Amazon.com: Customer reviews: YI 4pc Home Camera, 1080p Wi-Fi IP Security Surveillance Smart System with 24/7 Emergency Response, Night Vision, Baby Monitor on iOS, Android App

August 20, 2018

Before buying these you need to know some positive and negative points about them:
1. The sensor is SUPER sensible, which means that even in the lowest setting you’re still going to receive alerts from the app because of a bug or an abrupt change of lightning.
2. The two-way audio function sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t. You can definetly get someone’s attention with it but it’s impossible to establish a conversation (at least in my case with an average download speed of 21 Mbps).
3. With night vision the camera is still doing good for at least 70 ft.
4. SD cards only record when it detects activity so with an 8gb SD card you can store at least one week of footage.
5. Power cable is 7 feet long.

Conclusion: Pretty good home surveillance camera, I would recommend putting these on a high place with some mounts that you can find on Amazon.

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22 comments

Jeff

Excellent camera, couple of minor drawbacks

July 30, 2018

Verified Purchase

Very easy setup. Video quality both daytime and night time is superb. I do have mine set to HD, not auto. The 920nm IR is excellent - no "red lights" glaring across the room at night! The camera does NOT have to be connected to wifi/internet to record video to the SD card (major plus compared to other indoor cameras). I didn't like the bright white of the stands, cords or chargers. I used Rust-Oleum flat blank spray paint to spray the stand and the charger. The camera can be removed from the stand by depressing the locking clips on the right and left side of the camera body. If you paint the charger use masking tape to cover the usb slot and the outlet plugs. I purchased 10 foot black USB to microUSB cords to replace the 6' white cords. With the stands, cords, charger and the camera all black, it doesn't stand out like a sore thumb when sitting on the top of a bookshelf, dining room hutch or other place to secret a camera. I would suggest purchasing a battery backup like the TalentCell Rechargeable 12V 3000mAh DC Lithium Ion Battery Pack (sold on amazon) so that if the power goes out, your cameras will still work. I don't like paying for the cloud storage solution Yi offers, so I'm only using 32gb micro SD cards in the cameras. Two drawbacks to these cameras, and these kept the camera from getting 5 stars from me: 1) the video on the SD card does not get written with a date/time stamp on the video itself. 2) the file size is 1 min long (approx 4.5mb) on the SD card. A friend of mine, who is a criminal defense attorney, said this would be a problem if you tried to use the video in court. the defense can always claim, rightly so, that the video does NOT show when the event happened and that the video would have to be edited together to view the full context of the event. Other than the date/time stamp issue, I highly recommend these cameras!

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33 comments

Mike

Phenomenal for the price!

December 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

Alright, so I'm a tech guy, love anything electronic! I have had CCTV cameras in my house for years. I've been using Swann wired cameras for the most part with mixed emotions. But running new wires to upgrade the system just didn't excite me.

I had been looking at NEST cams since I have the smart Thermostats and Smoke/Carbon-monoxide detectors for a while, but the price is ridiculous! Plus your only option with them is cloud service (an additional cost). Then I spoke with a neighbor who sent me a screen shot from his YI camera. I must say, the quality was pretty impressive.

So I bought a four pack for $119.00 with moderate expectations. Let me tell you I'm super impressed with the picture quality of these cameras. Set up is quick and easy. When I purchased them I had no idea they had audio as well. The audio quality is incredible, plus it's a two way speaker. Purchased 32 GB SD cards for all of them so I didn't need to use cloud storage and it's been working great! I have them set to record all motion and I usually have about 7 days of history on each camera.

Day and night vision are both spectacular IMO. I have attached several photos so you can see the quality both day and night. Side note, I have a couple "indoor cams" mounted outside. To do this I purchased a rubber sleeve/cover from Amazon to make the drop cam weather resistant for outdoor application. It's been through rain, sleet and snow with out issue so far. Link to cover: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FD5XHMP/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

A couple cons, the power cable is sooooooo short. I had to purchased longer cables for a couple of my installs. No biggie, they are only a few dollars here on Amazon. The app for iOS is very functional, but it has no multi camera view which would be a nice option.

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11 comment

Kelly D.

Great security cameras at a great price!

August 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

I purchased the Yi 4 pk. 1080 Indoor security cameras. I was skeptical but am so glad I took the chance. I placed them in various windows facing outside as it’s outside I want to observe. They work perfectly during the day and, where the outside area is lit, at night. If the area is not lit, there is a reflection on the glass from the IR light, but they ARE designed to be indoor cameras. They work very well indoors, day and night, as intended. I have observed some sketchy people that have rung my doorbell when I’m not home (I have a camera in the window next to door), along with the neighbor’s cat, a family of raccoons, an opossum and numerous squirrels. I had an issue where they stopped alerting me of activity (which I see some others have had, also) and contacted Yi customer service. They promptly replied to my request and worked with me to make sure all my phone settings were correct. Turned out, the problem was with my phone settings, battery saver shutting down the app, NOT with the cameras or their app. I especially love that I can insert my own sd cards to save & view past events and not have to pay for ‘cloud’ subscription. I don’t know of another security camera that offers this. I couldn’t be happier with this purchase! In fact, I ordered another set of 4. If you are still in doubt, look up some reviews and comparisons of the Yi cameras on youtube.

