Eufy SoloCam S340
- Power source: Battery + solar panel
- DIY installation: Yes
- Video resolution: 3K (2880 x 1620)
- Field of view: 135 degrees (360 with motion)
- HDR: No
- Night vision: Yes, colour optional
- Two-way audio: Yes
- Removable battery: Yes
- Local storage: Yes, 8GB
- Why we love it
- Two views at once
- Motorised pan and tilt
- Solar panel provides unlimited power
- Take note
- Bulky
- Solar panel is location/weather dependent
The Eufy SoloCam S340 is a fantastic all-in-one outdoor camera. The included solar panel solves the problem where wireless cameras need to have their battery charged every few weeks. This means the camera doesn’t have to be installed close to the ground or a window, since the battery doesn’t require regular access.
Eufy says the battery will remain topped-up indefinitely with just two hours of sunlight hitting the solar panel each day. Even in the grey and cloudy UK I found this to be true, and with just a few hours’ exposure to the sun each morning the S340’s battery always stayed above 90 per cent. This was also true on consecutive overcast days, proving the solar panel doesn’t need direct and uninterrupted sunlight to function.
I also liked how the solar panel can either be attached directly to the camera with a ball-and-socket joint, or to a nearby wall or other flat surface. Thai means the camera could be installed below a window sill, for example, while the solar panel sits above the sill where it’ll receive more sunlight. The Eufy app conveniently shows the battery level, but also creates a graph to show how the battery has charged and discharged over recent days.
The camera comes with everything you need for an outdoor installation, including mounts for both the camera and solar panel, long and short cables (depending on the chosen location of the panel) and screws and wall plugs.
Camera
There are two cameras at work here. The first uses a regular lens to record at 1x magnification – in other words, it works like a normal security camera with a fairly wide, 135-degree view of its surroundings. Next to this is a second lens, this time operating at 3x magnification. It’s quick and easy to switch between the two, or even view a live feed from both cameras at once, in the free Eufy smartphone app. Zooming goes all the way up to 8x, but beyond 3x this is purely digital, so video quality gradually falls.
In both cases, recordings are clear and sharp with lots of detail during the day and at night, thanks to the 3K resolution. The camera offers regular black-and-white or colour night vision. The latter can be a good option, but I prefer to use the traditional greyscale night vision, as that is less affected by a nearby streetlight opposite my home.
Since it is motorised, this security camera can move left, right, up and down. You can control this movement manually in the app, or set the camera to automatically follow movement when it is spotted. This means it can follow a person walking across your drive, for example, or into your garden.
This mostly works very well, as the camera pans smoothly to follow a subject, but it can get confused if two people are in shot at the same time. Unless they’re close to each other, the camera will jump between the two, zooming in and potentially missing something important. Thankfully, Eufy’s embedded AI does a good job of ignoring non-human movement like birds and tree branches.
Features and connectivity
Other features of the Eufy SoloCam S340 include a spotlight and siren that can be configured to trigger when movement isdetected. You can even play a recorded message aloud to ward off trespassers.
There’s also weatherproofing to ensure the camera is protected against rain and snow, and a microphone and speaker for two-way audio between it and the Eufy app.
Smart home connectivity comes in the form of support for Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Both can be used to control the camera and, for example, show a live video stream on compatible smart displays, like those in Amazon’s Echo Show range.
Storage and subscription
The camera has 8GB of internal storage. Video recordings are saved locally on the camera itself, instead of being uploaded to a cloud storage service, which means there’s no subscription fee to worry about. This sets the SoloCam S340 apart from security cameras from companies like Ring, which don’t save recordings locally and instead require a subscription fee to access video stored online.
The Eufy app is used to access video recorded by the S340. It’s quick and easy to download recordings to your phone, whether you’re at home or elsewhere, since the camera is connected to the internet via your Wi-Fi network. Notifications generally take about five seconds to arrive on your phone, then it takes about another three seconds for the app to open and show footage of whatever caused the camera to start recording. It isn’t quite as speedy as some other security camera apps, like Ring, but it’s still plenty quick enough.
As with other Eufy security cameras, the SoloCam S340 can be connected to the company’s £159 HomeBase S380. This essentially acts as a home server and boosts storage to 16GB, but with the option to expand to a massive 16 TB if you purchase and install your own additional solid-state drives. This storage can be used by all of your Eufy cameras.
Adding the HomeBase also unlocks an AI-powered facial recognition system, so your cameras (up to 16 can be added) will learn to ignore the familiar faces or you and your family, and only record when it spots a stranger. Eufy claims its cameras can do this with 99.9 per cent accuracy.