Image: Michael Ansaldo/Foundry
At a glance
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Built-in solar panel keeps the battery topped off with minimal sunlight
- AI person tracking doesn’t require a subscription
- Fully wire-free installation with flexible mounting options
Cons
- Continuous 24/7 recording requires an optional AC power adapter
- Solar performance depends heavily on placement and sunlight
- Advanced alerts and cloud storage require a subscription
Our Verdict
Wyze’s first solar-powered pan-tilt camera delivers broad coverage and low-maintenance operation for far less than most competitors.
Price When Reviewed
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Best Pricing Today
Price When Reviewed
$79.98
Best Prices Today: Wyze Solar Cam Pan
$79.98
Wyze has been cranking out budget security cameras cameras at a steady pace, filling every niche from doorbells to floodlights. The Solar Cam Pan is the company’s first real swing at solar power, though, and it connects solidly. You get 2K video resolution, color night vision, a motion-activated spotlight, and AI person tracking without a subscription for much less than $100.
That’s an attractive offer if you’re looking for a low maintenance camera to monitor your yard or driveway.
Design and features
The Solar Cam Pan has the familiar Wyze look: a clean, matte-white shell made of polycarbonate, sized small enough to tuck under an eave without drawing too much attention. It’s built for the outdoors with an IP65 rating, which our guide to IP codes tells us makes it dustproof and protected against jets of water. Wyze folds the solar hardware right into the design—a detachable 1.8W panel that clicks onto the top of the camera.
An included 10-foot cable gives you the option of mounting the solar panel in a alternate location that might benefit from more exposure to the sun. The camera is otherwise wire-free thanks to a 6400mAh battery that will hopefully will be kept topped off by that solar panel. Wyze says the camera should require just one hour of direct sunlight each day to accomplish that.
The other headlining hardware feature is, of course, the pan-tilt motor. The camera can rotate a full 360 degrees and tilt over a 70-degree arc, which gives it true wraparound visibility. Pair that with a 130-degree field of view and 2K resolution, and you get a wide, detailed look at whatever’s happening around your homestead.
Wyze backs that up with solid imaging specs. The 2K sensor delivers sharper footage than the 1080p resolution usually found on budget cams, and wide dynamic range helps keep bright skies and darker corners from blowing out. At night, you can switch between color night vision when there’s a hint of ambient light, and there’s enhanced infrared for pitch-black conditions and you elect not to use the onboard motion-activated floodlight.
The Solar Cam Pan hardware allows for flexible mounting options.
Michael Ansaldo/Foundry
On the software side, the camera includes features that usually cost extra. AI person tracking is included in the purchase price, not locked behind a subscription. When enabled, the camera detects a person, centers them in the camera’s field of view, and then follows them as they move. That motion-activated spotlight, and a 105dB siren, should deter interlopers. For smart-home users, the usual Wyze lineup of integrations are supported: Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT, and Wyze’s own automation and home security systems.
For storage, you can drop in a microSD card (capacities up to 512GB are supported, read our guide on picking the right microSD card for your security camera) and keep your video clips local. The camera records motion events on battery power and can switch to full 24/7 recording if you plug it into an optional Wyze AC power adapter. If you want cloud backup, Wyze sells it in three tiers:
The entry-level Cam Plus plan adds 14 days of event recording and smarter motion alerts—person, vehicle, package, and pet—for $2.99 a month or $19.99 a year. Cam Unlimited extends those features to your entire camera fleet for $9.99 a month or $129.99 a year. Heavy users can move up to Cam Unlimited Pro, which bumps event history to 60 days and adds AI video search and emergency dispatch for $19.99 a month or $259.99 a year.
Setup and performance
Wyze gives you two ways to install the camera. If you want everything in one piece, you can mount the solar panel right on top of the camera using the included bracket and flat-head screws. Once it’s secured, the 10-foot cable plugs into the port on the back of the camera, and the extra slack wraps neatly around a built-in cable organizer.
If you’d rather place the panel where it gets better sun, you can mount the camera and panel separately. The camera attaches to a small bracket that screws into a wall or the underside of an eave, and you mount the solar panel’s bracket a few feet away. The kit includes anchors for brick or concrete, plus drilling guides for both pieces, so you’re not guessing at hole placement.
Setup in the Wyze app is straightforward and quick; just select the camera from the product list and follow the prompts. Once its connected to your Wi-Fi, the camera will perform a quick calibration of the pan-and-tilt function, which takes just a few seconds.
You can mount the solar panel directly on top of the camera or a few feet away for better sunlight exposure.
Michael Ansaldo/Foundry
The 2K video stream is sharp enough to read small details and avoids the barrel distortion some budget wide-angle cams suffer from. Low light performance is solid as well, whether there’s a bit of ambient light or total darkness.
Person tracking works as advertised. When someone walks into view, the camera rotates toward them and follows as they move, framing them in a green box. You can also manually pan and tilt the camera using a joystick-style control in the app.
Motion detection was accurate in my testing. You can adjust both motion sensitivity and detection range in the app to manage how frequently you’re alerted to activity. Detection zones are supported as well. Notifications arrived almost instantaneously during my daily use.
You can easily manage detection and pan-tilt from Wyze app.
Michael Ansaldo/Foundry
The solar setup is obviously the biggest selling point here, and Wyze keeps the expectations realistic. With an hour of direct sunlight a day, the panel should supply enough charge to keep the camera running indefinitely. More sun means more buffer. Less sun—say, a run of overcast days like I experienced during my testing period—means the battery level will slowly drop. Activity level matters, too; if the camera is constantly tracking pets, people, and passing cars, it will burn through power faster than one watching a quiet yard.
Helpfully, the Wyze app includes a power manager among its plethora of settings that tracks battery level, solar energy charging, and sustainability impact, as well as stats for the number of working days, detected events, and recorded events. The battery data is updated daily and is invaluable for understanding the camera’s energy performance and ensuring it works optimally.
Should you buy the Wyze Solar Cam Pan?
At $79.98, the Wyze Solar Cam Pan is one of the most affordable outdoor pan-tilt cameras available. If your yard gets a reasonable amount of daylight, the camera gives you wide coverage, simple installation, and near-zero maintenance at a price that’s hard to beat in this category.
For most people looking to add outdoor surveillance without adding ongoing chores, it’s an easy yes.
This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best home security cameras.
Best Prices Today: Wyze Solar Cam Pan
$79.98
Author: Michael Ansaldo, Contributor, TechHive
Michael Ansaldo is veteran consumer and business technology journalist. He’s been a contributor to TechHive since 2013, covering robot vacuums, home security cameras, and other smart devices. He previously served as PCWorld’s Small Business Editor, and his tech coverage has appeared in Wired, Macworld, Mac|Life, Mobile Magazine, Enterprise.Nxt, Executive Travel, and other publications.
