Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Ecobee SmartCamera is the brains and hub behind the Ecobee Home Security Ecosystem, along with your smart phones or tablets, which is why it is by far the most expensive device in the ecosystem. Hardware-wise the Camera and accessories are definitely slick and designed to look good, almost like art or something out of RH catalog. The camera has a sleek mid century modern look with a metal base and can also be mounted with that base on a wall. Unfortunately, that is where the praises end and things start to drop-off in terms of user experience and functionality. The unfortunate part of this system is that most of the best functionality is reserved for the Haven subscription. Ecobee has a few things working against them in this regard. Some of these features are included for free by competitors, and they are competing against the big fish like Google/Nest, Amazon/Ring, or even smaller competitors like SimpliSafe that have a full ecosystem of products even though they aren’t fully affiliated. People are not going to spend on multiple security/monitoring subscriptions and they aren’t going to go all-in on a small time bit player with nice hardware. They need to find a way to get a piece of the pie if they affiliate with the big players. Here are some of the functionality you only get after you subscribe: -Push notifications -Geo Location notifications for home/away based on your smart device -Security Statuses (Home/Away/Disarm) All you get are basic Live feeds and status of Open/Close on doors, no notifications or alerts without the subscription. Competing products offer this for free, all they charge for is for recorded coverage. In addition, some more frustrations I experienced with this product: -I couldn’t pair this Camera to my phone and get past Verify Camera until I chose the Apple Home Kit option and scanned the QR code’s. I tried from both my iPhone X and from an iPad Air3. -When trying to pair to my home network, it forced me to type in my SSID instead of just picking it from those available. My SSID is not private, what year is this? -2 Factor from an app is great and all, but maybe a push notification or better yet, Face ID or auto-populate from the challenge screen? Tedious!!! Full disclosure, I am heavily invested in the Ring ecosystem with 2 flood light cams, 1 doorbell, 1 stick-up cam purchased with my own money and the $10 unlimited plan. There is no way I am going to pay another $5 or $10 a month for Ecobee, a small unproven player while Ring has Amazon backing it. Likewise, Nest/Google Home have Google backing them. These small bit players need to not only integrate with these bigger ecosystems, but find a way to get some money out of a shared subscription service or they simply will not survive. I will most likely end up just getting the Ring interior security equipment since it won’t cost me anything in terms of subscription, just the hardware since I am already invested. Great hardware, good luck in this marketplace trying to charge your own subscription Ecobee, especially for basic features that cost you nothing (no cloud storage, no central server notification, just my Wi-Fi and network).

Needs a subscription to really function, which is not unheard of in todays security camera market. In the end ended up returning it though.

The Ecobee Smart Camera is a great quality picture and has nice features but needs two options added for 5 stars. I so far have been using the camera to look over my shop while away to make sure everything is going well and work is being done. I appreciate the easy connectivity through the app and being able to move the view around and zoom in without much picture degrading. The voice control is neat for Alexa but in all honesty, to really use it you have to use the paid service so you can tell it to record. I would have given it 5 stars if there was a SD card slot with the option to record locally or even on a home server. With our world filled with subscription services, this camera setup is not the first one I would look at because of that being forced to record. If they change their software to allow local NAS recording, this would be a 5 star camera. Nowadays, most homes with high tech equipment, we want to locally record or allow us to have 1 camera with free online storage, Arlo gives up to 5. The last key option, LAN support would be nice and beneficial to lessen the load on our WiFi systems. My home alone has over 30 devices already on WiFi, so I try to use LAN as much as possible to lessen the load on my router. I would only recommend this camera for someone ready to pay for a service but for someone that wants a local recorded or free recording, I could not recommend this at all.

