Reviews: Nest Outdoor Security Camera Works

My friend B. Gaston experience Good at first, then becomes terrible VERY quickly once your return/trial period is over due to provider issues on backend.

Good at first, then becomes terrible VERY quickly once your return/trial period is over.

Really wanted to like this item, and I would have written a glowing review during the 30 day Nest Aware trial period. Installation was relatively easy (more on that later), and the app worked wonderfully, as did viewing of historic footage. Clearly my home internet was quite capable of delivering the upstream needed, and I viewed the cam from a number of different apps and internet connections without issue and with very limited buffering (1-2 seconds at the most, one time). Alerts worked great.

After the trial period ended and Nest charged me for my first month of service, everything went downhill. Alerts stopped firing. Viewing live was impossible. Viewing historic footage became impossible. The buffering wheel became my best friend. Nest said it was my internet connection, either on the camera or wherever I was connecting from. Nothing had changed on my home network, and I was accessing the camera over 50+ gig LTE and from a business fiber connection, same as before the paid period started, along with the issues. This was NOT on my end, but they refused to continue to help me because it was an internet issue "on my end". Throughput on my home network is the same as it was a month ago. My downstream speeds are the same at the other locations as they were a month ago.

From here, Nest basically ignored the issue, and a quick search reveals this is NOT an uncommon problem. Think about millions of these cameras, each uploading 300 GB of data per month, and millions of users trying to stream that data--I just don't think Nest has the hardware infrastructure to serve that sort of data load, and the company just gives you a "priority lane" during the trial period to fool you into thinking the service is reliable until your return period has ended.

As to installation--Everything was easy and straightforward except for the power cable design. On one end is a huge white block of plastic--the camera. On the other, a huge white block of plastic surrounding a USB plug in the interest of weatherproofing it. This is a wire you're going to have to pass through an opening in your house's structure, and they made the thing nearly an inch in diameter, requiring you to drill a MUCH larger hole than is actually necessary. Luckily, I was able to go in through a plastic attic vent in the eave and down through sheetrock, but it was far more complicated than it should have been, since I was replacing a camera with a normal DC barrel connector wire and had to enlarge all the pass-throughs.

Also, watch your fingers around the magnet mount.

My friend M. Brown say Theft caught on video.

 Had a Christmas package stolen form my driveway, because of the camera we were able to identify the license plate and the thief which ultimately resulted in his arrest. My package was recovered. I posted the video on social media and people were amazed at the quality.

While Elijah Fulton Talk This COULD be the best with a few changes to the services..

If you don't plan on paying for nest aware which is either $100/year or $300/year then this camera isn't very useful. You will either get too many annoying alerts that aren't important or basically no alerts. They don't really tell you how bad the camera is without nest aware.

Without Nest Aware.
You only get live feed with video.
You get (Some) snapshots of alerts. You can only look at the previous 3 hours.
No Zone alerts. (This means you're probably going to get a lot of annoying alerts that don't matter to you, or you can basically not get any alerts)
Since you only have picture snapshots, a lot of alerts won't even have anything in the picture because the motion detected it too late. It also makes it hard to tell what the EVENT is sometimes.

Easy Solution to make this $200 hardware usable...
1) Allow zone alerts.
2) Instead of photo snapshots, make 5-10 second video (that starts just before the motion activation was triggered).
3) Keep more than 3 hrs. I think 24 hrs is the least you should do.

Alternatively.
Do a 5 day feed for $50/year...

Review cssmgt tell us I love it, I hate it - Nest Aware service needs more subscription offers.

