Reliable email alerts, Alexa compatibility, ONVIF 3rd party support, and reasonable epitome quality make this upkeep outdoor security camera a fully featured device at a fraction of the cost. Information technology's let down by an outdated user interface, and right now setting upwards Alexa is a bit kludgy.

The HiKam A7 is a budget option for outdoor security, and offers a feature non seen on other budget outdoor cameras: Alexa compatiblity, then you can view the alive feed though an Alexa Show or Spot device. At just $60, you could buy 2, three, four of these for the same cost as a Ring, Netgear Arlo, or Nest Outdoor.

Then practice you lot become what yous pay for, or is this device merely every bit capable equally more expensive brands? Let's observe out, and at the end of this review, nosotros've got one HiKam A7 to giveaway to a lucky reader. Read on to find out how to win information technology!

Installation is Simple, But You'll Need a Power Socket

In the box you lot'll observe the camera itself, 12V 1A ability adaptor, mounting bits, and waterproof Ethernet cable cover.

Installation is simple, involving screwing the mounting bracket to a wall or ceiling, and so bolting the camera to the bracket. Alternatively, y'all tin just spiral the device direct to your wall and featherbed the mounting plate. A hex tool is also provided to tighten and relax the mount for repositioning.

hikam a7 box contents

If your plan was to somewhen apply the device wirelessly, I'd propose leaving it unmounted for the time being in order to add together the Wi-Fi details beginning and check those work earlier locking it in-situ.

One major drawback of the HiKam A7 is that yous'll need a ability source: it tin can't apply Power over Ethernet, and then y'all'll either need a breakout cablevision to pull 12V from your PoE line (which drives up the overall price), or utilize the included mains adaptor. At that place's likewise no solar power option, different the Reolink Argus Pro nosotros looked at a few weeks back.

hikam a7 mounted outside
The biggest restriction on where to place the HiKam A7 will exist the availability of a ability socket. In this instance, I ran power from the garage.

Setup the HiKam A7

Offset past downloading the HiKam app, and creating a new business relationship. Curiously, you're instructed that you'll demand a different account for each copy of the app that you'll exist using. So if you lot have 2 phones, you'll need to create a unique account login for each. On tiptop of that, if you forget your password, there is no reset option: yous'll need to just create a new account.

I can confidently say HiKam is an established company, because their app looks like it was designed at least 5 years ago, with a graphical UI that hasn't been updated since. Information technology's terribly antiquated, and generally devoid of whatever HiKam branding. This is equally barebones as they could get away with really, the weakest part of the whole bundle–but that's fine since my interest in the A7 was primarily its power to integrate into other systems.

To add your camera, the easiest choice is to plug it into a spare Ethernet port on your router (read our networking guide if you're unsure about switches, routers and hubs). And then click the + button. It should automatically scan and find it. The initial setup countersign is 123 (and you'll demand to cull a new one that doesn't commencement with 0). After that, you lot're free to reconfigure the network options to Wi-Fi instead.

hikam a7 waterproof cable cover
Helpfully, a waterproof Ethernet cablevision comprehend is too included.

Y'all can as well select the Other -> AirLink option when adding a new device and endeavor to connect it straight to your Wi-Fi, but this isn't as reliable, as many routers block the initial setup packets. This did work fine for me though.

I decided to site the camera overlooking my car park, where I can grab mains power from inside the garage. Since at that place's no Ethernet cable here, I configured the Wi-Fi to apply my Unifi Outdoor+ connectedness. This is a powerful outdoor antenna which broadcasts two.4GHz, but obviously your setup may exist dissimilar and if you don't have a Wi-Fi signal at all outside so yous're going to exist fifty-fifty more restricted as to where you can mount it.

View the HiKam A7 with Alexa Bear witness/Spot

For me, the biggest draw of the HiKam A7 is tertiary political party integration. Non just is information technology compatible with Synology Station via the standard ONVIF protocol, but they've also released an Amazon Alexa Skill. That means you lot can telephone call the camera up on your Echo Show or Echo Spot to view the live feed. That's previously been the domain of significantly more expensive brands, at least when it comes to outdoor cams.

So how does the Alexa back up work? Starting time, you'll need to e-mail support to enable the feature on your account. They told me this was due to stability issues–it'due south a beta firmware, so but enabled to those who actually desire information technology. That said, I didn't experience whatsoever issues, and they said it volition be rolling out publicly subsequently Christmas or sooner if enough people ask for it, then it may even be available to all when yous read this review. This is manifestly a chip kludgy, merely I found support to be very responsive. Information technology is open to anybody, it'south non a private beta test–anyone can opt in to get it.

Once enabled, y'all'll demand to update the firmware on the camera via the app to version 1.19. And so after enabling the skill (available both in Europe and the US), y'all'll be asked to link your business relationship, and you should see your camera listed. And so just refresh your Alexa smart home devices.

