YI 2pc 2K Dome Security Camera, 2.4G Smart Indoor Pet Monitoring Cam with Night Vision, 2-Way Audio, Motion Detection, Phone APP, Compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant

Good bang for buck
This is a good bang for your buck. Not a great bang for your buck. I’ve used Yi for 3 years now. The monthly service( although not necessary – I used free service for over a year) is affordable and fairly reliable/ however it seems every time I want to go back and view something important ( my child’s first steps) somehow the system “glitched”. I contact customer service, of course there’s nothing they can do. I have a stranger in my front and backyard with a weapon visible / but I can’t see anything but a blurry blob for his face in every single frame. Police department can do nothing with the images other than roll their eyes. I click live view to see if my babies are sleeping in their cribs soundly, well I can’t even see the babies in their cribs much less tell if they’re breathing or not. I suppose on 1080 being able to see chest rise and fall is too large an expectation, I don’t know. Most other times the cameras are fine for MINOR, LIGHT, BRIEF surveillance. Please consider something on a much higher level if you need to really micromanage a business for theft, or have any security issues at home or business, You will be disappointed. If you’re using these just for light surveillance at home / of your entrances , main common areas, tool or equipment storage or to watch your animals, you’ll most likely be pleased. The cameras last forever. They are easy to set up and maintain. The free service is fine, we only upgraded because we have 6 or so cameras and I like live view of multiple cameras at all times plus recorded cloud and SD memory. It’s worth the 9.99 monthly charge IF AND WHEN it happens to capture the images or videos I’m searching for. It glitches out and takes a while to view often, but as stated I’m not protecting a multimillion dollar museum of art, I use them for home security- in a safe secure area with more shotguns, rifles and rednecks than any other area of the US and I believe the cameras are just fine for that. If I lived in a high crime area I would consider another camera/service but for what we need they’re pretty ok. They mount easily. The motion detection is good. They run on 110 plug- so if power or WiFi is down, so are they, and we must hide cords in two rooms that we have them mounted on ceilings. You must purchase SIM card for cameras to function properly. You can share live feed or video via text or social media and can share camera view by allowing access and giving login to other family members/business partners through the YI account. You will be able to see if anyone has logged in or viewed your account. It offers additional password protection for uncommon areas such as bedrooms. That’s a nice feature. Over all good product. Yes I would purchase again. I’ve purchased several over the past few years and bought my in laws a system for their residence out of state. If another company were to offer a better product and better quality viewing for a comparable or even a bit higher price, I would change over in a heartbeat. So there’s my honest review. Hope it is helpful.

Reliable
I’ve purchased several of the 1080i cameras to monitor the inside of the house while away. They keep check on the pets. We had a location for this camera that has the 360 option to eliminate blind spots. These are great cameras at a reasonable price point. YI pushes their cloud service and they need to remember there are those on a budget and those like us in rural communities where internet is not readily available. When you’re struggling to hit 10 to 15mbps, having the cloud isn’t realistic, so SD cards are a must. We’ve finally gotten Starlink, so this hurdle is no more with over 100mbps. The YI cameras perform great with the network now and no lag to connect. I still won’t subscribe to the cloud, but remember YI, we are all not the same, and needs are different, and old tech is not bad tech. Oh and the SD location is in the second picture. When you turn the the camera off in the app, the camera rotates up and exposes the SD slot.

I used to love these, not anymore
Before Kami bought out Yi, these were THE BEST cameras. I had them for years and years with no issues. I recommended them to TONS of people and some got them, too. Their Customer Service was friendly, helpful and quick. Then Kami bought them out.Ever since it’s been nothing but connectivity issues, lag, delay, firmware updates that don’t happen, etc etc.But because I already had others, I decided to get two more, assuming newer tech would mean less problems. At least that’s what their response emails to my issues said… Not so much.These are useless. You cannot control them from the PC app, only from the mobile app. And despite it saying EVERYWHERE on their website that it takes SD up to 128, it doesn’t. It caps out at 64. Doesn’t say that anywhere. So now I have 2 128SDs I can’t use and a camera that won’t record.New Customer Service takes days to get back to you (if they do at all), they are rude, only give canned responses that don’t fit your question, and then tell you to just buy their monthly service instead.Can’t help but feel that this is a bait n switch to force you to use their cloud storage service.Never again willl I buy them, never again will I recommend them. Save your money and your sanity and buy literally anything else.

Good

Thru the years, we have bought a dozen of these cameras… watching pets, then kids, and then elderly parents front/back doors.We started with a couple of cameras and liked the App. So, bought more.They do break down after a few years, but still a good deal given the low price. We just replace them with new Yi cameras.Initially, there were no Ads when you open the App. Then there were Ads every time I open the App about Yi’s cloud service and Kami service program. It was annoying, but I can quickly close the box and view my camera.But in the past year, in addition to their own Ads, they have added Ads from outside companies that you can’t just easily close quickly. The Ads stay on for several seconds before it allows you to close, and you’re forced to search the the Ad page looking for the close box. The close box is in a different spot every time and not always in English, so, you don’t know which is the close box. And many times, I’ve been tricked and tapped on the wrong spot and got re directed to the Ads website… wasting another several seconds. Then after I have to start over and go back to the Yi App.Before I can quickly look on Yi App and see who’s there at the door. Now, with navigating the Ads, by the time I get to the camera stream, the person is long gone.So, the cameras are useless for me now. Maybe if you’re willing to pay monthly for their expensive cloud service, it’ll be Ad free?We are so disappointed with Yi. Now with the Yi cameras slowly breaking down one by one, instead of getting more Yi cameras, we have switched to another brand …. So much better not to deal with those Ads everytime I open the App!!!When I looked online, I found that many people have the same problems with these Ads. Just google the discussion forum on yi technologies… there are a lot of complaints about these Ads that have been added.Save yourself the frustration and Stay away from this brand !!!! There are better options out there for the same or lower price!

Good for pets