Eufy Indoor Cam S350: A Comprehensive Review of this Dual-Lens Pan-and-Tilt Security Camera
For homeowners seeking to enhance their home security without breaking the bank, the Eufy Indoor Cam S350 presents a compelling option. This dual-lens pan-and-tilt camera offers a range of features and capabilities that make it a worthwhile investment.
Why Indoor Cameras Matter
The spaces within our homes typically require different security solutions compared to outdoor areas. Indoor cameras often feature narrower viewing angles due to the smaller scale of indoor environments. However, comprehensive coverage remains crucial. Intruders aren’t likely to confine themselves to a single room, so expanding surveillance scope without investing in numerous cameras is essential.
The Eufy Indoor Cam S350: A Dual-Lens Solution
The Eufy Indoor Cam S350 provides an effective solution to this challenge. It utilizes two high-resolution lenses to deliver simultaneous wide-angle and telephoto surveillance. This effectively expands your home’s interior monitoring capabilities while capturing crucial details for documenting any incidents.
Image Quality and Lens Capabilities
The Eufy Indoor Cam S350 excels in image quality, providing crisp and clear visuals through its dual-lens system. It features a 4K wide-angle lens with a 130-degree field of view, ensuring broad coverage of your home. Additionally, a 2K telephoto lens offers "8x hybrid" zoom, combining 3x optical zoom with 8x digital zoom for close-up views of specific areas or objects.
Pan, Tilt, and AI Tracking
Beyond its dual-lens system, the camera boasts 360-degree pan and 75-degree tilt capabilities, providing floor-to-ceiling views. This functionality is further enhanced by AI tracking, which automatically follows humans and pets within the camera’s field of view. This feature is useful for monitoring children or elderly adults who may require supervision when alone.
Mounting Options and Additional Features
The Indoor Cam S350 can be easily mounted on a wall or placed on any flat surface, offering flexible installation options. It also includes sound detection, motion zone support, black-and-white night vision, a built-in microphone and speaker for two-way audio communication, and a siren for deterring intruders. While Alexa and Google Assistant smart displays are supported, Apple Homekit integration is not available.
Local and Cloud Storage Options
One of the most appealing aspects of the Eufy S350 is its support for local video storage via a microSD card, a increasingly rare feature. This eliminates the need for a mandatory cloud subscription. The camera supports microSD cards up to 128GB. Alternatively, users can connect the camera to Eufy’s HomeBase (sold separately) to utilize up to 16TB of encrypted network-attached storage, using a user-supplied hard disk or solid-state drive.
For those who prefer the convenience of cloud storage, Eufy offers reasonably priced subscription plans. The Basic plan provides 30 days of recordings for a single camera at $3 per month or $30 per year. The Premier plan covers up to 10 Eufy cameras, providing 30 days of recordings for each camera, for $10 per month or $100 per year.
Wi-Fi Connectivity and Setup
Connecting the Eufy S350 to your Wi-Fi network is a simple process through the Eufy Security mobile app. The app guides you through scanning for your network and entering login credentials. Notably, the Eufy S350 supports dual-band Wi-Fi 6, ensuring better image quality and faster loading speeds.
Live Camera View and Controls
The live camera view can be configured to display feeds from both lenses side-by-side or one at a time. In single-lens mode, you can easily switch between the wide-angle and telephoto lenses by pressing the 1x or 3x button, respectively. The app also includes a joystick-style overlay for manually panning and tilting the camera. While the response time can be slightly delayed, requiring some patience, it allows for precise control of the camera’s movements.
Performance and AI Detection
The camera’s image quality is excellent, and person detection generally works reliably. However, pet detection performance was inconsistent during testing. While it failed to recognize cats, it would occasionally trigger the camera to rotate to an empty spot, falsely alerting that "a pet has been spotted." Hopefully, future software updates will address this issue.
The AI tracking feature effectively follows moving objects until they leave the frame. This is useful for capturing evidence of intruders and for monitoring children or elderly adults.
Overall Value and Conclusion
The Eufy Indoor Cam S350 offers a compelling combination of top-notch image quality, ample security features, and flexible storage options at a reasonable price of $129.99. Although the pet detection algorithm requires improvement, the camera’s other strengths make it a strong contender for anyone looking to enhance their home security. With its dual-lens system, pan-and-tilt capabilities, and AI tracking features, the Eufy Indoor Cam S350 provides comprehensive indoor surveillance without the need for multiple cameras or expensive subscription fees.
