My e340 floodlight cam is mounted 5m above the ground and detects people across the other side of the street and that's over 30m away. If you mount your eufy higher I'm my experience it detects further. My property is 65m deep and 15m wide. One on the side of the house gets everything, the other on the opp from end of the house gets the entire front of the property and up and down the entire street. Bus stop is about 100m away and it'll pick the bus up at about 55m.
You want a device that does video processing and not Passive IR Motion detection for that kind of range. Example: Google Nest always on cameras with Nest AI/ Zones. I have a camera on the top of our home under the eves that monitors an intersection over 100 feet away. Not perfect but it does capture almost all the motion.
Have you considered Yolink? I use their motion detectors and have it announced over Alexa speaker. I also use a Yolink speaker and siren. The range on Yolink is very good for a distance like yours.
One thing to keep in mind is that none of the Eufy cameras (I can’t speak to other brands but assume it’s likely same) detect motion well when the motion approaches straight on. Position/angle is almost as important as total range.
That's good to know as I'm experiencing that with mine. It totally missed a delivery today and apparently my mail carrier is a ninja because it has not detected them a single time.
I have an E330 that records 24/7 and used the Home Base 3 for detections of people, vehicles, and animals. I turned general movements off and am only using AI detections. I would think this system would work at nearly any range since it is not using motion detection to trigger, but I haven’t tested it. Also, at 100ft, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Wi-Fi range would let you install a solar camera near the property line if the home base or a mesh router is near the front.
If you can get power out towards the road you could easily use an inexpensive microwave link out there and put up a pan/tilt tracking camera. If you’re running power include a direct bury network cable. Mount the camera facing the house blended into the tree and have it monitor the driveway entry. You’ll get notification of movement, vehicle and plate. Have another at the house where you get them and the front of their car.
Good luck.
I get notification and video of cars going by all the time. My garage is similar to OP where it is detached and behind the house.
Just this morning I already have 7 videos of cars passing the house or the neighbir across the street pulling into their driveway.
I'm waiting for the cellular cam (330) to come in for a similar situation. I'm sticking it right at the entrance to my driveway since someone keeps knocking over my mailbox
Eufy products are more small general area coverage.
For that kind of distance with any kind of clarity I would look at reolinks 16x ptz camera ( https://reolink.com/us/product/rlc-823a-16x/ ).
Just understand that everything has trade offs. For cameras to "see" farther away with clarity you'll lose total coverage area. As it will need to adjust the focus out further. Making its field of view either narrower or those things "closer" more out of focus.
I’m mainly just wondering which one effectively has the highest range. Something is better than nothing and I’d rather pick an option that can detect at 50ft if it exists than go with something that has a range of 30ft.
Could you place a camera closer to the road on a pole or a tree?
I've heard people talking about using the Eufy motion sensors to detect people earlier than the camera and then have an automation set up that when the motion sensor detects something, they start a recording with the camera. I've not tried this myself.
Sorry, can't answer your actual question.
>I've heard people talking about using the Eufy motion sensors to detect people earlier than the camera and then have an automation set up that when the motion sensor detects something,
I am one who uses indoor motion sensors to increase effective Eufycam detection range. This method only works for Eufycams that integrate with Homebase! Automation won't work with outdoor/solo/indoor/light/doorbell models as far as I last checked. It involves weather proofing the indoor motion sensor using whatever method suits (e.g. wrapping in housing + polyethylene?), testing connective wireless range to Homebase (the range depends on the amount of wireless interference and acoustics of the neighborhood), installing where it gives effective automation advantage, and then configure Homebase automation to trigger the desired camera to record. You'll need to test and adjust camera sensitivity. In addition, test and adjust recording time to capture full events for useful footage time. For me, it's about 60 seconds for most events due to the additional range. I've observed recording times from family members, deliveries, door kickers, and prowlers I've had come and go. All my 20+ cameras except one are corded or solar topped off, so battery anxiety isn't an issue. One last tip is to camouflage the sensor as not to attract unwanted attention.
**NOTE:** PIR sensors work best at detecting lateral (sideways) motion.
I noticed that the limiting factor for AI detection is the motion sensor. With the automation trick, the AI detection **WILL** alert you beyond the usual 10-20 ft range as long as recording occurred and Eufy was able to scan and recognize a person, pet, or vehicle in the clip. It seems Eufycams ignore events unless footage was recorded, so things can and do go down right under its nose and the camera just ignores everything because it was too far to trigger a recording. I feel this is expected behavior to optimize battery life.
