I hate subscriptions. This 4K home security system offers control without compromise

Price When Reviewed

$499.99

Best Prices Today: 4K SolarCam P1 Max with HomeCortex (2-cam equipment)

Aosu is the most recent safety digital camera producer to supply a wi-fi network-attached storage hub for its cameras. In this evaluate, we’ll look at a equipment consisting of two Aosu SolarCam P1 Max cams bundled with its HomeCortex hub. You may also purchase 4- and 6-camera kits when you want extra protection.

These techniques are aimed toward individuals who need the most effective of what residence safety cameras can supply—sharp 4K video, sensible alerts, native storage, and solar-powered comfort—in a bundle that’s simple to arrange and doesn’t suck cash out of your checking account with a service subscription. This HomeCortex equipment isn’t flawless, but it surely delivers the place it issues, and it was on sale at Amazon for $370 on the time of this evaluate, a $130 low cost off MSRP.

Specifications

The SolarCam P1 Max cameras document in 4K decision (3840 x 2160 pixels), delivering sharp video with clear element even when you’ll want to zoom in on particulars like faces or license plates. Each digital camera has a built-in photo voltaic panel to maintain its battery topped off. If the photo voltaic panels can’t sustain throughout stretches of cloudy climate, you may recharge the cameras manually utilizing the included USB-C cable. It’s solely a few foot-and-a-half lengthy, nonetheless, so that you’ll have to take the digital camera down from its mount to plug it in. The cameras are additionally IP65-rated, which means they’re dustproof and proof against jets of water (you may be taught extra about IP codes on the previous hyperlink).

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

The coronary heart of the system is the HomeCortex hub. It’s small, modern-looking, and designed to mix on a shelf or aspect desk. It comes with 32GB of onboard storage—sufficient for a couple of days of recordings—however you may increase that as much as 16TB with an inside 2.5-inch arduous drive or SSD. Like the Eufy HomeBase 3 that comes with the EufyCam S3 Pro Kit I reviewed on May 3, the hub handles all video processing and AI duties domestically, which suggests quicker response occasions and no reliance on cloud servers and the subscriptions related to them.

Aosu’s TrueSight AI doesn’t simply flag movement, it tries to establish what’s taking place in actual time. It can acknowledge folks, automobiles, pets, and bundle deliveries, and it learns conduct over time to filter out stuff you don’t need or have to see. You additionally get each day abstract reviews and a “sentence search” software that allows you to use pure language to seek out what you’re searching for as a substitute of scrubbing by means of hours of linear footage.

Another characteristic, IntelliMesh, hyperlinks a number of SolarCam P1 Max cameras collectively, to allow them to observe movement throughout zones–one other characteristic additionally discovered on the most recent Eufy cameras. If somebody walks from the entrance yard to the aspect gate, the system connects the dots and follows the motion, lowering duplicate alerts and supplying you with a clearer view of what’s really occurring.

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Finally, Aosu’s hub additionally works as a Wi-Fi vary extender, serving to enhance protection for cameras which might be farther out of your router. The HomeCortex, nonetheless, must be linked to your router with an ethernet cable, which may restrict the utility of this characteristic, but it surely may assist maintain video high quality constant even on the edges of your property. The system additionally helps voice management through Alexa and Google Home, supplying you with the choice to combine it along with your broader sensible residence setup and enabling you to see the cameras’ feeds on related sensible shows.

While the HomeCortex system emphasizes native storage, Aosu also offers a range of optional cloud recording plans if you would like distant backup or prolonged video historical past. Plans begin at $4.99 per 30 days for 30 days of occasion recording. Subscriptions aren’t required, however the possibility is there if you would like an additional layer of entry or redundancy.

Setup and efficiency

Getting the HomeCortex system up and operating is fast and painless. Plug within the hub, join it to your router, then scan the QR code on its underside utilizing the Aosu app. From there, simply energy on the cameras and press the Sync button on the hub to pair them. The complete course of took just some minutes and labored and not using a hitch.

