The EufyCam 2C home security camera is more affordable than its competitors, and you don't need a paid subscription to access its best features

• The EufyCam 2C wireless home security camera system offers affordable coverage for your home inside and out with water-resistant, IP67-rated cameras.
• Camera footage quality is excellent at 1080p in full color, and there's a black and white night mode as well as a spotlight so you can see in any lighting conditions.
• Each EufyCam 2C camera also offers crystal clear two-way audio and six-month battery life.
• At $219.99 for the two-camera kit with no monthly subscription required, the EufyCam 2C system is a compelling option for anyone seeking home security on a budget.
• You can also check out our guide to the best home security cameras for more options.

Home security cameras used to be an expensive project that required professional installation, but nowadays you can snag some of the best home security cameras for a couple hundred dollars and install them yourself in minutes.

The EufyCam 2C wireless home security camera system is a perfect example. At $219.99 for the two-camera kit, which comes with a base unit that stores video footage, this is an affordable system that's easy to set up and even easier to use.

Manufactured by Eufy, which is tech company Anker's smart home brand, this home security camera system improves on its predecessors in various ways, from better quality footage to smarter human detection.

I installed the two-camera system in my home to find out how it performs, and I'm very impressed so far. I see little reason to spend more, because the EufyCam 2C wireless home security system delivers everything most people need.

Specifications

• 1080p resolution
• 135-degree field of view
• 180-day battery life from a single charge
• Night vision with infrared
• Built-in spotlight
• Two-way audio
• 16GB of storage for up to 3 months of recordings
• AES-128 data encryption
• IP67 weatherproof
• Human detection
• Smart detection zones

Design

The EufyCam 2C two-camera kit comes with a HomeBase unit that you plug directly into your router using the supplied Ethernet cable, a power adapter, two cameras, two camera mounts with screws and fixings, and a USB-A to Micro USB charging cable. Additional cameras cost $99.99 each.

With a curved white plastic body and a black front plate with the camera lens, microphone, spotlight, and motion sensors, the EufyCam 2C cameras look and feel durable. They're also small and relatively unobtrusive, measuring just 3.2 x 1.89 x 2.24 inches. There's a rubber pad on the bottom of each camera that lifts up to reveal the charging port.

Setup is a breeze

Connecting smart home devices can be hit and miss, so I was delighted and impressed by how easy it was to set up the EufyCam 2C system. You simply plug the HomeBase into the wall, then connect it to your router. Note, that you do need a free Ethernet port on your router.

You can charge up the cameras via the Micro USB charging port in the bottom of each one. When they're fully charged, connect the HomeBase and the first camera you want to set up with the cable supplied.

Download the Eufy Security app for Android or iOS and create an account, then select the system you want to add. When you add the first camera, the app shows you the strength of the Wi-Fi signal, so you can walk to the location you want to install it and test that the signal is strong enough before you start drilling holes.

The mounts themselves are very simple. You get four screws and Rawlplugs for each camera, though you only really need two. Unscrew the mount, fit it to the wall, and then screw the ball joint back on. The cameras screw directly onto the mount and the ball joint gives you complete freedom to select the angle you want.

Once they were fully charged, I had both cameras installed and ready to use within 15 minutes.

The mobile app

With the cameras installed, you do everything using the mobile app on your phone. Since the system is connected to the internet, you can access your cameras and the recorded footage stored on the HomeBase from anywhere.

Tap on a camera in the app to jump into the live feed view where you'll find controls to turn on the spotlight, trigger the siren, record video, capture a snapshot, or mute the camera audio. There's also a microphone button that you tap and hold when you want to speak. There's a very slight delay, but it's minor enough that you can carry on a real-time conversation quite easily.

There are lots of useful features in the app. By default, the cameras will record 20-second clips when they detect a human, and you get an alert on your phone with a notification you can tap to jump straight to the recording. I found the default settings worked well, but you can change the length of recordings and set any motion to trigger the camera if you prefer. Night vision uses infrared to provide black and white footage by default, but you can also switch to the spotlight in the app.

False positives can be an issue with home security cameras, so the option to change the detection sensitivity, with a scale from 1 to 7, is welcome. The Eufy Security app also offers the ability to set activity zones, so you can draw a box on the screen to specify the area you're interested in. This is vital if you have a camera that overlooks a busy road, for example.

