How much is bundle price – Blink outdoor – 5 camera kit with Blink mini system? A standout feature of Blink’s battery-powered cameras is their battery life of up to two years, the longest of any camera in our ratings. This estimate is based on relatively moderate use, so your results will vary. However, it’s still impressive and gives you the flexibility to place the camera anywhere you want without having to worry about accessing it frequently to charge or replace the batteries. Discover more in Blink outdoor – 5 camera kit with Blink mini system review.
In the box
Putting Batteries in the Blink Outdoor Cam
- Blink Outdoor camera
- Sync Module 2
- Mounting hardware
- USB cable
- Power adapter
- Camera tool
- Four AA Energizer batteries
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Two-Way Talk
- Sharp 1080p video
- Good battery life
- Infrared Night Vision
- Works with Alexa and IFTTT
- Local and cloud storage
- Easy to install
- Fully Wireless Cameras
- Smart Home Integration
Cons
- No Continuous Recording
- Requires a hub
- Doesn’t support HomeKit or Google Assistant
Specs – Blink outdoor – 5 camera kit with Blink mini system
- Wire-free design
- Night vision
- Two-way audio
- Adjustable motion zones
- Up to two privacy zones
- Amazon Alexa integration
- 2.4 GHz network compatibility
- Cloud storage and local storage
- IP65 weather rating
- -4º to 113º F (-20° to 45° C) operating temperature
- 110º field of vision
- 1080p HD resolution with 30 fps
- 2-year battery life
- AA battery-powered
- 1-year limited warranty
Blink outdoor – 5 camera kit with Blink mini system review
Design
Blink is still putting out solid battery-operated cameras that provide up to two years of continuous use and affordable video storage. It only comes in all-black, as opposed to the black-and-white indoor cam. As far as aesthetics, it’s got a sleek finish and takes the same minimalistic cues as Indoor.
The Blink Outdoor system comes with an even smaller 0.7-by-2.3-by-2.5 inch Sync Module (hub) that connects to your home Wi-Fi network. It measures by a 2.7-by-2.7-by-1.2-inch (HWD) camera.
Camera & Viewing angle
A pair of status LEDs on the front of the enclosure let you know when the camera is active and when night vision is enabled. The camera offers video motion detection and captures 1080p footage at 30fps. It has a 110-degree field of view and uses an infrared LED for black-and-white night video, and it contains a speaker and microphone for two-way audio and a temperature sensor.
Image quality
The Blink Outdoor records in 1080p HD resolution, which is high enough to show you crisp details on your neighbor’s shirt or the expressions on your kids’ faces. Its night vision, on the other hand, is not so great.
This camera has a bad habit of washing out faces in night vision mode, so you can’t tell your spouse from a burglar. The Blink Outdoor’s night vision also doesn’t stretch very far. Everything starts to look extra fuzzy when it’s more than about 10 feet away from the camera.
Motion detection sensitivity
We kept getting alerts when there were particularly strong gusts of wind, which was annoying and unnecessary. But wait; once we looked deeper into the Blink Home app, we found that we could adjust the motion detectors’ sensitivity so we could avoid these types of alerts, which worked well. Since the camera lacks person detection, this was a decent way to make our notifications matter more, although we still wish the camera could tell people apart from moving inanimate objects or animals.
2-way audio
Most security cameras have two-way audio now, but it’s still really important. With the Blink Outdoor, we could communicate in real-time with delivery personnel or repair workers directly through the camera’s speakers and microphone. It also allowed us to alert intruders that we see them. Sometimes a “can I help you?” in a firm voice is all it takes to convince potential troublemakers to leave quickly, as we found in multiple instances.
Two-way audio lets you talk to people in your yard and hear what they say back to you. The Blink Outdoor’s two-way audio is decent—it doesn’t sound like a robot is speaking to you through a tin can.
Apps usage in Blink outdoor – 5 camera kit with Blink mini system
The Blink Outdoor uses the Blink Home Monitor mobile app for Android, Fire OS, and iOS devices. It opens to a home screen with panels for each installed camera.
The Camera Settings screen is where you go to check on the battery level, view the current outdoor temperature, and set temperature threshold alerts. Here you can also create motion zones, configure motion sensitivity settings, determine video clip length, configure video quality settings, enable/disable the microphone, edit Wi-Fi settings, and enable the Photo Capture feature.
Each panel contains a still image of the camera’s field of view and has a button for taking a snapshot and a button for launching a live stream. You can view the live stream in full-screen mode by turning your phone sideways, and initiate two-way talk by pressing the Talk button. A motion icon appears in the upper right corner when motion detection is enabled, and next to that is a settings button.
Storage
Local storage: As we already mentioned, our footage automatically backed up on our Sync Module 2, which was nice, although we had to buy the flash drive ourselves.
- No free cloud storage: Some sad news is that, although Blink’s previous cameras had some free cloud storage, that’ll be over by 2021, unless your Blink account was made before April 15, 2020.2 Like us, you’ll need to pay for cloud storage, but fortunately it’s not that expensive. We could get away with paying $10 a month for 60 days of footage, which was generous.
| Free | Basic | Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Video recording | No | Yes | Yes |
| Days of rolling video storage | No | 60 | 60 |
| Video sharing | No | Yes | Yes |
| Number of cameras supported | n/a | 1 | Unlimited |
| 10 percent off Blink devices on Amazon | No | No | Yes |
| Length of Warranty in Years | 1 | 1 | Length of subscription |
| Monthly Price | $0 | $3 | $10 |
| Yearly Price | $0 | $30 | $100 |
| Savings with Yearly Price | $0 | $6 | $20 |
Privacy zones
When it comes to smart home security, privacy has been a huge issue across the industry, and Blink is no exception; just last year, Tenable Inc found seven different vulnerabilities in the Blink XT2 camera1 that could lead to the camera’s footage being viewed remotely.