Alexa Show / Spot integration works, merely takes nigh 5 seconds to announced on screen.

Once information technology'south setup, usage couldn't be simpler, just inquire Alexa to "show me" plus whatsoever you named the camera. For some reason, it complained of multiple devices when I named mine "auto park", despite only a single device existence listed, so I opted for "outside" instead. You can run into a demo in the review video. However, I found it to be really slow to admission the feed: a good 5 seconds or so of watching the "Waiting for Hikam" screen earlier I could see anything useful.

The HiKam App, and Motion Alerts

The HiKam official app, as mentioned, is rather barebones. It gets the job done and allows total configuration of all your devices simply, but it just feels similar it was designed x years ago. For a company so progressive in supporting Alexa, it's a sharp juxtaposition.

When viewing the feed, buttons are difficult to encounter thanks to their translucent grayness on translucent black shading. The microphone button in the middle gives the impression that information technology sends your vocalisation; but in reality, it does nothing. No sound is transmitted. You can too turn on the audio stream from the photographic camera, have a snapshot, and switch between SD and HD streams, but that'southward it. There's no zoom controls, or other image adjustments.

The alive view interface is discreet to the signal of being barely visible; and that microphone button does nil.

Enable motion alerts is simple, though I found it would inexplicably turn itself off sometimes. There are v levels of sensitivity, and a "man detection" mode, though I establish the default level three was likewise sensitive for outdoors, with rain and wind causing false alerts. E-mail alerts were reliably sent and included three snapshots of the event, which is good because a unmarried one may be slightly too early or as well late to record the actual trigger event. It did go to spam folder initially, just you can tell Gmail to not do that.

hikam email alerts example
The HiKam electronic mail alerts include 3 images, so yous tin can clearly come across what motion triggered the alert.

Unless you lot accept an SD card inserted, the in-app alarm listing is pretty useless, and won't fifty-fifty display a thumbnail of the event. It'll simply listing the date and fourth dimension.

At that place's also a free 72-hour cloud backup service. You simply get very short clips, but this also requires your own SD card to be inserted, so information technology's not an alternative to local storage, it's an enhancement.

Synology Surveillance Station

The HiKam A7 likewise integrates nicely with Synology. Information technology's great to detect devices that support tertiary political party software, so you're not locked into using a manufacturer specific app. The photographic camera was plant straight away, and nearly everything worked equally it should. Issue detection from the camera wasn't supported though, so you lot'll either demand continuous recording, or use event detection on Surveillance Station itself.

HiKam A7: The Best Budget Alexa-Compatible Outdoor Security Photographic camera?

This is as far equally I can tell, the cheapest outdoor Alexa uniform camera you'll find on the market place at the moment, and despite being budget friendly, you still become all the features you'd expect. You'll find configurable movement detection with app or e-mail alerts, night vision, local SD menu recording, and reasonable HD paradigm quality. It's non the best option for an indoor camera: there are certainly cheaper devices out there if yous don't demand a waterproof housing.

But, it is sometimes a case of you get what you pay for. If you're only going to need ane to cover your forepart porch, I would perhaps opt for the more expensive, more than reliable devices, officially endorsed by Amazon.

The smartphone app isn't amazing: it works, but looks quite antiquated. But so again, you probably won't use the app other than for initial setup. With ONVIF standard protocol support, you can utilize numerous third party applications of your choice to view the livestream and record events, such as Synology Surveillance Station.

Y'all are a little restricted every bit to where you can place information technology since information technology does require a 12V 1A power source, either via the included wall adaptor or otherwise, and in that location's no internal battery. But with the selection to run over Ethernet or Wi-Fi, the HiKam A7 is overall a good budget option that'due south relatively like shooting fish in a barrel to set up, has good paradigm quality, reliable Wi-Fi, and a good feature pick.

The Skillful

  • Alexa support for Echo Show and Repeat Spot to view live feed, albeit slow.
  • Integrates with Synology Surveillance Station.
  • Wired or wireless, in 1 packet.
  • Status LEDs for the camera and Ethernet cable.
  • Smooth fix.
  • Budget-friendly price at around $60.
  • Email alerts send three images.

The Bad

  • No PoE, needs 12V ability adaptor.
  • Only one-way sound, no talkback.

The Ugly

  • The app is antiquated and as barebones as you tin can become.
  • Requires you to email them to enable Alexa integration (currently).
  • Multiple passwords for multiple devices could go abrasive actually chop-chop.

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Almost The Author

James Bruce (726 Articles Published)

James has a BSc in Artificial Intelligence and is CompTIA A+ and Network+ certified. When he's not busy every bit Hardware Reviews Editor, he enjoys LEGO, VR, and board games. Before joining MakeUseOf, he was a lighting technician, English instructor, and data heart engineer.

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