Eufy’s new 360-degree 4K camera doesn’t need Wi-Fi or power outlets

Eufy’s new 360-degree 4K camera doesn’t need Wi-Fi or power outlets

Eufy

Anker’s Eufy brand has started shipping a new 4K security camera that should offer 360-degree views, panning 344 degrees and tilting up to 70 degrees. It could also run indefinitely without wired internet or power.

That’s because in addition to Wi-Fi, the $249.99 Eufy 4G LTE Cam S330 can connect to nearby LTE towers instead, and comes with a detachable solar panel that supposedly needs just two hours under the sun to keep the 36.2Wh battery charged. Since the battery also lasts up to a month on a full charge, according to Anker, it could keep going even through the rainy season.

On paper, the S330 seems to address many of the pain points we encountered with earlier LTE-capable cameras from both Eufy and Arlo for around the same starting cost. While you could totally mount it inside or outside your primary residence for wire-free security, the design and functionality could make it even more ideal for remote areas on your property — perhaps at the far corner of a garden, a nearby storage shed, or other areas Wi-Fi won’t reach. Aiding that venture, Eufy suggests it can withstand harsh temperatures and elements hot or cold (-4 to 122 degree Fahrenheit).

It builds on the Eufy Starlight by including an EIOTClub SIM card that should automatically hop between Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, depending on whichever is serving up the strongest LTE signal. That functionality carries an ongoing fee of $19.90 per 2GB or $139.99 per 24GB after you’ve used up 100MB of trial data, but you can also use your own SIM. Eufy estimates it’ll eat about 700MB of data per month, assuming you don’t have an extraordinary barrage of traffic constantly triggering recordings.

Image: Eufy

The 4K camera offers 8x zoom and uses activity zones with AI-powered vehicle and human detection to cut back on false alarms from critters and other incidental activity. There’s also an integrated 100-lumen spotlight surrounding the sensor that can illuminate areas up to 26 feet away. Rounding out its security features are two-way audio and the ability to sound an alarm, all controllable through the mobile app and with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa voice control.

You can save up to eight months of recordings locally to the included 32GB microSD card (the camera supports up to 128GB cards), but the S330 sadly doesn’t cooperate with third-party NAS devices. It’s usable with Eufy’s $149.99 HomeBase 3 S380, however, which supports up to 16TB of storage and enables facial recognition. The only catch for such privilege is that it requires you to stay in Wi-Fi mode. It’s also worth noting that you can only switch between LTE and Wi-Fi manually using the app, so you can’t rely on it as an automatic failsafe.