ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The EufyCam S3 Professional is out there individually for $220 or in a two-pack with the HomeBase 3 for $550.
- This EufyCam is a wonderful 4K outside safety digicam that delivers on its night time imaginative and prescient guarantees, options no month-to-month charges, and has twin movement detection to cut back false alerts.
- The largest downsides are that the digicam is pricey, particularly once you bundle it with HomeBase 3, and its decision drops to 1080p with HomeKit.
Eufy Safety simply launched a brand new safety digicam as a successor to the EufyCam S330, and it’s a monumental improve to the greatest safety cameras I’ve examined. The brand new EufyCam S3 Professional has one big benefit over different high-end safety cameras: Eufy’s MaxColor Imaginative and prescient.
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Moderately than being the title of a Nineteen Eighties TV channel, MaxColor Imaginative and prescient captures detailed photos, even at night time. This expertise produces night time imaginative and prescient footage that appears like daytime with gorgeous readability.
The EufyCam S3 Professional additionally has a pair of spotlights in the event you want additional gentle to seize extra element in low-light circumstances. These spotlights weren’t all the time essential, however might be useful in sure conditions.
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As quickly as I arrange my new EufyCam S3 Professional, I put in it instead of my older S330 solar-powered cameras, which can now get a brand new dwelling surveilling the perimeters of my home. The distinction within the footage was instantly obtrusive. The brand new EufyCam S3 performs stunningly in the course of the night time, even in my yard, which has zero lights on in a single day.
The EufyCam provides placing colour photos with night time imaginative and prescient utilizing synthetic intelligence (AI) that enhances and sharpens picture high quality by processing the picture. {Hardware} additionally performs a key position — other than being a 4K-resolution digicam, the EufyCam S3 Professional options an aperture of f/1.0 and a 1/1.8″ sensor for elevated gentle sensitivity.
This was taken at 9:41pm, when it was pitch darkish and cloudy.
Maria Diaz/ZDNET
Setting the expertise up with HomeKit was a bit disconcerting. The picture high quality drops to 1080p in HomeKit, which generally is a letdown in the event you’ve paid for a 4K machine.
Since you’re utilizing Apple’s HomeKit Safe Video (HSV), the footage is saved in your iCloud, not the HomeBase 3. This setup requires an iCloud subscription, which ranges from $1 to $10 month-to-month for plans from 50 GB to 2 TB. Apple’s HSV options end-to-end encryption, staying true to Apple’s dedication to consumer privateness.
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After making an attempt the digicam with HomeKit, I stored the machine with the remainder of our Eufy safety cameras and alarm system within the HomeBase 3 hub with an exterior HDD. This retains footage native, because the cameras hook up with the HomeBase and all of the video is saved on the hub.
The EufyCam S3 Professional has a big photo voltaic panel on the highest, which Eufy has improved for the reason that EufyCam S330. The expertise, referred to as SolarPlus 2.0, provides as much as 12 months of battery life by means of the 13,000mAh battery. The corporate claims only one hour a day of direct daylight can hold it working with out you having to intervene to cost it.
My older S330 safety cameras, which function SolarPlus 1.0, had been put in on my north-facing driveway and south-facing yard. Whereas I’ve to cost the driveway digicam each six months or so, I by no means must cost the yard digicam because it will get direct daylight.
Because of this, I like to recommend putting in these cameras the place they’ll get a minimum of one hour of daylight a day year-round, although it may be beneath partial shade, as simply 2,500 lx initiates charging. If you cannot get this daylight, you will must take the cameras right down to cost them at dwelling.
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Like different cameras, the EufyCam S3 Professional options two-way speak, customizable movement detection zones, climate resistance, and face, human, pet, and automobile detection.
Facial recognition is considered one of my favourite options of the HomeBase 3. When the cameras seize footage, the Eufy Safety app can let you know which individuals had been seen, allow you to add them as individuals you understand, and provides them names. As soon as you have named a member of the family, your notifications will say who was seen when the digicam captures them once more.
The EufyCam S3 Professional isn’t susceptible to false alerts. Its alerts are correct when movement is detected, however it will probably see so nicely that I’ve needed to take away the road about 200 ft away from its movement detection zone so it does not ship an alert to each automotive that passes by.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
The brand new EufyCam S3 Professional captures spectacular footage, irrespective of the sunshine circumstances. I would advocate the machine to anybody in search of a safety digicam for darkish areas, particularly once you want loads of element, like by a facet door or your driveway.
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Apart from extraordinary night time imaginative and prescient capabilities, the bundled EufyCam S3 Professional 2-pack and HomeBase 3 bundle, although costly, is sweet sufficient to operate as a full safety system. The HomeBase 3 sounds a siren when the system is armed and detects motion. It really works as a hub for all Eufy Safety gadgets. The hub’s capabilities additionally imply you may retailer your movies domestically and by no means have to fret about month-to-month charges for cloud storage.
The latest US tariffs on imports from international locations like China, Vietnam, and India intention to spice up home manufacturing however are more likely to drive up costs on shopper electronics. Merchandise like smartphones, laptops, and TVs might grow to be dearer as corporations rethink international provide chains and weigh the price of shifting manufacturing.
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Customers can also expertise notable worth will increase on robotic vacuums and sensible dwelling merchandise. Producers are exploring choices akin to relocating manufacturing to international locations with decrease tariffs, however such transitions are complicated and should not present fast aid. Within the brief time period, consumers ought to anticipate increased prices for robotic vacuums resulting from these commerce insurance policies.
