X
Home & Office
Why you can trust ZDNET : ZDNET independently tests and researches products to bring you our best recommendations and advice. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Our process

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.

When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.

Close

Eufy's new smart security cameras do things that Amazon's can't

The next-gen security system consists of the HomeBase 3, a self-learning AI hub that can recognize faces and objects, and the 4K, solar-powered EufyCam 3. The best part? Everything is stored locally.
Written by Kerry Wan, Senior Reviews Editor
eufy-edge-security-keynote
Jason Hiner/ZDNET

Smart home shoppers are eating well this week. Amazon's Devices and Services event took place on Wednesday, unveiling tens of new products and gadgets to furnish homes, and Anker Innovations kept the ball rolling the day after. Its smart security brand, Eufy Security, took center stage to announce its next-gen Edge Security System, which consists of two EufyCam 3 cameras that can record 4K resolution with "Forever Power" via solar charging, and a HomeBase 3 management hub that uses AI to track and classify the faces of humans, pets, and objects. 

All that data is stored locally. 

More: Trade in your old devices for Amazon gift cards. Here's how

"There are still several pain points in home security that need to be addressed," said Brett White, Senior PR Manager, during the presentation. Consumers are susceptible to endless streams of notifications because most security cameras send an alarm for everything and anything they detect, monthly subscription fees are the norm, and video data is typically stored in the cloud -- fittingly inexplorable. All that is to say the new Edge Security System does what the larger brands like Ring and Blink don't do. 

eufy-edge-security-system

The HomeBase 3 (back) with the eufyCam3 (front). 

Jason Hiner/ZDNET

The smart home bundle starts with two EufyCam 3 outdoor cameras. Each unit is packed with a 13,400mAh battery that Eufy says takes only two hours of direct sunlight to fully charge. Theoretically, you will never have to expend your home electricity to top up the security camera. It also shoots in 4K (3,840 x 2,160) resolution, which is instrumental for reliable surveillance during the day and night, and for keeping tabs on who and what comes through your residence. 

The latter plays hand-in-hand with the second half of the Edge Security System, the HomeBase 3 monitoring system. As the brain of Eufy's new smart home ecosystem, the HomeBase 3 uses "BionicMind" technology to recognize and self-learn the faces of humans, pets, and objects that go in and out of your home. With time, the machine-learning technology will be able to notify you when your child has arrived home from school, the local delivery man drops off a package, or an unrecognized figure is loitering around at night. Homebase also classifies the faces that it records so you can search for a specific person within the Eufy security app. 

More: Best night vision security cameras

For storage, the HomeBase 3 comes with 16GB of free, 256-bit encrypted local memory, and supports up to 16TB via an external hard drive. Eufy says the max storage capacity should hold up to 60 years of video recordings.

With all of your data saved locally, there are no required cloud subscription fees to use the Edge Security System. You simply pay the upfront cost of $549, no strings attached. "When we launched our first EufyCam in 2018, which included free local, encrypted storage, we made a commitment to protect our customers' homes, as well as their privacy," said Frank Zhu, Eufy Security General Manager, in a company press release. 

Editorial standards