Blink Mini – Compact indoor plug-in smart security camera, 1080p HD video, night vision, motion detection, two-way audio, easy set up, Works with Alexa – 2 cameras (White)

We purchased our first blink home security camera july of 2018. We were going out of the country and wanted to make sure our 18 year old son closed the garage door and locked the house. It did the job and we felt better knowing while on the other side of the world we could monitor our home.
The following summer we were so happy with our indoor system, we decided to purchase 2 outdoor cameras with the 2 way audio, and were so happy with the video and audio quality, we bought another add on outdoor camera, the next month.
A year later we found the mini indoor cameras. We have one for a child’s bedroom and one for the playroom. The video and audio quality is great.
A year after that we bought another 3 outdoor cameras, again video and audio quality is great.
Just before christmas 2021 blink came out with the doorbell camera, and we purchased it. One, because it was blink and 1/2 the price of a ring doorbell camera. Two, because the doorbell that came with our new build home was so quiet, we couldn’t ever hear the bell ring.
In total we now have…
3 indoor battery powered
2 indoor mini corded power
6 outdoor battery powered
1 doorbell wired to exciting doorbell.

Cameras purchased…
July 17th, 2018
blink indoor home security camera system with motion detection, hd video, 2-year battery life and cloud storage included – 3 camera kit
https://www.amazon.com/dp/b018hc6pva/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_e4n35ajjxm4qayyn1s03?_encoding=utf8&psc=1

july 15th, 2019
blink xt2 outdoor/indoor smart security camera with cloud storage included, 2-way audio, 2-year battery life – 2 camera kit
https://www.amazon.com/dp/b07mn67bcr/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_2vzv3yz7f3x4f5wsf9sf?_encoding=utf8&psc=1

august 20th, 2019
blink xt2 outdoor/indoor smart security camera with cloud storage included, 2-way audio, 2-year battery life – add-on camera for existing blink customers
https://www.amazon.com/dp/b07m8dthgl/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_7xgz93g8ptggnhtnbgek?_encoding=utf8&psc=1

november 22nd, 2020
blink mini – compact indoor plug-in smart security camera, 1080 hd video, night vision, motion detection, two-way audio, works with alexa – 2 cameras
https://www.amazon.com/dp/b07x27vk3d/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_dl_0cvs1gzcpqpje577m0jv?_encoding=utf8&psc=1

august 3, 2021
blink outdoor – wireless, weather-resistant hd security camera, two-year battery life, motion detection, set up in minutes – 3 camera kit
https://www.amazon.com/dp/b086dkshq4/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_dl_9f09k8m142matnjy1c7p?_encoding=utf8&psc=1

november 29th, 2021
introducing blink video doorbell | two-way audio, hd video, motion and chime app alerts and alexa enabled — wired or wire-free (black)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/b08sg2ms3v/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_dl_jth38j37n7st707fmw4p?_encoding=utf8&psc=1

blink offers two subscription plans.

1 blink device
$3 per month or $30 annually

unlimited blink devices
$10 per month or $100 annually

you do not have to have a blink subscription if you do not choose to, but you won’t be able to store videos.

With the subscription you are even able to share your videos by text, or email. To neighbors, friends, family, and even the police department.

Cons/irritations
when an outdoor camera faces the sun at any point of the day, the motion detection will go off, until you adjust the motion activity spots in the camera settings. This can take a few days to work out the kinks.
Indoor mini cameras the motion activity spots don’t always work. Sometimes it will go off when there is motion in the grayed out zones, and sometimes not go off in the non-greyed out zones. This maybe human error on our part. We are looking for a longer cord for the mini’s to mount on the wall or ceiling. The are options to rotate the camera view, so that you are able to mount the camera wherever you need.

Overall we are happy with our blink system and hope the company continues to grow and come out with new products.

Compared to my parents very very expensive arlo system, blink is more reliable, and is more cost-effective. So much so, my parents have ditched the arlo camera system and have purchased a new blink system.

We highly recommend blink to anyone who would like to have a home video camera system that works, and won’t break the bank.
We love that you can start out small and work your way in to as much as you want/need.

