When people wish to start making their homes smart, security cameras are among the first thing they get. They offer easily recognizable value for home security, plus they make full use of your Wi-Fi system and your smartphone screen. You do have plenty of choices to pick from if you’re looking for a smart security camera. But if you want something small and affordable, there’s the Funlux Wireless Smart Home Security Camera.
This Funlux Mini is actually affordable enough that you’re probably better off getting 2 for your home. You can have one placed by your front door, and another one at the back or by a window in your house that’s big enough for a person to get through. You may also want it for your nursery or for your jewelry collection.
But is it worth getting even one of these things? Let’s take a closer look.
Contents
Features
Here are specs and features you can expect for your money:
Specs and Setup
This is quite tiny as it only measures 4 by 3 by 4 inches and it weighs 13.4 ounces. You also get a micro USB power cable, a hinged stand, a big know to attach the stand to the camera, a mounting ring if you want to mount it on your wall, and mounting screws.
If you’re using this indoors, you can just stand it on a flat surface and you’re good to go. This also makes it easy for you to move it wherever you want.
Or, you can mount it on your wall though this will make it more difficult to move around. Still, when mounted the camera can still be rotated and moved up and down so it points where you want it to face.
You’ll then need to download the app for your smartphone so you can set it up and control it. The app will provide you with the directions on how you can connect this to your Wi-Fi network. This only needs to happen once; even if you take this down and use it after a few months the app will still be able to find your camera.
Wi-Fi
This is a Wi-Fi device that connects to your Wi-Fi network. You’re able to set it up and control through the Funlux app that’s available for both iPhones and Android phones.
Video
The camera offers 720p quality video, which isn’t bad for viewing on your smartphone. The angle lens is 115 degrees, which ought to be enough to see plenty without having to pan and tilt the camera.
This also has infrared, which is rated for 10 meters. You can disable this if you want if you don’t want black and white video and there’s enough ambient light.
You can see the live feed whenever you want through your smartphone, or you can watch the record video from the cloud service. The cloud service storage is free for 30 days.
Motion Detection
This has motion detectors, and it can send you alerts when it detects motion in its security zone. You can customize the motion detection area such as the baby’s crib so you’ll be alerted when the baby wakes up. The app will show you alerts when the motion sensors detect movement through the camera.
There may be times when you don’t want to receive motion alerts. With Funlux you can pick a mode or schedule time to keep your camera from sending these alerts.
2-Way Audio
This comes with a speaker and microphone so you can use it to talk to your loved one through the camera. You can also use this to talk to strangers outside your door. You can adjust the volume of the 2-way audio, so you can be sure to heat the other person and they will be able to hear you.
Online Account
If your smartphone’s dead but you can use a PC in your office, you can still log into your account and check out the videos, logs, and alerts. Just download the videos and watch them.
The Price and Diminished Expectations
You’ve probably heard the saying about how when you buy things, you tend to get your money’s worth. This means that if you want something with lots of advanced features that work reliably well, then you’re going to have to shell out more money.
On the other hand, if you wish to go the cheap route, there’s this Funlux Mini. Get a pair and you still pay only about ¼ of the price of a single name-brand camera.
So why is this cheap? There are plenty of reasons for this, and you need to temper your expectations as a result.
- It’s not weatherproof. This is one of its biggest limitations, which is why many only consider this for indoor use. You really don’t want to leave this right under a strong rainfall. However, it can work outdoors when you have some sort of cover over it. It’s best placed under a porch so it doesn’t get wet.
- You don’t get 1080p resolution. You have to make do with 720p resolution, but on a smartphone screen this isn’t really a hardship.
- You don’t have many of the high tech features such as advanced algorithms for watching the video feed. So you may have to scroll through a recorded video to get to the “interesting” parts.
- There have been a lot of negative comments regarding the customer support. You can see these for yourself when you read plenty of the customer reviews.
- Numerous reviews report inconsistent performance. You can read lots of reviews saying that it didn’t work for them, it was too complicated to install, or that sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. Some say that the app didn’t work well for their Android phone, though there are fewer complaints from iOS users.
- Cloud storage is only free for 30 days. After that, you have to pay for your videos to be stored in the cloud. There was a time when this was free for 60 days, and even then people complained about the short free period for cloud storage. Now it’s even shorter.
The Good Parts
Yet despite all these complaints, quite a lot of people have still bought the Funlux Mini. Surely it can’t be just the price, right? Actually, it’s not just the price.
- 60-day guarantee. It so happens that there is a 60-day money-back guarantee, so you can see for yourself if you get a good unit or not, or if the app worked for your phone.
- Warranty and support. The warranty is for 2 years and you also get lifetime customer support. Hopefully, they’ve now improved the quality of their customer support.
- As an indoor home security camera, it works. Actually, that’s how Funlux markets it. They have it available in their “indoor” equipment. That’s why it’s not weatherproof.
- The wide viewing angle lets you see a lot. This means you don’t have to pan and tilt, especially when you just want to see who’s by your front door or who is right by your jewelry table in your bedroom.
- You can use it to talk to talk to the people in front of the camera. It has both a microphone and a speaker, so you can ask the stranger who they are. In fact, you can use this as a communication device, such as when you put it in your boys’ bedroom and you use it to tell them to stop playing around and go to sleep. Sure, the speaker does have a tinny sound, but at this price range you just can’t expect audiophile quality.
- The night vision works. So you can set it up in your bedroom and see whether there’s someone there trying to open your safe even when it’s dark. The range is enough to see who’s at your door at night, as most of the time you also have ambient light to help.
- The small size is convenient. They’re very inconspicuous.
Conclusion
As it should be obvious right now, this isn’t a technological marvel. But you can try it out due to that excellent 60-day “no questions asked” money-back guarantee. That guarantee should you give you enough time to see if you can live with its imperfections, and if you can deal with video, alerts, and possible inconsistences.
We started with the “cons” first in this review before getting to the “pros”, because there sure are a lot of complaints. It’s certainly isn’t the most consistent device around.
However, for its price this isn’t actually bad. About half of all the reviewers actually give it perfect marks, so it’s a toss-coin proposition. If you don’t have much to spend for security cameras, then this is a great trial for you as it’s so affordable.
You may want to try out the Funlux Wireless Smart Home Security Camera because of its price. If it does work for you, then you’ll get something useful for very little money. If it doesn’t work, then just return it and you still have your money to spend on something else.