Google Nest Security Cam (Wired) – 2nd Generation – Snow

In an attempt to help prospective buyers decide whether the nest is perfect for them or not, i am hoping to write as detailed a review as i can that addresses some of the biggest concerns about the purchase of this security camera.

Let me quickly say that i never thought of buying a security camera for my home. However, i was offered another brand (amcrest) at a discount for review purposes. Installed it, and was immediately elated that i could check up on my elderly mother during the day. However, that security camera was absolute garbage. It lasted a day before it stopped working. I was a bit heartbroken after realizing the benefits of having a camera in the home, and immediately sought for something better.

The logitech circle was one of the cameras i considered. However, there were many complaints about its performance, particularly the fact that its cloud recording doesn’t particularly do a great job of reporting movement in the room. Many complained that it captured movement after it occurred instead of before, thus causing the viewer to miss the action completely.

Since i am putting the most important aspects of this camera first in my review, i want to address the biggest complaints about the nest security camera: it’s price and the cost of a subscription.

No doubt, something needs to be done about the costs related to this product. This is not a $200 camera. It costs nest less than half that to manufacture. I wouldn’t mind paying $200 if not for the fact that there is a $100 yearly subscription required for cloud storage on top of that. There has to be a compromise somewhere. I bought two of these nest cameras and would have bought 2 more if not for the fact that the cost was prohibitive for me. The folks at nest need to realize that many customers want to build a home security system with their product, but cannot, because of the combination of pricing.

Your first security camera will cost you $100 per year to monitor. Each additional camera is $50 per year. That adds up very quickly as you add on cameras.

Now mind you, i am all for cloud base subscriptions. I think they are essential. Yes, you could buy a camera with the ability to put a sd card in it and record/monitor activity. However, a smart burglar will steal that camera and the card inside of it, thus losing your ability to review the theft. A cloud service ensures that if your camera is stolen, the recorded activity is secure in the cloud. A thief cannot steal it.

Nest does provide an ample 10-day history of 24/7 recording for its basic $100 per year subscription. You can purchase 30 days of history for (i believe) $300 per year. However, i don’t think most people need even 10 days worth of history at their disposal, so i have no complaints about level of storage being offered. Perhaps nest could offer even a lower subscription price for 5 days of recorded history, which might attract more people to its brand.

Since i am still pointing out the negatives, i might as well also say that this is an indoor camera only. It cannot be placed outdoors. There are enclosure options made by companies like dropcase (you can search them on amazon) that allow you to place the camera outdoors. However, using this as an outdoor camera voids your warranty and there have been many reviews on amazon that say these enclosures have damaged the camera as it tends to overheat.

I am hearing that nest is working on an outdoor camera. This is very exciting to hear. However, ultimately, that means another $200 purchase and another $50 a year subscription to add that camera to the system. You see how easily costs add up when investing in this product?

And yes, nest seems to answer every single one of these type of reviews citing that one does need a subscription to view live streaming. This is true. If you just want the camera to get a live view of the nursery, or check on your parents, you don’t have to opt for the subscription. Just realize, if something happens in the frame while you are not viewing — and you want to know more about it — you are completely out of luck without the monitoring subscription. Nest offers all customers a free 30-day trial to test out the full aspects of the monitoring service so you can see if you really like it or not. Chances are, you will.

I’ll talk more about the monitoring in a moment. I seem to have placed the negatives at the top of this review. Let me go into some positive aspects of this product to offer some fair balance….

This nest camera is a solid product by that, i mean it is well built, has some nice weight to it (so no worries of tipping over), and many mounting options including a magnetized base (you can actually mount this on a refrigerator) and hardware to mount and screw it into drywall. So kudos to nest for thinking of everything. You also get a 10′ usb power cord. Wish it were black like the camera to make it less obvious, but since many walls are painted white, the cord might actually blend in.

There have been many conflicting reviews about the amount of time it takes to install this product. Certainly, your mileage will vary pending on your level of expertise and the network in your home. For me, it literally took less than 5 minutes from box to install. I took the camera out of the box, plugged it in, went to the nest app on my iphone and added it as a device. I simply scanned the qr code on the back of the camera and then entered my wifi password. Within seconds, i was streaming live video to my phone.

I am also an owner of the nest thermostat. So perhaps that helped expedite the install process as the nest uses the same software app. As a nest thermostat owner i appreciate the fact that i can see all the nest products on the same app.

