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Blink Outdoor Camera Night Vision – Blink Outdoor is a great camera for Alexa users that you can live within its limits.
If you’re bought into Amazon’s smart home universe, the outdoors do the trick. Poor night vision makes things worse, and while the alternative is sometimes included for free, it costs extra to record events, but Alexa addicts will find a lot to like about this affordable, long-lasting wireless security camera.
Blink Outdoor Camera Night Vision
There are a variety of Alexa-enabled security cameras out there, and Amazon offers not one, but two lines: Ring, their flagship product, and the cheaper alternative, Blink. The Blink Outdoor is the successor to the discontinued Blink XT2, but it’s in a very competitive market with rivals like the Arlo and Wyze, including several cheaper options.
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The camera offers a unique combination of features, but is it enough to make the product a good deal? Find out if it’s worth the money
As its name suggests, Outdoor’s signature feature is resistance to weather like rain, and to some extent, a range of temperatures. While Blink’s other cameras operate from zero to 35°C, it can operate outdoors between -20 and 45°C. Regardless, it probably needs to be stored somewhere it won’t get cooked or frozen.
The camera runs on two AA batteries, which Blink says are good enough for two years of light use. This is impressive because some other products run on chargers that need to be replaced more often. Part of the solution is to require the Blink Sync Module 2, which is permanently connected to power and bridges over a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network. Here you can also install a USB 2.0 compatible flash drive for local storage of captured event (continuous) videos.
If you don’t use local storage, the only option for recording is to subscribe to the cloud. Blink Basic costs $3 per month or $30 per year and covers one camera. Blink Plus – $10 per month or $100 per year, supports an unlimited number of cameras, includes extended warranties, and a 10% discount on other Blink devices. Both plans allow up to 60 days of video history.
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Without a subscription or USB drive, you’ll get live streaming and live notifications, but that’s it. There is no storage in either the outdoor or Synchronous module.
Your primary interactions with the camera come through the Blink app for Android and iOS, which is essential for settings, two-way talk, and checking recording history. No web interface. If you have Alexa speakers, you can get automation and audible motion notifications, and if you have an Echo Show, you can ask it to play live video.
For outdoor installation, Blink provides you with a swivel ball mount, two screws and a 90-degree extendable double-sided back wrench. The latter point can be useful for placing the camera in unusual locations or shooting difficult angles. In testing, for example, I found the extender to provide a full view of the bottom of the door while avoiding the street and sidewalk.
Functionally, the Outdoor is nearly identical to its predecessor, the Blink XT2, with the only real hardware upgrade being the USB storage option. Other changes are cloud-based or software-based. Outdoor privacy zones and motion alerts work (ie without recording), and the XT2 drops a free cloud storage option (more on that later).
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Daytime, outdoor 1080p, 30fps video is better for seeing faces and detecting packets. Its 110-degree field of view isn’t the widest, but as long as you position the camera strategically, it should capture any action.
The incoming audio is sufficient as long as it isn’t drowned out by things like vehicles, lawns, and air conditioners. I was impressed by the quality of the on-camera speaker, which was loud and clear, and visitors should have no trouble hearing you – if you’re loud and clear, of course.
Perhaps the best aspect of Outdoor is the control offered by the Blink app. It’s well organized and offers plenty of customization options, including arm/disarm schedules, detection zones, retrigger delays, IR (night vision) intensity, and clip lengths from five to 60 seconds. Turn on the early notification feature, which notifies you as soon as motion is detected—it’s so fast, in fact, that you’ll often be able to quickly see what’s happening with your phone’s notifications. Every camera should be responsible for this.
Although it’s difficult to really test the weather outdoors, the camera has survived at least one rainstorm, as well as Texas temperatures of up to 34ºC. If you live in a region with extreme temperatures, you’ll want to watch out for the camera shutting down or the battery failing, but for the most part it can withstand the elements.
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The camera’s night mode could be worse, but it’s still one of the weakest. The framerate drops to 7.5fps, and image quality can be blurry – you’ll be able to tell if someone’s walking in front of the camera, but unless they’re a few meters away, you’ll have a hard time spotting them. Even then, IR illumination can often wash out details. You can adjust the IR to account for the visible range.
Installation is more difficult. The flame is primarily very aggressive with instructions. The materials in the box only tell you to download the app and connect the sync module before installing the camera. It redirects you to the Blink website for everything else, which seems silly when so much of that support is built into app-based guides.
Having to install the sync module is a challenge in itself, in part because it involves finding an indoor plug-in that’s as close to the camera as possible within Wi-Fi range. This is understandable – it can improve reliability, and other multi-camera systems rely on base stations, but not everyone has a socket in the right place. Cameras with built-in Wi-Fi modules are more convenient to set up, especially if you don’t want to jump into a new security ecosystem.
Plus, the bulk of my camera limited the angles I could show. This took some trial and error during installation, the main solution was the extension I mentioned earlier.
Blink Outdoor Hd Security Camera System
Ecosystem barriers can be the biggest challenge in the outdoors. As popular as Alexa is, omitting support for Google Home and Apple HomeKit cuts the camera off from many control and automation technologies and limits its appeal to those investing in another brand.
The lack of a free cloud tier also means that while the camera is cheaper than some, it may not be the best option if you want to spend as little as possible. After paying $99.99 for the camera, you’ll need to add a subscription (at least $3 per month) to access recordings after the fact. Alternatively, you can transfer several gigabytes to a USB flash drive, but these can be easily stolen by thieves or destroyed in a fire or flood because it’s stored in the main unit rather than a separate base station like other cameras. A small amount of free event recording using cloud storage would also solve this problem.
On its own, Outdoor mostly delivers, living up to what Blink promises. For the biggest bang for your buck, you’ll have to deal with installation hassles and additional costs, including subscriptions and buying Alexa, but that’s not an automatic deal.
Indeed, there are some strong selling points for those who are loyal to or interested in Alexa. Quick notifications can legitimately stop some thefts and accidents, and it’s convenient to replace AA batteries instead of recharging them every few months (although not environmentally friendly unless you’re using rechargeable batteries). At the same time, local recording has its own risks, but is always a good option to suit some people’s needs.
Newest Blink Outdoor 3rd Gen Hd Security Camera System 2020 Model 2 Camera Kit 840080597904
Some shoppers want to go elsewhere, though, not because they’re shopping for other smart home platforms, but because other cameras offer significantly better features and performance, sometimes for less money. The Wyze Cam Outdoor ($70), for example, supports Alexa and Google Home, and comes with 14 days of free event recording in the cloud.
Another similarly priced alternative is Eufy’s Solo Outdoorcam C24 ($100). This device works with Alexa and Google to detect when a person, pet, or even a baby is crying. It comes with a 32GB micro SD card, and it has built-in lights that make night vision superior.
You should also note that even though Blink is relatively inexpensive to subscribe to, there is no human, package or animal recognition technology at any level. This can make plans and devices like Wyze, Nest, and Arlo even better if you’re not
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