Recorded events are organized in a calendar view, and all the footage is stored on the HomeBase unit, which offers 16GB of eMMC storage. That's enough for around three months of recordings, but you can download videos and share them directly from the app. There is also an option to store recordings in the cloud, at $2.99 per camera per month for 30 days of rolling recordings.

You can schedule the cameras to be on at specific times, you can set up a geofence, so they turn on automatically when you leave home, and you can quickly disarm or snooze individual cameras or the whole system.

All in all, it's a versatile app, with features that often require a subscription with other systems.

Everyday performance

The quality of the footage that the EufyCam 2C captures is excellent. You can see people clearly during the day in full color.

The night mode performance is also very good. For dark environments and larger areas, the infrared probably works best, though the footage is in black and white. It's good that you can select to trigger the spotlight instead, which provides color footage, but it's fairly short range, so I used it for the front door camera but stuck with infrared in the backyard.

In the two weeks I've been using the EufyCam 2C, I've only had one false positive. I have it set for human detection only, but my large fluffy cat managed to trigger a recording one night. For the most part, it has ignored his comings and goings and has only been triggered by family in the backyard or visitors to the front door.

The two-way audio works very well, and you can adjust the volume in the app if you need to. I found it was easy to carry on a conversation.

With an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance, the EufyCam 2C cameras are built to survive outdoors. Through rain and shine, the cameras have performed just fine, though rain obviously impacts visibility if the camera isn't in a sheltered spot.

Cons to consider

When you tap to jump to a live feed, the app can sometimes take a few seconds to load the camera view. It's generally quite quick, but it's not instant, and it can be particularly slow if you don't have a solid connection to the internet. It also takes a second or two for the recording to kick in when the camera detects motion, so if someone is moving fast you may miss them entering the frame.

While the smart detection works well at detecting humans and faces, it's a shame that there's no facial recognition. Some recordings will pick out a face as a thumbnail, and it would be ideal if the system learned to recognize family members and only trigger recordings when it detects unfamiliar faces.

Eufy also lists Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and HomeKit support. I tried to set up Google Assistant to show the camera on my TV, but I couldn't get it to work. Eufy does describe the Alexa and Google Assistant support as "Beta" so it's obviously still a work in progress.

The only other thing that is a slight concern, is that it would be very easy for someone to just unscrew the camera and walk away with it. There's no theft proofing and the built-in siren is something you either trigger manually in the live feed in the app or it gets triggered automatically by motion detection.

It would be nice if the siren were triggered by someone tampering with the camera itself. The fact that the footage is uploaded to the HomeBase inside your house goes some way towards mitigating this concern, but it's advisable to install your cameras somewhere they can't be easily reached.

The bottom line

The EufyCam 2C is an impressive wireless home security camera system that offers a great range of features for a very affordable price. The two-camera kit is probably enough for small homes, but you can add extra cameras as required.

Considering the features available, the lack of any subscription requirement is a major attraction. The EufyCam 2C is easy to set up, the mobile app works well, and it offers everything you're likely to want in a home security camera system.

Should you buy it?

Yes, absolutely. At $219.99 for a two-camera system with no hidden fees, the EufyCam 2C wireless home security camera system is easy to recommend.

Which model should you get?

The EufyCam 2C hits a sweet spot between performance, features, and price, but if you want theft protection, longer battery life, and MicroSD card support, you might consider the more expensive EufyCam E system. If you want the anti-theft and better quality night footage, the EufyCam 2 is worth a look, but it's also a lot more expensive at $349.99.

What are your alternatives?

The Google Nest Cam Outdoor or the Ring Spotlight Cam are popular alternatives, but you'll have to pay considerably more for a two-camera system and they both require subscriptions if you want to access recordings.

You might also consider the Arlo Pro 3, which offers higher quality 2K footage with HDR and a few other extras at $399 for a two-camera system, but it also requires a monthly subscription.

Pros: No subscription required, good quality video, two-way audio, smart detection, activity zones, easy to use, solid mobile app, affordable

Cons: No theft protection, no face recognition, occasional delays connecting