Reviews

Eufy Security EufyCam 2 Pro 2K review: A solid boost in video quality (but nothing else) in this Best Buy exclusive

You’re not seeing double. The Eufy Security EufyCam 2 Pro 2K dual-camera security kit is a near twin of the EufyCam 2 TechHive reviewed earlier this year. The upgrade here is a singular one: Improving the maximum video resolution to 2304 x 1296 pixels compared to 1080p resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) on the regular EufyCam 2. It might not sound like a big boost, but that’s actually a 44 percent increase in the total number of pixels in each frame of the video image—and that can make a real difference when it comes to identifying something suspicious on your property.

Aside from the bump in resolution, literally nothing has changed from the standard EufyCam 2. Sold as a bundle of two cameras and a (required) base station—exclusively available at Best Buy—one of the biggest selling points of the system is the extreme battery life of the wire-free cameras, which Eufy specs at a full year.

While achieving that likely necessitates a fairly minimal usage profile, it’s still impressive. And if you mount the cameras with the included magnetic base, they’re easy to remove when it’s time to top the battery up. The slim, elongated design also makes aiming simple, though it also makes them fairly impossible to position without using the included mounting hardware. If you want a system that can also work as a bookshelf camera, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

The cameras are outfitted to the gills—again, identically to the previous model—with a 140-degree field of view, night vision (though only up to 25 feet), two-way audio, and adjustable motion detection. The cameras feature a solid IP67 rating for outdoor use and feel extremely sturdy (and heavy) in the hand.

The Eufy base station doubles as a siren and includes 16GB of memory for local storage of video clips; a subscription isn’t required unless you find that isn’t enough space. In that case you can opt for one of Eufy’s cloud storage plans, which run $3 to $10 per month depending on how much cloud storage you need. While the base station must be initially configured by being wired to your router via ethernet, you can later disconnect and go wireless. That said, I had trouble with the Wi-Fi connection and found the ethernet option was much more stable. The base station can support up to 16 cameras; additional Pro cams are available for $150 each.

The system works with Alexa and Google Assistant, and now offers HomeKit Secure Video support, letting you save videos to your Apple iCloud account and view them directly on your Apple device. Note, however, that enabling HomeKit Secure Video will automatically make a number of changes to system settings, including turning off the timestamp watermark and turning on the red recording LED.

In setting up and using the Eufy Security EufyCam 2 Pro 2K system I encountered no real issues, aside from the aforementioned hiccup with using the base station in wireless mode. The cameras are easy to pair and are pretty much ready to go out of the box, though I had to tinker with the motion sensitivity settings to keep them from either ignoring everything or firing at the drop of a leaf. Also note that the cameras are set by default to activate only when they detect a person, so if you want broader detection capabilities, be sure to tweak the detection settings.

Of course, if you decided to go with the Pro model instead of the standard EufyCam 2, you’ll probably want to enable the highest-quality video settings, too. You may be surprised that, out of the box, the system doesn’t default to its best quality settings. To enable them, visit the Video Quality menu and ensure Recording Quality is set to 2K HD (this should be the default) and change Streaming Quality from Auto to High.

This will ensure that clips you download from the camera are stored at the highest possible resolution; otherwise, based on my experience, you might find them to be considerably degraded. (Eufy also warns that using these settings can cause “intermittent play,” so prepare accordingly.) If your ISP imposes a bandwidth cap, you should also keep in mind that higher-resolution cameras will consume more bandwidth.

Remember as well that the EufyCam has Eufy Security in the name, and the kit can double as a basic alarm system, though these features are largely turned off by default. The unit integrates with sensors and other security gear that the company markets, so with a little effort (and cash) you can fairly easily upgrade the kit into a full-fledged security system that’s built around video.

All told, the system is just as capable as the earlier EufyCam 2, only with a considerable improvement to video resolution. At press time, the EufyCam 2 kit was selling for $300; the Pro 2K will run you $350. Is a 44 percent improvement in video resolution worth an extra 50 bucks? You make the call.

Eufy boosts video quality in this upgraded camera system, but leaves the rest of the kit unchanged.