With a glance that screams “I imply enterprise,” the Reolink Duo 3 WiFi has an ultra-wide subject of view and incredible video high quality. Except for its annoying Ethernet setup, this is among the greatest safety cameras I’ve ever examined.

Reolink Duo 3 WiFi

$150 $180 Save
$30

That includes two 4K picture sensors, this out of doors safety digicam brings 16MP ultra-clear visuals. With 8 spotlights and an F1.6 massive aperture, it captures particulars in vivid colours, even at evening.

Execs & Cons

• Immense wide-angle protection
• Glorious video high quality
• Movement detection is spot on
• Helps as much as 512GB (microSD bought individually)
• Works with Reolink DVR tools

• Setup requires an Ethernet connection
• Antennas really feel flimsy
• Restricted top-down protection

See Our Course of

How We Test and Review Products at How-To Geek

We go hands-on with each product to make sure it is value your money and time.

Worth and Availability

The Reolink Duo 3 WiFi sells for $180 and may be bought via Amazon or Reolink. On the time of writing, the digicam was on sale via each websites for $150.

Angular Cosmetics and Ethernet-Solely Setup

There’s nothing improper with an out-of-sight-out-of-mind fashion safety cam, however I discover these inconspicuous models are greatest for indoor use. In terms of monitoring an out of doors atmosphere, wannabe perps can most likely enter your property from multiple space.

So, a visibly positioned out of doors cam with a tough-looking design has a greater probability of deterring intruders from messing up your day or evening. I truly assume Reolink did a fantastic job splitting the distinction aesthetically with the Duo 3 WiFi; it seems powerful and even feels powerful, however the look isn’t overly industrial, both.

Talking of powerful, the Duo 3 WiFi is IP67-rated for mud and water resistance, so so long as you’re mounting it beneath an awning, even ones with restricted protection, you shouldn’t have to fret about rain and dust killing off your digicam. What you will have to fret about is ensuring the Duo 3’s DC energy connection is protected.

The connection factors for neither the primary energy/Ethernet nor the lengthy extension are weather-protected, so you will have to buy moisture guards individually. Alternatively, you possibly can mount a junction field close to the Duo 3 WiFi to guard any extra cabling from publicity.

Putting in and organising the digicam was a comparatively easy course of. Nonetheless, there’s one obvious nuisance to be aware of: the Duo 3 must be related to your router through Ethernet when working the setup wizard. As soon as the digicam is activated, you’ll have the ability to disconnect and swap over to a 2.4GHz or 5GHz Wi-Fi band within the Reolink app (accessible for iPhone and Android devices).

I can see this slight holdup being a large annoyance to somebody who already mounted the digicam earlier than setup. And in the event you’re planning on recording to a microSD card (the Duo 3 helps as much as 512GB of native storage), you’ll additionally need to insert the cardboard when the digicam isn’t mounted, because the slot is protected by a screw-secured plastic cowl.

You’ll additionally want to connect the Wi-Fi antennas your self. I discovered them to be considerably flimsy, however as soon as screwed into the cam’s aspect threads, they didn’t droop down or something. Nonetheless, I’d keep away from exposing them to harsh winds in the event you can keep away from doing so.

I had my Duo 3 WiFi check unit up, working, and positioned in lower than 10 minutes. Apart from the digicam itself, field contents ought to embrace an influence adapter, an influence extension cable, a 3-foot Ethernet cable, two antennas, and a consumer guide.

I By no means Thought Broad-Angle Protection Might Look So Good

The Reolink Duo 3 WiFi has two 8MP lenses that, via some intelligent, algorithmic stitching, ship an enormous 180-degree horizontal FOV and an honest 55-degree vertical view. Pushing as much as 7680 x 2160 decision at as much as 20fps, when all is claimed and accomplished, you’ll additionally have the ability to swap between infrared and full-color video for each day and evening, because of the Duo 3 WiFi’s built-in infrared sensor (rated for as much as 100 toes) and LED spotlights.

The Duo 3 WiFi delivered terrific wide-angle protection that has solely raised the bar for future digicam critiques. As you possibly can see within the following day and evening pictures, the video stitching is strong, with just a bit beam of seam current within the last picture. It’s also possible to use the Reolink app to manually elevate or decrease the picture captured by the right-facing lens. However man, would you take a look at how a lot horizontal FOV this factor has to work with!

These daytime snapshots are crystal-clear, brilliant, and colourful, with only a contact of over-saturation at sure instances of the day. With a little bit of digital zooming, you possibly can simply make out the parking area numbers towards the entrance of the picture.