The idea of someone looking out our front window along with our outdoor cameras truly creeps us out, but Blink has addressed this issue with the new outdoor camera in the form of privacy zones. Basically, privacy zones let us draw areas we want the camera to black out so it won’t be shown on our live stream.
For example, when we had the camera installed in our backyard, we blacked out our neighbor’s backyard so that we wouldn’t be spying on them. Only our yard was visible, which also helped to cut down on our notifications. It was a win win!
Battery life
That’s right, the Blink Outdoor should last for up to an entire two years from two little AA batteries. Of course, the video-use pattern and the quality of the AA batteries can affect actual operation time, and since the camera just came out, we haven’t been able to verify the two-year battery life, but we’ll report back in a couple of years!
IP65 weatherproof rating
The Blink Outdoor is really similar to Blink’s indoor camera, except for weatherproofing. While the Blink Indoor doesn’t offer much protection from the elements, the Blink Outdoor comes with an IP65 rating that will keep this little beauty safe from rain, snow, and dust.
While the Blink Outdoor’s operating temperature makes it suitable for most snowy or sunny locales, people who live in extreme environments might want to check the numbers. If your town regularly gets colder than -4º Fahrenheit or hotter than 113º Fahrenheit, then you’ll need a hardier outdoor camera.Bonus feature
The Blink Outdoor lets you set up custom temperature alerts, so it can tell you if the backyard is getting too hot for one little cam to take. Temperature alerts are also handy if you have a pet you need to bring inside during the heat (or cold) of the day.
Doesn’t work with Google Assistant or Apple HomeKit
All of Blink’s cameras work with Amazon Alexa, but none of them work with Google Assistant or Apple HomeKit, including the Blink Mini. That’s because Amazon owns Blink, and Amazon and Google sometimes refuse to play nice.
The Blink Mini doesn’t work with Apple HomeKit either, but Apple fans are pretty used to that. But if you want a security camera that works with your Google Home, there are tons of other options out there. In the meantime, we’ll keep pleading with Jeff Bezos and Sundar Pichai to kiss and make up.
Performance review
The Blink Outdoor delivered sharp, colorful daytime video in testing. There was a trace of barrel distortion, but it was minor and didn’t affect overall picture quality. Black-and-white nighttime video appeared relatively sharp out to around 10 feet or so, but became muddy beyond that point. Motion alerts arrived quickly and false alerts were few and far between. Additionally, I had no trouble viewing video on an Amazon Echo Show using Alexa voice commands.
Blink outdoor – 5 camera kit with Blink mini system installation
Set up with the Blink Outdoor camera was pretty easy, but we still had to take our time and not skip any steps.
- We already had our Blink Home app downloaded, but if you don’t, that’s the first step you’ll take.
- We grabbed the Sync Module 2, plugged it in, and got it connected to our Wi-Fi.
- We scanned the QR code on the camera using the Blink app, which connected the camera, app and Sync Module 2.
- Next, we used the camera tool that came in the package to take the back off of the Blink Outdoor camera. It was really simple to pop the case backing off. Once the back was off, we installed the two AA batteries and put the back, well, back on.
- Next, we mounted the Blink Outdoor camera base, remembering to stay within our 100-foot Wi-Fi range.
- Finally, we snapped the camera onto its mount and adjusted the angle for optimal viewing.
Blink Mini camera features
The Blink Mini uses a power cord but comes in a compact size
The Blink Mini uses the same app and recording functionality as the Blink Indoor and Blink Outdoor cameras, but it comes in a smaller package, and it doesn’t need any batteries.
Blink Mini features:
- Camera removable from swivel stand
- 110º field of vision
- Cloud storage and local storage
- 1080p HD resolution with 30 fps
- Night vision
- Two-way audio
- Adjustable motion zones
- Up to two privacy zones
- Amazon Alexa integration
- 2.4 GHz network compatibility
- 1-year limited warranty
- 32º to 95º F (0º to 35º C)
Uses a power cord
The snack-sized Blink Mini camera has a power cord, which is a plus if you don’t want to change batteries. It’s also detachable from its included swivel stand, which effectively gives you a mini version of the regular Blink cameras (hence the name).
On the flip side, that power cord has some drawbacks. While the cord means you don’t have to go searching for extra AA’s, it also means you can’t put this camera anywhere you want. It has to be within reach of a power outlet, and you might have to awkwardly string the cord up a bookcase or across a room.
Blink outdoor – 5 camera kit with Blink mini system Customer review
Good cameras, but I had an issue
I recently purchased these Blink wireless cameras. The picture quality is good during the daytime , and better than I expected at night. If you add a good motion sensor spotlight near the camera, The night videos, are drastically improved. The mounts for the cameras are much better than I expected when I installed them. The clip together attachment of the camera do the mount had me worries that the cameras would pop off with the first wind gust. I was wrong.
The wind never lets up at my house and the cameras withstood the recent 50-60 mph gusts like a champ. I did have one problem with a couple of the cameras not detecting motion. I walked in front of the cameras several times during daylight hours and never got an activation. I checked the Wi-Fi signal and the signal was good, so that wasn’t the problem. Reset the cameras a couple of times and would occasionally get a motion detection. I really liked the cameras but I couldn’t trust the reliability of a couple of them. After a month I removed them and replaced them with another brand.
By Brian at Best Buy
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