Video quality is exceptional. I opted to switch from the default 720p to 1080p recording. While many will not see a huge difference on their small device, it makes a bigger difference when streaming from your laptop or desktop. It also allows you to get more finite detail when reviewing recordings. Personally, i would recommend going with 1080p streaming. I was quite surprised that when i monitored my home activity over my iphone using nothing more than a cellular connection, the video looked exceptional. I was worried that a cellular monitoring connection would be compromised. However, the video looked great on the nest app via my iphone via a 4g lte connection with very little compression artifacts being introduced into the picture.

Live streaming works rather well, though be aware of the lag time. Since the video needs to be sent from camera to server to viewing device, there is at least a 2 second lag in live action vs. What you view. I suspect if you have a poor wifi connection, this lag will increase. I tested the lag time over and over again. I would sit, view myself on the browser while raising my arm. It would take two full seconds before that action could be seen on my screen.

The camera offers a fish-eye view of the room. One of the biggest disappointments i have with the nest over the amcrest camera is that there is no ability to pan up and down or move the lens from side to side. This would have been an awesome feature to include. However, the amount of information included in its fish-eye view is pretty amazing. You also get a huge amount of depth. In other words, the camera has the ability to reach far back in the room. A zoom feature allows you to bring that depth up close. An enhance feature lets you zoom in and enhance any ‘fuzzy’ far-off object. The enhance feature works quite well.

Night vision is simply amazing — even better than the amcrest camera i previously owned. Nest really did an outstanding job of putting a first-rate night vision camera into this device. In total darkness, you can monitor movement very well. I was able to capture video of my dog sneaking into the living room and grabbing tissue paper that was left on the floor and tearing it up in her mouth, leaving a mess for the morning. How did it happen? You can simply review it with your cloud monitoring software.

The talk feature is pretty neat, though there is a half second lag involved that makes 2-way communication (like a phone) a bit cumbersome. It also doesn’t work on safari browser, as others have reported. I have to use chrome or another browser for the flash plug-in that enables this kind of communication to work properly. Still, the feature is kind of cool to use, particularly if you want to yell at your dog to get off the furniture.

Let me talk about the monitoring software and subscription service for a few moments, then i’ll return to talking about the pros and cons of the camera…

As i noted at the top of this review, the subscription service is a must. It’s so unfortunate that the price is exorbitant. I could have put an entire fleet of these cameras in my home if not for the price of the cameras combined with the subscriptions. Even at 50% off for each additional camera, the costs add up quickly.

However, again, the subscription service is a ‘must purchase’ item and you’ll quickly and out why once you start using it.

The monitoring software is really neat. First, every time the camera senses movement in the room, it sends you an email alert. Email alerts are kept to a minimum of one every 30 minutes so your mailbox is not bombarded with alerts. From your email alert, you click a view now button and you are immediately taken to the point in history where the movement takes place. Mind you, this can be done on any device. What i really love is the fact that you are taken to a point in the recording *seconds before* the movement actually happens. This is essential, as you never miss the actual event. Reviewers that own the logitech circle have complained that they are taken to a point in the recording after the event itself so they completely miss it.

Now, the sensitivity of the camera to detect movement is a little high. It detects every little bit of movement in the room. When you become a paid subscriber, you have the ability to set up activity zones. This allows you to draw a pinpoint area in your room where you want the camera to concentrate on. Want to only detect movement in and out of a sitting chair? Want to detect movement only in a certain portion of your driveway? The software promises the ability to define hot spots within an entire captured area. However, i found this doesn’t work very well. Despite setting up these activity zones, the camera still picked up and reported activity outside of these zones. This is an area that nest really needs to improve.

A huge omission in the software that is provided is the ability to monitor several cameras on one screen. The amcrest camera allowed a single piece of software with multiple windows that showed several camera activities in the home at once. With nest you have to open several browsers to monitor all your cameras, or the mobile app, switch from one camera to another which takes several steps to do.

Since i know the folks from nest are reading this review, i urge them to upgrade their software to enable multiple cameras to be monitored in a single window. According to amazon reviews, this idea has been suggested to them several times and it seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

Now nearing the end of this review, i want to close by saying the nest cam is a quality product both in build and performance. By far, i think this is the security camera that you should consider.