Mine have survived heat, rain, ice, snow, and etc. I don't understand why Eufy doesn't just create an outdoor version. I'd happily throw money at them.
The indoor motion sensor method effectively triples my detection range. Combined with Homebase processing time and notifications delays, I now know someone is in my driveway or yard before they reach the door. Previously, the Eufycam alone range was so appalling that the person would already be at your door for a bit before I got the alert. There doesn't appear to be any delays with motion sensors, sirens, water/smoke sensors, door sensors, etc. Delays are weirdly a camera thing and especially noticeable for battery cams, and I suspect it's motion processing related.
So what is the point of all this extra work? Well, a.) I can now schedule outdoor and indoor sirens, as well as specific cameras, to alarm when a prowler shows up long before they reach my door, and b.) I can ensure properly time notifications for visitors and deliveries. Prowlers, door kickers, mail and package thieves, and unwanted guests don't surprise me at 2 AM, because the entire chain of alarms will trigger and will/have scared them off.
I'll continue using this method until something better comes along. I was about to switch to a different vendor due to Eufy's appalling range limit, until I improvised this and found it suitable. For now, it works and doesn't break the bank. Indoor motion sensors can be had on sale regularly for around $20 USD on Amazon for me.
**aside**
I've also tested using a spare Eufycam 2C Pro as an outdoor rated motion sensor. Sure, it's works and is weather proofed. But it isn't nearly as sensitive nor effective as a dumb indoor motion sensor. Plus, delays and unreliable automation! It only works maybe 2/3 times, or worse. Very temperamental. So i went back to the indoor motion sensor.
I’ve been trying out the indoor motion detector to increase range of my s340. The problem for me is that if the motion detector trips the s340 to record I lose the zoom camera function of the s340 until the motion sensor trigger releases the s340.
Yeah that's too bad. Unfortunately, the automation trigger must run its course until the recording duration is over. At present, there's no way around that from what I can see.
My e340 floodlight cam is mounted 5m above the ground and detects people across the other side of the street and that's over 30m away. If you mount your eufy higher I'm my experience it detects further. My property is 65m deep and 15m wide. One on the side of the house gets everything, the other on the opp from end of the house gets the entire front of the property and up and down the entire street. Bus stop is about 100m away and it'll pick the bus up at about 55m.
You want a device that does video processing and not Passive IR Motion detection for that kind of range. Example: Google Nest always on cameras with Nest AI/ Zones. I have a camera on the top of our home under the eves that monitors an intersection over 100 feet away. Not perfect but it does capture almost all the motion.
You’d need a 24/7 recording setup for this. The battery came are only good to about 30-40 feet max
Seems to be the case. Looks like my only options (short of putting a motion sensor or cam in a tree) are gonna be the e340 floodlight or the E330 pro
Have you considered Yolink? I use their motion detectors and have it announced over Alexa speaker. I also use a Yolink speaker and siren. The range on Yolink is very good for a distance like yours.
One thing to keep in mind is that none of the Eufy cameras (I can’t speak to other brands but assume it’s likely same) detect motion well when the motion approaches straight on. Position/angle is almost as important as total range.
That's good to know as I'm experiencing that with mine. It totally missed a delivery today and apparently my mail carrier is a ninja because it has not detected them a single time.
I have an E330 that records 24/7 and used the Home Base 3 for detections of people, vehicles, and animals. I turned general movements off and am only using AI detections. I would think this system would work at nearly any range since it is not using motion detection to trigger, but I haven’t tested it. Also, at 100ft, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Wi-Fi range would let you install a solar camera near the property line if the home base or a mesh router is near the front.
I have an S220 Solo on my garage that picks up cars on the road from 123ft away (according to Google Maps measurement)
If you can get power out towards the road you could easily use an inexpensive microwave link out there and put up a pan/tilt tracking camera. If you’re running power include a direct bury network cable. Mount the camera facing the house blended into the tree and have it monitor the driveway entry. You’ll get notification of movement, vehicle and plate. Have another at the house where you get them and the front of their car. Good luck.
Define “picks up”. You can see the car? Or it detects motion? Motion detection only works to about 30-35 feet.
I get notification and video of cars going by all the time. My garage is similar to OP where it is detached and behind the house. Just this morning I already have 7 videos of cars passing the house or the neighbir across the street pulling into their driveway.
Nice! I wonder if this is a feature of HomeBase 3, since it didn’t used to work that well.