I have mixed emotions about this product for a number of reasons. I bought 5 of these with the intention of installing all of them on the same day, so far I installed 2 - I might return the rest. The good - it was very simple to install, offers great video and audio quality, great features for motoring and play back, 2 way audio etc. I was doing some research and this is probably one of the best security cams out there. If you have a strong WiFi signal in many areas (I have access points all over my property) of your home and a power outlet you are good to go. No worries about changing camera batteries, connecting to a proprietary hub with a limited range, etc. Pretty much it is plug and play, almost. The bad: Had issues with the Nest app setting up my first cam on my iPhone (iOS 10) - the app just hung on Looking for WiFi networks. So I plugged the USB end of the cam into my computer, ran the .exe and set it up that way. The USB power connection with the cylinder lock mechanism from the camera to the power connector caused me to drill a hole much larger than theoretically needed when installing the camera wire through walls. They should have offered some sort of disconnect or a locking plug-thing on both ends that way you don't have to drill such a large hole to feed it through. Once I had it installed it worked but then stopped. I needed to reboot my router and change the WiFi channel from 1 to auto - so far so good. My biggest gripe is the Nest Aware cloud storage service to provide monitoring features and storage of your history. I found this out AFTER I bought the product - they need this information to be clear in the description of the product on Amazon's site as it is no where to be found. The problem is that they only offer 2 cloud storage option subscriptions to store your history with their Nest Aware cloud storage offering. Don't get me wrong you get some great features for it but those prices are also a bit high for cloud storage especially if you have multiple cameras. Here is the break-down: Currently as of 10/24/2016:

1) 10 day - $100 per year per camera with a $50 discount for each additional camera

So for me - that would be $300 / year - to store 10 days of history for 5 of my cameras. That I already spent $1000 on.

OR - They also have:

2) 30 day - $300 per year / camera with a discount 50% discount per camera ($150 per year)

This is ridiculous for home consumers who want simple home security. I used this for home security, if nothing happens on that day - it can be overwritten the next day for all I care. Nest - please make a subscription option for home security for owners to choose how much storage they want or offer and entry level package to store 1 or 2 days storage at a reasonable price.

I found out that if you contact Nest and make this suggestion - they will provide your feedback and report it to the Sale organization for consideration. I lived chat with a Nest rep yesterday and that is what he told me.

Review Honest Reviewer said The Pros, Cons and Oks for the Nest Cam (HR)..

Pros:__________
- Weatherproof is right on point as it works flawlessly even after they have gone through numerous winter storms.
- The two-way audio communication quality is clear and loud from at least 15 feet away from the camera. (Decent speakers and the microphone are clear on the other side of the conversation).
- Motion and audio sensor detections are customizable (mainly the motion settings) as you can have the option to begin recording when one of these modes are triggered in a special zone.
- I live on a busy street and the motion detection is one of the best out there for people like me. The reason why is because not only you can customize the zones where you want the motion sensors to be on, but it will take in cars, weather, and a person’s distances into consideration before alerting you.
- False alerts are little to none as you can customize the alerts you want. Of course when squirrels come into play expect an email about them.
- Email alerts are exactly up to date when your camera detects something out of the ordinary. There is no time lag on email alerts, which I love about this camera.
- I can connect my tablet and iPhone on the app and view my cameras at the same time without waiting to log off one device (multiple share options).
- 1080p night vision, enough said as it’s smooth, clear, and detailed.
- The power cord that comes with it is pretty dam long as you can put this camera in a decent place without worrying of power cord distances.
- 130-degree view as, what I did, you can put one in the front and one in the back to give a giant viewing of your house surroundings.
- Wireless and Bluetooth connectivity is built-in and fast. Also, both provide low energy consumption.
- 24/7 live video, what else can you ask for.
- Nest Aware subscription is a must because you can view your stored recordings anywhere in the world without having to be at home.
- The subscription is also great to have because of its persona alert settings where it will notify you when someone is coming near the camera or is in the frame (you can customize the setting and notifications as well).
- Not that hard to install, relatively easy
- Mobile app and web portal are easy to walk through and are not complex to navigate to your live camera viewing or your past recordings.
- The speaker and microphone are built in front of the camera. Good design.
- Under the cloud plan, you can view any recording. When they mean 24/7 they mean 24/7 of recordings.
- The mobile alert option is my prefer option as it’ll pop right on my phone to let me know what’s going on.
- Have to leave your house in a hurry, the beauty of this camera is that it’ll recognize when you’re leaving and will turn on the begin recording (those who want to conserve power this will be a great option for you) but keep in mind you need to have the app for this to work.
- Can also set different times of the day or in the week to turn or off your cameras. I find this useful as I don’t really need to turn on my cameras if I’m staying at home all day.
- No delay in live streaming. Tested this out by logging onto my iPhone and watching my live view while facing the camera. No delay at all.

