Aqara’s Indoor Safety Digicam E1 is the little sibling to their glorious Digicam Hub G3, aimed 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 strong indoor safety digital camera with an awesome characteristic set and stable video efficiency in each daylight and nighttime situations. I’ve just one minor grievance. We’ll contact on that shortly.
Aqara Digicam E1: Value and availability
The Aqara Indoor Safety Digicam E1 is presently obtainable solely by way of Amazon.com for $59.99. Though value drops on this unit don’t occur typically, 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 one in every of their finest indoor cameras, however if you happen to’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 provides and a few up to date options in a smaller 4-inch tall package deal.
The E1 helps Wi-Fi 6, whereas the Digicam Hub G3 is Wi-Fi 5. The E1 ups the G3’s sturdy privateness options by including masking zones. You’ll be able to 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 occasions when the digital camera will pan and level towards a wall or different privacy-focused space. The privateness choices are an awesome characteristic as a result of you will notice all the things fairly clearly with this 2K, f/2.0 digital camera, which appears nice in good lighting and low-light situations.
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 if you happen to activate the digital camera’s 24-hour recording with timelapse mode. Accessing that slot is easy; simply slide the digital camera’s tilt lens up, revealing a microSD slot on the backside of it.
One of many options I cherished enjoying with is the 2-way telecom system. There is a speaker and microphone constructed into the E1 so you should use it as a telecom to speak to whoever’s on the opposite facet of the picture. Your youngsters, your important different, your pet, discuss to everybody!
Aqara Digicam E1: Construct and appears
The Digicam E1 feels well-built, although 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 places. It may even be mounted to the ceiling, after which you may go into the Aqara Residence app and reorient the video.
The digital camera stays out of the best way with an infrared backlight, which you gained’t discover throughout lights out if that is in a bed room. The motor is whisper quiet, so that you’ll doubtless by no means hear it panning.
Aqara Digicam E1: Ease of use
Organising the Digicam E1 is easy, because the Aqara and Apple Residence apps accomplish that with a QR code. When you’ve got all the things needed, you’ll be up and operating in just some minutes. On this case, having all the things 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.
Organising 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 nicely. You must know that after you bind the digital camera to HomeKit, or if you happen to 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’ll nonetheless observe people and detect movement, however you gained’t be capable to set these privateness positions and also you lose the flexibility to set as much as three occlusion zones. For the privateness options, you’ll need to set these up in Aqara Residence as scenes first, that are then uncovered to Apple Residence. Then, you may set off them utilizing automation in Apple Residence while not having 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 permits particular person and sound detection on the machine.
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 digital camera is positioned round hip peak (I’m 6’ tall), I’ve discovered it a bit sluggish to pan with shifting objects, particularly me. Place the digital camera greater 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 price 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 be an choice at a decrease price, obtainable on their web site for $49.99. It additionally has pan and tilt performance however is barely operating 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 should purchase this if…
- You need pan and tilt at an awesome value
- The privateness options are important to your use case
- You don’t want the entire Digicam Hub G3 options
You should not purchase this if…
- You have to 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 digital camera for an awesome value. Onboard particular person and sound detection and sturdy privateness options make this an awesome choice to be used circumstances the place what’s on digital camera at sure occasions is a priority. Wi-Fi 6 means you have got extra dependable reside video feed entry in properties with dozens of different Wi-Fi devices, and 360-degree rotation means you may see nearly all the things.
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 if you happen to’re after PT performance. Even if you happen to don’t want the hub however PT is crucial, take into account 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 comply with, nevertheless it follows you!
You do not have dozens of pan and tilt cameras which help HomeKit Safe Video, however of those who do, the Digicam E1 is without doubt one of the finest.
