Introducing, the EZVIZ C6N smart home camera. Gone are the days of getting bulky CCTV systems for the security of your home. With how fast technology is advancing, most home monitoring system can easily be purchased online and setup on your own. EZVIZ is one such company that believes a CCTV system should be more accessible to everyone.
We stumbled upon the EZVIZ C6N smart home camera, and we thought of trying it out, so here’s our review.
EZVIZ C6N Smart Home Camera – Specifications
| Name | C6N |
|---|---|
| Model | CS-CV246-A0-1C2WFR |
| Image Sensor | 1/2.9″ Progressive Scan CMOS |
| Shutter Speed | Self-adaptive shutter |
| Lens | 4mm@ F2.2, view angle:82° (Horizontal), 94°(Diagonal) |
| PT Angle | Pan: 340°, Tilt: 120° |
| Lens Mount | M12 |
| Day & Night | IR-cut filter with auto switch |
| DNR | 3D DNR |
| WDR | Digital WDR |
| Video Compression | H.264 |
| H.264 Type | Main profile |
| Video Bit Rate | Ultra-HD; HD; Standard. Adaptive bit rate |
| Auto Bit Rate | Self-adaptive |
| Max. Resolution | 1920 x 1080 |
| Frame Rate | Max. 15fps; Self-Adaptive during network transmission |
| Smart Alarm | Motion detection |
| Wi-Fi Pairing | AP pairing |
| Protocol | EZVIZ cloud proprietary protocol |
| Interface Protocol | EZVIZ cloud proprietary protocol |
| General Features | Anti-Flicker, Dual-Stream, Heart Beat, Mirror Image, Password Protection, Watermark |
| Max. Bitrate | 2Mbps |
| Storage | Micro SD card (Max. 256G) |
| Power | Micro USB |
| Network | RJ45 × 1(10M/100M Adaptive Ethernet Port) |
| Standard | IEEE802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n |
| Frequency Range | 2.4 GHz ~ 2.4835 GHz |
| Channel Bandwidth | Supports 20MHz |
| Security | 64/128-bit WEP, WPA/WPA2, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK |
| Transmission Rate | 11b: 11 Mbps, 11g: 54 Mbps, 11n: 72 Mbps |
| Power Supply | DC 5V/1A |
| Power Consumption | Max. 5.0W |
| IR Range | Max. 10 meters |
| Product Dimensions | 87.7mm x 87.7mm x 112.7mm (3.45〃 x 3.45〃 x 4.43〃) |
| Weight | 260g |
Our cats have been pretty naughty lately, where they totally ignore the litter box and would just start peeing everywhere around the house. So when we were searching for a CCTV camera, we came upon the EZVIZ C6N. What caught our attention was that the C6N had 360-degree rotation, as well as an app connection. We figured it was something we can easily setup at home, and we’ve never been happier that we were right.
What’s In The Box:
- EZVIZ C6N Smart Home Camera
- 3 meter micro USB cable
- Charging adapter (3-Pin)
- Wall Mount Kit
- Safety guide and start-up manual
Design
The EZVIZ C6N smart home camera only comes in white, and it has a really straightforward spherical design. Made out of plastic, it looks like your regular CCTV camera, similar to the ones you’d find in the shopping mall or in the office. On the front, you’ll find the 2MP camera sensor capable of 1080p Full HD video, as well as the infrared sensors. Pushing the lens up, that’s where you’ll find the microSD card slot and the reset button. Really interesting design to hide the microSD card slot under there so the camera can have a more minimalistic look to it.
On the back, you’ll find the microUSB port for power, and an RJ45 Ethernet port in case you want to hook it up directly to your Wi-Fi router for a faster connection. Right above it, is the mini speaker. As this camera supports two-way audio, you’re able to not only record video with audio, but be able to broadcast to it too. For example, even if you’re away from home, you can still converse with whoever is at home, or even talk to your pets.
The bottom of the C6N is where you will install the wall mount kit for you to mount it onto the ceiling or a wall. This is also where you will find your device password and device-specific QR Code, for you to pair up your smartphone with the C6N.
Setup
Once I took the EZVIZ C6N out of the box, I didn’t require any additional tools because everything was already provided. All I needed was the C6N itself, and my smartphone.
Setting up the C6N:
- Plug in the microUSB cable to power it on.
- Download the “EZVIZ” app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.
- Sign up for an account.
- Scan the QR code on the bottom of the device.
- Link it up to your Wi-Fi connection at home.
And just like that, I could already see the footage from the C6N being shown on my smartphone screen. The entire pairing process took me less than 30 seconds, and I am truly impressed with how well made the app is. It looks nice, it responds fast, and the connection was almost instantaneous.
User Experience
At this point, I was already really happy with the EZVIZ C6N smart home camera. The pairing process was one of the highlights of this product, because most of the other IoT products I have at home are just a mess to setup. The pairing process is daunting, the app looks and performs bad to the point it’s frustrating to work with.
The next thing to do was to place it at our dry kitchen counter top, and let it do its job – monitoring.
