Outdoor Security Camera, Wansview 1080P WiFi Home Surveillance Waterproof Camera with Night Vision, Motion Detection, Remote Access, Works with Alexa-W4

I had been recommended this product from a colleague who recently moved house and found out his estate was rife with persons trying car door handles. I was curious about his experience because where I live we’ve experienced parcels going missing from doorsteps, sheds being broken into and car door handles being tried. I’ve had a look at the quality of the footage he was getting and thought for the very competitive price I could give it a go.I ordered three W4 cameras which came very quickly. Good quality packaging meant the devices themselves arrived in perfect condition. The instructions were an absolute doddle to follow for synchronising each camera to my home Wi-fi. If you can point a camera at your phone’s screen to scan a QR code then you can set this up on your network. An Ethernet cable is supplied if you’d prefer to set it up that way.Each camera comes with mounting screws and power adaptor. The adaptor runs a 2core cable with 12V and 1Amp, it’s approx 1.5m of cable and it connects the adaptor to the camera with a simple but strong push-pin connector. A sticker is supplied to help mark out where to drill holes once you’ve found the best position for your device, this made drilling guide holes much more accurate for my liking. The screws were of good quality and attached the camera securely to the outside of my house.I needed to extend the length of the power cable and used a simple diy 2core cable from my local diy store to splice and add in the required length. An email to customer service - whom I found very responsive btw - revealed I didn’t need to do that because a 10m extension cable is on offer for about £7 each and that would have worked out at just about the same £££ but with a lot less fiddling about.Once the cameras were added to the network turning them off does not remove the link to the Wi-fi network so that any power cut didn’t need me to re-sync them. Restoration of power means that each camera links back in to the Wi-fi a short moment later.I’ve been very impressed with the image quality, for the price paid I think it is EXCELLENT value!A couple of things Wansview really ought to advertise better is that each camera can be set up to have an individual zone from which to pick up movement and trigger a recording allowing for example an entranceway to be the focal point rather than anything else around it.The W4 is a camera that records if the movement sensor is triggered, it will not record all the time, a notification is sent to your phone if a trigger is activated allowing you to review the footage on the mobile app. The app is free, quite simple to operate and lets you make some customisations to each camera individually.If I can make a product improvement suggestion it would be to adapt the camera body to incorporate the rest switch and Ethernet port so that the only physical cable coming from the camera body is the power cord, at the moment I’m having to tie away two cables out of sight (Ethernet and reset switch on a cable).I would recommend this product. The recording of night time activity captured so far is also very good! Very good image quality in day and night times. Quite a small unit with. Ball and socket joint so you can manipulate the angle of its desired position. The Wi-fi aerial is a bit tricky to position due to its mounting position by the camera and perhaps a double jointed ball/socket mechanism might make this device easier to mount in tricky tight spots where acute angles are required due to space restraints.Overall, very pleased, will recommend if you’re looking for a CCTV device that doesn’t need to record all the time.

I already own a couple of the Wansview K3 internal cameras and I'm very impressed with them, so when I was looking for an external camera suitable to cover my garden I naturally returned to Wansview. As my K3 cameras use the Wansview Cloud App and I'm subcribed to the Wansview Cloud I wanted a camera to add to this platform. I find the Wansview Cloud app to be well featured, very simple to use and the support from Wansview really is top notch. If you have a problem you email the support guys and they respond very quickly. They also follow up to make sure things are working OK - Its what customer service should be.The W4 arrived well packaged and with everything you need to get it set up - even a template to help you drill the holes in the right place when mounting the camera. The camera is very sturdy and well built and very easy to adjust to get it in the right position. The quick start guide was straightforward and easy to follow. It took me a couple of attempts to get it set up but that was down to my internet connection and me initially forgetting to connect up to the 2.4ghz band not the 5ghz. I connect using Wifi due to the location I wanted to use the camera in (in the garden a fair distance from an available ethernet port) but theres also an option to connect via ethernet.The camera itself has a good range of vision - more than adequate to cover my garden from its mounted location. The HD picture quality is extremely good, very sharp, both in day and night vision and especially for a camera at this price point. Setting up motion detection is very easy via the app and like the other Wansview cameras I have, I get notifications and a video clip is saved everytime there is movement.Overall the Wansview W4 is an impressive piece of kit. The camera itself, the functionality, the build quality, picture quality and ease of use coupled with a great App that works well and backed up by excellent customer service and incredible value for money.

I've now got 3 Wansview cameras at home, two of them being the W4 and the other being the Q5. For the money, these are really fantastic cameras and work amazingly well. I've had other cameras in the past, but their locked-down software made me sceptical and tainted the user experience. Whilst Wansview offers their own cloud solution for storing recordings, the fact they allow you to connect to the RTSP stream for each device opens up a whole new experience. Whilst the cloud solution is undoubtedly easier, I prefer to have control over where my data is stored so I've configured mine in Synology's Surveillance Station, as well as having them fed into Apple's Home Kit using Homebridge and the FFMPEG camera plugin.Installation of the W4 camera is pretty simple and the box comes with everything you need. My only criticism is around the ethernet port that is part of the cable coming out of the back of the camera - due to the diameter of the connector, installing this camera correctly is a bit more awkward unless you want to drill a giant hole in your wall. Instead, I used a 10mm drill bit and pushed the power cable through the whole, then connected everything else inside an IP55 rated junction box (see photo). Whilst not perfect, this make installation much easier than some cameras.It would also be nice if the cables coming out of the back of the camera could be disconnected - maybe with some form of screw terminal that is protected by the housing - I mean if somebody really wants to disable your Wansview CCTV, they can just snip the cable off anyway, but if you could disconnect the massive bundle of cables, it would make this camera perfect for an affordable home CCTV setup.Night vision on these W4 cameras is also surprisingly good. The images are clear and you can see what is happening at a glance. I do not use the motion detection feature, but when I did it seemed to work well although a little over sensitive even on the lowest setting. As for the picture quality, then I cannot really fault it - it's 1080p and looks good and for under £20 (price at the time I bought), you cannot complain.I'll certainly be looking to add more Wansview cameras at home in the future.

