Nest cam (battery) poor night vision

[JohnF]

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Original poster: Ross W R 

The night vision on my new nest cam (battery) is very poor.  The photo attached is of my back yard and workshop (upper right).   Very disappointed in this night video.   

[Johnward1816]

Agreed. Just installed two cameras over the weekend and am not pleased with the night vision. My Nest doorbell does a much better job than these new cameras. Going to look into buying additional IR lights to mount below the cameras. 

[Cleofus]

I, too, am deeply disappointed by the useless night vision on my brand new Nest cam (Battery).  Take a look at my driveway - it's a perfectly clear night, but the camera makes it look like there's pea soup fog!  Can anyone offer a potential remedy - or do you guys think I have a hardware issue?

[mdr2]

Yep, that video quality is pretty unacceptable by today's standards.

[harts]

You have light issues buddy. Look at the circles towards the upper area. Those are called Lens Flares. Happens a lot in photography. Could be simply bouncing light off of the car below. You probably won’t be able to see it if you look with your own eyes. Regardless, something in it’s view is bouncing light.

[Cleofus]

Notice that. It was because of the IF bouncing off the flared out portion of the Wasserstein anti-theft mount.  Cut that off and reflection is gone.  But night vision is still bad.

[Joharred]

I had posted in another thread about vast improvement two nights ago with night vision. Then last night.. dark and almost useless. Tonight it started off dark and useless and then poof, the screen flashed and the night vision was superb. I have the moment of transition from good to bad recorded on nest aware. Come on google.. what’s going on?

[Naka]

So disappointed. Shoulda read the reviews on this issue before i purchased but this is unacceptable. For a camera this expensive night vision shouldnt be an issue. 👎🏻👎🏻👎🏻

[harts]

Yeah I’m glutton for punishment apparently. I’m so stubborn with my OCD that the system has to match, so went with the battery camera. Wasn’t until I get in installed, in a place that was hard to reach, then realized I couldn’t record 24/7 with my expensive yearly subscription unless it’s plugged in. Kinda defeats the purpose of the recording, because it misses events. Scroll back manually and see what you find.

Also, the battery plug is a horrible angle… Why is it angled forwards???? I would rather it not stick out. That was an educated idiot with that design. They tried to make it tooo “fancy.” Focus on making the product better to set you apart. If the hardware and software is garbage, then I don’t care what it looks like.

The Nest Hello is also horrible. Actual good quality on everything, but people could break into your house, move everything out before it’ll notify you there’s anyone there. Shoulda went with Alexa but don’t really want Lex Luther (serious look at Jeff Bezos)  covering my automation. Pass…

[acire123]

Same issue here... unacceptable and practically useless at night. I can't even distinguish my own face! 

[CliveE]

I bought two IQ cameras at a cost of £670 . One for my drive and one for my rear garden . My drive is small . I used Nest engineers to fit the cameras . My car got broken into at 3.34 am on Sunday . The camera didnt even send me an alert ! The thief was on my drive for 90- seconds and in my car for 4 minutes . All i can see is a silhouette . I was up at the time having arrived home at 3.10am . If the camera sent me an alert i could have called the police . My daughter arrived home at 1.30 am and myself at 3.10 am . If we had been attacked by the thief the camera would jnot have sent an alert and the video footage would not identify the attacker . The cameras don't do what they say they do . I am hugely disappointed and its impossible to speak to anyone at Nest . I feel at risk and need better cameras urgently . Can anyone recommend a better product please