This security camera will show you live feed without a subscription! It can sit anywhere, with & without being plugged in and you can pair it to your phone via app and watch from anywhere in the world!!! As long as there’s stable wifi inside the home. I watched my living room for 36 days while in another country. This camera has the ability to record as well but you need a subscription to store the recordings on the cloud! Very clear picture with ability to zoom in (on your phone) and night vision is well lit black & white. Best of all, this camera allows you to hear & speak through it. When my dog was barking at the front door, i looked on my phone and saw through the blink camera that the ups man was leaving a package! It’s also a fantastic way to monitor children and the elderly without having to run inside all the time to see if everything’s alright! I believe the subscription gives you alexa voice command when you register your blink on amazon.com best camera, good picture, great features, very dependable and easy to install!

I was hesitant to choose which security cameras i was going to choose. I almost chose adt but upon reading review after negative review, i thought i’d give blink cameras a chance. I am so glad i did!!! It was super easy to install and mind you, i am not good at assembling or installing, i’d rather pay someone to do it for me. But with blink , easy to read and follow instructions, i did it all by myself in such short time. I decided to get this since i need to keep track of my kid and i get alerted as soon as he walks though the door from school, and also i can talk to him through the camera and watch him live though my phone when i am at work. I can see even when all lights are out. And not to mention the great deal they offered me this set of cameras for is unbelievable!!! I just bought another set for the rest of my house since i absolutely recommend this, you cannot go wrong with this product so glad i went with this choice.

I was looking for a simple camera to put in my den. I didn’t read all the specs when buying but have been surprised at all it can do. I also bought an echo show so it’s nice to be able to see the camera from my room at night and my phone during the day. It truly was an easy setup (especially if you already have blink products) and i’ve had no problems with it.

It works well, good picture quality, decent price and has extended live view. No complaints so far. Would buy another. I left a scathing review on the customer service department for an indoor blink camera on my system. Even though it’s next to impossible to get through to blink in any timely fashion, i bought this mini and added it to my network of 4. I like blink equipment. Understand if one has a problem your going to have to resolve it on your own or wait days for cs department to return your email or call. Days…. Do your due diligence before you get blink and research the issues others have had. None of these systems are perfect even if they claim to be including blink.

Yes, it could do more, but unreasonable to expect at this price point. Set up is a breeze and the picture is great. We can see what we need to see. As an aside, they work great outside on our covered porch (where they cannot get wet) aimed at our french doors. Yes, this voids the warranty (did i mention the low price?), but gets around the issue of trying to record through glass. Live in az, it’s hot, above 95, they work great. I don’t expect miracles. Will see how they do on our next 120 degree day. Happy nonetheless.

We set these up to keep an eye on an elderly family member and they work so well. They even can be used with alexa to trigger a comment from echo show “it’s the middle of the night, where are you going?” seriously, very versatile and great quality. A little piece of black electrical tape over the red light and they are really inconspicuous (especially for someone with alzheimer’s)

I’ve been reading a lot of reviews on google and other places on these mini cameras and a lot of people said they were crap and others said they were amazing. All i’m going to say is that it’s a great deal! Probably spend $50 tops for a camera that can pretty much sit anywhere as long as you can plug it in and it comes with a free month subscription to test! It’s absolutely amazing. I armed mine at night and went to take a picture in the amazon app and as you can see i got notified immediately! The picture wasn’t even uploaded yet . It’s an amazing deal. You can pay $10 a month for the subscription after you use the free trial ($120yr) or you can pay $100 for a year up front which is to add multiple cameras. If you only need one it’s cheaper like i think $3 or $6 or something like that. Very easy on the wallet lol. I think it’s probably going to be the very cheapest security system that has that many perks. I can record live or it records for me if someone steps in my yard! It’s got great camera quality for the price. I thought it was going to be like crappy slightly pixelated but no it’s really decent actually. I’m really happy with my purchase and i plan on getting more cameras and adding them to the $100 a year plan.

P.s. Instal and setup connection only took about 10 minutes after i figured out where i wanted it!! Also very small, discreet, and hidden! Totally recommend!!

