Ezviz C8C security camera review

There’s plenty of choice when it comes to the smart security market, with brands such as Arlo and Ring offering a plethora of gadgets designed to ensure you can keep an eye on your home when you’re not there. However, there are plenty of lesser-known, but no less capable brands hoping to give more established names a run for their money, including Ezviz. 

The Ezviz C8C is an outdoor home security camera that's designed to offer professional levels of quality in an affordable and relatively easy-to-use package. The result is an imposing-looking camera that should help to deter would-be burglars while keeping you in the know wherever you are thanks to the support of am app.

To be clear, this isn't a security camera that offers a movement-based alarm. But if you're looking for that then you can buy dedicated alarms which are not only affordable but are designed to do just that one task, without the need for you to get involved.

The Ezviz C8C is more about giving you control and keeping you informed. So while a security alarm may or may not deter someone for going further onto your property, this camera will get their image and let you take immediate action to keep your space secure.

At $99.99 / £129.99, the Ezviz C8C is good value as it offers a full 352-degree pan and tilt system which works with a high-quality Full HD resolution. It's also pretty simple to get up and running thanks to mains power and WiFi connectivity, too.

Ezviz C8C price and availability

•  List price: $99.99 / £129.99

The Ezviz C8C is priced at $99.99 / £129.99 and is available to buy from online retailers including  Walmart and Amazon.

As we've already mentioned, footage from the camera can be stored on a micro SD card, but there is also the option for online cloud storage, which costs between $3.99 / £4.99 and $15.99 / £9.99 per month depending on how many cameras and how much storage length you need.

Design

• 352-degree field of view
• Local storage to a micro SD 
• Mains-powered

To look at the Ezviz C8C isn't the prettiest camera but it's not ugly either. It straddles the line between looking too minimal to be professional and too ugly to be worthy of living in your home. As such it's imposing, with that baseball-sized round form, but looks well designed with the sweeping symmetrical antennas and white on black finish.

Mounting is something that can be a problem for many people and as such Ezviz has made a point of keeping things simple here. It does require screwing into a surface, but if you have a point ready – ideally wood – then you can just screw the provided four screws into place and this camera will go nowhere. When you consider that this will offer a 352-degree horizontal view and 95-degree vertical view, even after mounting you'll have plenty of movement to play with.

The device is mains powered so will need to be close to a socket and while it can be hardwired to a router it is also Wi-Fi capable. Although the range isn't much better but more on that in the performance section. It also hs a micro SD card slot, for local storage of the video it records.

Usefully, the Ezviz C8C does come with a security light, primarily designed to make your view of a detected person clearer but it can also double as a great deterrent, coming on automatically. This can be set to deter people further with automatically strobing or manually controlled strobes using the app.

There is a built-in microphone for picking up audio which is useful for monitoring but can be frustrating as there's no speaker. That means you won't get to have a two-way chat which is quite a commonly expected feature now that doorbell brands like Ring have made it normal.

Performance

• Easy to install
• Excellent picture quality
• Color night vision

Getting set up and running is a surprisingly easy process. As mentioned above the physical install is simple. But then running the power cable is also easy – this can be done into a wall or to an outside socket. Everything is IP65 rated for waterproofing and you even get a special waterproofing box included to make sure you don't need to get any extras. That said the power cable is quite short and the connection could do with some tape to make sure it's waterproof.

You can hardwire the internet or use WiFi but it's worth noting that unless you're close to the router this won't work well. Pop in a microSD card and/or connect to the cloud for online backed up video. Having the option to use one or both is a great touch for those that don't want to pay the subscription fee.

The camera itself uses a 105-degree lens. This isn't the widest, so it's a good thing that pan and tilt availability is there. It might be nice to have a wider angle lens though as that would mean less need to move the camera to see more. Although if you're opting for a moveable unit you're likely not going to worry about this too much.

Image quality is excellent with that 1080p video feed which looks clear and bright in the day – handling exposure well even when facing the sun – and also works well with night vision. The color night vision mode is a great touch and helps if you want a clear visual of an intruder, for example. 

The fact this camera uses AI to detect humans and automatically activates is a welcome feature. This means the light can auto-activate to ward off intruders but also to get a clearer image of them at night for your records.

While video quality is great and audio detection is decent, the lack of speaker on the camera can be a let-down. As such you won't have the option for two-way talk and with no siren either, you have no way or making sounds. There is the light, which can be strobed at an intruder, making it clear you're there, but it still feels a little helpless.

Privacy Mode is a nice touch, which will have the camera turn and face inwards so you can see that nothing is being recorded. Having this automatically activate when you are detected, if you want, would have been a nice touch that is missing here.

The C8C works with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, allowing you to get video notifications you can view on any screen-based devices that support those assistants.

App

• Great joystick control
• Adjustable notifications
• No two-way talk

We loved the simplicity of the app which just works well. The ability to control the camera using a virtual joystick is a great, fun touch. Using your finger you can move the camera and the response is near instant making looking around a genuinely useful feature.

There are a host of controls, despite this being easy to use. An important one is the notifications settings, as on basic setup you may find your phone is alerting you far too much. Set motion detection areas, adjust the sensitivity and even set the notification schedule to get this just right. 

Access to clips is easy, through the thumbnail images in the app, although you won't be able to download them from here, just view the feed at that time. To download select the clips you want then download where you can access them from your phone's video player. 

Night vision options from the app are also a welcome addition. This lets you pick to have the spotlight on all the time at night, to have the IR lights only or the have the IR on with spotlights coming on when motion is detected. The last one appeared to be the most useful of the options.

Should I buy the Ezviz C8C?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

First reviewed: October 2021

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