I apologize in advance for the long post. I hope my review helps some of you with your decision on a camera.
Recently I bought two camera brands to be used on my tank. Blink Mini and 2 different Wyze cameras.
First the bad. Long story short…. Blink was terrible. Took hours of back and forth to get setup Turned out the blink cameras with newer firmware would not connect to my Archer gaming router unless I used an all numeric password. Not a big deal for me since I’m not using my primary network for the cameras but it did cause a 2 day delay with hours of tech support help to figure out. The WiFi radios in the camera are also very weak. The cameras would not connect to my 2.4ghz network located 20’ away. It took several pushes of the reset button to get them to connect. Once they connected I was left extremely disappointed, the picture quality was terrible. Advertised as 1080p but their compression algorithm left much to be desired. The image was over exposed and the auto white balance just couldn’t handle the blue spectrum on my tank using radions on the ab+ schedule.
Next up we’re the Wyze cameras. I had 2. The first one is the Wyze OG. I bought this because of the built in spotlight. I wanted a way of viewing my tank at night without the IR lighting reflecting off the glass. The camera took about 30 seconds to add to my network using both Bluetooth and WiFi. The other camera was a Wyze v3. It took slightly longer to connect as there is no Bluetooth connectivity but it used a QR code generated in the app to connect. This worked very well just slightly slower than the OG. Once up and running I was impressed by the video quality. (Pictures below) Despite the heavy blue spectrum the video quality and auto white balance settings were quite useable even without adding a gel filter. What really blew me away was the spotlight. It’s a fairly dim light, but wow! I can see clearly into my tank in full darkness. The traditional IR night vision works great for the rear of my tank and the angle of view is perfect. I can verify everything is running and see my skimmer collection cup as well as my ato. It’s a super wide image, several degrees wider than the blink mini was. I ended up liking the Wyze much more than I thought I would. So much so that I’m replacing my ring doorbell and outdoor cameras with the Wyze just so everything can be on one app. Wyze other cameras that can pan tilt zoom or are capable of 4K video but both were backordered. I will post an update once I receive mine.
the Blink minis were 35.00 each. The Wyze OG cam was 24.00 at Home Depot and the V3 was 35.00. Not sure why the OG was cheaper as it is the newer model. Both are corded indoor outdoor cameras. The 4K pro cam is 55.00 and the pan tilt zoom V3 is also 35.00. Overall I am extremely impressed by the price and quality of Wyze. Both Wyze cameras offer color night vision which I did not test on my tank but it worked well outside. The V3 was better than the OG in this instance.
front of tank max lighting for my schedule
Front of tank with orange gel over lens
Night view with spotlight. No lights on in room.
Rear of tank during the day. No light on in room.
Full darkness with IR night vision.
Blink camera. Too blue to be useable without a filter.
Blink with orange gel. Removes the blue cast but over exposes too much.
rear of tank. Heavy blue cast. Tough to see details.
Recently I bought two camera brands to be used on my tank. Blink Mini and 2 different Wyze cameras.
First the bad. Long story short…. Blink was terrible. Took hours of back and forth to get setup Turned out the blink cameras with newer firmware would not connect to my Archer gaming router unless I used an all numeric password. Not a big deal for me since I’m not using my primary network for the cameras but it did cause a 2 day delay with hours of tech support help to figure out. The WiFi radios in the camera are also very weak. The cameras would not connect to my 2.4ghz network located 20’ away. It took several pushes of the reset button to get them to connect. Once they connected I was left extremely disappointed, the picture quality was terrible. Advertised as 1080p but their compression algorithm left much to be desired. The image was over exposed and the auto white balance just couldn’t handle the blue spectrum on my tank using radions on the ab+ schedule.
Next up we’re the Wyze cameras. I had 2. The first one is the Wyze OG. I bought this because of the built in spotlight. I wanted a way of viewing my tank at night without the IR lighting reflecting off the glass. The camera took about 30 seconds to add to my network using both Bluetooth and WiFi. The other camera was a Wyze v3. It took slightly longer to connect as there is no Bluetooth connectivity but it used a QR code generated in the app to connect. This worked very well just slightly slower than the OG. Once up and running I was impressed by the video quality. (Pictures below) Despite the heavy blue spectrum the video quality and auto white balance settings were quite useable even without adding a gel filter. What really blew me away was the spotlight. It’s a fairly dim light, but wow! I can see clearly into my tank in full darkness. The traditional IR night vision works great for the rear of my tank and the angle of view is perfect. I can verify everything is running and see my skimmer collection cup as well as my ato. It’s a super wide image, several degrees wider than the blink mini was. I ended up liking the Wyze much more than I thought I would. So much so that I’m replacing my ring doorbell and outdoor cameras with the Wyze just so everything can be on one app. Wyze other cameras that can pan tilt zoom or are capable of 4K video but both were backordered. I will post an update once I receive mine.
the Blink minis were 35.00 each. The Wyze OG cam was 24.00 at Home Depot and the V3 was 35.00. Not sure why the OG was cheaper as it is the newer model. Both are corded indoor outdoor cameras. The 4K pro cam is 55.00 and the pan tilt zoom V3 is also 35.00. Overall I am extremely impressed by the price and quality of Wyze. Both Wyze cameras offer color night vision which I did not test on my tank but it worked well outside. The V3 was better than the OG in this instance.
front of tank max lighting for my schedule
Blink camera. Too blue to be useable without a filter.
Blink with orange gel. Removes the blue cast but over exposes too much.
rear of tank. Heavy blue cast. Tough to see details.
