The Ooma Butterfleye Smart Home Security Camera Review (with Giveaway!)

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Have you been searching for a great home security system that will protect you and your home all day long, even during internet and power outages? If so you should check out Ooma’s Butterfleye Home Security camera. We got our hands on one, so let’s see if it’s a worthy fit for your home.

The home security market is filling up with plenty of “Smart Home Cameras”, with the likes of the Logi Circle Cam, the Canary and Nest Cameras. All have their own pros and cons that can vary with your own personal preferences, but if you’re interested in a great home camera that doesn’t need to be mounted to a wall and that comes with internal storage and a backup battery, the Butterfleye by Ooma may give you the best bang for your buck.

Available in Black ($249.99) or White ($199.99), the Ooma Butterfleye comes bundled with a week of free cloud storage per camera. Additional storage can be purchased for $19.99 a month; it extends the camera feed to thirty days which comes in pretty handy. In practice though, the seven days of free storage is actually pretty great, with up to 1GB of total memory built-in. I have the Ooma camera set up in the corner of one of our rooms to capture motion when we are not there, and it works well.

The Ooma Butterfleye comes complete with the Butterfleye app which is free in the Apple Store. The setup process is simple; you plug the camera in, have the app recognize the camera, and then it connects the camera to the cloud as well as your home WiFi system. Within the app, you can set up preferences such as custom notifications like if the camera was physically moved, if a loud noise was detected, or even if your pet was detected. It uses these detection features courtesy of a built-in AI facial recognition. I set up our Butterfleye to recognize Jess’ face, as well as mine. It recognizes Sparky, our pet, as well. In practice, however, the AI feature works a bit wonky because there have been a few times where it’s picked up the emoji pillow in our living room as an “unknown person”, and even instances where it’s misidentified the persona it’s supposed to recognize, like me, for example.

Each clip that is recorded last roughly 20 seconds which may not sound like enough time, especially if an action goes on for longer, but this is actually due to the camera capturing video instantly when an event is triggered. This could be anything from your pet jumping on the couch or barking, to a loud noise triggering the internal speakers. Fair warning, however, if you set the camera on a windowsill and you have the loud noise setting turned on, it will pick up ambient noise from the opposite side of the window. This not only hurts the internal storage of the camera, but it will set off an “activity” being recorded even when nothing has happened. This includes if you have the TV on the background when no one is in the room, as it detects it as loud noise.

There’s two-way audio to the camera, so if your pet is getting into mischief, or you want to alarm a burglar that they have been caught, you can do this thanks to the microphone and speaker; it doesn’t sound muffled at all.

The highlight feature to me about the Ooma Butterfleye, however, is the backup battery. Unlike most home security cameras that use the power generated from the AC adapter… even if you lose power in a storm, there’s enough backup battery to last you HOURS before finally giving in. Also when you do not want the camera to record your every move, like those moments when you are actually home, the internal geo-fencing combined with being connected to your smartphone, the camera can automatically be turned off when you return home. This is a remarkable feature that I’ve tried in other home cameras that failed to produce in a manner like the Butterfleye.

The Butterfleye is still being used in my home, obviously combined with the Logitech Circle Cameras that I love so much, but to readers who are interested, we are holding a contest to giveaway an Ooma Butterfleye. All you have to do is follow the options below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more information in purchasing yourself the Ooma Butterfleye, you can head over to Ooma’s site today.

Source: Manufacturer supplied review unit

What I Like: small and compact; can be used standalone; auto privacy mode

What Needs Improvement: Can’t justify paying extra money for the black model; Camera records in 20-second increments

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About the Author

Greg Alston
Diehard Apple fanboy, and lover of all things tech. Born and raised in Washington, DC, Greg enjoys spending time with his wife, family, and friends, live sporting events, good bourbon, Tetris, and pizza. In that order.