'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
Ezviz C3X outdoor security camera review: Simple setup, superb features
Ezviz C3X Outdoor security camera
pros and cons
- Loud siren and strobe
- Configurable alert zones
- Well-constructed
- Voice alert too quiet
- Editors' review
- Specs
The Ezviz C3X outdoor security camera is very cool for an outdoor security camera and it has some much-needed features for monitoring your home or office.
This is a well-constructed, solid, metal camera with a locking metal base to hold it firmly in place.
It is dust-proof, weather-proof, rated IP67, and is solid enough not to be blown by the wind when secured by its locking ring on the mount.
The C3X comes in two versions. You can buy either a Wi-Fi or PoE (Power over Ethernet) camera. I have the Wi-Fi version that can also be connected to the internet through a LAN cable to your router.
Inside the box, there is the camera, power adaptor, extension lead, and cable seal kit. There is also a paper drilling template and a screw kit.
The quick start guide has a QR code to enable you to download the full user guide and the app. The camera is also compatible with Alexa, and Google Home.
On the body of the camera, there is an LED indicator, which is blue to show the Wi-Fi connection status or whether a video is being viewed in the app. The LED flashes red if the Wi-Fi connection has failed.
Top ZDNET Reviews
The C3X is so simple to connect to the app -- by far the easiest camera I have tried so far. It is simple to connect the app to the camera using 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and it is really simple to use.
The C3X will either use a micro SD card up to 256GB, or there is a free 7-day trial to the cloud services. The camera will record video using H.265 video compression to save storage space. Its a viewing angle of up to 89 degrees horizontal (106 degrees diagonal)
The night view has really good color -- as opposed to the usual black and white view of other cameras I have reviewed.
Only on dark nights, before the moon has risen, does the camera switch to black and white. It does not use a spotlight to enhance the view.
You can program the C3X to emit a siren and bright strobe light when it detects any motion.
The camera siren will fire if it detects people or cars but not when it detects tree movement or dogs.
You can configure a voice alert to trigger instead when someone enters the zone or field of view.
However, the voice output from the camera is really quiet -- even when all of the options in the settings are set to intense. It is far more effective to use the siren.
It was a little disappointing as I had hoped for a really loud bellow when someone crossed into the zone.
The camera itself has dual 2MP lenses. One lens records the brightness and the other captures color information. The two 1080p images are merged by the camera.
It also has dial infrared lights which can detect motion up to 100ft away.
You can select which parts of the image view will be used to detect motion by drawing a specific zone -- or set a line to cross. The lines feature is sluggish to set so you need to be patient.
All in all, this camera has some great features. I particularly like the alert detection feature, the siren, and the strobe light.
For $149 the Ezviz C3X is a neat little camera that is super easy to configure and the motion detection feature is excellent -- if only the voice alert was louder.