However, that being said, the cost of the hardware combined with the monitoring service — and considering these costs for years to come — might drive someone to pay much more up front for a complete home security system with monitoring dvr from a professional surveillance company. Really, i have sat here time and time again justifying the costs of this product, long term, against the costs of buying a professional home surveillance package. Monitoring services with the nest, alone, is costing me $150 per year and that is only for two cameras. In a couple years that money could have paid off a more elaborate surveillance system with dvr.

I also touched upon the fact that the nest cannot be used as an outdoor camera, though many are using it with an outdoor enclosure. I am leaning towards trying it, though with the fear i might fry the hardware. Right now, i have the camera pointing inside out of my front bay window. It allows me to monitor the driveway and mailbox. However, it cannot be used at night. The window reflects the night vision led sensors. To be able to truly use the nest as an outdoor camera, it needs to be placed in an enclosure outside. That comes with risks.

Absolutely, i will purchase an outdoor camera from nest when they finally manufacture it. However, as noted previously in the review, that’s another $50 per year to monitor the feed.

So, i end this review by simply saying that the nest cam has become a love/hate relationship. It’s a beautiful camera. It provides exceptional day and night video. It’s monitoring capabilities are exceptional, particularly the ability to scrub through days of recorded history. It’s email alerts when the camera detects motion and the ability to actually see that movement seconds before it happens is second to none.

However, paying $200 per camera is inane. Combine that with the price of cloud service makes this a product that too many people will either pass over, or like me, think twice about expanding in the home.

What nest needs to do is become competitive. They either lower the price of these cameras or offer a lower-tier monitoring subscription that allows its customers to want to purchase more cameras to expand their home surveillance network.

Update (august 2016): nest app and web page now supports multiple camera viewing windows at once. Amcrest still does it slightly better, but this is a great addition for nest.

I tried ring indoor camp, and it kept going off-line when i would leave the house. The app would not work live camera. It was very frustrating so i seen the google nest cam and the reviews i tried it and it has worked wonders when i leave home live camera working , i mean this very moment i’m buying one of for my goddaughter for her grandpa, google nest cam is the one for indoor cam.

I have three major complaints with most security cameras. First, it’s easy for hackers to attack them. Manufacturers are too busy developing new models to fix bugs in the old ones. Nest is a google company. Google is very good with security. Of course, you must secure your google account with a strong password and preferably with 2-factor authentication. If somebody breaks into your google account, they can turn the camera off. Or they can turn it on, look around your home, and even talk to the babysitter. This would totally freak out any teenager i know, and rightfully so.

My second complaint is that the cameras work fine until a glitch or power failure causes the camera to drop the wi-fi connection. After that, they won’t work until you unplug the camera to reset it. The nest camera is excellent hardware and very robust. After a glitch, the nest camera reconnects to the wi-fi without fail. It also sends a notification so you know if the camera is disconnected from the wi-fi.

My third complaint is that most cameras are stupid. I had a camera send dozens of notifications a day because the answering machine light was blinking. Nest does intrusion detection on the server, not in the camera. Nest aware is an option (with a monthly fee) that adds smart intrusion detection. “sound” becomes “person talking”, “dog barking”, and “all other sounds”. “motion” becomes “people” and “all other motion”. “people” detection works very well. If a person walks into the room, nest servers will trigger a person event. As long as the person stays in the room, there are no more person events. If the person exits the room, then re-enters it a few seconds later, nest triggers another person event. Nest aware also records video and lets you make video clips.

Events don’t always trigger notifications. This drove me nuts. I was waving my arms in front of the camera and not getting notifications. The first 3 nest support people i talked with didn’t know why. After a notification is sent, there are no additional notifications until a 10 to 15 minute “cool down” period is over. If a second event is detected halfway through the cool down, the timer starts over again. There must be no events for the entire cool down period before nest sends another notification. Also, one can watch the video, see that events are declared, and receive no notifications (as i did). If someone is watching the video, they don’t need notifications. So says nest.

Notifications can be sent to your smart phone as a push notification and/or sent to your email. Email notifications come with an attached picture. If other family members install the nest ap on their phone, they can share camera control and notifications using their google account.

I like the privacy that nest provides. A green light, which cannot be disabled, indicates when the camera is sending video to the server.