I was hesitant before i bought these two mini cameras because of reading the reviews, but…. They work perfectly for me. I reside in a studio apartment and 2 cameras cover everything. The app works great when notifying me of motion detected and even the night vision captures my hunny boo boo feline when she’s stalking around!

I was having trouble with a lock so while i was waiting for repairs i decided to get this security cam. It’s small and powerful. I didn’t expect this given the price! The camera is appropriately sensitive to motion; the night vision is better than expected, and i am satisfied overall. They start you on a 30 day trial for the cool features like clips of motion; but after that you have to pay a monthly/annual fee which i wasn’t suspecting. Makes sense though, and overall i am happy with my purchase.

Updated: when i saw these smaller cameras announced i was excited and looked forward to adding them to my existing 5 camera blink system. I figured these would be a great replacement for the xt/xt2 cameras that i had inside my house so i could then re-purpose those for additional outdoor locations. I thought this was a brilliant addition to the blink camera ecosystem, adding a lower cost camera for indoor applications like mine where the benefits of the battery power and weather-proofness would be overkill. Soon as they were released i ordered up a two-pack to add to my system. I installed one of the them and found that the picture quality right out of the box wasn’t the best but once you change the video quality setting to “enhanced” it’s right up there with the xt2 quality. The motion detection is a little spotty, as they use a new digital method of detecting motion (ai compares one frame to the next to check for changes). Some very subtle movement will show up, like a shadow moving across the viewing area, but then actually walking across it won’t (sometimes). A rep i spoke with said that they are working on an update to improve the consistency of that feature, which will be available as an over-the-air update since it is a digital-based feature, which i think is pretty cool. So originally my poor review was based around the cloud storage feature on these cameras. After i purchased these cameras i looked into the cloud storage feature as all of the literature i found on them stated that a subscription would be required. Since this is different than the previous xt & xt2 systems i was not pleased about this. After i posted my original review a rep from blink reached out to clarify the cloud storage situation. So here is what i learned: if you already have an xt or xt2 system, then you can add these cameras to it without having to get a paid subscription. If you do not have a blink system at all, and these cameras are the first ones you get, then you get a free subscription until december 31st, 2020; then you will pay $3/month per camera after that. By then though, they plan to have released a new sync module with an sd card slot so that you can locally store video clips without having to pay for a subscription at all. Personally i don’t think they intend to have too many people on the subscription plan, i think they see the sd card functionality being more of a selling point but they had to piggy-back the first adopters of these mini cameras onto the cloud storage until the new sync module gets released. Maybe they had delays in getting the new sync module released at the same time as the mini due to factory closings around the world right now. I am much happier after this getting cleared up, but hope that they update the cloud storage & subscription info on the product pages to make it much clearer how this all works. Had i looked at all of the available info before buying these, then i probably would not have purchased them based on the unclear info that’s out there. In the end, the savior of the situation was the rep that contacted me from blink. He clarified all of my concerns, gave me a great amount of info on the product, and answered all of my questions (i had lot of them). To be clear, the rep did not once ask me to change my review, take it down, or in any way artificially influence me to do any of those things. The great job he did led to me to change this of my own accord, as they really took care of my concerns. One star deducted for the confusion but three added back in for the great cs experience. Good product can get you a buyer, but good service gets you a customer for life. Blink has done a fantastic job turning a disappointed (and misinformed) buyer into a satisfied customer. So to recap, if you have an existing blink system, buy these and use ‘em where you don’t need the wireless ones. If you are looking to get these as your first blink setup, get them knowing you will have the option of paying for a subscription starting in 2021 or a one-time purchase of a sync module with sd card slot to store your video clips.

This product is a great product overall for its function however the miss leading information that a lot of buyers are not aware of is issue with the app. I have contacted customer service regarding my issue about the app and none of them were able to help resolve the problem. If you already have the app for another camera for another house house or institution and you want to add additional cameras to other facilities or homes the original app will not allow you axis to any new cameras at different houses without logging off one to get to another. I contacted the manufacture representative about the issue they saying that they are working on fixing this problem because many other people have this issue. Should when they design the app that has multi function to allow customers to have access to more camera one app camera it will be an excellent product.( my dilemma since my sibling set up a blink camera in my mom‘s home she gave me access to have to that camera to check up on mom; so now i have i already have the app and it being use already now i have my blink camera ; the app won’t work for my camera with me losing access to mom blink camera. ) i really like the product i like the size but it didn’t work as a attended to perform .