Cons and Oks:__________
- After the free subscription trial you lose a hell of a lot of great features in the pros list.
- Non-subscribers: you’re going to get access only snapshots that are triggered by sound and motion sensors. No more 24/7 recordings but instead you have a three-hour history of snapshots.
- You need a good internet connection as, depending on your provider and router, the image quality will decrease from 1080-720-360.
- Installing it outside will require you to buy an outdoor power box unless you’re creative on fixing this issue.
- Non-subscribers: no more custom motion and sound detection zones.
- The farther you install it away from your house the weaker the Wi-Fi connectivity you’re going to get with the camera.
- Make sure that you don’t have a light facing directly at the camera as I discovered that the sensors within the camera can mistake nighttime as daytime. The outcome will not enable its night vision.
- No memory card slot. If your power goes out or you don’t have enough cloud storage, you’re screwed.
- Non-subscribers: will lose “person alerts” as well as the option to share clips that you had stored in the past.
- It’s built in magnetic installation process makes it super easy to steal.
- Power cord doesn’t look pretty; I wish it had the option to function with batteries.

Bottom Line:__________

You’re facing a double edge sword. If you get this camera and will pay for the subscription you’re going to get one of the best cameras out on the market right now. 24/7 no lag security cameras are nowhere in this market and you can customize almost anything you want regarding what the camera alerts you with. But a majority of these great features are only available with a subscription and cloud storage.

If you get this camera and will not pay for the subscription you’re getting only half of what you paid for. A majority of the features will not be open to you as your camera will only produce snap pictures instead of 24/7 video recording. It’ll be a heavy blow as when you buy a camera this high in price you expect to experience what you paid for (I’m talking to you “Star Wars Battlefront”).

Overall I don’t like that I have to continue to pay more for a high price security camera in order to fully experience it. I also wish that it had a battery and memory card option where if the power goes out my cameras will still record. In other words, it doesn’t have a backup power saver. But I will say the subscription experience is indeed incredible to have as no stone will be left unturned. If you’re tight on money I recommend that you only buy a month pass of the subscription (I don’t know if they have a week pass) before your vacation, or be sure to pay yearly to experience it fully. Verdict: It’s a great camera set but depending on your income you may be facing a double edge sword.

Hopefully I was a help to you.
Love,
Honest Reviewer

Another customer kbs125 experience Great camera, disappointed with cord and privacy policy!.

UPDATE: 8/26/19
The cameras continue to operate wonderfully, but I can no longer endorse them due to Google/Nest’s recent change to their privacy policies. They have disabled the ability for the user to control the status light on the front of the camera. This is the light that shows that the camera is on, and it now blinks when the video is being viewed via the app or online. This completely changes the usefulness of this camera as a security device, drawing attention to its presence by a bright green light. Of course, I could cover up the light with tape or some other means, but I shouldn’t have to.

UPDATE: 3/8/18
Nest has now introduced other pricing options for the Nest Aware recording service. The 5 day plan is $5 monthly for the first camera, and $3 for each additional camera. They also offer annual pricing. We switched to the 5 day, and feel it is a much better value.

We’ve had the cameras installed for a year and a half now, and they’re still going strong. Other than occasional blips of WiFi connectivity, we’re had no issues with the cameras at all. Recommend them to everyone. We’re also picking up the new Nest Hello doorbell camera.

UPDATE: 9/8/17
I figured I'd give a quick update now that I've had the cameras for about a year and they've been through summer and winter. I've been very pleased with the cameras - in fact, we added more and are now up to 5 of them installed on our property. The video quality has been exceptional - both day and night - even in below freezing and 100+ degree temperatures. We've had occasional situations where a camera has gone offline, but I attribute that to a flaky WiFi signal and not necessarily the camera.

