Eufy Indoor Cam E220 review

Not to be confused with the identically numbered outdoor E220 security camera from the same brand, this is the Eufy Indoor Cam E220, for monitoring the interior of the home, whether the subjects we want to detect are of human or animal origin.

Like the slightly less expensive and more basic C120 model, this pepper pot-like 2K resolution device comes with the same twist: in-camera AI is used to detect its subjects, and, in the case of this particular model, to follow and track their movements. Yes, the plug-in E220 can pan and tilt to do so – the lens moving 360° horizontally or 96° vertically. This affords users watching from afar on their smartphone handsets a clear view of the whole room or area being surveyed.

As with the C120 device and indeed the more expensive and fully featured S350 alternative, communication can be made between whoever’s at home and caught on camera and a user checking in remotely via a smartphone. This is thanks to not just visuals from wherever the camera is located but also two-way audio being provided.

AI-powered tracking, courtesy of what’s claimed to be Eufy’s own algorithm, enables the device to keep up with moving subjects, automatically adjusting the field of view accordingly. The dual cameras work together to offer a 3x optical zoom, or up to 8x digital zoom.

Up to 120 hours of footage can be stored on a microSD card if desired. Alternatively, instead of recording everything in its vicinity, a privacy mode can be effected, whereby the camera will turn shyly to face a wall, turn off, and stop recording. Mostly we found it’s useful for providing a visual and audio live feed direct to our phone screen when we’re not at home, or at least not in the same room. 

As with any security camera, the purpose here is to be able to monitor whatever’s occurring when we’re not around to see it for ourselves. As well as motion detection and motion tracking with the ability to gain an overview of what’s going on inside our house with the aid of our smartphone, the Eufy Indoor Cam E220 offers further compatibility with Apple’s HomeKit smart home system, as well as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, should we wish.

Eufy Indoor Cam E220: Design & Handling

Small and unobtrusive as the sleek Eufy Indoor Cam E220 is, it can be ideally placed on a shelf or mantlepiece. Alternatively, it can even be mounted upside down on a ceiling, with screws and a base for mounting it provided if we wish to do so. 

Able to provide 360° in-the-round coverage, there is little that will escape this cunning device, that works in tandem with our smartphone’s handset and local Wi-Fi. The additional claim is that it can pick up faces up to 32ft away – which is a large room – and in lower light conditions to boot, where that onboard f/1.6 lens aperture and built-in infrared LEDs surely come in handy.

While a slot for the optional extra of a microSD card is provided at the side of the C120 model, here the same slot is hidden directly beneath the lens, so that when the camera is pointing straight ahead the card slot is completely hidden. 

As with the other models in its maker’s surveillance camera range, once we’ve added the camera as a device to the downloadable Eufy Security app for our smartphone (whether Android or Apple), we can enjoy a live feed from wherever the camera is set up straight to our handset. We get alert notifications sent to us automatically whenever the camera picks something or someone out.

Eufy Indoor Cam E220: Performance

As it is, being able to speak directly with whoever’s in our home when we’re not via two-way audio is useful, as is the ability to mechanically and automatically pan and tilt around the area we’re surveying remotely to track any possible activity. Being able to remotely direct it to swivel the full 360 via our smartphone’s handset, so that nothing is missed, is a real boon.

Apart from a delay of a second or two when it comes to someone speaking in front of the camera and the audio and visuals being relayed to our handset, which can make two-way conversations a little disjointed, the Eufy Indoor Cam E220 does what it is supposed to.

Picture and audio quality is good, especially for a relatively diminutive device. Colors are well saturated and the image is bright under natural daylight and artificial light, so we felt we were getting enough in the way of detail to make this one a satisfying purchase. It’s ideal for someone wanting a surveillance camera that’s able to track and follow subjects in the round, rather than just relay them walking through a fixed visual frame. 

Naturally, when they walk out of the room where the camera is located we do lose them, but if desired we can buy multiple units, add them to the same app that controls the E220, and have several screens on our phone’s handset to watch, security guard style.

The E220 offers the facility to receive an alert if the unit detects excessive noise levels, such as a baby crying in the vicinity that needs our attention. We can also choose to receive notifications if the camera detects moving subjects, or activity within a certain pre-specified ‘zone’ or area, which is again controlled and specified via the downloadable Eufy Security app.

We have the ability to save the camera’s recordings, either to the Cloud or to ‘local’ storage, in the form, usefully, of a removable microSD media card. Up to 128GB cards are supported. Unsurprisingly the card itself is an optional extra, however, just like it is on the slightly less expensive C120 model. If we just want to visually check in from afar via our phone screen – in effect using our handset as a remote viewer – then we found we didn’t actually strictly need the card. We do get a prompt to insert one and format it during the setup process, however. 

Eufy Indoor Cam E220: Final Verdict

Peace of mind for a reasonable price is the conclusion here. The E220 is simple to set up, does what it’s claimed to do, provides very good picture quality and audio, and sufficient detail courtesy of the resolution offered to make the whole undertaking worthwhile. 

We think this model is worth paying a little extra over the C120 alternative unless money is really tight. Or you can buy several differing units from the same manufacturer and add them as multiple devices controllable via the same single phone app. In short, it’s nice in this day and age to find a system that doesn’t cost the earth yet actually works.

Alternatives

The Eufy brand offers a plethora of security camera options for both indoors and out and at a variety of price points and levels of sophistication. A more basic option than the one here is its C120 model, which still offers 2K resolution and many of the core AI-powered features this particular camera does, but features an articulated stand that needs to be manually adjusted if we want to alter our angle on proceedings. 

Alternatively, the step-up model is the S350, which introduces 4K resolution visuals and two built-in cameras – one which provides a wide-angle view and the other a telephoto / close-up view (effectively zooming in) on whatever’s going on. Whether that’s worth paying three times the cost of the Eufy Indoor Cam E220 depends on your individual demands and surveillance requirements. We feel the flexibility of the tilt and swivel surveillance of the E220 is worth paying a slight premium over the more basic C120 unit, and makes it a sensible mid-range choice.