So this happened to me in two different houses with two different sets of blink mini cameras. When i was setting up the camera, it would not connect to wifi. It would blink blue and green and then the light would go to a steady red and after a couple mins the app would tell me it couldn’t connect to wifi and that it’s usually poor signal or incorrect password. Sometimes the lights on the camera would just turn off and it would be unresponsive. I retried so many times with same outcome. I reset my wifi countless times and changed the password and reset the cameras and even got right next to my router for maximum connectivity, because according to the internet that’s what i’m supposed to do. Well it’s actually the complete opposite. After some research, these cameras connect to 2.4 ghz band. Some wifi routers give off both 2.4 and 5.0ghz, some have two separate routers for each band. I have spectrum wifi so my one router has both bands. Anyways the point is the 2.4 covers larger, further out areas but with lower signals. 5.0 covers less area with better signals. So in order for the camera to connect you have to go the furthest away from your router to be able to connect to the 2.4 ghz band. So if you have a similar sounding issue try connecting furthest from the router. Also i did contact blink support but no response and i went to best buy to ask and they didn’t know what to do. Maybe blink should include this info in the instructions

We bought a set of these on sale to help keep an eye on our dogs while we are away/ to keep an eye on the baby cribs when the children go to nap.

They work great for the dogs but it took a little adjustment for the babies. The reason is because at night the cameras have to switch to night mode when activated. This causes the camera to make a slight ticking noise. Of course babies being babies, picked up on this right away and were originally weary of the camera.
However, they got used to it quickly and now have no problems with the camera.

I can say that the night vision works well and i like the alerts provided when movement is picked up.

Another slight hiccup i’ve experienced a few times is that if the motion alert is activated, you can’t turn the alerts off until the camera is done with its 10 second recording.
Not the biggest deal but it makes it challenging to time it correctly to deactivate the alert.

Overall, i think its a good budget camera and it works well with the rest of our blink system.

I have several of both the minis and the outdoor models, and this mini is almost identical to the outdoor and indoor models in terms of quality and features. The only real difference between them is the mini isn’t weather-proof, cannot handle the extreme temperatures of the outdoor models (-4 to 113 f), has a better mount, can be image-flipped, and runs solely on a power adapter instead of batteries.

* not weather-proof: do not use this mini camera outdoors or in an uninsulated building. It is not water-proof and will likely be damaged by humidity and high or low temperatures.

* mount & image flipping: this mount is great and allows easier installation locations than the indoor and outdoor cameras, because it’s mounted from the bottom/top instead of the back. Since this mini can be mounted from the bottom or top, this means it can be turned at many more angles on all 3 axes than the indoor/outdoor. If you have to mount it upside-down, such as from a ceiling, the app simply allows you to flip the image vertically. The problem with the indoor/outdoor models is the mounting is on the back, which means you can’t ‘hang’ it from a ceiling and point it in any direction. Instead, if you want to mount the indoor/outdoor on a ceiling or near the ceiling, you have a very small angle to point it. This makes the indoor/outdoor cameras inconvenient to install from above in most situations because you’ll end up having to point the camera directly outward from your mounting surface. If from a ceiling, it’ll face down. If from the top of a wall, it’ll face outward along the ceiling. The mini’s mount is much better.

Cons:

* the ‘talk’ feature is totally useless. Regardless of bandwidth or proximity to the router or a sync module (purchased separately), the talk feature produces broken sound that is impossible to understand. Plus there’s a long delay of 3-6 seconds, making this feature useless for conversations, even if the other person understood anything you were saying. Over several tests with all of our different blink cameras, none of them produce clear enough speech that someone can understand you, no matter where the cameras are located.

* no wired ethernet option. This camera can only be used with a wireless router and internet connection. There are no other options.

