Anker’s Eufy brand has begun shipping a new 4K security camera that offers a 360-degree viewing angle, pan 344 degrees, and tilt up to 70 degrees. It can also run indefinitely without a wired network or power source.
That’s because in addition to Wi-Fi, the $249.99 Eufy 4G LTE Cam S330 can connect to nearby LTE towers and comes with a removable solar panel that claims it lasts in just two hours in the sun. Can charge 36.2Wh battery. Anker says that since the battery lasts for up to a month on a full charge, it will last even during the rainy season.
In theory, the S330 seems to address many of the pain points we encountered with Eufy and Arlo’s early LTE-enabled cameras, all for about the same starting cost. While you can install it entirely inside or outside your main residence for wireless security, its design and features can make it more suitable for remote areas of your property – perhaps in a far corner of the garden, a nearby storage room or Wi-Fi is not available in other areas. To help the cause, Eufy says it can withstand harsh temperatures and hot and cold environments (-4 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit).
It’s based on the Eufy Starlight and includes an EIOTClub SIM card, which should automatically jump between Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, depending on which one offers the strongest LTE signal. After you’ve used up 100MB of trial data, the feature will continue to cost $19.90 per 2GB or $139.99 per 24GB, but you can also use your own SIM card. Eufy estimates it consumes about 700MB of data per month, assuming you don’t have a lot of traffic constantly triggering logging.
The 4K camera offers 8x zoom and uses active areas with AI-driven vehicle and human detection to reduce false positives of biological and other incidental activity. There’s also an integrated 100-lumen spotlight surrounding the sensor that can illuminate an area up to 26 feet away. Its safety features also include two-way audio and the ability to sound alarms, all of which can be controlled via the mobile app as well as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa voice control.
You can save up to eight months’ worth of recordings locally to the included 32GB microSD card (the camera supports up to 128GB cards), but unfortunately the S330 doesn’t work with third-party NAS devices. However, it can be used with Eufy’s $149.99 HomeBase 3 S380, which supports up to 16TB of storage and supports facial recognition. The only problem with getting this perk is that it requires you to stay in Wi-Fi mode. It’s also worth noting that you can only manually switch between LTE and Wi-Fi using the app, so you can’t rely on it as an automatic failsafe.