Sonoff Cam Slim WiFi smart security camera – FullHD, Night vision, RTSP
Sonoff’s second security camera is already light years better than its predecessor…but maybe only on the outside. Tiny, articulating mount, large and multi-folding base, USB-C, RTSP…but where’s the fault then? Let’s see the details.
🔥Where to buy:
ITEAD / Sonoff online shop (12% OFF coupon code: WPBARKACS)
https://randomsmartthings.com/smarthome/camslim
What’s in the box, what do you need to know?
Let’s start with a little joke…the original name is S-CAM…It was funny for me at least, but I guess they spent most of the money on the mounting system which is awesome to be fair for the Slim cam, S-Cam…ok, Cam Slim 🙂
However, contrary to its name, the Sonoff Cam Slim is a very good basic security camera for only 26.90 USD (at the time of writing this review and without any coupon codes).
The box contains the camera itself, installation instructions, a 3M adhesive sheet and a ridiculously short USB-C power cable with a 90-degree end.
As you can see from the picture, the camera has a really modern look, with a foot that is sized for the mounting methods and removable from the housing, so a tiny little camera can be placed elsewhere as a “cube”.
I’ve already mentioned the base a few times: as soon as you pop off the bottom you’ll see the holes for the grip, but what’s interesting is that on the other side there’s a large magnetic metal plate, so you can put it on metal surfaces without drilling. And, as a pleasant surprise, there’s also a 1/4-inch connection on the bottom if you just want to mount it on a stand.
It has a 1080p or FullHD sensor for resolution and a 130-degree angle of view, which is plenty for your purposes. It has a built-in microphone and speaker, allowing two-way communication.
For communication it uses the usual 2.4 Ghz Wifi network, but here it uses some strange voice pairing which is funny at first, but it doesn’t always want to get it right on the first try.
Its infrared lights seemed sufficient in night vision tests and for local recording there is a microSD card slot that can take up to 256GB.
RTSP is provided, which is great if you want to link the incoming footage to anything. Home Assistant panel, a local NVR recorder unit.
Of course, you can also set up motion detection via the eWeLink app and connect it to other devices as part of an automation chain (e.g. a SNZB-04 door opening sensor to start recording and send a notification to your phone)
You can also send a video image to your smart speakers with Alexa or Google Home screens. It can be a great idea for baby watching if you have one of these devices at home and of course a child 🙂
Video quality
The picture quality is good/OK for the price. You can choose between SD and HD quality, but the data rate jumps between 3kbs and 90kbs. Here is an example image with sufficient light:
It’s far from fluid, but no problem if the individual frames are sharp. Unfortunately, the limited frames and compression don’t make it easy to see clear detail when you zoom in on some saved footage, and moving objects are most likely to blur…too often.
I think it’s a huge problem that you can’t zoom on the screen…this should be standard on all modern devices!
When shooting at night, black and white images and videos are sharp, although still at low frame rates. I really like the sensitivity of the sensor as night shots are really bright. What’s odd, there are no settings for selecting night mode. It’s applied automatically.
And a wave where my hand disappeared in the cold vacuum of data scarcity:
Sound
The speaker is loud and clear enough, and you can hear what’s happening in front of the Sonoff Cam Slim on your phone. At this point I have no complaints.
Storage
Well, there is good and bad here. It’s great to know that the Sonoff Cam slim can accept micro SD memory cards up to 256GB, which is enough as a base interval for a long time.
If 24-hour storage is enabled, 10-minute recordings are made, or events are stored in 30-second recordings.
Criticism is really only about the image thumbnails that are displayed, which do not exist. When I wrote the test, only the basic image below is displayed and you have to guess if it’s a shot you want to see.
Fortunately, a small icon at least indicated whether a basic recording, motion detection, or external sensor event was recorded…
Perception
Although motion detection is available, unfortunately not many settings are available. You can set the sensitivity and that’s it basically (Low, Medium and High sensitivity, no zones, or anything fine tuning).
Fortunately, learning from initial mistakes, important features have been improved since the beginning. Detection by other sensors has been added, so that if you open a door, window or detect movement by another sensor, you can start recording on that sensor as well.
RTSP
A feature that is an exceptional benefit and a great part of our smart home system. Fortunately, you just need to go into the settings and activate this option and you can set it up on the host side.
Installation
- Place the camera where you need it, then plug in the USB-C power cable that came with it, or a longer one if you have one handy.
- Wait a little while until you get a beep (If you don’t pair it for 5 minutes, you have to press the button through the reset hole for 3 seconds and it will be in Pairing mode again)
- Launch the eWelink app on your mobile
- Find the add button and click on it in the app
- Click on sound paring / Sound pairing and set the information required for Wifi access
- Then you will hear a sharp sound play, this should be held next to the camera, and once he has recognised it we can go to the final steps
🆓 – I was interested in the product, I received it for testing from SONOFF
💵 – I got it for free, 100% my own opinion
