Wyze Cam v4 Review

The Wyze Cam v4 impresses with 2.5k resolution video and a large number of robust monitoring and detection abilities. It's also easy to operate and incredibly affordable. Local storage options give you some flexibility, and its affordable subscription really elevates the overall monitoring capabilities and adds even more value to this security camera.

Video Quality

The Wyze Cam v4 delivers stunning 2.5K Quad-HD (2,560 x 1,440p) video quality that surpasses many higher-priced alternatives on the market.

The daytime video quality is very sharp and vibrant. The light and color balance are also great, with vibrant colors that enhance the overall picture.

Day Quality Night Quality

The night vision video captured by the Wyze Cam v4 is very crisp. The overall nighttime video is well-balanced, and you can clearly see minor details that are hard to see with other high-end cameras. I was particularly impressed with how the Wyze Cam v4 maintained clarity even in near-total darkness, something that many competing cameras struggle with.

It also has a good depth of field, giving you more usable video at greater distances. This depth of field allows the camera to maintain focus on both nearby objects and those further away, providing more comprehensive coverage of your monitoring area. For example, our tests used a porch to monitor the approach of a visitor delivering a package, and while most top cameras do this task well, they can't capture the details of the house across the street in the background the way the v4 can.

Video can also be captured 24/7 with local recording if you insert an SD card up to 512GB, offering significant recording capacity without requiring a subscription. This local storage option provides users with a cost-effective way to maintain a continuous recording history.

The wide field of view, combined with a large depth of field, ensures comprehensive coverage of your space, reducing the need for multiple cameras.

The two small integrated lights on this model generated 25 Lumens at a distance of 1 foot (as measured in my testing), which further enhances the video that the camera can capture when operating in low-light conditions. Supplemental lighting also seems to enhance the color of this unit's night vision. I think the lighting is also a great deterrent for potential intruders.

Monitoring Performance

The Wyze Cam v4 offers great monitoring performance, with a large number of robust features usable without a premium subscription. Out of the box, you'll get basic motion alerts, live viewing, and local storage capabilities without any additional costs beyond the initial purchase, but an affordable subscription really enhances the overall experience, and I highly recommend it.

Enhanced monitoring performance and detections are included with a subscription and allow for automation and enhanced AI detection of things like animals, packages, vehicles, persons, and even a range of sounds.

Our testing revealed the Wyze Cam v4 detected persons consistently at distances of at least 20 feet, while the facial recognition feature worked consistently within a shorter range of 5 feet. A couple of other cameras from our side-by-side testing offered facial recognition at 10 feet, but this was one of the few areas the v4 was outperformed.

My personal experience with Wyze cameras is that the motion tracking works well at double those distances, while pet and person detection is accurate to ranges of about 50 feet, which is mostly what I use my cameras for.

You can use a grid system to set motion detection zones, as well as separate areas within the same field of view. This customization allows you to focus monitoring on specific areas while ignoring others, significantly reducing false alerts. I typically use this feature to ignore a small flag in the middle of my front lawn while maintaining a watchful eye on everything else. The grid system is also more intuitive and effective than the zone creation methods used by several competitors.

The Wyze Cam v4 offers subject tracking, two-way audio, and even sound detection, but lacks package theft detection and out-of-view detection, unlike some floodlight-style security cameras. Sound detections are particularly robust, as the camera can be set to provide notifications of yelling, breaking glass, crying, and even meowing.

This camera is also compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT, making it easy to integrate into existing smart home ecosystems, although the proprietary automation capability will likely be more than adequate for most users. I also find the proprietary App to be very capable. It eliminates the need for other app integrations, and I like to use the automation to detect motion and trigger Wyze lights around my home.

Ease of Use

The Wyze App home screen has a list of devices and is intuitive to navigate, providing quick access to all connected Wyze products, not just cameras. During testing, I found that even less tech-savvy users could easily navigate the interface, but perhaps the most compelling anecdote for how easy the app is to use — my two-and-a-half-year-old is even able to toggle the color of our fireplace lighting, which is a Wyze light bulb, from the list of cameras and devices on the main screen of the app.

Different Wyze devices and cameras can be put into groups, allowing for logical organization of multiple cameras by location or purpose, and the main screen also offers live previews, not just thumbnails.

The app offers comprehensive settings on each camera's page, which makes it easier to adjust settings without having to navigate menus. The Wyze Cam v4 is also 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi compatible, whereas previous versions of Wyze's top model only used 2.4 GHz wireless networks. This dual-band support ensures more stable connections and potentially faster 2.5K Quad-HD video streaming in homes with crowded 2.4 GHz networks.

This camera is wired and needs a nearby outlet. While this limits placement flexibility, the continuous power supply ensures uninterrupted monitoring without the hassle of recharging batteries or unexpected outages due to a dead battery, as I've experienced with competing cameras.

Automations can easily be set up to make camera detections even more useful by triggering other Wyze products without external services like Alexa or IFTTT. The Extensive Events page with video trigger filters enables efficient review of captured footage. During testing, I found this organizational system made it significantly easier to locate specific incidents compared to the chronological-only approaches used by many competitors.

Overall, the Wyze App offers a wide array of features that are easy to use and operate, and my only real complaint is the in-app advertising, which is a bit visually annoying but not too detrimental to the user experience.

Should You Buy the Wyze Cam v4?

The Wyze Cam v4 is an ideal solution for budget-conscious consumers who refuse to compromise on quality and features. This camera is perfectly suited for homeowners and even small businesses looking to expand video surveillance and monitoring without breaking the bank. High-quality camera sensors capture high-resolution 2.5K video during the day and at night. It has a low upfront cost, which includes core functionality, the ability to record locally to an SD card up to 512GB in size, and an affordable subscription plan that enhances monitoring capabilities to a really impressive level.

What Other Security Cameras Should I Consider?

The Wyze Cam v4 stands out for exceptional video quality, reliable monitoring capabilities, an intuitive user experience, and a price point that easily satisfies home security needs on any budget. However, this model does not pan or tilt, and while it has two-way audio, it may not meet the specific needs of somebody looking for a doorbell-style or floodlight-style security camera.