Form and shade particulars are nonetheless locked in round 50 toes (the snow within the beneath picture is about 50 toes from my constructing), albeit with some minor pixelation. If capturing particulars like license plates and facial options is necessary to you, although, it’s possible you’ll really feel restricted by the Duo 3 WiFi’s lack of pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) controls.

I assumed the Duo 3 delivered distinctive nighttime footage. By default, the digicam is about to Auto Mode for IR and spotlight-assisted full shade, however you possibly can manually choose Black & White (IR solely) or Colour within the Reolink app. It’s also possible to manually flip the spotlights on and off. I did discover an honest quantity of banding within the reside feed and snapshots at evening, which isn’t out of the strange for a safety cam.

Luckily, the Reolink app helps you to select between three streaming presets, Excessive, Balanced, and Fluent, to assist take away a few of these artifacts in alternate for decreased decision. Whereas outcomes will differ primarily based in your property structure, I had the perfect outcomes when set to Balanced.

No Human, Skunk, or Decide-Up Truck Is Going to Crash Your Occasion

So far as movement detection goes, the Duo 3 WiFi does a fantastic job at alerting me concerning the movement occasions you care about. With its sensible detection capabilities, the digicam is ready to distinguish between folks, animals, and automobiles. When a topic is detected, the cam mechanically begins recording to microSD (be sure that one is inserted!). If it’s nighttime or the digicam doesn’t detect adequate lighting, the spotlights will set off, too.

Notification endpoints embrace push notifications for smartphones and tablets, e mail, and/or a distant server (FTP). I saved movement sensitivity settings at defaults and was happy with how rapidly the Duo 3 picked up on exercise. Reolink’s Movement Observe characteristic even throws time stamps over the topic as the person, critter, or factor with tires strikes throughout your territory, providing you with a play-by-play of the place the topic has been and what route the topic was heading towards.

The Reolink app lets you create movement detection zones and privateness zones, too, although I want the latter have been simpler to seek out (you must faucet Show after which Privateness Masks to entry the characteristic). The app’s playback dashboard had all the fundamental play-pause-skip instructions I anticipated, together with extra superior pace controls and siren triggers. Obtain and share choices can be found as nicely.

Two-Means Audio and Different Options

The Duo 3 WiFi makes use of a two-way audio system to mean you can talk with people in your property. My voice sounded loud and clear via the digicam speaker, and the onboard mic did a strong job at capturing my voice via the Reolink app, with just a few minor compression and tinniness to deal with.

The Duo 3 can be suitable with Google Assistant, so that you’ll have the ability to get notifications and examine the reside feed with gadgets just like the Google Nest Hub and Google TV Streamer. You’ll additionally have the ability to pull up the cam’s reside feed everytime you please with a easy voice command.

Sadly, my sensible residence has Amazon Alexa working the present, so I wasn’t in a position to check Google Assistant’s compatibility with the Duo 3.

A Little Extra In regards to the Reolink App

The Reolink app provides you a plethora of settings and customizations to work with and can be utilized to manage one or a number of Reolink gadgets. You’ll even have the ability to do issues like duplicate one Reolink system’s detection settings to all different suitable Reolink cams registered to your account (a characteristic billed as Shortcuts). I discussed earlier that some settings is usually a little tough to find at first, however I didn’t have a lot bother with the educational curve.

A number of different noteworthy app options embrace Time Lapse video and the flexibility to share system entry with as much as 19 further customers. Simply faucet Superior and Share System to begin including licensed customers.

Ought to You Purchase the Reolink Duo 3 WiFi?

I’ve reviewed a ton of indoor and out of doors cameras over the previous few years, and I need to say that in terms of wide-angle protection and stage of element, it’s onerous to beat the efficiency and visuals you’ll get with the Reolink Duo 3 WiFi. These searching for telephoto and pan-tilt capabilities could need to look elsewhere, and the identical goes for anybody searching for a safety cam with a built-in or swappable battery.

I counsel looking at our roundups of the best outdoor cameras and best security cameras for extra suggestions. It’s also possible to learn my evaluation of the Reolink TrackMix WiFi.

Reolink Duo 3 WiFi

$150 $180 Save
$30

That includes two 4K picture sensors, this out of doors safety digicam brings 16MP ultra-clear visuals. With 8 spotlights and an F1.6 massive aperture, it captures particulars in vivid colours, even at evening.