Aqara’s Indoor Safety Digicam E1 is the little sibling to their glorious Digicam Hub G3, geared toward those that don’t fairly want all of the bells and whistles or the upper value. However don’t let that idiot you! The pan and tilt E1 is a sturdy indoor safety digicam with a fantastic characteristic set and strong video efficiency in each daylight and nighttime situations. I’ve just one minor criticism. We’ll contact on that shortly.
Aqara Digicam E1: Value and availability
The Aqara Indoor Safety Digicam E1 is at present obtainable solely by Amazon.com for $59.99. Though value drops on this unit don’t occur usually, it was $44.99 in December 2023. On the time of this writing, Amazon is providing a ten% off voucher within the US.
Aqara Digicam E1: Specs and options
Aqara’s Digicam Hub G3 is certainly one of their finest indoor cameras, however for those who’re invested within the Apple ecosystem, an Aqara hub might not be what you’re after. That’s the place the Indoor Safety Digicam E1 is available in. For $50 much less, you get a lot of what the G3 gives and a few up to date options in a smaller 4-inch tall bundle.
The E1 helps Wi-Fi 6, whereas the Digicam Hub G3 is Wi-Fi 5. The E1 ups the G3’s strong privateness options by including masking zones. You possibly can add a black block to your video feed, so these areas are actually blacked out. That’s along with an automatic privateness mode, which lets you set particular instances when the digicam will pan and level towards a wall or different privacy-focused space. The privateness choices are a fantastic characteristic as a result of you will notice all the pieces fairly clearly with this 2K, f/2.0 digicam, which appears nice in good lighting and low-light circumstances.
Related to Apple HomeKit, the E1 has Safe Video help for storing incident movies within the cloud. Nonetheless, it’s also possible to document domestically as a result of it has a microSD slot for as much as 512GB of native video storage. That is particularly helpful for those who activate the digicam’s 24-hour recording with timelapse mode. Accessing that slot is easy; simply slide the digicam’s tilt lens up, revealing a microSD slot on the backside of it.
One of many options I beloved taking part in with is the 2-way telecom system. There is a speaker and microphone constructed into the E1 so you need to use it as a telecom to speak to whoever’s on the opposite aspect of the picture. Your children, your important different, your pet, speak to everybody!
Aqara Digicam E1: Construct and appears
The Digicam E1 feels well-built, though it’s primarily plastic. It’s tiny, measuring 4 inches tall by 2.68 inches vast, so it ought to simply match on a bookcase shelf or most different areas. It may even be mounted to the ceiling, after which you’ll be able to go into the Aqara Residence app and reorient the video.
The digicam stays out of the best way with an infrared backlight, which you received’t discover throughout lights out if that is in a bed room. The motor is whisper quiet, so that you’ll possible by no means hear it panning.
Aqara Digicam E1: Ease of use
Establishing the Digicam E1 is easy, because the Aqara and Apple Residence apps achieve this with a QR code. When you have all the pieces needed, you’ll be up and working in only a few minutes. On this case, having all the pieces needed would imply you personal an influence adapter as a result of the E1 doesn’t include the brick within the field, simply the USB-C cable.
Establishing the privateness options within the Aqara Residence app is a breeze, and although there’s a little bit of a delay, the guide pan and tilt options work effectively. You must know that when you bind the digicam to HomeKit, or for those who select to forgo Aqara Residence and solely use HK, you lose entry to many privateness options, in addition to guide pan and tilt management. It would nonetheless observe people and detect movement, however you received’t be capable to set these privateness positions and also you lose the power to set as much as three occlusion zones. For the privateness options, you’ll should set these up in Aqara Residence as scenes first, that are then uncovered to Apple Residence. Then, you’ll be able to set off them utilizing automation in Apple Residence with no need the Aqara Residence app.
One important facet of the privateness options is that they’re processed domestically. The E1 has a built-in neural processing unit that allows individual and sound detection on the gadget.
As I alluded to earlier within the piece, my solely gripe with Aqara’s Indoor Safety Digicam E1 is that the human-tracking automated pan and tilt is finicky. I’ve discovered that placement impacts its capacity to trace, identical to the Digicam Hub G3. When the digicam is positioned round hip peak (I’m 6’ tall), I’ve discovered it a bit sluggish to pan with transferring objects, specifically me. Place the digicam increased the place its AI can choose up faces, and your human monitoring improves.
Aqara Digicam E1: Competitors
Pan and tilt choices that help HomeKit Safe Video are few, however there are two different cameras value testing. We reviewed and appreciated Eufy’s Pan 2K which is now the 2K Indoor Cam E220 and proper now its value can’t be beat at solely $35.99 on Eufy’s web site and Amazon.
VOCOlinc Opto HomeKit Indoor Digicam can also be an possibility at a decrease price, obtainable on their web site for $49.99. It additionally has pan and tilt performance however is just working 1080P video which is ok due to the HKSV limitations when binding 2K cameras just like the E1. HomeKit knocks 2K video all the way down to 1080P in Apple Residence and for video recorded to the cloud.
Aqara Digicam E1: Must you purchase it?
You can purchase this if…
- You need pan and tilt at a fantastic value
- The privateness options are important on your use case
- You don’t want the entire Digicam Hub G3 options
You should not purchase this if…
- That you must mount it on a vertical floor like a wall
Aqara Digicam E1: Verdict
With the Aqara Indoor Safety Digicam E1, you get fairly a little bit of digicam for a fantastic value. Onboard individual and sound detection and strong privateness options make this a fantastic possibility to be used circumstances the place what’s on digicam at sure instances is a priority. Wi-Fi 6 means you have got extra dependable stay video feed entry in properties with dozens of different Wi-Fi devices, and 360-degree rotation means you’ll be able to see nearly all the pieces.
There aren’t many pan and tilts at this value level with this characteristic set, so the Digicam E1 needs to be in your shortlist for those who’re after PT performance. Even for those who don’t want the hub however PT is crucial, contemplate wanting on the Digicam Hub G3, which has extra dependable monitoring, built-in facial recognition, and an alarm uncovered in HomeKit.
Aqara 2K Indoor Safety Digicam E1
Robust act to observe, nevertheless it follows you!
You do not have dozens of pan and tilt cameras which help HomeKit Safe Video, however of people who do, the Digicam E1 is without doubt one of the finest.
