Blink Mini 2 Review

Video Quality

Unfortunately, our testing revealed some confusing results showing that the video clarity of the Blink Mini 2 is inferior to that of its predecessor, the Blink Mini. Every letter of the Snellen Chart is pixelated, and I couldn't even read half of the letters on the second line.

Although the Mini 2 captures images in 1080p, the images are quite pixelated, which makes the color accuracy appear smudged. That said, the color accuracy is somewhat consistent, but the pixelation makes it look pretty poor. Overall, the image quality is clearer than its predecessor, the Blink Mini, aside from poor clarity in certain lighting conditions and inconsistent color accuracy results.

Monitoring Performance

The Blink Mini 2 delivered consistent motion tracking performance in our testing, recognizing motion from two, five, 10, 15, and 20 feet away without issue. Motion zones for the Mini 2 are established within the Blink App using a grid-style system that allows for basic selection or an advanced mode that offers a tighter grid for higher precision.

The Mini 2 incorporates an infrared LED and a spotlight to allow for color or traditional nighttime video capture. Aside from that, the feature set of the Blink is quite minimalist, with only basic motion and person recognition, as well as two-way audio.

Ease of Use

When you first open the Blink app, it defaults to the home page where you're presented with a preview of every camera in your system. The camera thumbnails on the home page are not a live view of the camera feed, but a recent screenshot that doesn't update very often. You have to click on each camera in the system to navigate to the live view. Once in the live view, you're presented with a few shortcut options that allow you to use two-way talk features, turn lights on and off, and save clips.

I found it annoying that non-subscription users can only see the live view for five minutes at a time until they have to click through a prompt to continue viewing. In comparison, Blink Basic or Blink Plus subscribers can access live view in 90-minute increments. It may not sound too troublesome, but I found it to be a pain during testing.

At the end of the day, the Blink app is pretty basic but gets the job done. One thing I appreciate about Blink (and Google) is that they don't constantly advertise on their app like others.

Should You Buy the Blink Mini 2?

If you already own a camera in the Blink product family, the indoor/outdoor Mini 2 is a camera that is worth considering to keep all your cameras in one app, but ultimately has less clear and legible image clarity than most other cameras in our lineup. Keep in mind that to use it outdoors, you'll need to purchase the weather-resistant power adapter separately. Although the Mini 2 is available at an accessible price, it's not a particularly great value when compared to other options in the same price range and lags behind the competition in clarity and overall image quality.

What Other Security Cameras Should You Consider?

The Mini 2 won't provide clear enough image quality for everyone. When we reviewed the best security cameras on the market, I found that some cameras within the same price range as the Mini 2, like the Wyze Cam Pan V3, deliver better image clarity and have panning capabilities, allowing users to rotate the camera 360 degrees horizontally and 180 degrees vertically. If you're the type of person who loves bells and whistles with cutting-edge performance (like me), you'll want to check out the Eufy Floodlight Cam E340. It's capable of capturing crystal clear 3k footage, features dual cameras, and delivers incredibly detailed image quality, along with buttery smooth motion tracking capability.