Here’s some things i don’t like about nest. Because intrusion detection is done at the server, nest continuously sends video when the camera is on. You can set “bandwidth/quality” to low, medium, or high. But if your internet service has restricted bandwidth or data limits, nest may not be for you. The “pictures” attached to email notifications are actually frame grabs from a compressed video. Even if video quality is set to high, there is not much detail in a person’s face. If you don’t use the monthly service, intrusion detection is stupid. You won’t get dozens of notifications a day from a blinking light. But you will get a notification every time the timer turns the lights on. Finally, nest support people are friendly and helpful with normal setup options. But they don’t have good in-depth knowledge of how nest works. (hence this long review.)

here’s a small nit that google might eventually fix. My nest ap is on my android phone. If i turn on “do not disturb”, i don’t get a sound when i receive a notification. Do not disturb does not have a way of allowing nest push notifications through. If i’m wrong about this, please let me know in the comments, because i would love to have this feature.

Nest is a great product. In my opinion, most of the negative reviews it has received are not warranted. Many of its important features are not appreciated. Buy the nest and turn it on. It will do what you want it to do. But don’t try to figure out why it does what it does. It will drive you nuts.

We needed an indoor camera while we were gone for a few days. This worked perfectly.
Easy to set up and has great two way audio.
We chose to buy the membership that allows 24/7 recording and storage just for the month we needed it.
The field of view isn’t super wide on these, so if you need a huge area monitored, check the specs for whether this will work for you, or invest in more than one.
We were very happy with the cameras.

I have had several other nest products and always been impressed. This camera is no exception. The picture clarity is fantastic. Night vision works like a charm. Comparing it to a ring product i own (doorbell) – there is no comparison. The ring has a latency issue and takes time to process images and responses. The neat has none of these problems. Very happy with the purchase – especially given the price point. Highly recommend if you are looking for an indoor camera!

The image captured by the nest cam wired indoor is of very good quality and its recognition capabilities are very good. It doesn’t support streaming to remote screens, such as chromecast devices, only to the google home app on your mobile device (android device, iphone, ipad) or the nest hub.

This has been a fantastic tool to figure out what dad is doing. He lives in assisted living. We have learned a lot about his habits and identified some risks to his health/safety that we were unaware of. The clips are all accessible by time or look at the clip and see if you are interested and want to play it back. It identifies the different caregivers that visit his room.

For almost a year, the camera worked for us without fail. We started using this in lieu of a baby monitor after many fails with the motorola mbp36s remote wireless video baby monitor . We love being able to check in via our phones and on the web while at work, on-the-go and during dates. We signed up for the nest aware subscription service as well and we can watch video playback whenever we want and we can even make clips to show relatives our now toddler son’s funny antics.

As we previously wrote, we use an apple ipod touch 16gb blue (6th generation) for an ipod but we kept having playback issues. It turned out that all the issues were having with that and the nest cam were due to wifi dead zones in our home. We recently upgraded our router to the google wifi system (set of 3) – router replacement for whole home coverage and our wifi is now at lightning speed above 100 mps. I do not get this camera unless you have very good, stable wifi.

When we were just about to hit the year mark when we started to have problems with the camera going offline by itself without reason. When we tried to reset it, we’d get error c102 repeatedly which isn’t mentioned on their website. It’s incredibly frustrating as we depend on this camera and we paid a great deal for it (more than its now listed price). We called customer service and they were incredibly helpful. As it turns out, we needed a replacement wall power adapter and they sent a replacement out quickly.

We haven’t had any problems with the nest cam since even when our son pushed it off the corner of his crib where we used to keep it before he learned to stand up. We now keep the nest cam across the room with an eye on his crib and we’ve set up zone alerts to tell us when there’s movement in the crib specifically. We also get alerts in the nest app and to our emails when it sees ‘someone’ in the room outside of the zone we created around the crib or when someone is heard in the room.

The nest app has improved since we first got this camera two years ago. When you log in now to the nest app, you the video right away and you can press on it for sound and close-ups. Even though the nest cam doesn’t pan or tilt like many baby monitors, it has captures a view of the entire room (see attached photos). The picture quality in daylight is incredible. It feels like i’m in the room with my son. As for the night vision, i think it’s pretty good. The picture is clearer when i sign onto the web for night vision than on my iphone.

I’ve recently started using the microphone more now that my son is getting closer to age two. If he wakes up during the night and thinks it’s morning, i gently tell him to go back to sleep because it’s night time and he will turn right over and do that. I don’t like that you can’t hear what you’re saying as you talk into the microphone. You hold down the microphone on the app to speak and you’re heard on the other end. I know i’ve been heard because i instantly get an alert that someone was heard in the room.