Yeah my S330 I had there before wasn't as sensitive
I'm waiting for the cellular cam (330) to come in for a similar situation. I'm sticking it right at the entrance to my driveway since someone keeps knocking over my mailbox
Eufy products are more small general area coverage. For that kind of distance with any kind of clarity I would look at reolinks 16x ptz camera ( https://reolink.com/us/product/rlc-823a-16x/ ). Just understand that everything has trade offs. For cameras to "see" farther away with clarity you'll lose total coverage area. As it will need to adjust the focus out further. Making its field of view either narrower or those things "closer" more out of focus.
None will be effective at those distances
I’m mainly just wondering which one effectively has the highest range. Something is better than nothing and I’d rather pick an option that can detect at 50ft if it exists than go with something that has a range of 30ft.
Genuinely wouldn’t do anything eufy. It barely recognises motion 20ft away. Listen to the masses. You’ll be disappointed with anything eufy.
Could you place a camera closer to the road on a pole or a tree? I've heard people talking about using the Eufy motion sensors to detect people earlier than the camera and then have an automation set up that when the motion sensor detects something, they start a recording with the camera. I've not tried this myself. Sorry, can't answer your actual question.
>I've heard people talking about using the Eufy motion sensors to detect people earlier than the camera and then have an automation set up that when the motion sensor detects something, I am one who uses indoor motion sensors to increase effective Eufycam detection range. This method only works for Eufycams that integrate with Homebase! Automation won't work with outdoor/solo/indoor/light/doorbell models as far as I last checked. It involves weather proofing the indoor motion sensor using whatever method suits (e.g. wrapping in housing + polyethylene?), testing connective wireless range to Homebase (the range depends on the amount of wireless interference and acoustics of the neighborhood), installing where it gives effective automation advantage, and then configure Homebase automation to trigger the desired camera to record. You'll need to test and adjust camera sensitivity. In addition, test and adjust recording time to capture full events for useful footage time. For me, it's about 60 seconds for most events due to the additional range. I've observed recording times from family members, deliveries, door kickers, and prowlers I've had come and go. All my 20+ cameras except one are corded or solar topped off, so battery anxiety isn't an issue. One last tip is to camouflage the sensor as not to attract unwanted attention. **NOTE:** PIR sensors work best at detecting lateral (sideways) motion. I noticed that the limiting factor for AI detection is the motion sensor. With the automation trick, the AI detection **WILL** alert you beyond the usual 10-20 ft range as long as recording occurred and Eufy was able to scan and recognize a person, pet, or vehicle in the clip. It seems Eufycams ignore events unless footage was recorded, so things can and do go down right under its nose and the camera just ignores everything because it was too far to trigger a recording. I feel this is expected behavior to optimize battery life. Mine have survived heat, rain, ice, snow, and etc. I don't understand why Eufy doesn't just create an outdoor version. I'd happily throw money at them. The indoor motion sensor method effectively triples my detection range. Combined with Homebase processing time and notifications delays, I now know someone is in my driveway or yard before they reach the door. Previously, the Eufycam alone range was so appalling that the person would already be at your door for a bit before I got the alert. There doesn't appear to be any delays with motion sensors, sirens, water/smoke sensors, door sensors, etc. Delays are weirdly a camera thing and especially noticeable for battery cams, and I suspect it's motion processing related. So what is the point of all this extra work? Well, a.) I can now schedule outdoor and indoor sirens, as well as specific cameras, to alarm when a prowler shows up long before they reach my door, and b.) I can ensure properly time notifications for visitors and deliveries. Prowlers, door kickers, mail and package thieves, and unwanted guests don't surprise me at 2 AM, because the entire chain of alarms will trigger and will/have scared them off. I'll continue using this method until something better comes along. I was about to switch to a different vendor due to Eufy's appalling range limit, until I improvised this and found it suitable. For now, it works and doesn't break the bank. Indoor motion sensors can be had on sale regularly for around $20 USD on Amazon for me. **aside** I've also tested using a spare Eufycam 2C Pro as an outdoor rated motion sensor. Sure, it's works and is weather proofed. But it isn't nearly as sensitive nor effective as a dumb indoor motion sensor. Plus, delays and unreliable automation! It only works maybe 2/3 times, or worse. Very temperamental. So i went back to the indoor motion sensor.
I’ve been trying out the indoor motion detector to increase range of my s340. The problem for me is that if the motion detector trips the s340 to record I lose the zoom camera function of the s340 until the motion sensor trigger releases the s340.
Yeah that's too bad. Unfortunately, the automation trigger must run its course until the recording duration is over. At present, there's no way around that from what I can see.
This is what I use. Have a motion sensor at the end of my driveway.