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L.H.

Developed for the Customer Not the Company's Profits

January 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

Best Security Option for a home because:
1. Its a one time charge- no monthly subscription- and all of the features of the camera work with the SD card
2. The camera video is excellent especially the Night vision- it can see in almost complete darkness- wow
3. The detection system is superb- I especially like that you can select an area within the total viewing area for detection. I use this feature so the cars that pass outside of my house do not trigger the alert only the area literally right in front of my door.
4. The intercom is clear and at the appropriate volume
5. Install and app use is seriously easy whether your a "techy" or not
6. Small form and can be hidden without drawing attention
7. Excellent price - for what you get its so worth it!
8. Retrieve data on multiple device- My wife and I can both check our home and get the alerts simultaneously.
9. Still records video on SD card even when wifi is out
10. The option to make the camera stealth (no sound or constant blue light)

As long as the camera and app lasts then I would definitely tell you do hesitate, buy it- its worth it and more.

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Kevin

EXCELLENT PICTURE (even at night) BUY THESE CAMERAS!

October 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

So I have been using the Yi 1080p indoor camera system for 2 weeks now and I LOVE IT! The camera's are crystal clear during the day and are just as sharp in night mode. The added features of being able to hide any "lights" such as the blue power light and the typical red IR lights for night vision makes "hiding" these cameras a breeze. The playback function works great and give you the time in hours, minutes & seconds. The 2 way talk feature works great and has 2 modes, 1 is a push to talk feature where when you press the button you cannot hear what the person on the camera is saying and the 2nd is a continuous talk where you and the person on the camera can talk back and forth without pressing any buttons (love this feature) the 32gig on board storage is also a great bonus. Like I said I have been using the cameras for about 2 weeks and have barely used 3 gigs of space. (for an idea of the amount of traffic, it's just me, my wife and our 2 pets) so the cameras don't get a ton of action during the week. But are always recording on any motion. (I do not subscribe to the cloud storage as for I haven't seen a need) Anytime you get an alert it will store it on the app and you can upload it to your mobile device and share it with others. The initial motion detection clip is only 6 seconds, but if you wait till the end of the 6 seconds you will get an option to "view entire motion" which will bring up that camera, rewind to when it first detected the motion and play it back until there is no longer any motion, GREAT feature. All of the features seem to work as expected, you can set times for your camera to alert you when it detects motion and zones so that your dog walking around doesn't keep triggering the alerts. I can say the motion detection is VERY sensitive. You can set the setting to low, medium or high but really I can't tell a difference low to high. I have one camera facing out of my front window and it picks up shadows, car lights, leaves blowing, etc. Not a big deal, but on a windy day I can get a ton of alerts. The app works great, you can set a PIN or use your fingerprint to log into the cameras so in the event your phone is stolen, unless they have your PIN or fingerprint they will not be able to pull up your cameras. Connecting them was very simple and took less than 5 minutes per camera. Plug them in, scan the UR code and they will automatically connect to the network your phone is connected to. The packaging was very nice, didn't feel cheap. All cameras were individually wrapped along with all of the accessories. Comes with instruction booklet for assistance with installing/setup. The camera (black part) can be removed from the white base and mounted in different areas. They also sell (separately) wall mounts for the cameras. (cheap, like $10-$15 for a 4 pack) or you can stand them up anywhere you like (they have a round rubber grip on the bottom to help keep them from sliding around. All 4 cameras come with a USB cord and power brick. The USB cord is about 10-12 feet long so you should be able to place these cameras wherever you'd like. OK so I hope this rant...I mean review was helpful. If you're anything like me, I read all the reviews on a product before I make a purchase. Thanks for reading!
***(I am not affiliated with Yi or any of there products, this was simple a consumer review, please purchase these at your own risk)***

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R. K. M

Alerts are not good, not audible, requires manually refreshing your phone.

August 13, 2018

Verified Purchase

Received yesterday, Returned today. The alerts are not good at all. I'm fine with only receiving one alert from one camera and then all alerts are suppressed for 3 minutes. All I need is one alert at my job and then I can check all my cameras. Unfortunately there are no audible alerts. One Q&A says you receive a text message but another says you receive the alert in the app. I believe the true answer is you receive the alert in the app only and its not an audible alert and you have to refresh the page to get the alerts. This doesn't work for me. I want an audible alert so when I'm at my desk I can hear something is going on. My coworker can pull up an IP addy on her work pc and monitor without using data on her phone, I should have bought that one. Everything else is excellent with this camera, they are small, setup was easy, and picture quality is very good. You can only monitor one camera at a time but no biggie for me. I need to receive a good audible alert so I must return and try again with another product.