* cannot be used as a usb web cam

* cannot be used for continuous live feeds. The live feed only allows up to 30 seconds of viewing, and you must hit a continue button every 30 seconds to keep it going. So if need a camera to leave running for frequent live video, blink isn’t what you’re looking for.

* cloud storage subscription semi-requirement: the blink home monitor app’s features become limited if you don’t purchase a cloud storage subscription. If you stick with the sync module for local storage and do not purchase any of the cloud storage plans, video clips cannot be viewed through the app. The app will only allow you to view the live feed, adjust camera settings, and use the talk feature. Without a cloud storage subscription, the only way to view your camera’s video clips is by physically taking your usb storage device (purchased separately) out of the sync module (purchased separately) and placed in a usb port on a computer (purchased separately).

To be very clear here, if you do not purchase a cloud storage subscription, you will not be able to view any of the stored video clips (including motion-activated clips) from your phone. Period. This point has not been made clearly anywhere in the advertisements, support screens, amazon product pages, or blink web site, but it’s a crucial piece of information that the company is being very ambiguous about.

To repeat, if you don’t purchase a cloud storage subscription, you cannot view your video clips through your phone. I have seen some reviewers assert that this isn’t technically possible, but as a software engineer i know this isn’t true. The blink developers clearly focused on developing the cloud storage and subscriptions, using the mobile app as the user’s ‘portal’ app to access and view the cloud-stored video clips, and have simply decided not to develop a mechanism for the mobile app to access the video clips stored in your sync module. I want to be very clear here….this is possible and would require a lot of development to accomplish, but blink just doesn’t provide this functionality (yet). Whether they are working on this feature and plan to add it in the future is unknown. But the lack of direct integration between the mobile app and the sync module’s local storage (over the local network, especially) is a significant shortcoming in the entire blink system. This also means that if your camera loses its internet connection, it will not capture video, you can’t view the live feed, the talk feature won’t work, and you can’t change the camera’s settings.. The blink system simply does not allow the mobile app to connect directly to a camera or sync module on your local network. It is designed to use the internet only. This is a very important point that customers must understand. Both the camera and the sync module require an active internet connection to function. They will not work independently or with just a wifi router. Internet is required.

It clicks loudly when capturing video. When using it to monitor how my grandmother was being treated, it was obvious when the cameras started. It lets you disable the power light but then makes a loud clicking when capturing video. Other than that, they have been actually better than i thought they would be. The app needed to control and use them, is pretty good but using the ecco show to monitor them is a mess. Way too many unnecessary features turned on that you have to hunt down to disable. Even after that, it’s impossible to continuously monitor the cameras through it. There is no way to set it up to stay on the cameras. Amazon never misses a chance to force you to watch adds or view amazon products they want you to use.

I had a bit of trouble setting up due to a wifi issue (no fault of the product) but once i got it set up it worked pretty well. I got it to keep an eye on my cats while im at work and i’ve tested it at night just to see how the motion detection works. I set the sensitivity for the motion sensor to 8/10 instead of the default 5 and it seems to catch about 90% of the movement at night and all motion in the day. I can’t say i’m fond of the restrictions placed on the account after the free trial month but it’s not too expensive if you only need one or two cameras. It would just be nice if it was made clear before purchase. I was able to find out before i bought it but it felt like it should’ve been included in the description or made very clear by the company.

I already have three blink outdoor cameras which i purchased over 2 years ago. I’ve had no problems with them and i’ve never had to sign up for a subscription.
I wanted to add this camera as an indoor camera to keep an eye on my pets during the day. As soon as i hooked it up and synced it with my app and module a pop-up came up about a free trial. I decided that i did not want the free trial and the pop-up ad never went away on my usual viewing of my cameras on my app. After the supposed trial was up i lost all motion detecting and live viewing from my new mini blink indoor camera. I was under the impression when i purchased it that i could still get motion detect and live view when i requested, just not live recording. Nothing that i did seemed to matter. I absolutely couldn’t even use the camera anymore for anything not even motion detect. It’s amazing to me how that as soon that trial (that i did not want to take a part of ended) so did the use of my camera. So i unplugged it and i sent it back. Now the advertisement about the free trial will not come off of my screen when i open my app. I’m not sure if this is their way of forcing me to use the paid subscription. It’s a shame because i really did like my indoor blink camera but i’m not going to be forced into a subscription. I only needed it for motion detecting which it did just fine until that trial ended. In my book that’s a scam. I suggest you try to do better blink. I guess i’ll be purchasing some rogue indoor camera. I would have loved to have stuck with blink.