Regarding the Nest video recording service, we pay the monthly fee for all of our cameras. The cameras are a key part of our home security, and I view the cost of recording as no different than paying for a security monitoring service. I guess it really depends on what you intend to use the cameras for, but for me it is worth it to be able to review past events and set up custom activity zones and notifications. I agree that it would be nice if Nest would offer additional options regarding length of storage (currently limited to 10-day or 30-day options). I seldom need to review anything other than same or prior day.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I'm a longtime user of Dropcam and Nest products having owned several indoor cameras, 2 different generations of thermostats, and smoke detectors. I've been waiting for years for Nest to announce an outdoor camera, and eagerly snapped up several of them when they were announced. I just got around to installing the first yesterday, above my front door.

The camera itself is very solid and seems durable for the outdoors. The attached cable is about 10 feet long and ends in a USB male connector which attaches to a female USB port on a second length of cord - amounting to 25 feet of cord total. The box also includes all the clips, wall anchors, screws you'll need for most installations.

In the simplest of installations, you'd mount your camera in the desired location and then run the cord to an outdoor power outlet, securing the cord along the way with the included clips. In other instances, a hole might be drilled through the exterior wall or into attic space (7/8" is required to pass the connector through) and the cord connected to a power source inside, thereby hiding most or all of it.

In my situation, our home was built with cat5e wiring to various exterior points specifically for connecting security cameras. I wanted to use this wiring so I was able to use a power over ethernet (POE) splitter and injector (bought on Amazon) to run power to the camera and then connected the splitter to the camera's power cable using a USB adapter. It worked flawlessly. Including a link to the adapter. WS-POE-USB-Kit for iPad or Tablet, Remote USB Charger Via PoE Ethernet Cable up To 328 Feet With 5 Volts 10 Watts and Female USB

My biggest gripe about my installation is the length of cable that I needed to conceal. Because the cable is permanently attached to the camera itself (which isn't inherently a bad thing, and probably has to do with waterproofing), installations like mine which don't require the cable to span a long distance to connect to power end up with a long mess of extra cord.

I ended up buying a weatherproof electrical box at the local home improvement store, mounting it near the camera, and tucking the cables inside (see picture). It looks clean, but it would have been nice to not have to take that extra step. I'll probably paint the box eventually to better match the brick color. For my other installs I plan to route the cable through attic space which will fully conceal it. It would be nice if Nest offered a shorter or alternative cord option, but I made it work.

Aside from the physical installation, Nest makes it simple to connect and configure the camera to your home wifi. Download the Nest app, select the option to add a new device, and scan the QR code on the camera. The only remaining step is to enter your wifi password, and everything connects automatically. Using the app you can view your camera's live feed, view past motion events (still images if you don't subscribe to the Nest Aware service to record your video), configure settings like night vision, sound, etc., as well as turn the camera off and on (if you ever need to).

Overall, I'm very happy with the camera. The image quality is great - full 1080p HD. I appreciate the option to receive motion and/or sound alerts, which I can customize with zones to minimize "false alarms" from passing cars, etc. There is also a built in speaker and microphone, so you can talk through the camera to "visitors" - invited or otherwise.

I've tried other camera options - ones with a DVR, Arlo (feared the batteries dying and hated the motion activated recording). Nest wins hands down!

As G-Man say Nice but could be better.

I own three indoor nest cameras that I primarily use to keep an eye on my pets while I'm away. I decided to purchase the long-awaited outdoor nest cam. I have to say that I'm not impressed with the video quality. The picture looks sharp and bright but I could not give a detailed description of an intruder if I had to and that's during the day, during darkness, using night vision, forget it. Also the algorithm on this motion detection is weak. I get a motion alarm every time a fly or a nat gets near the camera, nearly every few seconds. The USB plug casing is so bulky I had to use a 1" huge PVC conduit to run the cable through. I've included a couple of images straight from my iPhone as a sample.
The number one reason for only three stars is the price for their nest aware recording. The first camera goes for $10 a month for a 10-day recording. Every camera after that is $5 a month. Now with four cameras I pay $25 a month, that's the price of a fully monitored alarm service.
PROS:
Easy installation, Wireless, records to a cloud, self-monitoring on a smart phone.
CONS:
Price of recording for multiple cams, Picture pixalized at zoom, Magnet mount not secured enough, cable and plug too bulky for a clean install.

