Blink Home Security Camera Review

Unboxing and Setup

Blink Packaging

We ordered three cameras and got four boxes. Turns out both the Blink Outdoor and the Blink Indoor require a Sync Module. Basically, that’s a hub that bridges the cameras’ connection to our Wi-Fi. It’s worth pointing out that both of these cameras operate using battery power. If they had their own onboard Wi-Fi, that would eat into their battery life quickly. By shifting the bulk of the work to the hub, Blink can promise up to two years’ worth of battery life, a remarkable feat considering the battery in most security cameras lasts six months. And don’t worry – the hub is compact. We set ours on an end table in the living room and never even noticed it was there.

The Sync Module adds a couple of steps to the setup process. You have to connect the hub to the Wi-Fi. Then you have to connect the cameras to the hub. No big deal, though. The whole process took less than five minutes, and most of that time was spent finding the best location for the Sync Module. According to the manual, it needs to be 100 feet from the cameras. Whoever wrote that must not have accounted for walls, though. Ours needed to be more in the 70-80 foot range in order to get a solid signal to the cameras.

Blink Indoor Equipment

If you can believe it, the installation actually got easier from there. Once we scanned the QR codes on the boxes, complete instructions popped up on our app. We had to give each device a name – we went with Groucho, Chico, and Harpo – and the app synced everything up for us from there.

And OK, we did have to put a couple of screws into the wall. That’s pretty basic, though, and if you prefer, your cameras can sit comfortably on furniture, in which case you can leave the screwdriver in the toolbox. The whole thing took around ten minutes.

The only cameras we can recall that had an easier setup were from Wyze Cams. In fact, there’s a lot of commonality between these two brands. As a starting point, if you’re into simple wireless tech, you’ll appreciate both Blink and Wyze. Not only do they resemble each other somewhat in appearance, the cameras also cost less than much of the competition. We’re going back to talking about Blink now, but if you’re interested, you can find more on Wyze in our hands-on Wyze Cam review.

What were we saying? Oh, right – you almost have to be trying to make a mistake setting up Blink cameras. These are simple pieces of equipment to set up. You just pull up the Blink app and it makes all the connections for you.

>>Dig Deeper: Guide to choosing home security cameras

Making Adjustments

Keep in mind, though – as we said in the beginning, these are complex pieces of equipment. They offer tons of features, and they afford you tons of control over your security. That means that, while setup was easy, fine-tuning these cameras can take a bit more time and patience. It’s not just about syncing Wi-Fi passwords and pairing your cameras with your mobile devices.

Blink App – Video History

For starters, you can adjust the camera’s motion sensitivity. Our neighbors’ cat likes to spend her afternoons lounging on our porch, and if we don’t set the detection pretty low, we wind up with a stream of alerts at work. We also made adjustments to our outdoor camera’s night vision to suit our front porch lighting setup. Then, we decided where to store our footage.

All of this takes time. But, once we were done, we had everything set up exactly the way we wanted it. We were safer for sure, but without creating extra hassles for ourselves. Plus, we got to know our equipment inside and out, and because we were making use of absolutely every feature, we knew we were getting our money’s worth for these cameras.

Expert Examined

From Joshua Lee, Active-duty Police Sergeant

“The motion sensors need to be set up correctly or expect to receive too many or not enough alerts. This is exactly what happened to one of my victims of a residential burglary. He received too many alerts, so he adjusted his sensors to be less sensitive. In this case, the burglar crawled on the ground and made his way to the side window where he gained entry to the home.”

Blink Mini – No Stand

Blink Mini Camera: The Full Experience

Blink Mini on Table

Sometimes, big things come in small packages. The Blink Mini is a good example. Yes, it’s small, but it includes all the basics you need to monitor your home, and it’s just $30. That puts home security in anyone’s grasp. Plus, the Mini’s size works in its favor in another way – this camera can be put in discrete locations, the better to catch thieves unaware.

We focused our Blink Mini tests on our home’s entryways. All Blink cams utilize fluid video. In simple terms, this means the resolution fluctuates to create a smoother video feed. The top resolution is 1080p HD, right in line with industry standards, but if maintaining that resolution would cause gaps in playback, the system drops to a lower resolution. That’s all a complicated way of saying that we didn’t find much to complain about when it came to video quality. The Blink Mini – all three Blink cameras actually – consistently gave us a clear view of what was happening.

Motion Sensitivity

Our biggest complaint with the Blink Mini has to do with its motion sensitivity settings. Motion sensitivity is important in any home security camera since it’s the difference between too many alerts and too few alerts. Too many and you’re less likely to check real alerts. Too few, and you miss important events.

The Blink Mini does allow you to make adjustments. There’s a handy slider that makes changing this setting intuitive.

