After reviewing the D-link HD WiFi Camera DCS-935L , the Zetta Z16 HD Wide Angle Intelligent Security Camcorder , and the DoorBird Video Doorbell , the overly sensitive motion detectors on the cameras of each device drove me crazy. Many security cameras also have subscription fees to store your recordings which I also find frustrating. I still wanted a security camera, especially an outdoor one, but without the headache of the aforementioned problems. When the Gadgeteer was offered the Netatmo Presence Outdoor Security Camera, I was intrigued because the camera advertised that it could distinguish between people, animals, cars and other motions and it had no subscription fees. I was given the opportunity to review it and found that it is indeed capable of distinguishing all of those motions with surprising accuracy and only a few mistakes (which it can learn from). Overall, it proved to be a truly impressive camera with 1080p HD quality streaming and local storage of all my recordings (with copies placed in my Dropbox account or personal FTP server if the user chooses to set them up). There are some drawbacks to consider (it only has one-way audio and a100-degree field of view, it must be mounted on a vertical wall, and it is expensive) but I could not be more pleased with it!
Package Contents Netatmo Presence Outdoor Security Camera Mounting strap (metal strip with two green screws) Mounting holder with a black screw (small black plastic plate with a curved back next to the Allenkey) Allen key 6 mounting screws (3 sizes) 2 wall screws and 2 anchors User guide QR code Features 1080p live video streaming and recordings during day or night (via IR LEDs) 100-degree field of view One-way audio Dimmable floodlight that activates according to user settings Identifies motions (people, cars, animals, others) and only records those that the user sets Zoom in on live video Stores video recordings on microSD card (up to 32 GB) with the option to copy them to your Dropbox account or your private FTP server User can correct misidentified motions so the camera can learn from its mistakes Technical Specifications SIZE: 50 x 200 x 110 mm / 2 x 8 x 4.3 in MECHANICS & DESIGN:Single piece of durable aluminum shell. Highly resistant UV protected plastic and glass. Weatherproof: HZO protection standard CAMERA:Video sensor: 4MP,Field of view: 100°,Resolution:Up to 1920 x 1080 FLOODLIGHT & NIGHT VISION:LED floodlight:12 W, dimmable.IR night vision:detection up to 15 m/50 ft. POWER SUPPLY:100 240 V NO SUBSCRIPTION FEE and free access to your camera online CONNECTIVITY SPECIFICATIONS:Wireless:Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4G) DATA STORAGE: onboard 8 GB class 10 MicroSD card, MicroSD card up to 32 GB; link to Dropbox or your own FTP site to store recorded video SECURE ENCRYPTION: Bank-level and end-to-end encryption is used for the highest level of protection HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS:WiFi network with high-speed Internet connection needed. Public hotspots not supported. IPHONE AND IPAD COMPATIBILITY: iOS 9 minimum required ANDROID COMPATIBILITY: Android 4.3 minimum required BROWSER SUPPORT: Web app available for the two latest versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer Design & Build Quality
The Netatmo Presence Outdoor Security camera is distinctive in its contemporary design and may not appeal to everyone. I rather like the look. The camera is housed in a rugged, matte-black aluminum case. Most of the Netatmo Presence contains the LEDs that make up the flood light and IR sensors for night time motion detection. The bottom portion of the device is where the camera is located.
The camera is attached to a curved, pivoting, black aluminum bracket and fits into the square wall mounting plate (shown to the right of the camera). The camera bracket only allows the user to mount the camera to a vertical wall and not the ceiling or soffit of a house.
The Presence is designed to be wired into your home. You will either have to replace an outdoor lamp with it or you’ll need to drop new wiring to a new location to wire the camera.
The wall mounting plate is a matte black plastic.
Camera Installation
We decided to remove one of our outdoor lamps (the one shown on the right in the above photo) to test the Netatmo Presence camera. This was an easy location because of the pre-existing wiring and may not be its permanent location because the camera can be turned off by the light switch inside the house.
Before doing any electrical work here, we turned off the breaker for this light. After unscrewing the lamp from the wall, it exposed a roundplastic wall mounting plate that needed to be unscrewed to be removed. In addition, the lamp needed to be disconnected from the wiring in the wall (wiring of the lamp was connected to the wiring within the wall by wire nuts which are not shown).
Once the plate and lamp were removed, it left us with the electrical box and wires with stripped ends.
The mounting strap (metal strip) provided by Netatmo was then screwed to the electrical box making sure that the end labeled “Up” was oriented up. If you do not have an electrical box to mount this to, it can be flush mounted directly to the wall.
Next, the wires were inserted into their appropriate places in the white plastic wire terminal and screwed down in accordance with the Netatmo Presence user guide:
Blue/White (NEUTRAL) supply wire to Blue wire Brown/Black (HOT) supply wire to Brown wire Yellow and Green (GROUND) supply wire to Yellow and Green wire Make sure the gound (GND) wire from the wire terminal is also screwed to the mounting strap with the second green screw.A small amount of exposed wire was all that was needed to insert it into the terminal, thus, all the wires coming from the house were trimmed appropriately.
Here is the completed wiring setup.
After tucking the wires into the electrical box behind the Netatmo mounting strap, the plastic wall mounting plate was installed by placing it (in the orientation shown above) over both the mounting strap