Features
The EZVIZ app has a tonne of features, and you can basically tweak every setting of the C6N from just one app. For the camera, you can change the video resolution from standard to high definition and ultra-HD. Another thing I really like about the EZVIZ C6N is the motorized pan and tilt system. This allows for 360-degree visual coverage, complete with 120-degree tilt. This means that I can capture almost the entire surrounding of my home, and I can also tilt up if I need to.
Because it is a Wi-Fi connected smart home camera, the C6N can be viewed and accessed from wherever you are. As long as the camera is paired up with the app, you can monitor your home from wherever you are, even while on mobile data.
That said, the C6N does sometime lag a little when you’re panning or tilting. You can press on the direction pad, but it takes one to two seconds for it to start moving. Very rarely, but sometimes, it doesn’t detect the input at all, and would just show “Operation Failed”. This might be due to the fact that the 2.4GHz band of the Wi-Fi network is congested. So, what I do to remedy this is to just close the app from recent apps, and launch it again. On that note, it is worth noting that the EZVIZ C6N can only function on the 2.4GHz wireless band.
Apart from just recording, the C6N even has automatic motion detection and smart tracking. This means the camera can actually follow the subject that is moving in front of the camera. It is quite aggressive because once it detects motion, the camera would track the subject relentlessly and start recording.
Audio
As mentioned above, the C6N has two-way talk. This is a feature I mainly use to talk to my cats, or my wife when I need to ask her about what groceries to get. It’s like having a video call with your home. The feature works really well, so no complaints there.
Recording
There are also multiple ways you can setup the C6N’s recording. You can either set it to record all day, or have it start recording only when there’s motion detected. One thing I didn’t like was that the motion tracking didn’t seem to be working that well. It can detect that my cats are about to pee where she isn’t supposed to, but the camera would stop recording right before she does pee. It’s almost as if the camera was trying protect my cat’s privacy. So to remedy that, I just set the C6N to constantly record throughout the entire day.
You can also take a quick snapshot anytime the footage is active. The images and videos are also encrypted, so it can only be viewed on the device it’s registered with. If you wish to view it on another device, you’ll need to key in the encryption key which you can set in the settings page of the app.
Storage
Storage wise, you can either save your recordings into the microSD card (up to 256GB) or you can have them saved in EZVIZ’s cloud storage space. That being said, if you do choose to have your data stored in the cloud, you will need to pay a monthly fee as it is a subscription service. This technically transforms the C6N into a cloud camera, ridding you of the need to purchase a separate microSD card. However, this would make you and the C6N very dependent on an Internet connection to access your footage.
If you’re interested, EZVIZ is giving a 7-day free trial for their cloud storage service. So, you might want to try it out first before deciding on subscribing. If you do subscribe, you’ll then get the first 30-days free.
Access Sharing
Not only that, you can also share your C6N’s access to your family members. This allows them to monitor footage from the C6N right from their own smartphone. All they need to do is register for an EZVIZ account using the app. From there, you (the principal owner) just need to input the phone number or email they used to set up the account into your settings page.
Settings
Once you go into the settings page, this is where you can perform OTA updates, turn on/off audio recording, turn on/off status and IR lights, and more. This is also where you can change image/video settings, set/change encryption passwords. Additionally, you can also put the C6N into sleep mode. This doesn’t turn it off, but rather lets it stop monitoring and recording if you need some privacy.
Video Quality
The video quality on the EZVIZ C6N is actually pretty good. Even on standard, you can still see everything clearly. And things just get better when you go into Ultra HD mode. However, the transmission and playback of the footage quality depends a lot on how fast and stable your home Wi-Fi is. We use Time Fiber’s 100Mbps plan with a mesh Wi-Fi system at home, and it has no problems at all.
Snapshots taken on the C6N are also a what you see, is what you get. How the footage looks like in the preview window, will be exactly how your snapshots will turn out to be.
Another feature I found surprising for this model is that it has Smart Night Vision with smart IR of up to 10m. For its price, it’s a great feature to have. Even in the darkest of environments, the camera is able to light up the scene (albeit monochrome) and you’re still able to see clearly what’s being captured. For us, it’s a cat marathon around the living room area at 3.24AM.
Conclusion
The EZVIZ C6N Smart Home Camera has a tonne of features for you to play around with, and to keep your home safe. There are multiple ways you can use it, for example, in the baby’s room, foyer area, main entrance, and more. You can even purchase multiple units, and link them all up within the same app.
For its offline retail price of RM139, the EZVIZ C6N is one of the best smart home cameras we’ve seen in a while, and it’s really easy for us to recommend it to anyone who wants to build a smart, simple, and fuss-free monitoring system at home.
To learn more about EZVIZ and their entire range of smart products, check them out here:
- Website: www.ezvizlife.com/my
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/EZVIZMalaysiaHQ/
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/ezviz_malaysia_hq/
- Lazada: https://www.lazada.com.my/shop/ezviz-official-store
- Shopee: https://shopee.com.my/ezvizmalaysia.os?v=2ec&smtt=0.0.3
