZ devices
• Performance: 90 – Ranges from good to excellent. All meet or exceed our standards. As usual, Wi-Fi and audio lag are the only potential issues.
• Ease of Use: 80 – If you are a DIY and don’t mind navigating apps, etc., it scores well. If you are not tech-savvy, get someone to set it up for you, and all you need to do is look at the images.
• Design: 90 – eufy has nailed it with the PTZ and dual-cam design.

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