Nest Outdoor Camera IQ Failure

[jimniem]

I thought for sure the camera would last. Having good experience up to now with Nest Cameras, I thought my latest purchase would be similar. Not so much. I purchased the spotlight Nest camera for my driveway and planned to relocate the Nest IQ outdoor (in its place) somewhere else. I found out the Nest Spotlight camera doesn't stream to anything except the Nest Hub and Google devices and will not even be recognized on the Nest App itself. Google home for devices is the worst! The camera will not even stream to Chromecast connected to my TV. 

That isn't the worst part. Taking it down and relocating it caused the camera to fail. I have no idea how that happened. I was careful and everything. It just will NOT work anymore. I even replaced the cable and power supply thinking ok maybe that is the issue. NOPE! I still have my dropcam Nest and it never failed me yet! Out of warranty and VERY disappointed in where Nest is heading. No quality anymore, just junk. So very disappointed I cant say that enough because someone needs to hear it!!!!. Considering going with some security firm and perhaps CCTV to get the quality and reliability I demand in a product.

[EmptyNester]

Hello,  I sadly agree with much of what you are saying. But it is a bummer to hear your camera stopped working just because you moved it.   I have (and love)  about 6 of the Gen 1 Nest cameras.  They seem to last about 4 years or so. When they fail I buy used ones from Ebay and that has worked well for me.  I even gave up on the Nest Outdoor IQ cams because of cost and just went to the regular Outdoor cams and for me they work fine.    And I get to keep using the Nest App which I really like.   I have (1) of the new cameras that I use with the Google Home app and they have been slowly moving Nest app functions to the Google Home app but it is taking a long time (now almost 3 years and waiting).    

I have looked and looked at so many other cams on the market and their all have their pros and cons.  So for me I just stick with Nest for now.

[jimniem]

Thanks for your reply, I know I am venting anger and frustration about learning how much I rely on my Nest cameras. I appreciate your opinions and it gives me comfort knowing I am not alone. My fear of going to eBay for a used product isn’t encouraging enough only because it is a hit or miss proposition. My hope is the company realizes the issue and fixes their product. 

[EmptyNester]

Yes, there are many people that share in your frustration. You are definitely not alone.

So the good thing about ebay is the return policy is very much in favor of the buyer.  If you get a camera and it doesn't work then the seller must give you a refund as along as it fits into the 'item not as advertised".   IE:  A broken camera or one that one connect can be returned for a refund if the add implies the item is in working order.  The most important thing someone selling a nest camera has to do is to be sure to go into their NEST APP and 'REMOVE' the camera from their system.  If they don't then the new owner will not be able to register it. 

If you want to explore moving on to another system be sure to take a look at Eufy.com.  They sell a base-station that records all the video so you don't need a cloud subscription (unless you want one).  The best camera to get in my opinion is the Eufy E330 Professional.  The reason is it records 24/7 to the base station which to me is critical for any system because of so many missed 'events' or events that are clipped at the start or end.   There are some negatives as with all systems however for me the biggest negative with the EUFY is when it comes to viewing from your computer browser.   You can only view 1 live image at a time and there is NO VIEWING of recorded events from your computer. 

[jimniem]

I looked at Eufy, it looks very promising. I looked at reviews of the Nest IQ Outdoor when it came out, and it also had high ratings / reviews as well. Thanks for your recommendations.