The Ecobee SmartCamera is a wif based security camera with a pretty nice field of view. Stylish in black, it's on the bigger side of a security camera that you typically place to be unobtrusive or hidden. Instead, given the size and stylishness, it will definitely draw attention almost anywhere it's placed, especially if done in a typical way to hide the camera. The base is shown on the bottom but it can also be mounted on the wall via the back plate. Still, the size means it will be obvious there's a camera present. The camera itself has a smart assistant action and mute button, along with and LED that's on when actively recording, and one when processing smart assistant (Alexa currently) commands. It also has a speaker which allows for two way communication. Once set up with Ecobee Haven, you can get alerts when motion is detected, review past video. You can also view the camera feed in real-time. The speaker can be used as a siren (if an alarm is set off by motion) or you can just use it as a small and lower quality Alexa speaker. Video quality is decent from the camera. It's 1080p and capable of recording at 30 frames per second. The box claims a 180 degree field of view. I'm not quite sure I saw that (and this may be an issue with placement), but it was pretty close. This gives it pretty wide coverage, though to cover a full room, you'd need to place it in a corner or a deep wall facing the room but where people may not typically walk (for example, if you have a fireplace centered and facing into a room). I think it can be useful as a standalone security feature, but if you already have other sensors covering the home, there may not be much to gain by adding this camera, other than having video proof of the intruder. Instead, I found it being useful in other ways. My current setup for little ones is a baby monitor camera in the bedroom and an alexa enabled speaker that plays white noise. It's also nice to be able to play other music and songs from time to time, or get some information if I happen to be in that room and don't feel like reaching for a phone. Having Alexa built into the camera means I can replace the baby monitor and smart speaker with one device. It's 180 degree FOV means it sees more, with no need to pan and tilt like happens with the baby monitor camera as the little ones move around in the room. It's also natural for that purpose as it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. You can two-way chat through the camera as well, which makes it nice for when you need to do a quick remote soothe. As a security camera, this does a decent job, but the features are not stand out. From that perspective, I'd give it 3 stars. However, looking at it from the point of view of being a kid monitor multi-use device, I'm quite impressed. It would be nice to have IFTTT support but the tie in to Alexa is great and I'm happy with how well it worked. While you can view live, since it was not designed as a baby monitor, there isn't a good way to get a continuous feed with sound that's constantly running in the background. So in this regard, it's compromised as well. I lean towards 4 stars, but the inability to convert it to full baby monitor use makes it hard to justify.

This review is written based on the Ecobee Smart Camera being used with the SmartSensors for doors/windows, SmartSensors for motion and the Haven monitoring service. You have to look at the Ecobee products as an entire ecosystem rather just the individual components. First , let me say that I have a pretty solid point of reference on what is good for wifi based security cams. I own 6 different brand cameras – a Dlink, TP-Link Kasa cam, Samsung Smart Cam , 2 different versions of Arlo and a Guardzilla. All have their strengths and weaknesses and some have some glaring weaknesses. Ecobee falls in that latter category a bit. The best way to look at this camera is to break it down into the pros and cons. Pros : Setup – easy and straightforward. Probably the best I dealt with in terms of ease of set up. Download the app, plug it in and it finds it nearly right away. This holds true for all the other sensors – very fast to set up. Video quality – 1080p with a 180 degree field of vision. Colors pop, video is clear and there is virtually no latency between an object moving and the camera picking it up. I know that is dependent on network but I of 6 different cameras I have – only the TP-Link Kasa cam could match the Ecobee. Additionally, it has night vision that produced very clear images in low light. Features - the Ecobee Smartcam follows a person through the “Person Detection” option. This is similar to the Facebook Portal on how it follows a person. It does jump around a bit, but I think this will get refined with time. You can zoom in and electronically pan around. Amazon Alexa smart speaker integration. For me, this is not important. The dedicated smart speakers do a better job but I can see where some people like this feature. Activity zones – if activated, it will only record when there is movement in a specific zone. Overall quality - just top notch, like any of Ecobee’s products. Solid, streamlined and well thought out. The base is unique that provides a solid foundation if you are putting it on a flat surface and it can be converted into a wall mount. Cons: Audio - the camera has the option to speak through your mobile device. I found the sound to be weak and could not see a way to increase the volume. No Google Support or Smartthings support yet. It is supposed to be compatible shortly. Video recording is only available if you sing up for the service. You are reading that correctly, this nice new smart camera only records video if you pay for Ecobee’s service. One piece power supply with a proprietary plug that is full a/c powered. C’mon Ecobee, stick with USB power connectors. The power demand is 12V @ 1A, that is only 12 watts - easily doable with USB. Camera gets hot. Not enough to burn anything but I am surprised by the level of heat that it produces . I would be concerned that the long-term durability could be affected by this heat if it was in an enclosed space. That is all conjecture and I have nothing to support that it will be affected by this hear but it is still a concern. Video recording is only available if you sing up for the service. You are reading that correctly, this nice new smart camera only records video if you pay for Ecobee’s service. Now you do get the first month free but it is at least $5 per month after that. Conclusion : The Ecobee camera is a decent piece of hardware when paired with door and motion sensors. It is obvious that Ecobee is building an ecosystem that integrates their thermostats with more products to come. The problem is , like other companies, is they are trying to monetize that ecosystem to the point that it takes away from the worth of the product. None of the other companies that make smart cams require you to pay to record video, or even worse, do not allow you to arm the system without paying for a service. Sure, companies like Samsung and Arlo sell you upgrades but you can have a fully functioning system out of the box. My advice to Ecobee is to turn on some of the features for free or at least give all features for free for a year. Ecobee needs to make a decision, are they going to be a company that sells services or one that concentrates on moving product? Based on the great thermostats they offer, I would sell this ancillary products to drive them to their thermostats and not worry about making money on monthly services. I am giving 3 stars because the quality is very good and the easy set up but I cannot recommend this product as it stands with the inability to arm the system and record video without paying for it .