Eufy Floodlight Camera S330 | First impressions are good but how reliable is it in the long run?

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The Eufy Floodlight Cam S330 is a 2K, 360-degree security camera with three adjustable floodlights. It’s one of the most popular bike-related products in most of Amazon’s sales events, including Black Friday, Prime Day and the other smaller events that happen throughout the year. That’s why I decided to get one and find out what it’s like…

Is the Eufy Floodlight Camera easy to set up?

It’s unusual in the home security camera market in that you don’t need to pay a subscription to store the footage – it stores up to 30 days in its 8GB memory (based on 45 captures per day), so you’re not locked into a payment plan of any sort.

It does need hard-wiring into mains power, though, and for that reason we suggest you get an electrician to install it, and permission from the building owners involved. It’s connected by Wi-Fi too, so it’ll need to be within reach of your network.

Eufy sells plenty of other variations on the theme, including solar powered versions that need no hard-wiring, single- and two-light versions, smart doorbells, additional storage and more. The devices can be controlled via Alexa and Google Assistant, but Apple’s Home app won’t work.

You’re able to install this unit either on a wall or a ceiling, which adds flexibility. It’s not an always-on device, recording only when the sensors are triggered by movement. This fires a notification to your phone and gives you the option to record the scene in front of the camera.

The app also allows manual live viewing in the direction of your choosing, and the facility to project sound to the device so if you spot someone doing something they shouldn’t be, you can act as your own deterrent. You’ve got the option of a siren or your own voice.

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What about the quality of the floodlight camera?

While it might look like the epitome of a ‘white good’, the Eufy unit feels of surprisingly high quality on initial inspection. It feels heavy and well-constructed.

When adjusting it, there’s a decent resistance on the moveable trio of 3000-lumen (a lumen is roughly the light output of a single candle) light panels, and you can point them downwards individually so you can fairly accurately tailor the spread of lighting to your property. For me, this meant a wide beam facing forwards but the side ones pointing downwards to keep it off my neighbour’s property and the side of my house. It has an IP65 dust and waterproof rating.

So initial impressions were good, but I’m also slightly concerned as to its ultimate reliability given plenty of negative comments online about its poor waterproofing. Time will tell, but several buyers have reported failures shortly after the one-year warranty ran out. It’s worth noting too that the bulbs can’t be replaced if they fail, although they’re claimed to last 100,000 hours.

Related: MCN’s guide to motorcycle GPS trackers

Is it easy to use?

The question on how easy this floodlight camera is to use isn’t actually a question about the light itself, but more of the app.  

I’m pretty impressed so far, with plenty of functionality to see everything I want to. The notifications for spotting humans (apparently using AI to differentiate between people and other organic beings) seem accurate, while the feature to capture and view footage once someone has been spotted is quick and easy. It’s claimed it has 30 days of storage capacity based on 45 activations per day.

The footage is ‘only’ 2K, which would probably have our videographer breaking out in hives, but realistically it’s more than enough to identify someone snooping around your property.

Plus, if you catch them live, you can shout at them through the voice transmit feature. The temptation to do this to my wife has been resisted thus far…

Is the Eufy Floodlight Camera good value for money?

As new, this is among the cheapest integrated security light and cameras around, and as I mentioned earlier, it’s often subject to huge discounts too, and furthermore is available refurbished for even more money off. There’s the one-year warranty too, which sweetens the deal, but all this needs the caveat that there are poor owner reviews online.

Its main rivals come in the form of the Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro by Amazon and Google’s Nest Cam with Floodlight (codenamed GM493 and G3AL9). These can be more expensive, though, but always check for deals. There are plenty of cheaper systems on Amazon too, but we can’t vouch for those at this time.

My verdict

Buying this security light could be a bit of a gamble; it feels decent quality when new, does what it says on the box and is pretty simple to use. But online reports of poor quality after extended use and variable customer service do make us question whether it’s an ownership experience on par with the likes of Ring or Yale, for example. We’ll keep this review updated with the latest on our extended test to see how it stands the test of time.

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