Wyze Cam Pan is a Feature Packed Bargain

The Wyze Cam Pan is a new concept from Wyze Labs.  We’ve previously looked at the Wyze Cam and then the Wyze Cam V2.  We were impressed with both for being bargain priced and feature rich.

We got our hands on a Wyze Cam Pan.  It’s well engineered and the app works great.  Let’s take a deeper dive into our review.

Software

You can access the Wyze Cam Pan through an iOS or Android device.  This camera cannot be accessed from a web browser.

Setup of the Wyze Cam Pan is easy.  Download the app and sign up.  After that, plug the camera in and hit the giant plus sign in the app.  You are walked through setup by a combination of app prompts and camera voice instructions.  Finally, hold the UPC code from the app in front of the camera lens and you’re all set.

Thankfully, the Wyze Cam Pan uses the same app as the other Wyze models so no need for a different app.  The model is properly detected and controls like pan and tilt are intuitively simple to use.  Move the camera lens up and down by pressing the corresponding arrows.  Turn the camera in both directions by pressing the left and right arrows.

Motion alerts and associated sensitivity can be customized.  This camera has some great motion features including our favorite which is called Motion Detection Zones.  Use this feature to minimize unwanted motion alerts.  This is handy for excluding areas prone to false motion alerts such as a blowing tree branch or a pet.

Another great feature is called Motion Tracking.  This is one you only get with a pan and tilt.  We’ve seen it in a few others on the market.  It follows the motion using the pan and tilt feature.  When a person walks past the Wyze Cam Pan, the head moves to follow the motion.  It then resets itself to the original position after the person causing the motion alert can no longer be seen.

A motion schedule can be established to send alerts during a portion of the day or week.

Like other Wyze models, the Wyze Cam Pan can provide alerts on motion, sound and the sounds made by smoke and CO alarm sounds.

The Wyze Cam Pan includes free cloud storage for up to 14 days of events.  The events are stored as 12 second clips

Constant video recording will require a micro SD card.

SD and HD video can be toggled within the app.  Use HD assuming adequate connectivity is present.

Wyze has come a long way since the initial introduction of the initial Wyze Cam.  IFTTT integration for Wyze Cam is now supported.  Use this handy third party service to do some fancy automation including implementing a home / away feature.

Hardware

The Wyze Cam Pan is unusually shaped for a pan and tilt camera.  It’s tall and skinny.  The camera is 5.02 inches tall and 2.36 deep and wide.  It weighs 8.78 ounces.

A 6 foot micro USB cable is used for power.  If it’s too short, consider this 25 ft Power Cable.  Be sure to use the Wyze AC adapter with any cable deployed for power.

The status light is found in the front of the camera and can be turned off through the app.

The Wyze Cam Pan is an indoor camera.  Sometimes you can get away with using an indoor camera outside.  Not this one.  Too many moving parts.

Two way audio is supported.  A conversation can be held by pressing the microphone in the Wyze app.  Audio quality is ok.  We could hear what’s taking place in the room where the camera was located.

The 120 degree wide angle lens is very wide for a pan and tilt camera.  Combined with the pan and tilt hardware features, you get true 360 viewing capabilities.

The 1080p (1920 x 1080) lens renders video at 15 frames per second during the day and it reduces to 10 FPS with night vision.  A little less than higher end cameras but at 15 FPS it’s not bad.  You can digitally zoom up to 8x.

Very clear night vision is provided with 6 IR LEDs (940nm).  According to Wyze, you will get none meters of clear night vision.

Continuous recording to an on-board SD card is fully supported on the Wyze Cam Pan and like other WYze models, it supplements the cloud service nicely.  We wrote a detailed article on selecting the right micro SD card which is worth reading as not every card will work well in a home security camera.  THe Wyze Cam Pan supports up to a 32gb card.  We like to recommend at least a UHS I or faster.

Connectivity

The Wyze Cam Pan supports connectivity at 2.4 GHz using 802.11 b/g/n.  The 5 GHz band is not supported.

Mounts

As most pan and tilt cameras do, this is made to rest on a flat surface like a shelf or table.  However, there are other ways to use this camera.  The Wyze Cam Pan features a standard 1/4″ – 20 threaded mounting hole on the bottom.  That’s the same pattern as a tripod and shared by many industry standard camera mounts.  So this opens a large variety of mounts that can fit a Wyze Cam Pan.

Fun and Different

Try to do a Pan Scan.  This option automatically scans to four waypoints. pausing for ten seconds at each location.  Activate Pan Scan by clicking the “More” icon and tap the “Pan Scan” icon to toggle it on or off.

Summary

The Wyze Cam Pan is another winner from Wyze.  It’s a fairly priced model with a lot of high end features.  This is a good selection for those wanting to capture a 360 degree view of a room.  The added features like Pan Scan and Motion Tracking are only available with a pan and tilt model.  You can’t get that with stationary models.

Quick Specs:

Manufacturer Link:  Wyze Labs

Mike

All of these articles are written by someone (me) that figured out how to do this stuff the hard way.  I have owned and tested dozens of cameras.  Manufacturer support varies.  There are a few good companies that provide timely answers when you have questions.  There are several that sell you the camera and seem to have little interest in post sales support (which leads me to finding out stuff the hard way).

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