Blink Mini and Stand

As we note in our Blink Mini camera review, though, that slider doesn’t allow for much fine-tuning. You can set your camera to ignore dust and falling leaves, and that’s useful. They’re probably going to pick up pet movement, though, so you’ll get alerts when the neighbor’s dog is on the loose. Set it to ignore pets, and you’re likely to miss important moments.

Let’s be clear: for a $50 home security camera to have an adjustable motion sensor is fairly remarkable. You have to know going in, though, that the price of saving a few dollars is extra false alarms.

Just for comparison, let’s take a look at how the Blink Mini stacks up against its closest competitor, the Wyze Cam v.3. In past reviews, we’ve ranked Wyze a bit higher, but the Blink Mini v.2 has reversed the field.

Self-Monitoring With Mini

Blink doesn’t offer professional monitoring of any kind. The bad news is, you’re on the hook for all monitoring responsibilities. Every time you receive an alert, you have to check it by pulling up live video footage and, if necessary, reviewing recorded footage. Miss one alert, and it could be the alert that stops a robbery or prevents a house fire. Your job doesn’t end at checking the alert, either. You also have to decide on your own what to do in response to an emergency, and, if necessary, you have to notify emergency personnel. This is the reason why we always urge homeowners to invest in professional monitoring if it’s available.

There’s good news, too, though. Once you pay for equipment, you never have to pay Blink another dime. Unless you’re independently wealthy, saving money is always a good thing. You get real-time alerts and access to live footage. With an added USB drive, you can add free recording, or you can sign up for cloud storage, which starts at $3 a month.

The app makes it easy to switch between live footage and recorded footage, which came in handy when our smoke sensors detected smoke coming from the kitchen. The smoke on the live feed was so dense we couldn’t see what was going on, but after quickly scrolling through the recorded footage, we remembered that we left our oven on while baking lasagna. Needless to say, dinner was ruined. We were able to rush home, though, and prevent a minor emergency from turning into a three-alarm fire.

The other positive of self-monitoring? Once you’ve purchased Blink equipment, you never have to pay another dime for your system. That makes those already great deals you can get on cameras even better.

Wired Installation

The only gripe we had about Blink Mini, for the most part, is that it’s wired. But that’s also why it’s a cheaper camera than its siblings. To avoid a hassle, just plan on displaying it close to a wall outlet. You know, instead of standing on a ladder yelling, “Anyone got an extension cord?” for 10 minutes until someone answers. (We’ve all been there, right?)

Blink Mini with Stand

Here’s the bottom line on Blink Mini: While it might be small and it doesn’t include all the features, it still packs the power and convenience of Blink’s other two devices thanks to a strong and intuitive app. That makes it a pretty worthwhile addition to the system.

That said, if you’re looking for slick features like activity zones, person detection, and facial recognition, Google Nest Cam review is another great place to look. Sure, the cheapest Nest Cam costs $99, more than twice as much as the Blink Mini, but you’ll get AI-powered features such as those mentioned above. Just something to consider in case the Blink Mini leaves you wanting for more.

Blink Indoor Camera

The Blink Indoor Camera isn’t quite as compact as the Blink Mini, but at less than 3 inches tall, it makes for a discreet addition to any home security setup. Plus, this camera is wire free – no communication cords, and no power cords. That gives you the flexibility to install it anywhere. You can focus on maximizing coverage rather than where the nearest outlet happens to be, which is only going to improve your overall security.

Video Settings and Motion Detection

We positioned our camera in our central hallway, which means we can see anyone who happens to be in our house. We can also report that the Indoor Camera’s HD video quality and motion detection were top-notch. We could see every twitch of our cat’s tail as he walked through. We could see those twitches in the daytime anyway. Unfortunately, Blink’s night vision capabilities aren’t as sophisticated as competitors like the Arlo camera system. Arlo features full-color night vision which allows you to see what’s going on in greater detail. Of course, while night vision quality is essential in outdoor cameras, it isn’t a deal-breaker when you’re choosing an indoor camera.

Field of View

Blink Indoor’s viewing angle is somewhat narrower than other cameras- just 110 degrees. These days, it’s more common to see cameras that stretch out up to 160 degrees, as noted in our full unpacking of the Arlo Pro 3 cameras.

Blink Indoor Camera

As with resolution, though, a higher number doesn’t always equate to better quality. The truth is there are pros and cons to different size fields. If you’re looking to focus on a specific target – like an entrance or a doorway – Blink’s narrower angel is better suited to capture what you need. Objects appear larger and more detailed in the image. In cameras with wide-angle lenses, objects appear smaller, and you’ll also see some distortions along the edges of the frame during recording.

