Nest Cam review

There are many smart security cameras nowadays, but it’s impossible not to be the least bit curious when it comes to this device produced by Nest, a company that has become famous for having created the first smart thermostat and for being then acquired by Google (now Alphabet).

Nest Cam is a dual product: it is available in an Indoor (Check on Amazon.com) and an Outdoor (Check on Amazon.com) version. They’re the same except for the way they’re made. We will analyze Nest Cam in its globality and then we will explain the differences of the Outdoor version.

Nest Cam is magnetic and has an articulated base so that it can be fixed, with screws or adhesive if you prefer, basically anywhere, and then oriented as you like. In the box you will find a power supply and a microUSB cable for said power supply. It is made (at least the Indoor one) entirely of metal and the construction quality is definitely superior to many other products of this type that we have tried.

The camera is equipped with a 3 megapixel sensor capable of shooting Full HD (1080p) videos and streaming them in real time. It is also equipped with a microphone and a speaker, so you can talk to the person in front of the camera. It can be controlled through the Android or iOS application or the web interface. Initial configuration is extremely simple.

When you launch the app it immediately starts streaming live feed from all the active cameras you have set up with your account. It will also allow you to turn on or off the single cameras based on whether or not people are present. This is a very practical solution that allows you to guarantee privacy in case someone is at home. You can also choose to keep them always on or even program them to activate on schedule. From the application you can group multiple cameras together and choose if and when to receive motion notifications.

Click on a camera and you can watch the live streaming in high resolution or scroll back in time to review what happened. You will be given the opportunity to choose the quality of the video stream, whether to enable automatic night vision (which works very well and at a great distance), rotate the image and choose whether to emit sounds or turn on the LED when the camera is active. To have complete control of your video history and to edit videos (longer than a few minutes) or time-lapse you will need to use the web interface.

You will receive almost instantaneous motion notifications in case anything suspicious happens. It’s amazing how this camera has never missed a single notification and has never alerted us to pet presence but only to people, doors or windows movement.

One additional feature that makes Nest superior to the competition is Nest Aware, the company’s subscription service. With it you can have up to a 10 day video recording history (instead of 3 hours of still image), turn on specific notifications in case the camera detects a person, create video clips or time-lapse videos at will. Finally, you can choose to limit the control area of the camera by including only one section. This is very comfortable for the Indoor model and avoids you receiving constant alerts for people passing by on the sidewalk.

The Outdoor version of Nest is also worthy of special attention because not only is it resistant to water and dust, but it has a specific cable that makes every single inch of the device waterproof and not just the camera. For both cameras the Wi-Fi was solid.

On Amazon, you can buy the Indoor Nest Cam (Check on Amazon.com) and the Outdoor one for (Check on Amazon.com).