My friend ColeOglesbee tell us I decided to go with the Nest being that it had better and more reviews than the Canary.

I was in the market for an outdoor security camera and debated between the Nest Outdoor Camera and the Canary Flex. I decided to go with the Nest being that it had better and more reviews than the Canary. I received the camera on a Friday afternoon and installed it the following morning about 10:30am. Within 24 hours we captured video of a man searching our vehicles. The vehicles were locked and nothing valuable was in them. The suspect came Sunday morning at 5:45am. The Nest app sent me the notification stating that it detected activity, but I never heard my phone. When I woke up, I sent the video and a still shot of the suspect to my neighbor who happens to be captain of our local police department. It's now Wednesday and they already have him identified. I was kind of hesitant about spending $180 for a camera, but it has already paid for itself. Overall, this is a great product and I have already recommended it to many locals in our neighborhood. I'm already trying to decide where I want to install my next camera.

Another customer JandA said Nice looking camera. So-so performance and value. Update: Completely misses obvious events (people). Warranty not honored..

So I've had it for a month now and my free trial of Nest Aware just expired. Not sure if I'll sign up for the service ($100/year for 10 days or $300 per year for 30 days of recorded history) even though you lose at least half of the usefulness of the system without that service. They ought to give you at least an hour or two of recorded history so you can really see the events that they notify you about. Instead all you get is the snapshot which doesn't always capture the event well. The camera is OK but not spectacular. The picture is clear but not so much that you could identify a stranger from it. Too often it's difficult to tell what triggered the events as I often can't see any movement. I suppose it could be getting triggered by sound even though I've set it to not notify me of sound events. Too often the snapshot they send with the email doesn't show what the trigger was. I agree with other reviewers that the USB connector was a poor design choice requiring a 3/4"+ hole for it to pass through. They could have done that much better. I do like that you can flip the picture 180 degrees as I mounted mine with the cable going up. The "walkie talkie" talk/listen method is poor at best especially with the ~2 second delay in both the video and sound making that feature virtually unusable. I've got excellent signal strength on my WiFi and it has 25Mbs down and 5Mbs up so that's not the problem. Not sure what would have been so hard for them to make it full duplex. They ought to provide the ability to hardwire the network to avoid weak signal issues as not everyone has great signal strength where they need the camara. They'd probably sell more cameras if they had that as people could put the cameras anywhere without worrying about the WiFi.

Update: If I knew then what I know now I wouldn't have bought it. I learned recently that the camera completely misses obvious events. Several times recently I had walked directly by my camera but my timeline shows NO events. No person, no activity, nothing. I reviewed the recording on line and can clearly see my self walking up to the camera but for some reason Nest misses the event. Nothing else was going on at the time so this is not a case of an event getting lost in a lot of activity. It just was not recognized by Nest as an event. That is very troubling since I have no way of knowing if an important event was missed and it's virtually impossible to scan the stored recording trying to find an event as even when I knew what time the activity took place the recording review tools are pretty worthless and you end up having to watch the recording in real time to find what you're looking for. I chatted on line with tech support but they were unable to help beyond their suggestion of turning settings off and then on. Really? That's hopeless.

Yet another update: I decided to give Nest Support a chance to address the issue where my camera completely misses obvious events such as a person walking directly up to or away from the camera. I spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone working my way through 1st level support and their manager/supervisor until finally the Nest Senior Support rep said he had to turn it over to the engineers because he could not figure out why it wasn't working. I provided detailed video evidence of the missed events and they agree it's not working but they don't know why and they won't replace the camera under warranty. The bottom line here is that Nest does not honor their warranty.

