Nooie Outdoor Security Camera Review

There was a time when outdoor security cameras were big, bulky, hard to set up and with grainy images, low resolution and out of often out of focus. Those days have gone and the latest cameras are like this one, small, discreet, easy to set up with high-quality video. Gone too are the high prices, and except for high-end big-name market leaders prices have fallen as much as quality has risen. This camera is small, discreet and very stylish and has the sort of looks and presentation that used to only come from Silicon Valley startups. Although listed as an Outdoor Camera it is small and neat enough to fit in many indoor locations.

It has a rather basic looking silk white plastic finish but nevertheless, the build quality seems good. On the front is the lens with Night Vision LEDs, a multi-coloured LED to show Wifi and power status and the microphone opening. On the rear is the power in port and a grommet protected recess holding the micro-SD card slot and reset button. A UK plug USB adapter is included but it will work with any standard USB socket. Sadly, there is no Ethernet port and so wifi is the only way to connect the camera to your network. A ball and socket mount is permanently attached with a wall bracket mounting kit supplied.

The first thing to do is to download and install the Nooie Cam app for Android or iOS, I tested using the Android app. You have to register the app before use but doing so is free and you can use a disposable email address to do so. Take note to ensure the phone used to configure the camera is connected to a 2.4Ghz network, not 5Ghz. After installing and registering the app and plugging in the camera follow the in-app instructions to add a new camera. After inputting your home wifi details the app generates a QR code which the camera reads to configure it for your network. After a while – sometimes several minutes – the camera will connect to your home wifi network and you can control it through the app. The app can be used to control multiple cameras across the nooie range. Unlike with older cameras, there is no web-based interface so you cannot connect directly to the camera using your web browser.

This model has a clean 1080P image quality which is clearly not the upscaled 720p of some lesser rivals. Video quality is one of the best I found for this price bracket, although the frame rate is perhaps slower than I would like. Unlike with older budget security cameras, this one boasts an i/r cut filter which when not needed removes the night time infrared filter to ensure good colour fidelity daytime images. It supports two-way audio which means it serves well as a general-purpose communications Monitor.

Th the lack of audio in/out ports means external hardware cannot be used to improve the rather tinny audio quality. The camera is rated IP66 weatherproof which means it should be fine with anything short of water immersion.

It has motion and audio detection alerts with object tracking and it can capture images and send real-time alerts to the phone app as it records pictures and video to the micro SD card. If you use an SD card (none is provided) make sure you use a Class 10 card – the card must be able to cope with the high-speed data stream from the camera otherwise the results will be jittery and poor. Unlike many lesser rivals, a card as large as 128gb can be used. There is also the option to save images automatically to the cloud but that is an inexpensive paid service.

This is a high-quality security camera capable of excellent results. The £39.99 price is brilliant for what you get and the quality feel of this camera and allows me to overlook the lack of a few seldom used high end features.

The Good
Stylish design
Great price
Night Vision
Motion detection alarm
In-app real-time push alerts
Two-way audio
SD card slot

The Bad
No 5Ghz wifi support
No audio in/out ports
No Ethernet Port
No Web Interface