For the price this is a great deal…but the clarity isn’t the best in day or night. I bought this because my stepdaughter has been coming into my room (and her sisters) and taking things that don’t belong to her, i was hoping these would help with that issue but i can’t freeze the frame or get a clear view of the objects she is carrying. Our arlo cameras have better clarity but come with a hefty price, especially when you buy the ones with sound.

There has been a couple of nights where the cameras did not catch my stepdaughter trying to sneak downstairs in the middle of the night to get her phone.

Updated (4 star) review (original review below):

after posting my dissatisfaction with the motion detection regarding these cameras, a blink tech support representative reached out to me to help me resolve the issues. First off, part of the problem was user error, in that i set these blink minis up right after i setup the ring doorbell camera and spotlight camera. The ui within the blink app is designed in a way, in terms of motion detect zones, is opposite to ring’s app in that the shaded portions in blink are inactive zones (not to trigger an alert & record), whereas in ring, anything you draw as shaded is to be detected as a zone. I made the mistake in not reading the instructions carefully within the blink app as the text just blends right in to everything else. I partially blame the developers for not making that piece of information standout or for making it the opposite to their sister company, ring’s app. I feel that this should be updated to be the same as ring or make the instructions pop out and highlighted so it’s easy to see! I attached a screenshot of the blink motion zones versus the ring’s motion zone screen. Quite the opposite if you’re like me and speed through the setup thinking they’re the same. Anyways, i removed the shaded squares and the motion triggers started working again!

As for the other issue. These blink mini cams are not made to be placed behind a window, the ir light which renders these useless as the glare reflection on the glass window makes these useless. Fortunately there’s some workarounds that make it work to an acceptable degree in my opinion. Besides, i use the ring cams as my main security cams, and these blink minis are supplemental to them. Anyways, there’s an option in the app to turn off the ir. It’s important to note that they are somewhat capable of motion detection through glass, since they use pixel difference analysis instead of ir heat signature. This can only work under very limited conditions such as when daylight is present, with the camera positioned as close as possible to a window, and with the recording led and ir led disabled to reduce reflection. I did all of those things and i added a mr. Beams motion activated spotlight over the top. So during the day no problems, but at night it’s complete pitch black until the spotlight is activated which in turns triggers the alert and subsequent recording on blink. I uploaded a video demonstrating that. It was completely dark and the only illumination on the night recording footage is from the mr. Beams. The solution and workaround worked in my case.

With all that said, for the price point, these blink mini cams are a good value with decent picture quality. I still find my ring cameras to be superior in every way, but they are also significantly more expensive. I wish that these blink mini cams would just record to the ring protect plus subscription, which includes unlimited cameras and cloud storage. But since they don’t, the best solution instead of spending per device with blink’s cloud storage (which should be one flat rate like ring) is to get the sync module 2, which will allow you to record on a flash storage device for the footage to be reviewed within the app. Overall, after fixing my motion detection issues with the blink, i’m now happy with them and would recommend them for the price. If you have the extra money, go for something more refined and advance such as the ring cameras.

Original (2 star) review:

both my blink minis are hit or miss (mostly miss) when it comes to motion alerts and recordings. Just got them a month ago and if they weren’t so cheap bundled with the echo shows i bought, i’d send them back. My ring cameras are on point, but these blink cams are disappointing to say the least. And yes, i’ve armed and disarmed them several times, and still the same. I could be jumping right in front of them, day or night, and they still don’t detect motion. They need a firmware update or something because they’re not that good. The video is not bad for the price of these, but not stellar by any means. The app looks like it can use an update in the ui department, it looks and operates significantly interior to the ring app i use, can’t believe amazon owns both companies and can’t allocate a little more resources to polish up the app and the firmware to get this system functioning somewhat on par to their ring products.