Conclusion after 2 months in use

With the Nest Cam, Google introduced a camera that piqued my interest with a battery and magnetic attachment. Since I’ve owned a garden for some time, I was busy getting a camera anyway. I have been testing the Google Nest Cam with battery for two months now and I want to summarize the positive and negative features of the camera for you.

Setup and assembly

We received the twin pack of the Nest Cam with battery from Google. Setting up the cameras is very easy. First you charge the camera fully. Meanwhile, you can download the Google Home app if you haven’t already installed it. When the camera’s battery is full, you start the setup via the app, scan the QR code, add the camera to a room and you can start right away. In my opinion, the setup couldn’t be simpler.

Assembly was also very easy. The Nest Cam with battery is built for outdoor use. So the camera doesn’t mind rain. There is a magnetic plate that can be attached anywhere with screws. In my case on a wooden post with a side view of the garden. the The camera is magnetically attached to the bracket and aligned. I think the solution is brilliant, because you can adjust the angle without any problems and the magnet is very strong.

In this Video Google introduces the possibilities of the Nest Cam with battery:

I’m not afraid of theft, even though the camera hangs in the field of view. Only those who know the Nest Cam know that it is attached magnetically. It looks more like a small lamp that is barely noticeable. Should a theft happen, Google replaces the camera. But you have to report the theft to the police and then report to Google.

Operation is very simple

After setting up the Google Nest Cam, you can start right away. The camera automatically detects objects and reports them as a notification on the smartphone. I first used the Pixel 5, then the Pixel 6 Pro. It is practical that the set-up devices are simply transferred to the new smartphone via the home app. A new facility was not necessary.

Establishing a connection is very easy. Select the camera and you can see the status. I’ve had the camera since two months in use and still over 50 percent battery life left. If you only have to charge the camera twice a year, that’s really great. I would have expected a significantly shorter battery life, because I have a lot of cats in the garden and of course the camera always records them. According to Google, it takes about 5 hours to charge with the supplied 7.5 watt power adapter. I haven’t had to fully charge it yet.

You can start the live video stream directly in the overview. But you shouldn’t spend too much time here, because the camera is then active and consumes a lot of energy. It makes more sense to just let the camera do it. If something happened, you can do it Download video. I would like to see a download button in the overview for this. Instead, you first have to go to “Details about the event” and only then can you start the download. I really had to look for that at the beginning. Otherwise, the operation is self-explanatory. It’s just a WiFi camera.

That’s practical Two-way audio. The Google Nest Cam has a microphone and speakers. So you can also communicate with people who appear in the monitored area. This works very well on the smartphone, but unfortunately not on the Nest Hub. I already confused Kalle (the stray cat who likes to relax in my garden after feeding) a little when I spoke to him over the camera.

Image quality could be better

The object recognition of the Nest Cam is very good. Google processes the data on the camera, which means that only the events that actually happen are reported. This also ensures that the camera only becomes active when something happens. If the lighting conditions are not ideal, however, object recognition has problems. Especially when the sun is low or when it rains and the terrace gets a little darker, the gray cat is of course difficult to see. But people are always recognized because they are much bigger.

The picture quality is pretty good during the day. You can basically see everything:

It gets more difficult at night. The night vision function also works reliably in principle. Every now and then cobwebs appear in front of the lens, so that the lighting illuminates the cobwebs and the background becomes much too dark. You just have to keep the camera clean. An example:

I don’t think a thief could be identified with a recording made during the night. With the best will in the world, I can’t imagine that with the image quality – at least not in the garden. He would have to walk straight towards the camera and you would have to have the subscription. Otherwise the recording disappears after three hours at night.

I set up the second Google Nest Cam a little later in the basement after creating a WLAN there. That works there Night vision function much better. The lighting is excellent because the room is much smaller and you can walk straight to the camera when the door is opened.

So you should think carefully about how you set up the camera and what you want to do with it. Since you can directly see what the result looks like via a live video stream on your mobile phone, you can make the alignment very precisely. Incidentally, the camera is on a camera tripod in the basement. By the normal thread on the bottom Basically, you can set up the Nest Cam anywhere, even without using the magnetic mount.

There is also a face recognition. If a person is recognized, they can be given a name. But that only works reliably if you walk up to the camera and look inside. If you stand too far away, face recognition is not reliable. With the doorbell with a Google camera on a house, I could well imagine that, because you always look there and come relatively close to the camera.

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