So I’m new to Eufy security products and was very hopeful when getting, it seeing how I know so many people with Ring and other video doorbells like Apple. Eufy seemed like an all around great product.
I’m already debating returning the battery video doorbell because it doesn’t work as intended.
The doorbell seems to start recording about 3-5 seconds after someone comes into its field of detection (which seems to be the same whether its a 1 or a 5 setting). I can deal with getting accidental event when a car drives in front of my door 20 feet away on a 1 sensitivity. But I can deal with door deliveries or guests coming and missing them completely.
It take a a few seconds to enter the house because of a pincode door lock and I still can’t get a video of who came in because they’ve already made it in the house when it starts recording. Or I see the back of the delivery guy because he dropped the package and left.
I’m afraid of his not being something that can be fixed with a software update and it’s a downside of the camera/sensor. But it’s hard to imagine it can’t be sped up or fixed with an update. So I’m stuck giving it a couple more weeks of testing, or returning and hoping a new model gets released or just not having one at all.
PS. I’ve run into an issue now where of I got out of my house for a short period of time (grab something from car or get groceries) in don’t even get an event of me coming back home, only the leaving even
Par for the course in my experience. Some claim to have had good luck but my personal experience has found the ecosystem to be extremely unreliable overall.
I’m in the same spot. Just bought the battery doorbell, and all the recordings start so late that it gets the back of people as they walk away. Kind of hard to identify a “porch pirate” from the back of their head.
Anyway, so far I’m pretty disappointed. When it’s set to “all motion” with an activity zone set to start 20 feet from my front door, recordings shouldn’t be starting as people are already walking away.
Did you use the wedge to put your doorbell in an angle? This might improve motion detection. Also is the doorbell in direct sunlight? In my experience, if the doorbell is to hot it will give false positives. It really might be the hot temperature that we currently have that messed with the sensor.
Yea, and I understand limitations, but other “doorbell” cameras don’t seem to have this problem or lag to start. I’m afraid it’s just bad hardware but I’m hoping it’s something that can be fixed
So I don’t have any false positives as there is always a correct trigger. The range sensitivity is just all over the place.
I do use the wedge to get a better side angle of my door but that hasn’t helped get a look at people’s faces.
And none of that is explains why it’s completely missing events.
I find I’m getting roughly the same problem now and again where I only see the back of the caller walking away, and I reckon it could be down to the camera not recognising someone coming straight towards the camera. The reason I say that is that when someone crosses the pavement (sidewalk) at the end of the short path to my door, the camera is pretty quick to pick them up, as they’re crossing the line of view of the camera.
I’ve got the camera mounted to one side of my door and I’ve put the angled backplate on to try and get a more sideways view. It seems to help some of the time, but still not perfect by any means.
I really hope this can be addressed with a firmware upgrade, as other manufacturers don’t seem to suffer so much with this problem.
If it’s possible to improve via software update, I’d be more than willing to take a battery life hit if it meant detection and recording was more consistent and reliable. And then a supported solar panel could then alleviate the battery loss…
Honestly, I am super disappointed in the Eufy 2k Battery Powered doorbell.
Like many above, I have the same issue where it doesn’t sense a person until you see maybe just a split second of the front view of them when walking to my door. I’ve toggled with settings so sensitivity is highest, and recording all motion, not just people.
I also used the 15 degree wedge. I feel my environment is super easy to detect… straight walkway from the street say around 25 feet, straight, no trees or any obstruction. The good is that I don’t get false recordings… but when it does record it plain sucks. Prior to this I had battery operated Blink cameras at the front door and those captured very quickly once the person/object was in frame.
I also bought the hardwired version as I plan to return the battery one. Customer support and trying to get real technical help is a challenge. I keep being asked to call an electrician…
So not great first impressions with Eufy. Sad since I’ve had great experience with Anker products (same family of companies). Might just suck it up with Ring and pay those monthly fees…
I have had better luck with their cameras than the doorbell unit (battery). I agree at times it does not trigger quickly and the recording begins later than it should. The battery life is not the greatest either. But my biggest complaint is the video becomes choppy and almost jumps from one scene to another, 2-3 seconds later. Unfortunately, it saves this way as well. I’m not here to bash their products, because I own many of them. I’m mostly disappointed with their doorbell offerings. Especially, when I’m trying to keep everything in the same ecosystem.
I have the same experience here. Although Eufy indoor camera drills my phone with notifications like crazy (too sensitive to be honest), the Doorbell is just very slow to detect the motion regardless of the settings. I can come straight looking at the camera and I need to wait for 5 records for it to realize that I am there, turn on the button light and send a push. This is not what I would expect from a smart doorbell product. I am far more pleased with cameras, seems like I have to search for another HomeKit enabled doorbell out there.