If i could afford it, i would put cameras up in all the rooms. And not for security. The nest cam has captured incredibly gorgeously rendered moments in my son’s life. From the time we discovered he could (gulp) climb onto his dresser, to the time he learned to climb up onto his changing table and the play dates with his friend where they sit on the adult and toddler sized recliners in his room to read.

This wasn’t offered when i first bought mine but it’s very handy if you’re looking to have more cameras at a discounted price: nest cam indoor security camera 3 pack . I have been so impressed with this product that i have since purchased a nest cam outdoor security camera because we had such a great time using the regular indoor nest cam as a security camera when we were away from home. The microphone sensitivity can be adjusted and we put it on high while we were on vacation and placed it in our dining room by the window. It let us know when it heard and/or saw both the mailman and handyman and we were able to communicate to the latter that we weren’t home. We also plan to invest in the nest learning thermostat, 3rd generation, works with amazon alexa .

Given how long ago this model was released, it really does still hold up and is a lot better than most newer cameras. The set up was extremely easy and straight forward (so long as you actually read the prompts and can follow simple direction 🙂 . We use it as a baby monitor and love it especially when paired with our hub and hub max. Alerts can be customized from movement and audio to just movement or just audio.

The field of few is really nice which makes up for not having a large pan field (again, i acknowledge that this is the older model and a lot of newer stuff has this.

What i really was surprised by and actually liked, was the weight of the product. It has a little weight to it and is very solid for its design. I actually like that cause i don’t feel like i am going to break it if i look at it the wrong way like some other cameras. The mounting plate is also nice and i like that the camera attaches via magnet (don’t worry it is strong). But there are other mounting options out there via 3rd party.

If you are looking for simple room monitoring, i highly recommend this product. Especially since you don’t need to subscribe to nest aware if you don’t want. Be warned though you will not have active video storage if you don’t have nest aware. That wasn’t a huge deal for me though.

However, if you are looking for a ton of different features with the latest and greatest in video quality, sounds and feature, then i would look elsewhere. If only for the fact that this came out 7 years ago and tech has come a long way. But be warned, a lot of the other stuff out there require subscriptions to their services, in order to access all the features.

The google nest 2nd generation wired camera’s video is clear and responsive. Downloaded the google home app, followed the instructions, and in 10 minutes we were up and running. I added the nest aware subscription for $6.00 a month. There is no charge for additional nest cameras, nest hubs or nest doorbells. The facial recognition feature is spot on.

There seems to be confusion in the reviews. It appears that different generations of cameras were being reviewed (with different apps that handled the equipment). The google home app is well thought out. It handles my cameras, nest hub 2nd gen and nest doorbell (battery). I can watch live streaming feeds simultaneously of all cameras and doorbell. If i receive an alert on my phone, i can check the alert on the home app. I also have the home app installed on my chromebook. The system integration is polished.

Update. We now have four nest 2nd generation wired cameras for good coverage. Excellent video quality. Took advantage of prime day sale.

I switched from wyze because i wanted better sound quality and google home integration. Both sound quality and google home integration are great but not happy with not being able to set schedules like i was able to do with previous nest cameras and wyze cameras. Also doesn’t alert you to sound. Only specific things like smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm, etc.
I have a google nest hub max and have to use two separate apps (nest app and google home app) for the cameras which is really annoying.

It was easy to set up and looks nice. We love that it’s cheaper than high quality video monitors and we can use the same app. Too bad it doesn’t connect to the nest app though and it’s nearly impossible to set up on vacation. The quality is so good though, we can even see her breathing. It’s great the things you can do, like set up zones and set up notifications too.

I have four nest gen1 cameras, this was my first gen2. The product is great but i was disappointed to find that this gen2 camera is only accessible in the google home app, not the nest app. This requires the use of two separate apps to access all the features of all the cameras i have in my home. I suspect his is something that google will inevitably update, but is an annoyance as of now. Overall satisfied, but the app issue (pick one google!) should be addressed.

Have purchased several nest cams. All have great picture quality. Only fault i find with the newer version is the range of motion is less than older version. Otherwise a great camera. Several used in a business for security. This one is replacing one for in home use for older senior living on her own. Both older version and new version picture quality is outstanding.

