The Wyze Pan Cam gives you a pan-and-tilt camera at a low price.
Wyze Pan Cam Review
Indoor security cameras can be pricey, but not if you opt for the Wyze Pan Cam. The Wyze Pan Cam costs a stunningly low $45.05 (at the time of this writing), and for the price, you get a slew of impressive features.
The Wyze Pan Cam has all the regular stuff, like night vision, two-way audio, and 1080p HD resolution, but it can also rotate a full 360º to take in an entire room, and it gives you a 93º vertical field of view to boot.
Amazon.com List Prices (as of 8/24/22 15:34 PST) Full disclaimer
* Event-Based Recording
** Continuous Video Recording
Wyze Pan Cam features
There are some features we expect in every indoor security camera worth its salt: HD resolution, infrared night vision, two-way audio, and digital zoom. The Wyze Pan Cam has all that stuff and more.
Source: Wyze
Along with the essentials, the Wyze Pan Cam offers both cloud and local storage. You can store video clips in the cloud (Wyze gives you 14 days’ worth of storage for free), or you can insert a microSD card and keep your footage totally safe from potential hackers.
If you opt for the microSD card, you can also enable continuous video recording. A lot of security cameras record in motion-based clips, which means you only get a few seconds of video. But the Wyze Pan Cam can keep an eye on everything, 24/7.
Pan functionality
The Wyze Pan Cam has an automatic motion tracking feature, so if it spots something moving, it will follow it with its lens. And this camera’s pan functionality means it can spin around an entire 360º without losing sight of the moving thing (or person).
Sure, that feature’s great for catching intruders, but it’s also great if you want to use the Wyze Pan Cam as a pet cam or a nursery camera. Toddlers and pets both move fast. This way, they never go out of frame.
You can also pan the camera manually through the Wyze mobile app. If you’re away from home and want a full view of your living room, you can scan the entire thing with the press of a button.
Wyze Pan Cam pricing
Price tags don’t get much sweeter than this. For all its features, the Wyze Pan Cam costs a smooth $45 (ish). We’ve seen cameras that charge four times that much for the same features. And they can’t even pan! Ridiculous.
Source: Wyze
If you’re willing to pay more, you can get a camera like the Nest Cam IQ Indoor with more AI features and better image quality. But for the price? The Wyze Pan Cam is an excellent deal.
Wyze Pan Cam home automation
The Wyze Pan Cam doesn’t work with Z-Wave or Zigbee. But it does work with our two favorite smart assistants: Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. (Apple HomeKit fans will have to look elsewhere, as you so often do.)
Source: Wyze
The Wyze Pan Cam also works with IFTTT, which means you can set up recipes to have the camera work with your other smart devices. If you want your smart lights to turn on and your front door to lock when the camera detects motion, you can make a routine for that in IFTTT.
Wyze Lock, Wyze Bulb, and Wyze Plug
Wyze makes a few different smart home devices that will work with your Wyze Pan Cam. You can get a smart door lock, smart light bulbs, and smart wall plugs, all from Wyze. And like everything else Wyze, they’re all really cheap compared to other options.
Wyze Pan Cam installation
The Wyze Pan Cam is pretty easy to install. It connects to your Wi-Fi wirelessly, so you don’t have to plug it into your router. Just create an account in the Wyze app, add the camera, and link it to your network remotely.
Wyze Sense installation steps:
- Download the Wyze app
- Create an account
- Plug in the camera’s power cord
- Select the option to add a device
- Follow the prompts to scan the camera’s QR code
- Put the camera where you want it
For more details on how to install your Wyze Pan Cam, check out Wyze’s setup guide.
Recap: Is Wyze Pan Cam good?
The short answer is yes! For such a cheap camera, the Wyze Pan Cam delivers the goods. All of the camera’s basic features work well, and its pan-and-tilt functionality makes it easy to monitor a whole room with just one device.
Features: The Wyze Pan Cam has all the basic features we expect in security cameras, including HD resolution, two-way audio, and night vision. The camera can also track motion automatically.
Pricing: Prices don’t get much lower. The Wyze Pan Cam is one of the cheapest home security cameras around, and it’s an excellent value for what you get.
Home automation: The Wyze Pan Cam works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT. It also integrates with Wyze’s other smart home devices, including the Wyze Lock and Wyze Bulb.
Installation: Installation is pretty easy. You just have to link the Wyze Pan Cam with the Wyze app on your phone and add it to your Wi-Fi network.