Eufy SoloCam S340 Wireless Outdoor Security Camera Review

The Eufy SoloCam S340 is a unique battery-powered outdoor home security camera that is equipped with two high-resolution lenses, one for wide-angle viewing and the other for telephoto zooming. It runs on battery power, which makes it very easy to install, and it comes with a small solar panel to stay powered indefinitely. At $199.99, the SoloCam S340 is near the top of the price range for this category, but it works well and offers lots of bang for your buck including sharper video than similarly priced competitors, free local storage, and mechanical pan and tilt capabilities, earning it our Editors’ Choice award.

Bells and Whistles Galore

The SoloCam S340 uses a white enclosure with an IP67 weather-resistant rating that protects it from the elements. The round black camera assembly mounted to the bottom of the enclosure uses a motorized mechanism for 360 degrees of horizontal panning and 70 degrees of vertical tilt. The camera is outfitted with two lenses; the wide-angle lens captures 3K video (2,880 by 1,620 pixels) with a 135-degree field of view, while the telephoto lens captures 2K video (2,304 by 1,296 pixels) and supports 8x hybrid zooming with a 50-foot range. The S340 captures color night video when there’s enough ambient light or when the spotlight is activated, otherwise it provides black-and-white night vision.

Embedded in the camera assembly is a microphone, a PIR (passive infrared) motion sensor, and a white LED spotlight. Under the hood, there’s a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio, 8GB of EMMC (flash) memory for storing recorded video, and a siren. The front of the enclosure holds a speaker and a tiny LED indicator that shines blue when the battery is charging and is off when the battery is fully charged. Around back, there’s a USB-C charging port, a Sync button for pairing the camera with its companion Eufy Security mobile app (available for Android and iOS), and a mounting slot for attaching the camera to the included mounting bracket.

(Credit: John R. Delaney)

The S340 comes with a 2.2-watt, 4.7-by-4.7-inch solar panel that attaches to the top of the enclosure and will keep the nonremovable battery charged indefinitely. If you want to mount the panel on a roof or somewhere close by that receives more sunlight, you can use the included 10-foot USB-C extension cable to connect it to the camera. If you choose not to install the panel, you can expect up to three months of battery life between charges.

The camera works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands but lacks support for Apple HomeKit, IFTTT applets, and Matter. Onboard AI enables human and vehicle detection, as well as automatic motion tracking to pan, tilt, and zoom to follow a target. If you want more advanced AI capabilities including face recognition and pet detection, you’ll have to purchase a HomeBase 3 hub ($149.99), which also lets you attach a USB storage device (up to 16TB) to hold recordings. Cloud storage isn’t available.

For a similar alternative, you can pair the 2K Arlo Essential XL Outdoor ($149.99) with a compatible first-party solar charger ($40) for $10 less than the S340, but you’ll sacrifice free local storage and pan and tilt capabilities. The solar version of the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro ($209.99) offers a few perks you don’t get from either the aformentioned Arlo or the S340, including dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and a Bird’s Eye View feature that lets you see where visitors have traveled on your property, but it tops out at 1080p and again lacks local storage and mechanical pan and tilt.

Meanwhile, if you need multiple cameras to monitor different areas, consider the EufyCam 3 S330 ($549.99 for a two-pack), a battery-powered outdoor security camera that captures razor-sharp 4K (3,840 by 2,160 pixels) video and comes with a HomeBase 3 hub to save countless hours of recordings locally.

Exploring the Eufy Security App

The S340 gets its own panel on the My Devices screen in the Eufy Security app. The panel displays the last captured image and has a play arrow that launches a live stream on a new screen. By default, the video screen has two panels; the top panel displays video from the wide-angle lens and the bottom panel displays video from the telephoto lens. However, you can select a single view from either lens in the Video Settings menu.

(Credit: Eufy/John R. Delaney)

At the bottom of the video screen is a button bar with Record, Sound, Two-Way Talk, Light, and Pan and Tilt buttons. The Pan and Tilt button launches a four-way controller for positioning the camera view, and you can create up to four preset viewpoints for quick one-touch control. Swipe the button bar to the left to reveal Screenshot, Night Vision, AI Tracking (motion tracking that follows a target’s movement), and 360-Degree Round Look buttons. When you tap the 360-Degree Round Look button, the camera will perform a single 360-degree pan before returning to its original viewpoint.

(Credit: Eufy)

In the top right corner of the screen are alarm and gear icons. The alarm icon will sound the siren and activate the spotlight, and the gear icon takes you to the Settings screen from which you can turn the camera on and off, connect it to a HomeBase station, and configure motion settings including Smart Detection, Activity Zones, Detection Sensitivity, and AI Tracking. Here you can also adjust pan and tilt speed, create preset pan and tilt viewpoints, view usage statistics (working days, detected events, recorded events), choose a power plan (optimal battery life, optimal surveillance, custom recording lengths), and view weekly and monthly solar charging data.

Other options within Settings let you configure notifications, privacy zones, the speaker and microphone, spotlight brightness, video streaming and night vision, and Wi-Fi.

Detailed Video, Even When Zoomed In

In testing, I had the S340 up and running in minutes. I started by charging the battery and downloading the Eufy Security mobile app. I already had an account so I logged in, tapped Add Device on the Devices screen, selected the SoloCam S340 from the Battery Camera list, and followed the instructions to connect the device to my router. I selected my Wi-Fi SSID, entered my password, and pressed the Sync button on the camera until the LED began flashing blue. The app generated a QR code, which I held in front of the camera until I heard two beeps.

The voice guide informed me that the camera was successfully added so I tapped Next, gave the camera a name, selected a working mode (from the power plan options listed above) and a Notification mode (Most Efficient, Full Effect, Include Thumbnail), and configured the audio settings. I read through the mounting tips, took the camera outside, and mounted it to my backyard deck post. The app ran a Wi-Fi signal test, then gave me the option to enable AI detection and configure pan and tilt presets. After a quick firmware update, the installation was complete.

(Credit: Eufy/John R. Delaney)

The SoloCam S340 delivered highly detailed and colorful video in testing. Both lenses did their job; the wide-angle lens provided a broad view of my backyard while the telephoto lens offered a sharp close-up view of the target area. Black-and-white night video was crisp, well-lit, and showed good contrast, but color night video was a bit dull and not nearly as colorful as what we saw with the affordable Tapo C120 ($39.99), a wired single-lens outdoor security camera. Two-way audio came through loud and clear.

Pan and tilt motion was smooth and AI motion tracking worked flawlessly. My Alexa voice commands to stream video to an Echo Show smart display worked without a hitch, as did my Alexa routine to have a Nanoleaf Essentials BR30 bulb turn red when the camera detected motion.

High-End Home Surveillance

Mechanical pan and tilt, free local video storage, and both a 3K wide-angle and 2K telephoto lenses make the Eufy SoloCam S340 an excellent choice for monitoring your yard. With support for custom preset viewpoints and AI motion tracking, you can easily keep tabs on every corner of your property, and you can stream video to your phone or use voice commands to view it on Alexa and Google smart display devices. Moreover, it comes with a solar panel that constantly charges the internal battery so you’ll never run out of juice. At $199.99, it’s not cheap, but it’s one of the more feature-rich cameras out, earning our Editors’ Choice award award for high-end outdoor security. If you need multiple cameras, however, it’s worth upgrading to the EufyCam 3 S330, a kit that comes with up to four cameras, delivers even sharper 4K video, and includes a hub for expandable local video storage.