73 people found this helpful

44 comments

July 12, 2018

So far so good. Just set these up in my parents house as we have a lot of people coming thru to care for my father. The set up was crazy-easy! The images are awesome. They record 24/7 and you don't have to get the cloud storage if you don't want it. The cams record to MicroSD card (sold separate) and when you go back to review footage it shows the entire timeline along with markings where activity was present; making it super simple to find times where there was people in frame.
I put one facing out a front window and turned off the IR to avoid reflection at night; again, super easy int he settings function of the specific camera. I also set that camera to trigger motion alerts when motion is detected within a specific, user-defined area. All really easy and I am, so far, extremely happy with this purchase.

88 people found this helpful

11 comment

December 10, 2018

If you are starting out with a home/office surveillance system, you definitely want to try these out. They work as advertised and you do NOT need a cloud subscription if you wish for simple surveillance; you'll want the cloud option if you wish to keep recordings for a long time. The iOS//Android app works as advertised. The Windows-based application is what you really need for your home as it will let you display a matrix of a 9-panel view. That's right, y ou can permanently display a nine-camera view to actively monitor your areas.

You can have up to TWELVE (12) cameras under a single account. This works perfectly for home or small office environments. The PC-based app allows you to display a 9-panel matrix view of the cameras; awsome feature.

With THAT summary out of the way, here is what you'll need to know:

I'd suggest you do NOT buy the dedicated outdoor version of this camera if you need secrecy; the dedicated outdoor version of these cameras have their IR bulbs glow red. This makes them visible to humans and lets everybody know where you cameras are.

If you are looking for discreet outdoor placement of your cameras (for security reasons one would think you WOULD be) then purchase the interior 4-pack; the interior cameras do not have their IR LEDs glow red. (See attached picture)
(https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CW4CEMS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

Then, follow up with the purchase of an outdoor case for each:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078MXH7WZ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You can spray paint each one to "fit" the color of your house (which'll make them even more discreet and provide additional resistance to the elements.

The best part of these little cameras is that with the use of a simple 25ft USB cable extension, you can place these cameras almost anywhere around your house (since they only need the standard 5v input)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0763358FV/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Oh, and if you need additional range, these little gems are "Americas Choice" for a reason:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0195Y0A42/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have implemented all of the above to put together a very simple and inexpensive surveillance system for a typical suburban location. See attached video for quality sample.

Take a look at the above 4 links and you're creative mind will lead you to the rest. Remember that, like the military, you'll want "fields of fire" coverage so plan your installation to have each camera "cover" part of the area that another camera is "covering". With the ability to have 12 cameras on a single account, you'll be able to cover your entire exterior area.

I'd also suggest this little gem for your car. It is inexpensive, works at night, has a microphone that you can enable & disable, and with the included 3M sticker, the mount does NOT fail in hot weather:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078MXH7WZ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Good luck and have fund. Remember that a simple system like this is better than NO system at all AND it gives you peace of mind.

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Ras Kamau

DO NOT BUY!!! Spend a little more get a better system.

November 12, 2018

Verified Purchase

I am so terribly disappointed by this product that I felt compelled to write a review of it. Initially, I was simply looking for a basic system -- nothing too lavish or elaborate. While searching, I discovered the YI 4pc security system and began reading the product reviews (both good and bad). I wanted to share in the delight that the 4 to 5 star reviewers described and would have been happy to write a good review upon installation and use of the system. In fact, I was looking forward to writing one. However, it appears that I didn’t get what they got since right out of the box, I soon learned that my experiences with this 4pc so-called Security Surveillance System would have more in common with the customers who wrote those bad reviews. To start, the “quick setup” was anything but. It was a 2 ½ hour ordeal where the software kept asking me to do the same two steps over and over again, giving me the same results over and over again - “password error.” I know it wasn’t a password error because I just made and used the same password to log on. Ironically, that camera was the only one that was working properly with regards to its vocal navigation feature. The other 3 cameras did not work at all. I tried them all. I followed the reset protocols to the letter. I tried to set it up on my mobile device first and then my laptop. No go! Quite frankly, I don't have hours and hours to toss away trying to get inferior goods to perform as promised. Yes, inferior. If you have 1 out of 4 cameras in working order straight out of the box and the only one that did work still wouldn't connect, what do you consider that? I consider that a case of inferior goods. To me, it appears that the makers of this product promised much more than the technology itself could reliably deliver on a startup, to say nothing of a continuous basis. The lone working camera’s voice guidance navigator only served to tell me what it ultimately wasn't going to do -- connect me. So, in actuality none of the cameras were in working order upon arrival. I’ve been through this before with so called home security systems which ultimately proved not to be up to the task. I’m talking about systems where you’d have to go to the window where the camera is staged and look out because the hard or software was having a glitch fit and simply wasn’t working. Cameras systems that do not work on a reliable or consistent basis defeat the whole purpose of having a security system and undermine the very concept of security. My suspicion is that had I got all of those YI cameras up and running, performance would have been iffy at best. I could not imagine using this “system” to secure anything. In fact, I would go as far as to label this an “INsecurity surveillance system” because I’d always be worried that something is happening during the times the hardware is malfunctioning or the software is experiencing some sort of glitch. I would never feel confident relying on this “system” to watch my house, let alone small children. The advice that I will offer here (which I will also follow) is for prospective customers to be willing to spend a little more and shop elsewhere to get a decent system. I suspect you and I both will be that much happier with the results.

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