Really appreciate that the camera turns itself on when i leave the house and off when i’m home. It’s so simple that i often forget it’s there. Which is really what you want from a security camera. I just wish that i could teach it to not send notifications for recognized faces. The facial recognition works great, but i don’t care if it sees my kids in the living room. I do care if it’s see somebody it doesn’t recognize. Unfortunately notifications are all or nothing. Seems to me it’d be very simple to set it to only recognize on certain people or unknown people

We got the indoor security camera after first buying the outdoor camera and using it for a couple of weeks. Both worked brilliantly. I knew anytime someone was around my front door or when my dogs were up to anything. The images are really nice. The only funky thing we’ve noticed is that you can make it through the front door and entry without the camera picking up an image, if you’re quick enough (without even trying). The alerts worked so well and we liked all of the options with the trial period so much that we bought the subscription after only a few days of the trial expiring because we missed the alerts and – to be honest – knowing when our puppies were up and about with video clips. Also, my husband comes home to the pups lunch and i would get the alert and chat with him and the pups. I knew when my husband and daughter got home and could have a quick chat using the microphone. It made being gone all day a little easier.
Unfortunately, once we actually paid for a year of service… We get zero alerts. All the things i loved about the trial, don’t work. I mean, i can see the images when my dogs move, but i have to go into it to see if anything’s going on. I get zero alerts now.
We’ve reset them. We’ve changed and tweaked every setting. Nothing matters.
To be fair, i do see the video clips when i go into nest to look at them, i just don’t get a single alert when something happens to create those clips.
Why does it matter? Here’s why –
we got it because we ‘crate’ our dogs, otherwise, one of our dogs can be incredibly destructive. The pups are very happy to have their treat and be crated, but our little one disagrees with the whole mess and is pretty clever about busting them all out on occasion. When he does that, my husband can switch his day around and come home to re-crate them. Our dog has cost us hundreds of dollars of damage – not to mention the crap she’ll eat if she’s unsupervised. Without alerts, i have no way of knowing when my escape artist busts them out.
One last complaint: during the trial, i set the cameras to go on and off as needed using their different options when using the trial – they all worked. My favorite was the home/away feature. If you’re home, the cameras turn off. It wasn’t perfect, even on the trial, but now that we’ve paid, they either go off and stay off or never turn off. I’ll wake up at 5am and realize i’m staring into a live camera.
My cameras were $199 each and if they worked as well as it did during the trial, i’d be okay with the subscription price. But honestly – i will think twice about spending another $100/$150+ to renew the subscriptions.
Without the subscription the cameras still work and you can go in and see live, but it only takes snapshots with movement.
Summary:
the cameras work great – subscription – not so much. (full disclosure: i haven’t contacted customer service, yet)
**edit: my notifications were set for push notifications without mail notifications. After playing with it – i turned mail notifications back on and suddenly the push notifications are working again. Clearly this is bugged, but at least it’s a way to turn it back on. – changed from 3 to 4 stars since it’s working – even if notifications are buggy.
Also – the ‘home away’ part – rarely works. Which is why we turned off the email portion to begin with. We’ve come up with a solution that works for us – m-f we’re sort of set hours – on the weekends – we just turn it off and on as needed. I wish the home away worked as advertised.

I use these cameras for my daycare to monitor nap areas. They are wonderful because they alert me when there is unexpected sound or motion. If the power goes out there seems to be some issues and i kind of have to fuss around with them to get them working again. Also, there are two apps to use with these-google home and nest. I prefer nest because when i open the app i can see both cameras right away on one screen. The google home app requires me to open each camera individually. Both apps are a bit slow opening and connecting.

I like these cameras, the only unfortunate part is that they were purchased my goggle. The original cameras were easier to setup and much more reliable, after goggle bought them, they are not as reliable and tend to drop off periodically for some reason. Also, every times i have an ios update, the nest aware function has to be reset, which again happened after goggle purchase. But overall they work fine, and i decided to replace my original one that was over 10 years old.

I am a bit of a technjunkie, but i held off on wireless cameras after a less than satisfying experience with the old x-10 plc devices, long ago. But i tired of waiting for the professions to give a decent response to my non-commercial, residential needs. I looked at the nest zcsm and the netgear and decided to give the fan-favorite a try.

