The original Wyze Cam Pan ($ 29.99) earned high marks for accessibility, clear 1080p videos, and mechanical pan and tilt capabilities when I reviewed it in 2018. Its successor, the Wyze Cam Pan V2 ($ 39.99), it is also affordable and retains mechanical pan and tilt controls, while providing some improvements, including night-time color vision. It provided clear 1080p videos during testing and responded to motion and voice commands smoothly. However, for a little more, the $ 51.99 Eufy Indoor Cam 2K Pan & Tilt P24 offers equally smooth pan and tilt operations; 2K video; and support for the Apple HomeKit, making it the winner Editors' choice for indoor security cameras.

Familiar design, new features

Wyze Cam Pan V2 looks exactly like its predecessor. Its white mini-tower housing measures 5.0 by 2.2 by 2.2 inches (HWD) and sits on top of a round motorized base that offers 360-degree maneuverability. The top of the tower houses a glossy black camera assembly with a motorized lens that gives you a 93-degree tilt. A status LED and an ambient light sensor are located at the bottom. There is a speaker and a mini USB power port on the back. The bottom of the case has a setup button, a microphone, and a microSD card slot for local storage of video recordings; you must provide your own deposit.

The 1080p camera has a 120 degree field of view and allows 8x digital zoom. It uses a Starlight CMOS sensor and any available ambient light to provide color night vision. If there is not enough light, the six invisible infrared LEDs are used by default to give you black-and-white night vision. The built-in siren can scare unwanted visitors, while two-way sound allows you to use your phone to talk to anyone in the room.

As with the original model, this version offers a lot of features, including motion and sound detection; movement tracking; smoke and CO alarm detection; and time-lapse recording. The camera records a 12-second video when it detects sound or motion and will store those recordings for free in the cloud for 14 days; just note that there is a cooling period of five minutes after each recording. You can also choose to store videos on a micro SD card. For $ 1.25 a month, the Cam Plus plan gives you unlimited video length, no cooling down, and unlocks several features, including person, vehicle and pet detection, and the ability to quickly scroll through event videos.

Cam Pan V2 works with Alexa and Google voice commands; numerous third-party devices via IFTTT applets; and other Wyze devices, but does not support the Apple HomeKit platform. It uses the same mobile app (for Android and iOS) as all other Wyze devices, including Wyze Cam V3, Wyze Bulb Color and Wyze Plug Outdoor. Once installed, the camera appears in a panel on the home screen along with any other Wyze devices you own. Touch the panel to launch a live stream; the interface has buttons for turning off the sound, manually capturing video recordings, taking a snapshot and initiating a two-way call. The More button gives you options to turn the camera on and off; enable motion tagging and motion tracking; create time-lapse videos (a microSD card is required); and activate Pan Scan, in which the camera automatically moves the camera using four preset reference points.

At the bottom of the screen is a dial for moving and tilting the camera using gestures. Below these commands is a Play Play button that allows you to play videos with events stored on the SD card. To view the video of the event stored in the cloud, tap the Events button at the bottom of the main screen. You can access the Camera Settings by tapping the wheel icon in the upper right corner of the camera screen. Here you can configure motion and sound detection settings; set event logging preferences; enable smart motion alerts; manage the microSD card; controls pan and tilt motor speed; and change the night view settings. The Rules setting allows you to specify how the camera interacts with other Wyze devices.

Easy operation

The installation of Wyze Cam Pan V2 was smooth. I already had the Wyze mobile app installed, so I pressed the + button in the upper left corner of the Devices screen and then Add Device. I selected Cam Pan V2 from the Rooms list and plugged the camera into an outlet. When the LED started flashing red, I pressed Next. I pressed the Setup button at the bottom of the camera, checked that I heard the "ready to connect" prompt, and entered the SSID and Wi-Fi password on the next screen. I used the camera to scan the QR code that appeared on my phone in seconds, the camera appeared on my list of Wyze devices and on my list of Alexa smart devices. I renamed the camera and updated the firmware to complete the installation.

Wyze Cam Pan had good test results. The video during the day showed rich colors, while the black and white night videos appeared clear and well lit. The camera did a good job of converting minimal light into clear, color videos, but the color quality wasn't as vibrant as what you get in broad daylight. As with the original Cam Pan, I noticed minor distortion around the edges of the frame, but not enough to distort the image.

Motion and sound alerts arrived instantly, and smart alerts worked as intended. I created an in-app rule for a Wyze bulb to turn on when the camera detected motion and it worked perfectly, just like my Alexa routine to turn on an Ezviz smart socket when a person was detected. The camera quickly responded to Alexa's voice commands to view live videos on an Amazon Echo Show device. The pan and tilt actions also went smoothly and with reaction.

Affordable and full of features

The Wyze Cam Pan V2 is an affordable, scratch-resistant interior security camera. Provides color night vision, sensitive pan and tilt mechanical operations, voice control and integrations with plenty of other smart home devices. The camera provided a clear 1080 video on testing, and motion alerts arrived quickly and accurately. That being said, if you want a camera with similar features that works with the Apple HomeKit platform, the Eufy Indoor Cam 2K Pan & Tilt P24 is a better choice; it also offers 2K video, rather than 1080p video. As such, it remains our choice of affordable home security editors. But if you already use other Wyze products, Cam Pan V2 is a useful alternative.