Whether you’re looking to secure the inside or outside of your house, the large majority of security cameras require an additional subscription to save video and many other features.
But if you need an inexpensive option for indoor use without that extra cost, the Aqara Camera E1 should be near the top of your list. It’s compatible with the three major smart home ecosystems and offers a full, 360-degree view thanks to pan/tilt functionality.
Aqara Camera E1
The Aqara Camera E1 provides full, 360-degree coverage inside your home. The headlining feature of the camera is pan/tilt control so you can move the camera to better see what’s going on. Compatible with all three major smart home platforms—Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, and Google Home—the camera features clear and crisp 2K video during the day or at night. Instead of requiring a paid subscription, Aqara offers 24 hours of basic video storage at a lower resolution. You can also use an optional microSD card or Apple HomeKit Secure Video through HomeKit. If you’re OK with paying, there is an option for cloud storage of video at full resolution for 30 days.
A Full Look at Your Home
While most indoor cameras can only provide a specific look at your home, depending on where you place it, the Aqara Camera E1 is a bit different. The big draw of the camera is the pan/tilt functionality that can provide a complete, 360-degree look at the location.
Along with being able to rotate in a full circle, you’re able to also point the 2K camera up and down depending on what you’d like to get a view of. Usually, pan/tilt cameras are substantially larger than other models because of the extra motors needed. So I was really surprised unboxing the Camera E1. It’s as small, or even smaller, than any indoor camera I’ve used.
That small size allows you to place the camera in an inconspicuous place in your home. You can choose to install the camera horizontally as well. Aqara includes a screw mount or wall anchors for maximum flexibility. It can even be mounted upside down on a ceiling.
While Aqara includes a USB-C cable, it’s just 3 feet long, which is disappointing as a longer one is needed for most installations. You will also need to provide your own power adapter since one isn’t included in the box. I had to use a longer 10-foot USB-C cable and my own USB-C power adapter. If you don’t have those, that could make the inexpensive camera more costly.
The camera is compatible with all three major smart home systems—Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit. But no matter which one you use, you’ll need to set up the camera using the companion Aqara Home app foriOSorAndroid.
Getting set up takes just a few minutes. Adding the camera to Apple HomeKit is done directly through the Aqara app. Alexa and Google support is done through those companion apps. I only used the Camera E1 with my HomeKit setup.
Great Video Quality With Some Caveats
In everyday use, I’ve been very pleased with the Camera E1. I didn’t have a place in my home to use its full 360-degree option, but instead I placed it in a large, rectangle-shaped living room. My previous camera in the same location provided a 180-degree field of view but had a few blind spots near the edges of the room, including the front door.
Head to the Aqara app for the most full-featured control of the camera. Select the camera to see a live view and use the control pad or just swipe on the screen to move around the room. There was no kind of delay when controlling the pan/tilt using the app. On the main screen, you can also take a snapshot, start a recording, and even use the microphone to talk with anyone near the camera.
Video quality at 2K resolution was great during the day and at night. I usually don’t turn on overhead lights in my living room and just use natural lights from the large windows and small lamps. All the video was clear and crisp. At night, with the night vision active, I could also see well.
Just to note, because this is a pan/tilt camera, you’ll need to lower expectations when regarding the field of view. The Camera E1 offers a small 102-degree field of view, but obviously, with the ability to pan and tilt, that doesn’t matter as much as a fixed camera.
One of the nice features of the Aqara app is person detection. As you might have guessed by the name, the feature will automatically move the camera to record and follow anyone in view. It’s also a great way to filter out motion events from a pet walking around in the home. Aqara said in the future you’ll also be able to use a similar sound detection feature.
Just like other security cameras, you can choose to receive a smartphone notification when motion is detected so you can check in on the situation.
Another nice option through the Aqara app is the ability to use pre-defined positions for the pan/tilt feature. There are many set options already created, but you’re able to customize as many as you’d like. So, instead of manually controlling the camera movement, you can select one of those positions with a tap. I’ve set up a few positions, and it makes using the camera much easier.
you’re able to view a camera feed through the Apple Home app, but with a big drawback. The pan and tilt functionality isn’t available through Apple’s app. That’s no fault of Aqara though—Apple doesn’t natively provide pan/tilt control through its smart home app.
When you view the camera feed, it will be from wherever the camera is currently pointing. If you need to change that, you’ll need to open up the Aqara app. In my use, that’s been a minor annoyance, but not a huge dealbreaker. But it’s something you need to strongly consider if you want to only use the Home app.
That’s not the case with Alexa. I was able to connect the Aqara Home Alexa skill and use the pan/tilt functionality. I wasn’t able to try out the camera with Google Assistant.
No Subscription Needed to Access Stored Video
A big part of any security camera is accessing recorded video. Most options on the market, like from big names like Ring or Arlo come with a big drawback—a required monthly subscription to view recorded video stored in the cloud. That can add up to a considerable cost over the lifetime of the camera.
But there’s no need to worry about paying for access to recorded video with the Camera E1. There are many different options to access recorded video. First up, Aqara stores 24 hours of recorded video in the cloud for free. The only catch is that it is only stored at 360p, a significantly lower resolution than the native 2K that the camera sees.
You can extend that to 30 days retention for a subscription of $4.99 per month or $49.99 yearly, which also lets you store and access the video at full resolution.
Depending on your situation, being able to access 24 hours of recorded video in the cloud could easily be more than enough. It’s great to see Aqara offer that for free, and just that features makes the Camera E1 on of the best on the market.
Alternatively, you can also use your own microSD card to store recorded video. The only limit with a storage card is its maximum capacity. When storing video on an SD card of up to 512GB, you can still access recordings through the Aqara app.
Anyone with Apple HomeKit should considerusing the camera with Apple HomeKit Secure Video. With that, you can store encrypted recordings with your existing iCloud+ storage plan, starting at $0.99 per month. All of the recordings are end-to-end encrypted and can be accessed anywhere as long as you have a Home Hub (an Apple TV or HomePod).
This option will store up to 10 days of recordings on your Apple device. They don’t count against your iCloud+ storage. Thankfully, you’re able to easilymanage HomeKit Secure Video recordingsand save them on your device locally or share them with others.
Another advantage of linking your camera to HomeKit includes the ability to recognize specific faces of anyone in a recording as long as they’ve previously had an image taken and classified by you in the Photo Library. It can also recognize pets and packages.
The only real downside of HomeKit Secure Video is that it’s limited to 1080p. But after turning the feature on, I was unable to discern any substantial difference between native 2K and 1080p from the camera.
A surprisingly small number of cameras support HomeKit Secure Video, especially at this price range. There are a few other options from Eufy, but that’s all. So even with lower resolution, it’s nice to see Aqara offer the feature.
Aqara Camera E1: Some Small Tradeoffs, But Overall a Smart Home Winner
The Aqara Camera E1 isn’t exactly perfect, especially with its small field-of-view and need to use the companion app to pan/tilt with Apple HomeKit. But those issues are offset by the many other positives.
Along with not needing to pay a subscription to access recorded video, either through Aqara’s limited cloud storage service or with your own microSD card, the camera’s inexpensive cost and compatibility with all three of the major smart home platforms makes it a standout.
And especially if you’re an Apple fan, compatibility with HomeKit SecureVideo makes it a top buy.
