Eve has been building some of the best HomeKit-enabled products for some time now. The original Eve Cam was a great way to get a HomeKit security camera at a relatively affordable price — and without the need for a hub other than your existing HomeKit hub. Now, Eve has finally released an outdoor version of its camera, called the Eve Outdoor Cam.

The Eve Outdoor Cam is equally as easy to use and connect as the original Eve Cam, plus it offers a weather-resistant build and support for Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video. But it also isn’t necessarily cheap. At $250, there are plenty of other HomeKit security cameras, including some that work outside. Does the Eve Outdoor Cam compete?

Eve Outdoor Cam

The Eve Outdoor Cam is perfect for those who want a camera that supports HomeKit Secure Video and works great outside.

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Pros

Solid design
Good video quality
Weatherproof

Cons

A little big
Expensive

Amazon

$249.95

Eve Outdoor Cam design

The Eve Outdoor Cam isn’t a bad-looking camera by any means, but it isn’t exactly subtle either. The device is basically brick-shaped, with a white face for the floodlight, and a square cutout for the camera itself. The rest of it is black metal and plastic, which looks and feels very strong, and should be able to withstand most normal use, even outdoors.

One important thing to note about the Eve Outdoor Cam is the fact that it’s built to be wired permanently into the wall. There’s no USB port for charging, and it mounts pretty permanently to the wall. That’s not a bad thing — plenty of people prefer to permanently install smart home devices, but it may not be the best device for your needs if you rent.

As mentioned, the Outdoor Cam isn’t exactly subtle — though you may not want it to blend into its environment anyway. That’s especially true when the floodlight is on, given how bright it is. But it’s also a good-looking device, so while it’s big, it won’t look bad outside their home.

Eve Outdoor Cam features

The Eve Outdoor Cam comes with plenty of features that you would expect from a modern smart security camera. Many of those features, however, come from the fact that the camera is built to work with Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video. That means that you’ll mostly interact with it through the Apple Home app, or the Eve app if you prefer — though the Eve app is really just another interface for HomeKit, with a few added features thrown in for good measure.

The camera supports things like two-way audio, and of course, has a bright floodlight on the front. That allows it to illuminate darker scenes, for example at night. The camera still supports night vision though, so you’ll get a detailed and crisp image at night without having to rely on the floodlight.

Other features are more related to HomeKit Secure Video. With an iCloud subscription, you’ll be able to store and access footage recorded from the camera. You’ll also be able to set activity zones, and set up automation for the camera, which is super helpful.

Eve Outdoor Cam video

The Eve Outdoor Cam comes with a 1,080p camera with a 157-degree field of view. It’s unfortunate that the camera only has a 1,080p resolution, but that’s not really Eve’s fault. Even in 2022, Apple still limits HomeKit Secure Video to 1,080p, so even if the camera supported a higher resolution, you wouldn’t actually be able to take advantage of it.

Despite the slightly lower resolution compared to much of the competition, I found the video quality on the Eve Outdoor Cam to be pretty good. It’s not as crisp as I would have liked, and I hope Apple starts supporting 4K video in the near future. But colors look decent, and even the night vision makes it easy to see what’s happening outside your home at any given moment.

Conclusions

The Eve Outdoor Cam is an excellent option for those who want a HomeKit Secure Video camera with a floodlight built into it. It’s important to remember that you do have to hard wire it into a light fixture, or have an electrician install the camera. But if that’s something you want to do, then it’s worth considering the Eve Outdoor Cam.

The competition

Of course, there are other options to consider too, though many of them are more expensive, and most of them don’t support HomeKit Secure Video. For example, there’s the Eufy Floodlight Cam 2 Pro, which is more expensive than the Eve Outdoor Cam, at $300. And, there’s the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight, which also comes at $250, but doesn’t support HomeKit Secure Video.