Reviews You Can Rely On

YI 1080p Home Review

An all-around decent quality camera that cuts a few corners to keep the price low
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yi 1080p home security camera review
Credit: YI
Price:  $30 List
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Manufacturer:   YI
By Nick Miley, Matt Spencer, and Austin Palmer  ⋅  Apr 18, 2022
75
OVERALL
SCORE


RANKED
#6 of 12
  • Recorded Video Quality - 35% 6.5
  • Monitoring Performance - 35% 7.8
  • Ease of Use - 30% 8.4

Our Verdict

The YI 1080p Home is a decent indoor camera that checks most of the boxes for a competitive device in our best home security camera review. Specifically, it has high-quality live monitoring and is among the easiest cameras in the class to set up and operate. However, it cuts corners where it can, and the accumulation of shortfalls adds up. In our comparative analysis, this camera suffered in recorded video quality, and despite its reasonable performance elsewhere, other units offered more and better features for about the same price. Despite its initial low cost, the camera is quite poor when you add in the price of a monthly subscription to the assessment.
REASONS TO BUY
Sufficient live and download video quality
Good onboard microphone
REASONS TO AVOID
Poor night vision
Relatively slow frame rate
No onboard speaker

Compare to Similar Products

 
yi 1080p home security camera review
This Product
YI 1080p Home
Awards  Editors' Choice Award Best Buy Award   
Price $30 List$44 List
$39.98 at Amazon
$30 List
$24.98 at Amazon
$36 List
$35.98 at Amazon
$35 List
$29.99 at Amazon
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Bottom Line A reasonable, do-it-all camera at an affordable priceAn exceptional and affordable camera that builds on the success of the previous modelThis very affordable security camera offers exceptional performanceA top-performing camera at a below-average price that doesn't require a subscription to unlock most of its featuresThis camera performed poorly in all of our assessments making it a bad choice regardless of the price
Rating Categories YI 1080p Home Wyze Cam Pan v3 Wyze Cam OG Wyze Cam v3 Blink Mini
Recorded Video Quality (35%)
6.5
8.9
8.4
7.5
5.1
Monitoring Performance (35%)
7.8
7.8
7.8
7.8
4.2
Ease of Use (30%)
8.4
8.7
8.7
8.7
4.7
Specs YI 1080p Home Wyze Cam Pan v3 Wyze Cam OG Wyze Cam v3 Blink Mini
Camera Type (Indoor or Outdoor) Indoor and Outdoor Indoor and Outdoor Indoor and Outdoor Indoor Only Indoor Only
WiFi Type 2.4 GHz
802.11b/g/n
2.4 GHz
802.11b/g/n
2.4 GHz
802.11b/g/n
2.4 GHz
802.11b/g/n
2.4 GHz
802.11g/n
Encryption Types AES 128-bit H.263 256-bit encryption
and SSL
AES 128-bit AES 128-bit
Resolutions Available 1080p 1080p 1080p 1080p 1080p
Video FPS 20 FPS Day
15 FPS Night
20 FPS Day
15 FPS Night
N/A 20 FPS Day
15 FPS Night
Up to 30 FPS
Wired or Battery Wired Wired Battery Wired Wired
Smart Device Compatability Amazon Alexa
Google Assistant
IFTTT
Amazon Alexa
Google Assistant
IFTTT
Not Supported Amazon Alexa
Google Assistant
IFTTT
Amazon Alexa
Siren Volume (dB) 66.0 dB 67.6 dB 70.2 dB 67.8 dB N/A

Our Analysis and Test Results

This futuristic-looking indoor security camera could have been designed by Pixar. Looks aside, this decent performing, economy camera was frequently bested by the competition in performance, features, and price. That said, this unit has great audio and good daytime video.

Performance Comparison


yi 1080p home security camera review - the sleek design of the yi sets it apart from the class.
The sleek design of the YI sets it apart from the class.
Credit: Austin Palmer

Recorded Video Quality


The recorded video of the YI 1080p Home offers users great image quality, capturing crisp details from as far as 25 feet away. However, the low frame rate of the camera results in blurring with moving subjects and some jittering. Also, the camera lacks color night vision, and when it's dark, it has a limited ability to capture facial details. These impactful shortcomings led to a lackluster score in the recorded video quality metric.

The YI also has a fairly narrow field of view, covering just 112ยบ horizontally. This isn't terrible if you are not going to use it in tight spaces such as a front porch, but the narrow field of view will limit the user's options for placement. Finally, in addition to not being in color, the night vision has the added issue of frequently overexposing surfaces. We were not impressed with the YI's performance in this review.

yi 1080p home security camera review - the yi received so-so results in the night vision assessment as it...
The YI received so-so results in the night vision assessment as it tended to washout white surfaces and details were a bit fuzzy.
Credit: Matt Spencer

Monitoring Performance


The YI 1080p Home earned a respectable score in the monitoring performance assessment. Whereas the recorded video quality metric focuses on recorded video and night vision quality, this assessment focuses on real-time video and sound quality. The YI does well here. The latency between actual events the camera captures and their on-screen rendering is less than one second, so fast movements do not blur — that's a pretty good result. On the other hand, the sound quality is a mixed bag.

Good news first — the live audio of the YI 1080p Home is quite smooth, and we didn't hear any background static either. There was a bit of an echo, and voices sounded slightly muffled, but it picked up noises quite well. That said, the YI lacks a speaker, thus eliminating the ability to take through the camera and to set alarms to sound in certain scenarios.

yi 1080p home security camera review - the yi had crisp, smooth live video but a rather tight field of view...
The YI had crisp, smooth live video but a rather tight field of view at just 112 degrees.
Credit: Matt Spencer

Ease of Use


The YI 1080p did well in our ease of use assessment, earning an above-average score. This assessment focuses on the app used to program and access data from the camera. It also looks at data storage options and how the camera is mounted.

The YI app proved to be quite easy to navigate. The home screen hosts quick settings such as 'Home' and 'Away' mode and access to the live feeds from all the connected cameras (if you're using more than one) and recorded activities. Additionally, each camera has a device settings page where you make changes specific to each one.

yi 1080p home security camera review - the yi is easy to set-up, has redundant data storage, and a plug-in...
The YI is easy to set-up, has redundant data storage, and a plug-in power source.
Credit: Chris McNamara

The YI also has a host of alerts that can be set for people, vehicles, animals, and general motion. It also has sound-based alerts for abnormally loud sounds like a baby crying. Data is stored in an onboard SD card and the cloud (subscription required). The SD card option allows you to record 24/7 video, and the camera starts rolling over recordings when the SD card is at 20% capacity — we like that because it's easy to manage the data. Finally, the camera comes with a built-in articulating stand. Unfortunately, it is meant to be wall-mounted.

Value


While the YI 1080p Home is moderately priced, it lacks many of the features and functionality of similarly priced models. As such, we do not find this camera to be a particularly great value.

Conclusion


The YI 1080p Home is a middling quality product that offers a good deal of functionality (particularly in alert settings) but struggles to meet the video, FOV, and night vision standards set by the competition. As such, we advise readers to look at the higher-scoring products in our review.

Nick Miley, Matt Spencer, and Austin Palmer