I live in a house with multiple wi-fi access points. And i learned not to configure it where you open the box, but to configure it to be mounted. Otherwise, you might have trouble reaching the access point you configured it to use. It must be looking for more than ssid and password, and i had to delete and re-add the camera after i moved it or the viewing application clocked. I have limited experience in moving this around, and i hope i don’t have similar issues with the outdoor version if i do add one.

Once properly connected, the application keeps showing a banner to get you to subscribe to their retention service. I did see i had some free trial that expires in a month, and would have liked to opt-in to that trial when i had more time to play, rather than have it start without my knowledge. But the advertisement for the subscription is annoying, at best, and aggravating over time.

Well, the daylight images are excellent, and i like the ability to zoom in, even if it isn’t the best quality on my viewing device. I placed this on my basement wall in a powered wall clock receptical, and the wide-angle was outstanding from the corner of a large area. At night with the ligts out, the large surfaces of ceiling and wall become an issue, since the night vision lighting reflects back and the other areas look much too dim. You are warned about this in the materials, so i was not surprised; i just did not have a choice.

At just under us$200 this seems pricey for a basic hd camera and a basic app. There is no obvious troubleshooting or debugging feature for connectivity, and having to delete and add it when you want to change the wireless configuration seems crazy. I purchased this as a test before ai made a more substantial multi-unit purchase, outdoor and indoor, and it has not caused me to jump back on and fill my cart – at least at this price point.

It is a nice visual design, in any color as long as it’s black. It needs to come in some shade of white. The camera can’t swivel, so your stand must and not many do exactly what you want. But, all in all, it’s an approachable, novice-skill, wireless camera that has quite a few fans, even before it was acquired by nest.

–update–
i wanted to take a moment and make an update to my original review i gave this product. The original review was made prior to the new app update, which really does an amazing job in increasing overall functionality of the camera as a whole. As you can see in my original review of the product, i was not happy with using the camera as a baby monitor. The previous version didn’t make it conducive to having it in a baby’s room due to limited notifications. That has sense been changed. Now, the camera will give us alerts whenever our child moves around. Very nice. I’d also mention that i really appreciate that nest took the time to update a previous gen product. All-to-often companies will leave an older product to focus on making it appealing to purchase new products. Not so with nest and i’m glad i made the decision to go with them.

While many of the issues i had with the camera have been fixed, the grainy picture is still an issue. Perhaps i need a degree in network engineering to really get the best picture. It’s good, but it just doesn’t have a crisp clear picture. But, for what it is, it’s more than enough.

I can’t say enough good things about the new app. The feature to scrub through a timeline to quickly see activities is perfect. There’s no load time / buffering when going back, i don’t know how the engineers at nest were able to do this, but their video compression algorithm is really top notch. Maybe they’re using the middle out compression. Regardless…a tip of the hat to them.

I’m planning on buying the new outdoor camera soon and possibly another indoor camera. I’ve also updated my previous review from a 4 star to a 5 star. Well worth the investment. By updating the app they have given new life to this product!

–original review–

while the nest cam is ‘cool’ and works as it should, i simply can’t give it 5 stars.

We invested entirely into the nest ecosystem. We purchased 2 thermostats, the smoke alarms and the nest cam.

Like other nest products it’s a design gem! Small, attractive and website and app are very well designed and work great! It’s ease of use and functionality are the few shining stars in this product. Through the app, setup was done very quickly, and it starts working fast as well.

The picture quality is ok, not amazing by any means (not sure how they call it 1080). It is somewhat grainy, the night vision works great, but the overall picture is just grainy. Also, you can’t really keep it in 1080 or it’ll freeze.

The ‘alert’ system is oddly conceived. You only get alerts every 30 minutes. So, since we use the unit as a baby monitor, we have to constantly keep an eye on it. It won’t alert you again until you enter into a new 30 minute window.

Remotely viewing the camera (which technically is the only way) works okay as well. Sometimes it freezes and you have to reset the app and start over. But i’ve never just not been able to join it. Although sometimes it seems like it takes a while, but i’ll chalk that up to a bad network connection.

The dvr function or cloud storage is great. The monthly fee is a bummer but it’s a good service and worth it.

Overall i give it 4 stars. It’s pricy for what it is, but it’s still cool.

If you are looking for this as your baby monitor i suggest you keep looking, until they update the app to be a better baby monitor.

Baby monitor: 3 out of 5
security camera: 5 out of 5