Each digital camera mounts utilizing 4 screws, that are included together with hollow-wall anchors. Since the cameras are each solar-powered and Wi-Fi enabled, there’s no have to mess with energy cords or drill by means of partitions to achieve an outlet.

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

The Aosu app provides you full management over the system, from dwell views and alerts to settings and video historical past. Each digital camera has its personal dashboard the place you may evaluate captured occasions and browse TrueSight exercise reviews. The interface is clear and intuitive, with most duties only a faucet or two away.

The 4K footage I captured was crisp and detailed, with sufficient decision to seize facial options, license plates, and delicate motion. Night imaginative and prescient is robust as properly. You can select between normal black-and-white infrared or full-color night time imaginative and prescient, relying in your preferences and lighting circumstances. When colour night time imaginative and prescient is enabled, the digital camera makes use of a white LED highlight to light up the scene and seize extra element, switching again to black and white when the world is quiet. Both modes carried out properly in testing, delivering clear and usable video after darkish.

TrueSight AI impressed me with how contextually conscious its notifications have been. During testing, the system generated surprisingly detailed alerts like or “A man in a black shirt is seen taking selfies in a backyard”—that was really me taking the image of the digital camera on the high of this text—and “A person in a black hoodie is seen opening a backyard gate.” The tone is medical, nearly like a safety transcript, but it surely’s usually correct and typically unintentionally amusing (“A person is seen holding a pair of scissors and a cup, possibly preparing to cut something.”) Either means, it provides you much more context than a normal “motion-detected” alert.

TrueSight’s beta standing confirmed at occasions. Across a number of occasions, it described the identical black shirt as black, blue, and purple. In the context of an precise intrusion, that form of inconsistency may muddy up forensic proof. And like all AI, it’s additionally liable to hallucinations. When I dropped the digital camera on my sofa, it recorded the occasion with the outline “A person dressed in black attire stumbled and fell on the escalator, subsequently drawing a crowd of onlookers who gathered around to witness the scene.” That’s fairly an creativeness–there are in fact no escalators in my residence. I didn’t observe any such fabrications throughout extra typical use, however the potential is there.

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Dig into the detection settings and also you’ll discover much more management. The system presents a wide selection of AI-driven surveillance settings you may toggle on or off relying in your wants. Beyond primary human, automobile, and animal detection, it consists of choices like Parking Guard, Intrusion Prevention at Yard Wall, Lawn Surveillance, and even Pet Detection. Each setting is designed to observe particular behaviors—alerting you, for instance, when somebody approaches your driveway or climbs over a fence. Some of those, like Pet Detection and Yard Wall intrusion alerts, are nonetheless in beta and might be hit and miss. Still, the sheer granularity of the system provides you a degree of management most DIY safety setups don’t supply, and allows you to dial in your notifications to keep away from pointless noise.

This evaluate is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the best home security cameras.

Footage is saved domestically on the hub, which suggests you’re not ready on the cloud to load video clips. Everything information on to the built-in storage (or an intenral drive, must you add one), and the “sentence search” characteristic, additionally in beta, makes discovering what you want quick and intuitive. You can merely kind one thing like “person at back door Tuesday afternoon,” and it ought to pull the related clips. This labored in my testing.

Should you purchase the Aosu 4K SolarCam P1 Max with HomeCortex?

If you’re bored with paying month-to-month charges for primary options—or stitching collectively a number of apps and gadgets to construct a midway first rate safety setup —the Aosu 4K SolarCam P1 Max with HomeCortex system makes a robust case for itself. It presents a seamless, all-in-one expertise with a degree of management and intelligence that’s normally locked behind subscriptions. The upfront price isn’t trivial, particularly when you’re including a number of cameras, however there’s long-term worth in a system that runs domestically, shops footage on-site, and isn’t consistently nudging you to improve.

The AI nonetheless has tough edges, and when you anticipate flawless efficiency out of the field, you is likely to be annoyed. But when you’re snug with a couple of quirks in trade for smarter alerts, higher privateness, and full possession of your setup, the HomeCortex system is a compelling selection.