Even taking all of this information into account, we found the Blink Indoor field of view a bit lacking. If you want full coverage of a decent-sized room, you’ll need more than one camera. You’ll see what we mean if you scroll down a little further and watch the sample clip from our Blink Indoor. Despite our best effort at placing the camera strategically, it only managed to capture about three quarters of our living room, leaving pretty huge blind spots.

That said, if a wide-angle lens camera sounds appealing to you, take a peek at our Amcrest camera review, where you’ll learn about a pair of solid devices with wider viewing angles, and better night vision, too.

Managing Recordings With Blink Indoor

Blink’s video history produces a highlight reel of each day’s activity. With this history organized into individual frames, you can review everything with a glance. Because who wants to come home after a hard day of work and pour over video footage?

This clip above is an example of Blink’s highlight reel. We see this as another effort on Blink’s part to make their cameras as convenient as possible – and an impressive addition, considering the low price.

And in another nod to Blink’s energy efficiency, the Blink Indoor has a low-power mode to conserve battery life. The only difference in using this mode, in our tests, was about 3-5 seconds of delay from the time motion began to the time the camera began recording. By and large, that’s a negligible delay.

At $79, Blink Indoor is priced competitively, especially when you consider all that’s included in a kit: One Blink Indoor camera, one Blink Sync Module 2, durable mounting hardware, and four long-lasting AA batteries.

Blink Indoor Equipment

It’s a generous package, and with everything Blink has to offer, the camera still handles exceptionally well.

Blink Outdoor Camera

Blink Outdoor – Installed

Turning to Blink’s dedicated outdoor camera, it’s evident immediately that this one was built to be discreet. 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. In fact, you’re talking about the same camera, essentially, as Indoor, only with a tougher (IP65) weather rating.

We should point out that we tested the third generation of the Blink Outdoor. Blink has actually released a fourth generation. However, the differences between the two are largely cosmetic. The newer version features a matte black finish with a slightly more rounded face. It does promise to offer a wider viewing angle than the third generation and person detection, and we’d say those upgrades, though minor, are absolutely worth the $20 extra cost. Keep an eye out for our upcoming review to see why, but we have the Cliffs Notes version a few sections down:

Night Vision With Blink

At the risk of rehashing old grievances, night vision was pretty weak in our hands-on Blink Outdoor camera experience. In an outdoor camera, this is a bit of a letdown.

We wouldn’t say that the Blink Outdoor can’t see anything at night; it’s a matter of perspective. In night vision mode, for instance, we had no trouble seeing the cat walking on our front lawn. Identifying which one of our many neighborhood cats it was proved a bit more difficult. The question to ask yourself is whether or not you need the fine details.

You’ll find better night vision in one of the Ezviz cameras we reviewed recently, but generally, a camera with exceptional night vision needs some integrated lighting feature to do its best work. (Visit our Reolink Argus 3 Pro review for a really stellar night vision experience.)

On that note, Blink does have other options if you prefer brighter and better night vision. One of these is the Blink Floodlight Cam Wired. As the name implies, it comes equipped with powerful floodlights. Otherwise, it offers most of the same features as the Blink Outdoor. You should know, though, that it needs to be wired to an outdoor junction box in order to work.

If you prefer a floodlight with a wireless configuration, you might check out the Blink Outdoor floodlight mount. It allows you to use the Blink Outdoor as the camera, but the mount itself provides two bright battery-powered floodlights.

Blink also recently introduced a solar panel mount that works with all of its outdoor models. For the most part, you can set up solar power and get worry-free video monitoring. No need to locate an outdoor outlet and no need to change batteries. Just more evidence of how forward-thinking Blink is.

Smart Home Limitations

Since it’s an Amazon brand, Blink doesn’t integrate quite as seamlessly with Google Home devices, so you won’t be able to say, “OK Google, show me my patio” and similar voice commands to control the cameras.

Blink Mini on Alexa

Amazon Alexa users, on the other hand, should be pretty delighted. If you’re taking an impromptu trip out of state in the near future, you can use the Alexa app to check the temperature in your home (via a Nest thermostat) and, at the same time, peek into the Blink Indoor camera to make sure the dog sitter has shown up. Actions like this are a quick, efficient way to get peace of mind when you can’t be home.

Of course, you’ve got plenty of other choices if you’re looking for cameras that do integrate with multiple platforms in addition to Alexa, like Google Home, IFTTT, and Samsung SmartThings. In our latest review of Reolink’s cameras, integrations were a bit easier thanks to a smart home tab in their mobile app. This way, almost every camera Reolink makes (and there are many) can be fed into a smart home ecosystem with little fuss and plenty of cross-platform functionality to boot.

Smart home challenges aside, Blink Outdoor redeems itself in other areas, exhibiting the same strengths that made me a fan of the brand in the first place: Fluid video resolution at up to 1080p; seamless two-way talk; customizable motion detection; and that easy installation Blink is famous for.

