Eufy SoloCam S340 Review

Design and Performance

The Eufy SoloCam S340 brings more visibility to your front or backyard by incorporating a panning and tilting mechanism that can actually follow the motion it detects. This is a cool feature, and the recordings can be set to capture both the wide angle lens and the zoom lens at the same time. For example, when my lawn maintenance company came, it followed them across the yard, recording the wide angle as well as a zoomed-in view of the person. Very cool!

From what I understand from the documentation, the person detection and motion tracking logic all happens on-device. Many other systems, like Arlo, need to transfer the video to a server in order to determine if the motion sensor was set off by a person, an animal, or some leaves blowing in the wind. This can waste internet bandwidth and the battery power to transfer the recordings for every little motion event when it doesn’t need to. With this Eufy camera, the logic and recording all stay on-device and are only transferred when you open the app, connect to the camera, and stream the recording to your phone. (Technically, enabling thumbnail previews in the app would transfer the thumbnail image to a push notification server, so you can view it on your phone without opening the app, but you can disable this in the Eufy Security app if you like.)

One of the gripes I have with my Arlo system is the fact that I have to get the ladder out and grab the cameras to charge them every couple months. The Eufy SoloCam S340 includes a solar panel, which I questioned could actually charge this camera given its small size. However, after a couple of partly cloudy days in a location that only gets sun a few hours each day, the charge on my camera has risen 2%. So it does indeed to be working and powerful enough to top-off the charge of the camera. The solar panel is detachable, and an extra long cable is included if you need to locate the solar panel far from the camera unit itself.

My main gripe with this camera is that there are hardly any integrations available! I can’t configure it with HomeKit, Home Assistant, SmartThings, or even IFTTT to automate the “arming” and “disarming” of notifications. So every time I go out in the yard, I need to remember to disable the camera so I don’t end up with a hundred motion notifications (and drain the camera’s battery). At least with Arlo, I can integrate it with IFTTT so when I disable my home security system, the Arlo cameras are disabled as well. To be fair, it is possible to view the cameras on an Amazon Echo Show device, but even with that integration, you can’t tell Alexa to disable the cameras.

Features

• Dual cameras with 3K quality: The high resolution on this camera allows you to capture a high level of detail, such as faces. With the dual lenses, the camera can effectively reach a 8x digital zoom.

• Local Storage (no cloud fees): The camera has 8GB of on-device storage, so the recordings stay on the device and are not uploaded to the cloud. If you want more storage, this camera does work with Eufy’s HomeBase S380.

• No base station needed: The camera can connect directly to your Wi-Fi, so no base station is needed. However, if you have the HomeBase 3 (S380), it can utilize it.

• On-Device AI: The camera can be set to only alert you if it detects humans or vehicles (so it does not alert you every time the leaves move in the breeze, unless you want it to).

• Solar-powered: There is a solar panel included that helps keep the battery topped off. Eufy states that two hours of direct sunlight a day is enough to power the camera indefinitely. You can check the battery status in the app and if you hit a string of cloudy days, you can always charge the camera with a USB-C cable.

• Alexa and Google Assistant-compatible: You can get a live view of the camera from an Amazon Echo Show or Google Assistant-powered display.

• Weather-proof: The camera is designed to withstand rain, sun, and snow. It’s protected in temperatures from -4 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Built-in light and siren: The spotlight can reach 100 lumens, enough to light up a good portion of the yard and a built-in 90db siren to (hopefully) scare off intruders.