Pros and cons of the new Vocolinc VC1 Opto Pan / Tilt cameras compared to the Eufy Indoor Pan / Tilt: Better HomeKit option than the Eufy, certainly if this is your main goal, but worse overall. I return either half of them or all of them.

Cupertino, July 3, 2021

* tl; dr HomeKit room better than Eufy is if you are just HomeKit and can cope with the counter (primarily the inability to return to the previous position of the room before turning off, but this is a capital cone). If you don't care so much about HomeKit, Eufy is so much better. If you want a potentially better HomeKit panoramic camera / tilt, waiting for the Aqara G3H is probably the best bet. * So I've been using them for about a week or so and I don't exactly like having pictures of my house on homekit.blog, so I apologize for that. I will only give you my summary of the advantages and disadvantages, because I have not yet seen anyone here do this. I compare this to Eufy Indoor 2K Pan and Tilt in HomeKit, so 1080p video quality. To clarify, I bought [4 Vocolinc cameras for around $144 during the Prime Day sale](https://smile.amazon.com/VOCOlinc-Security-Streaming-Recording-Detection/dp/B08YMTFZ18). [Two pack here](https://smile.amazon.com/VOCOlinc-Security-Streaming-Recording-Detection/dp/B08YNMG547). #Pros * 1080p better quality in HomeKit than Eufy pan / tilt, no doubt. I know HomeKit understands some of the quality, but I knew I couldn't stop myself when I thought the Eufy HomeKit 1080p was really bad. * Better quality of night vision in HomeKit. This shocked me, because Eufy literally doubled the IR sensors, but it was very easy for me to have fun at night from afar, compared to Eufy. Again, we are talking about HomeKit so idk about non-HomeKit comparison. * Bidirectional audio in the HomeKit is great. Enough said. Eufy can't do that. Connectivity * *** INSTANT *** in HomeKit. When I connect to Eufy while I'm connected to wifi, it takes about 2-3 seconds, and Vocolinc is instantaneous. When I connected via LTE, it took about 10 seconds for Eufy, while Vocolinc took 2 seconds. I think it's because Eufy has to go through their servers first, while Vocolinc doesn't have to worry? I'm not sure. * USB-C. Not so important to me, but neat. * If you use the Vocolinc app to use pan / tilt and flip the camera upside down, it doesn't require an account, as there is only a HomeKit mode. I understand that in this way, based on what Aqara says (because they both have a HomeKit only mode), it doesn't connect to their servers (so they say), but even then, I have eero routers that I can use to restrict application only at the hub. More on that later. * If you mount it with the right side up, rather than upside down, the Opto can actually look all the way through, at the cost of tilting too much and viewing the white part of the camera case. More on that later. * Privacy mode allows you to withdraw the camera in the case and can be used by Siri automations as opposed to Eufy. I didn't use this as much as I thought I was honest. My ideal automatic would be to withdraw the automatic lens when I get home, wait 20 seconds, then turn off the smart sockets and vice versa when I leave. However, Home Hub automation apparently does not allow this. But still a nice feature. More about the counter below. Now, the elimination of the advantages, the disadvantages. Man, the disadvantages are bad. #Cons * I will put my biggest cone in front and in the center, which is why, without a doubt, I turn either 2 or all of them. *** This camera does not return to the previous position of the camera when it starts again, as Eufy does. *** This means that if the camera straight up looks very far down (below what Eufy can see when the right side up), right up to the point before you start seeing the camera case, you have to do it again then when it lights up again, because it will look straight ahead. If you have mounted it upside down, it will look at your ceiling when it lights up rather than down. This means that for 4 rooms, I would have to manually tilt the room every time I leave the house, which means much more effort than someone should put in. This also means that I can't restrict the app to just using the home hub, otherwise I would be stuck seeing images of my ceilings and more. Yes, it can be easily fixed with a firmware update someday, but I don't buy a product with the promise of a feature that should have been included on day 1. I'd rather return it now and buy it later in the future when guaranteed has that feature. But I haven't even touched the other cons yet. * Field of view much narrower than Eufy. It is said that 110 degrees compared to 125 degrees of Eufy, but either Vocolinc lies or Eufy underestimates his FOV. I go with the latter, because the Aqara G2H hub is apparently advertised at 140 degrees, and while it's clearly a wider FOV in the videos I've seen than Vocolinc, Eufy has a little more FOV when you see comparisons between Eufy and Aqara. I imagined it wouldn't be a big deal, because it can move and tilt for the best positioning, but ... See con. * No time stamps. Again, another firmware update might add it, but this is definitely a feature I'm missing. * The camera LED is on the back of the camera. Why? With Eufy, it's very obvious to find out when the camera is on. I can't talk to Vocolinc. If I say that my smart sockets don't stop when I get home (this was a problem before I got a HomePod as a hub, but still), I'd basically have no idea that my cameras are still on, with unless I have notifications enabled when I'm home. * No movement tracking, if that's your job Not that it's a thing in HomeKit, but since you can use Eufy in HomeKit with this enabled, I thought I'd mention it. Another thing I assume can be added in a firmware update. * The engine for panning the camera at startup is LOUD. Eufy is Splinter Cell Sam Fisher by comparison. It's not such a big deal for me, because this doesn't have movement tracking or anything, but I know some people will be very annoyed by how strong it is in comparison. * It takes much longer