The Nest Cam (previously Drop Cam) is a kind of Mini Wi-Fi IP Camera designed for indoor use
only. It has a great design and solid build quality. However, it is a completely proprietary
device that does NOT work with any other cloud storage (surveillance) services or any
other PC-based IP camera management software.
Most other Mini IP cameras or regular IP cameras support open standards such as ONVIF, RTSP and FTP so that
you can use any professional camera management software or cloud recording services. Please visit our camera support page for more detailed information.
If you want a Nest Cam style mini IP camera, but still want to use our cloud recording service, please visit how to configure Mini Wi-Fi IP cameras for cloud recording.
Before you decide to buy a Nest Cam
camera, please make sure you understand the advantages and disadvantages.
Nest Cam Advantages
- Impressive hardware design and specification;
- Great video quality during both day-time and night-time;
- Wide angle lens;
- Two-way audio;
- Very easy-to-setup with live view support from anywhere;
- Integrated cloud recording service.
- Integrated with Nest's other services and smart thermostat
Nest Cam Disadvantages
- Expensive hardware - one-time cost
- Expensive cloud service - recurring cost
- Granted, it is optional, but cloud recording is too important to not have. It only works with
Nest's own service with only two retention plans (10-day retention or 30-day retention).
- Does not support local video streaming
- Your camera must be always connected to the Internet to work!
- No SD card or any other local storage support
- Completely proprietary
- It is incompatible with any other cloud recording service or IP camera management
software; does not support IP camera standard protocols such as ONVIF, FTP or RTSP.
- Wi-Fi only
- With 1080P video streaming, Wi-Fi connection may not be reliable and the video
quality may degrade.
- Indoor only and does not support PoE.
- High bandwidth usage
Nest Cam (Drop Cam) cameras offer great video quality at the expense of high
bandwidth usage. If you have multiple Nest Cam cameras, you are likely to run into a few
problems:
- Your Wi-Fi connection will become less reliable;
- Your might reach your Internet connection's maximum upload bandwidth;
- Your might reach your ISP's max monthly data usage limit. Many users probably
don't know their ISPs limit their max monthly data usage, e.g. AT&T's ADSL may
limit the monthly data usage to be only 150GB, Comcast may limit your monthly data usage to be only 250GB.
Comparison of Nest Cam, Other Mini Wi-Fi IP Cameras and Regular IP
cameras
| |
Nest Cam |
Other Mini Wi-Fi IP Cameras |
Regular IP Cameras |
| Camera Price |
$199 |
$30-60 not including PC |
Any price points |
| Max video/image Resolution |
Up to 30 fps |
Live View: 1280 or 640x360 or 320x180
Image Recording: 640x360
Video recording: 1280x720, 800x600, 640x360, or 320x180
|
Any Resolutions |
| Cloud Recording |
Video Recording |
Camera Dependant |
Both |
| Motion-trigger Recording |
Yes |
Yes |
Usually Yes |
| Continuous Recording |
Yes |
Yes for cameras that support video |
Usually Yes |
| Frames/second |
Up To 30 fps |
Live view:up to 30 fps
Image recording: 1 image/min
Video recording: 1 to 30 fps |
Value 3 |
Monthly Cloud Storage Price
7 to 10 days |
$10/m
10-day retention |
Completely flexible pricing |
Based on your CameraFTP subscription parameters. |
Monthly Cloud Storage Price
30 days |
Value 1 |
Completely Flexible |
Flexible Service Pricing |
| Other Retention Options |
No |
7-day, 15-day, 3-month, 6-month, 1-year |
| Network Interface |
Wi-Fi Only |
Wi-Fi Only |
Wi-Fi and/or Wired |
| Night Vision |
Yes |
Yes |
Mostly Yes |
| Indoor/Outdoor |
Indoor |
Indoor |
Indoor/Outdoor |
| Browser-based Management Interface |
No |
No |
Mostly Yes |
| FTP Upload |
Yes (but cannot configure email server |
Yes |
Mostly Yes |
| Motion Triggered Email Upload |
Value 1 |
Value 2 |
Value 3 |
| Others |
|
|
May support PTZ, PoE, large lens, great ight-vision or super high resolution image or video |