Blink Outdoor 4 Review

The Blink Outdoor 4 is a battery-powered camera that Blink claims can monitor for up to two years on default settings before changing batteries. It also supports the use of a weather-resistant power adapter for hard-wired applications and can be outfitted to accept four AA batteries, instead of the default two, to allow for more time between battery swaps.

Video Quality

Although the Blink Outdoor 4 captures footage in 1080p, I found its image quality to be lacking in sharpness and clarity, especially compared to other cameras we tested. The image clarity is okay up close, but as things get further away, the image is quite pixelated and blown out, failing to capture crucial details like the letters on a license plate.

Color accuracy was also problematic on the Outdoor 4 in our testing. Red looked orange, green was bordering lime green, and in general, all of the colors were much brighter shades than the actual chart we used for reference. The Outdoor 4 does not have the capability to pan or tilt, but it does feature a wide 143-degree field of view that does a good job of capturing a large view in front of it.

Low-light video quality is a weakness for the Outdoor 4. It loses a significant amount of detail, and I'm not very confident that the video it captures would be clear enough to be useful in identifying a person's face or a vehicle's license plate.

Monitoring Performance

The Blink Outdoor 4 seemed to struggle in our monitoring performance testing, where almost every other camera delivered perfect scores. It was able to identify motion at 2, 5, and 10 feet but failed at distances of 15 and 20 feet.

Motion zones are created and managed within the Blink app, where you're presented with a grid-style interface where you can select blocks within the grid to define motion zones. There is a basic and an advanced selection mode, which is nice, but I found it quite tedious as you have to individually select each box. The Outdoor 4's feature set consists of only a few core features: motion detection, person detection, and two-way audio capability.

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Ease of Use

The Blink app is intuitive and easy to navigate, allowing users simple access to features like camera live view, two-way audio, and the ability to save clips. I appreciate that Blink doesn't constantly bombard users with advertising. Upon first opening the app, you're presented with a home screen where you see a preview of each camera in your system. It's a shame that the thumbnails are not a live view of the camera feed, but they do update occasionally.

When it comes to power, the Blink Outdoor 4 is quite versatile, being a battery-powered camera by default, and can also be powered with a hard-wired connection with the purchase of the Blink Weather-Resistant Power adapter. There is also an accessory option to double the battery life of the Outdoor 4.

Be mindful when changing batteries, as I tested both lithium and traditional alkaline AA batteries in the Outdoor 4, and it only lasted four days on the alkaline batteries. Blink only recommends the use of lithium batteries in this camera, and I agree. Blink also claims that the battery life of the Outdoor 4 can last up to two years on default settings and under normal circumstances. Our testing of battery life over four days (albeit with constant motion) showed a battery drain of 12%, so I think the claim of two years is quite a stretch. Based on our testing results, you could expect a little over a month of battery life with the two-battery setup that comes standard with the Outdoor 4. Some of the more efficient battery-powered cameras we tested lasted three times as long as the Outdoor 4, revealing its battery efficiency to be below average.

Should you Buy the Blink Outdoor 4?

The Blink Outdoor 4 isn't a bad security camera if you're already a Blink product user and are happy with how their app functions. I like that it's capable of two-way audio and has the ability to use a variety of power sources. I also like that it's usable without a paid monthly subscription and has the option to utilize local storage if you purchase a Blink Sync Module 2. You can also unlock cloud storage and additional features with a monthly subscription to the Blink Basic or Blink Plus plan. In terms of functionality, the Outdoor 4 covers all the basics, delivering mediocre video quality and clarity, but is ultimately outperformed by many other competitors within the same price range.

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