for the camera to turn on and work than Eufy when the smart outlet is turned on. I counted 16 seconds for Eufy and 34 seconds for Vocolinc, so literally more than double the time. * Construction quality is nowhere like Eufy pan / tilt. It made me realize how well built the Eufy room is for $ 40 (when it's on sale, which is common). For Vocolinc, it is very much built as a $ 35- $ 40 cam (for sale). * Flips the camera image (ie what was displayed on the right is now displayed on the left) when you flip the camera to mount upside down. It's not a huge trick, but something Eufy didn't do. * Very difficult to tell if privacy mode is turned on unless you are close. When the Eufy camera is retracted into the case, it is somewhat visible, as only the camera lens area is bright black, while the rest is matte black when the lens is retracted. It would have been nice if it had an LED on the front that could light green to indicate that it is in privacy mode, but a firmware update for this is somewhat useless when the LED is in back. However, it still has audio enabled, so it's not exactly a "true" privacy mode, in my opinion. * The USB-C cables he came with had by far and I can't stress this enough, the strongest and most disgusting smell *** I've ever felt in my life from a cable. The smell was so strong that it took about a week for the cables to have maybe 10% of the smell it originally had. In the meantime I used the other USB-C cables. * No microSD card slot and therefore no 24/7 recording. It's not a big deal for me, but I know it's a big deal for others. For each cone, except the first, I was willing to manage only as a cost to get away from Eufy camels. I might use my cameras with smart plugs, but two "internal violations / screws" in a year are too many (whether someone wants to call it a breach or an internal screw, I'd rather not accidentally access someone inside my camera periods with the possibility of having complete control over my cameras), does not like to play along with restricting the use of the application only to your network and of course requires the use of the Eufy application to use it in HomeKit, which, as I said, it already had two screws in less than a year from each other. However, I will probably still try the Aqara G2H. Yes, it doesn't have panning and tilting, but that also means that when I position it for the first time, I don't have to worry about it throwing away my efforts to position the camera perfectly. It also has a wider FOV, so it will help. And since I don't have to worry about BS pan and tilt, I can just remove the app afterwards or not use it at all. If I kept the app, I can restrict it to the home hub at least, which I heard is less problematic than with Eufy. Is a [Aqara G3H](https://homekit.blog/2021/05/26/aqara-g3-camera-launches-in-china/) which will come out and bow, but is currently selling in China for $ 124 / 800RMB, so that I can't say I'd be too happy at that price. That being said, it has a massive LED on the front, very obvious when the camera lens is retracted with "sleeping eyes" drawn, it has the ability to scan the surroundings automatically through programming and automation (no idea if this would work with HomeKit , Siri automation or what), USB-C, motion tracking, timestamps, 5GHz / 2.4GHz connectivity and so on. There is also the ability to recognize hand movements, so maybe removing the camera will make it stop if the smart sockets forget to stop, but I doubt this is a feature that could be enabled in the HomeKit. It seems a bit limited, with a vertical tilt of 45 degrees, but there will always be disadvantages somewhere. Personally, I feel like Aqara who has been doing things with the camera for some time now would not reset the camera position every time the camera is turned on or off, but we'll see until then. That being said, with Matter compatible cameras coming in the future * for HomeKit, I'm a little hesitant to buy any room over $ 100 (Eve, Logitech) when there are cheaper rooms outside of HomeKit that are much better in video a quality department that can eventually reach HomeKit. I've seen reviews about Eve's room, for example, having poorer quality than Eufy in some reviews, which for a triple-priced room is disappointing. Anyway, feel free to ask any questions you may or may not have about the Vocolinc VC1 Opto cameras. If HomeKit isn't a big deal for you and you don't really mind internal violations / screws, which require the Eufy app just to use the bastard, having no two-way HomeKit sound and slower connectivity in HomeKit, Eufy is a much better choice . Otherwise, you are somewhat mistaken for a better pan / tilt HomeKit alternative until G3H comes out (considering the pan / tilt will need the Aqara app).

Best selling & Top trending HomeKit product in our shop at this moment

HomeKit.Blog is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Apple Inc. or Apple related subsidiaries.

All images, videos and logos are the copyright of the respective rights holders, and this website does not claim ownership or copyright of the aforementioned.

All information about products mentioned on this site has been collected in good faith. However, the information relating to them, may not be 100% accurate, as we only rely on the information we are able to gather from the companies themselves or the resellers who stock these products, and therefore cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies arising from the aforementioned sources, or any subsequent changes that are made that we have not been made aware of.

HomeKit.Blog Is A Participant In The Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, An Affiliate Advertising Program Designed To Provide A Means For Sites To Earn Advertising Fees By Advertising And Linking To Amazon Store (Amazon.com, Or Endless.com, MYHABIT.com, SmallParts.com, Or AmazonWireless.com).

The opinions expressed on this website by our contributors do not necessarily represent the views of the website owners. 

Copyright © 2022 HomeKit Blog
. All rights reserved
United States