Bearing in mind that this is very much a budget device, I was very impressed with the standard of build and design. Nice touches include moisture sealed inline connectors (even when not in use) and a neat ball joint mounting that makes setting up simple. There is even a self adhesive drilling template included.The lense is slightly 'wide angle', I would estimate the field of view at about 100 degrees, so inevitably there is a certain amount of 'fisheye' distortion on the outer edges of the image but this isn't particularley intrusive and, indeed, the wide angle of vision is a good thing for surveillance use.The image is clear. The IR performance is good and the WiFi performance seems sensitive and reliable.The set up instructions are clear and fairly easy to follow but require a smartphone to carry out the initial setup. I think it's possible to do the setup using a Windows or IOS app but that isn't made clear in the supplied instructions and I didn't try to do it because I used a smartphone. TheAndroid app would not work on my Samsung S6 Tab tablet but worked well on my Samsung S20 smartphone.If I have any criticism, it is that the instructions are lacking in information. If you just wish to set up the camera for a smartphone, they're fine but they lack information about the Windows/IOS apps and contain no information at all about use of the camera with ONVIF and RTSP (necessary if you wish to use the camera with an existing surveilance setup or third party app). To be fair, contact with the help line contact with the help line got a quick response that allowed me to complete my set up with little delay. The contact was courteous, and response was prompt.The only other thing I'd like to see is more access to the camera internal settings to allow, among other things, the placement of headings and datestamps on the screen (to clarify, there is a datestamp but it is fixed size and location on the screen). Perhaps that will come with future firmware upgrades,In conclusion, a good budget unit that does exactly what it says on the box. No one should have difficulty stting it up for use with a smartphone... and, with a bit more effort, it can do a lot more. I have given it a rating of four stars rather than five because of the weak installation guide.

Since I first wrote about the W4, I have now purchased 4 more of these cameras (W4) for a family member and neighbor. And I continue to be impressed with the camera, the App and the customer service.The installation is very simple. Just need to follow the instructions with the first one, then, the rest of them are easy. Always do the wifi setup first. You can then unplug and mount the cameras wherever you want. You just plug it in, point it where you want, and that's it. Although the lead is a good length, if you need more, you can purchase various extension lengths quite cheaply on Amazon.The Wansview cloud app is very adaptable. You can live stream up to 4 cameras simultaneously on the same screen and give an identifiable name to each camera like "Garden" or "Front Door". You can also select full screen mode for an individual camera and choose SD and FHD display. If you subscribe to the cloud (very cheap annual subscription), you can check on alerts and view any recorded movements in the previous week.The 1080 HD picture is exceptionally good and you can zoom in while maintaining the clarity. Subscribing to the cloud is essential to get the most out of these cameras. It's fast, clear and easy to find recordings from the previous week. It's also a vital protection from any vandalism as the recordings are stored on line and still accessible without the camera in place.Overall, 3 or 4 of these cameras are a better, cheaper, more convenient and flexible investment than a CCTV system. I would recommend them unreservedly.I also had reason to contact the customer service and got a prompt reply with a favorable outcome, so no problems there either.Some screen shots attached showing flexibility and clarity.-------------When I unpacked this W4 camera, my first impression was the camera size - small by comparison to what I've handled before. In the box I also found the Power adapter, the antenna, and the install guide. You'll need to download the Wansview Cloud App and register your account. During this process the wifi details will be displayed in a QR code which the camera can read. Quite a simple procedure. If you want others to see the camera, they can do so by invite only. You can also go to the Wansview site and download the programme to view the streaming video to view on your PC/Laptop.There's a good reason why this camera is called a "cloud IP Camera". The camera does not have any onboard storage. Viewing historical recordings can only be achieved via a cloud account. You can get this through the app with the first month free. Recordings are only uploaded if activated by motion alert so you need to ensure this option is activated in the app. The advantage of this is that the previous recordings are saved and can be retrieved via the app, even if the camera becomes damaged or vandalised. You can have up to 4 cameras streaming live on one screen in the app and viewable in SD or FHD.I fitted my camera at the bottom of the garden looking back at the rear of the house. I was still able to pick up my WiFi, but if your siting is out of WIFI range, it's possible to connect to your router with a network cable. The easiest way to achieve this is to use a broadband extender if you have AC power at the end of your garden, i.e. in your shed.I found the picture quality on this 'small' camera to be surprisingly good and the night vision was excellent (see photos). Overall a great package for the price and a cheap way to monitor your property while away.Since writing, I've bought another 2 cameras to cover the driveway and front garden where car is parked. Well pleased with set up and no extra cost to add these to my cloud subscription account.