People up to no good want to use the cover of darkness to be places they should not be. The invention of the sensor light has done a lot for security and safety, illuminating locations when any friend or foe is in the vicinity. A companion to the E340 Security Video Doorbell, the Eufy Floodlight Camera E340 takes this to a new level with not one but two security cameras and a very bright floodlight.
Eufy Floodlight Camera E340 review
Floodlight security cameras explained
A traditional sensor light uses an infrared sensor to detect movement. A floodlight security camera is a motion-active security camera with a spotlight integrated into the device. The expectation from this style of light is that it is bright enough to illuminate a driveway, for example.
The trigger mechanism for the light to switch on could be an infrared sensor or movement detected by the camera.
The advantage of a floodlight security camera is that any video image captured at night will be easier to see and be in colour versus a grainy black-and-white image. These Floodlight cameras are excellent as a deterrent and to record events and send alerts.
Eufy Floodlight Camera E340 features
The Eufy Floodlight Camera E340 has two cameras with up to 3K resolution and 8x digital zoom, combined with a 2000-lumen spotlight.
Note that although this camera connects wireless to your home Wi-Fi network, it does require a 240-volt connection and must be installed by a licensed electrician. It supports Wi-Fi 6, giving you the best chance for a high-quality connection at the furthest supported distance. It can connect up to 20 metres, depending on construction materials.
Depending on how you mount this camera, it will determine what area the camera can cover. The camera housing can pan and tilt almost 360 degrees. However, you are most likely to mount it on a wall or ceiling, so your field of view would be 180 degrees from the mounting surface. One camera captures 3K-resolution footage at a 135-degree field of view, which on the vertical plane is approximately the same as what you can see with your own eyes. Although the second camera has only a 2K resolution, it provides 3x optical zoom versus the wide-angle view from the other camera. Using digital zoom, you can magnify the image up to eight times.
The benefit of a dual camera setup is that the main camera gives you a wide view of your monitored area whilst the zoomed lens gives you detail on your front door or perhaps something valuable. If it detects movement, the camera’s default setting is to follow the subject. Brighter than an old-school outdoor spotlight, the 2000-lumen spotlights help capture colour footage at night at a range of up to 15 metres.
Rainproofed with an IP65 rating, you can confidently mount the Eufy Floodlight Camera outdoors. It also supports two-way audio so you can communicate remotely.
To store footage, you need an SD card, for up to 128GB capacity. Alternatively, if you have a Eufy HomeBase 3, an expandable wireless local storage hub, you could increase the storage to 16TB. Cloud storage is also available for less than $5 a month, so you can access recordings online if something happens to the camera.
Eufy Floodlight Camera E340 specifications
| Camera resolution | One 3K camera, one 2K camera |
| Spotlight | Two floodlights, 2000 lumens brightness |
| Capacity | Up to 128GB on optional SD card |
| Power | 240-volt AC, 2000-lumen spotlight |
| Durability | IP65 |
| Dimensions | 32 x 17 x 22 cm |
| Price (RRP) | $450 |
| Website | Eufy Australia |
| Warranty | One year |
Using the camera
You set up the camera before installing and wiring up the 240-volt connection. Simply install an SD card, plug in a USB-C cable and download the Eufy security app. You then follow the instructions via the app: easy. After mounting the camera in its permanent position, you again use the app to fine-tune the features.
One of the first things I noticed was an independent sensor for the spotlight versus the camera. In other models I have tested, movement picked up by the camera triggers the spotlight and recording. This could potentially mean if your preset position for the camera is in a certain direction, an out-of-camera view could trigger the light without triggering the camera. On further investigation, an out-of-view detection setting can be switched on, which will overcome this, but is not set as default.
Because the camera can pan and tilt, a preset position will set a default direction in which the camera will point. You can set up to four preset positions and program the camera to cycle between them. There is also a 360-degree function that pans the camera to sweep all available angles. This, however, is a single action and not a permanent sweep that you could set up as a live view.
Battery-powered security cameras quickly consume battery if they record a lot. The benefit of a mains-powered camera is it can record 24 hours a day. This is a significant advantage from a security perspective. Personally, I ran battery cameras until now and have often been asked for footage from my cameras facing the street. Until now, I was unable to as recording only started when movement was detected on my property. Now, storage space allowing, I can record on a loop 24-7.
Customisation
False triggers from a tree on a windy day or car movement on a street can be excluded from activating recording by defining the trigger zone with a six-point activity zone. Here, you can drag six joined dots around the screen to select specific areas the area where you want recording triggers to occur.
Sometimes, there is content that you do not want to capture, such as a neighbour’s window. Privacy zones let you blur out specific areas in a recording to protect others’ privacy.
The last feature I like is a manual alarm, which creates a loud, ear-piecing siren and flashes the lights. Suppose you detect someone on your property remotely. In that case, you can set off this manual alarm, hopefully scaring off any would-be thieves.
During my review, I discovered an interesting button labelled “Donate”. It’s not for sending money but instead allows you to share images with Eufy for promotional or customer service purposes. I also found that although you can play back at up to 16x speed, the Wi-Fi bandwidth could not cope, so images were staggered.
Who is the Eufy Floodlight Camera E340 for?
This is a very feature-rich solution at the going price for a security spotlight camera. The Eufy Floodlight Camera E340 would suit small businesses and homes, especially when a driveway or backyard requires surveillance and illumination. As the pictures above show, the floodlight provides significant illumination to replace an existing light fitting on your house.
The dual camera suits an application where you need both detail and a wide view of a situation, such as watching an item of value. It’d be overkill for general use, where a single high-res camera would provide a cheaper alternative.
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