Yet another update: I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, Nest contacted me the next day. I spent the next week jumping through their hoops trying different things so they could figure out what was wrong. They weren't able to so they agreed to refund my money. They even paid for the return shipping. Although it did take 6 weeks for the refund check to arrive, it did arrive. As of today Nest Labs has a D- rating on BBB. Well earned if you ask me as the level of effort required to get their warranty honored was far too excessive.

Review Whatever tell us Outdoor Camera is great. Nest Cloud Services okay..

Updated: 01/29/18. My subscription was about to end and I was planning to cancel. But then I noticed that Nest updated the iPhone app from 5.15 to 5.17 within the last couple months. So I decided to give Nest another chance. I deleted the Nest app and reinstall the latest update (I decided to delete the app to make sure I have a clean install). I also reset/reconfigured my 4 cameras. And finally, I factory reset my Ubiquiti network equipment. It took my entire weekend to reconfigure everything. It was painful but I didn't want to dump my $1K investment without one last ditch to make it work.

AND.... it works.

I have been monitoring it for the last few weeks. Video buffering (blue ring of death) is much quicker (less than 5 seconds most of the time. Prior to the fix was 60+ seconds all the time). App responds quicker on wifi and LTE. The overall experience is much better (day to night comparison). I am not sure what fixed or resolved my issue with the Nest Cloud services. It could be the new updates from Nest or some bad original configs in the cameras or the network. It could be the fact that I reset/rebooted everything solved the problem too.

Anyway, I am glad that it has been working for the past few weeks. I have changed my rating to 4 stars since I am satisfied how the entire Nest system is working for me at this time.

Orginal review: 11/14/17 1 star - I bought 4 outdoor Nest cameras. I have 200Mb Up/Down internet. I have the Ubiquiti network gears and APs.

This review is after 9+ months of usage. These 1080p cameras are very good during the daytime and nighttime. The live feed and video recording are very clean and sharp. The speaker on the camera is louder than all other cameras I had in the past. The microphone is sensitive enough to pick up faint sound in the surrounding area. Setup was simple enough. If this review is all about the cameras ONLY, then I would give the rating of 4 stars (I hate the fat power cords, that I had to drill some big holes through my walls to get the UBS dongles through.) However, this review is about the cameras and the cloud services as a complete system/ecosystem.

My issues are mostly with the cloud services. Nest aware is okay on most features. However, on a typical bright day with a slight breeze in my backyard, the sun casts shadows of moving trees branches. Nest would send me tons of alert notifications. I have turned off this notification out of annoyance. Video recording works very well but my BIGGEST complaint is about accessing the live feeds (technically, there is about a 1 - 2 second delay due to Internet latency) or the recorded videos. Most of the time, I get the blue rings (video buffering). I usually have to wait between 30 - 60 seconds. If I wait more than 60 seconds, I usually close out and restart the app. This issue has been happening on iPhone 6s, 7, or on my PCs. The problem happens when I am using home wifi, work wifi, or out around about on LTE. It happens all the time. My most frustrating times were during the events when I needed to check for the alerts right away, by the time I got to the live feed, 60 seconds already passed. Then I tried to access the recording, I waited for another 30 – 60 seconds. Imagine at 2 AM, you receive an alert in a zone that suppose to be cleared. You click on the Nest app on your phone and you see the blue ring for couple minutes. I can tell you though couple minutes seem like a very long time. :(

The subscriptions for 4 cameras are not cheap with Nest. I am okay with the cost but I want the services to work at least 99% of the time without the annoying blue circles. Without the Nest cloud services, these cameras are just paperweights.

I searched Nest website and forum for a solution. What recommended was to turn down the video quality. Are you kidding me? I bought $200 per camera and paid expensive subscription fees and I need to turn down the video quality to work better. FYI - my 200MB up/down Internet and $1K network are not the problems.

Unless Nest addresses their cloud performance issues, I am hoping to save some of you some money and time.

If you think I did something wrong, I would love to hear some recommendations, if I get better performance, I will be more than glad to change this review to positive.

Best wishes,
Mike