A Note on Blink and Pet Monitoring

Before pivoting into pricing and storage options on Blink, we think it’s worth pointing out that these cameras are not ideal as pet monitors. While they’re pretty sensitive to most types of motion out of the box, in our tests, none of the Blink cameras were triggered by the family dog, as wiggly and rambunctious as he is. It could be that more fine-tuning in the app is needed to remedy this, but it could also be that this $80 camera just isn’t strong in this way, and that’s totally okay.

Blink Sync Module

Fortunately, there’s a camera or two out there that handles this much better. As noted when we tested and reviewed YI’s Home 3 camera, the camera seemed to enjoy sending entertaining recordings of said pup in all sorts of precarious positions – no app tinkering needed. Keep in mind, too, this camera costs $20, so there isn’t much tinkering to be done, anyway.

Who knows, maybe the dog ate jumping beans that day. But it’s just something you might pick up from time to time when comparing home security companies. Motion sensors sometimes work in mysterious ways.

Blink Day Vision

Now that you have a pretty good understanding of the Blink outdoor 3, let us give you a brief preview of their newest iteration, the Blink Outdoor 4.

Blink Outdoor 4

The Blink Outdoor 4

Overall, the Blink Outdoor 4 is pretty similar to its predecessor. It offers the same 1080p resolution and about the same field of vision. It does differ; however, in three pretty substantial ways:

• Better video quality
• Better motion detection
• Addition of person detection

The differences aren’t night and day, but they are enough that you’re going to notice an enhancement from the 3 to the 4. We certainly did.

One note on that last piece, though. To take advantage of the Blink Outdoor 4’s motion detection capabilities, you’re going to need to sign up for a subscription. It only costs $3 per month though, and we have more details below.

Snapshot of Blink’s Pricing

When comparing pricing in security cameras, we always like to start with a disclaimer: You do get what you pay for, so choose wisely. Blink is far from the cheapest camera brand you’ll find out there, as the industry is brimming with low-cost cameras these days. Some folks might bristle at paying $100 for a Blink camera, but keep in mind that this is a solid battery-powered camera, the likes of which usually isn’t available for under $100.

Of course, you could always go with the Blink Mini if you’d rather save on equipment costs – for $35, Mini is an all-around good camera.

Below is a snapshot of pricing for Blink cameras, keeping in mind that the cameras also come in 2-, 3-, and 5-pack systems, if you choose. Feel free to check out our Blink Camera pricing page for more info, and while you’re at it, head over to the latest rundown of Blink Prime Day deals and discounts.

Blink’s Latest Pricing Overview:

Video Storage Options

Blink Sync Module

Since Blink has discontinued their free cloud storage option, you’re now left with two options to store video history with Blink: A basic plan, for $3 per month, and a premium option for $10 per month.

These costs are pretty well aligned with Blink’s close competitors. Swann’s $5-per-month plan, for example, offers basic storage but not too many of the extras Blink includes in their subscriptions. With everything you’ll get in an affordable Blink system, we don’t think paying $3 per month to store videos (or $30 for the whole year) is stretching it.

Here’s a breakdown of Blink’s storage costs, keeping in mind that you also have the option to attach a hard drive to your Blink sync module to store video on your own:

Blink Cloud Storage Plans

Expert Examined

From Joshua Lee, Active-duty Police Sergeant

“Any time law enforcement can access the video in real-time or as close to real-time, the better. I remember a domestic violence call where the witness was watching the assault as it was happening and was able to give us an accurate description, explain what was happening, and guide officers to the right area. When the suspect heard our sirens, he ran away and hid in a neighbor’s trashcan. Since the witness watched the entire thing, he told us exactly where we needed to go.”

Our Final Verdict on Blink Cameras

Blink Mini (left) and Blink Indoor (right) Cameras

With Blink, you’re promised a hassle-free experience, and you’ll get one. Indeed, these cameras are nothing if not consistent. For folks who don’t feel comfortable around security equipment or just don’t have the time to learn and interact with technology, Blink is a consistent leader. It certainly belongs in our roundup of the best cheap security cameras.

To summarize, here’s what we think Blink’s strengths and weaknesses are.

Strengths:

• Hassle-free setup
• Long-lasting battery life
• Fluid video quality that adjusts automatically to provide smooth live view
• Affordable cloud options
• Affordable equipment
• Intuitive app

Weaknesses:

• Basic features (no smart detection for most models)
• Only decent video quality
• Poor night vision
• The need for a Sync Module (except the Blink Mini)

Now it’s your turn to decide. Do the pros outweigh the cons? Will Blink work in your home setup?

FAQs about Blink Cameras