EZViz BC1C Review
Low cost, high quality battery powered camera
Verdict
A neat battery-powered camera, the EZViz BC1C has onboard storage so you don’t have to pay for cloud storage. Buy the optional solar panel, and it can even be charged for free, avoiding any ongoing costs. Great video quality, day and night, make this camera a quality choice – with my only complaint that video clips are fiddly to download.
Pros
- Great value
- High-quality video
- Onboard storage
Cons
- Fiddly to download video clips
- Expensive cloud storage
Availability
- UKRRP: £115
Key Features
- TypeThis is predominantly an outdoor camera, although it could be used inside
- PowerThis camera is powered by an internal battery, with an optional solar panel for charging
Introduction
Designed for convenience, the EZViz BC1C is a battery-powered indoor/outdoor camera with integrated storage, so there are no ongoing storage costs. Buy the optional solar panel and the camera can charge its battery for free, avoiding any running costs. Decent quality video and a basic but functional app make this a good budget choice.
Design and Installation
- Simple wire-free installation
- Optional solar panel
Finished in dark grey and black plastic, the EZViz BC1C is refreshingly different to most other security cameras, which tend to come in gloss white. Despite this colour choice, the camera is still easy to spot, which is important since awareness is useful in putting off would-be thieves.
This camera has a magnetic rear, so can attach to most metal surfaces. There’s also a magnetic mount in the box, plus a screw-in option if you want something a bit more secure.
This model features an integrated battery, and the camera has to be removed to be charged. If you don’t fancy paying for electricity (and who could blame you at the moment), there’s an optional solar panel (around £23), which plugs into the camera to keep it topped up for free.
The rival Eufy SoloCam S40 has a solar panel built into the top of the camera, which makes for a neater appearance, but EZViz’s option does have a couple of advantages. First, you can plug it in just to recharge the battery, rather than having it fixed. Second, if you want to install the EZViz BC1C in a shady location, you can mount the solar panel elsewhere; the Eufy model requires you to place the camera in full sunlight.
I opted for the solar panel and found it powerful enough to keep the EZViz BC1C’s battery topped up without costing a penny.
This camera has an integrated 32GB of memory, and there’s no SD card slot to expand this.
Features
- Simple app covers the main features
- Fiddly to download video
The EZViz app is home to all of the company’s cameras. It has a straightforward wizard that guided me through connecting the camera to my home Wi-Fi network.
Once connected, there’s a Live view showing what’s going on. As with most cameras, the EZViz BC1C has a two-way talk option, allowing you to communicate with anyone you can see on the feed.
For the most part, the EZViz BC1C must be left alone to record video when it detects motion. Its default settings are to detect any and all motion, but there are some settings to fine-tune what it captures.
Most useful is the Human Shape Detection, which is a long-winded way of saying that the EZViz BC1C will only ping a notification when it spots a person. It works with a high degree of accuracy, reducing the number of notifications I received.
If there are still too many notifications, there’s a slightly clunky option to draw activity zones. Only motion inside these areas will trigger an alert.
This camera has a spotlight that can be turned on for full-colour night vision. This always offers an improvement over standard black-and-white video, so it’s well worth enabling.
It’s possible to schedule when the EZViz BC1C can and can’t record, plus there’s a manual option to enable and disable recording on all devices. There’s no geolocation built into the app so that the EZViz BC1C can be turned on when you go out and off when you get home.
There isn’t quite the full control that the Arlo Pro 4 offers with its modes, then, but the EZViz BC1C at least covers the basics well.
Footage is recorded to the camera’s internal 32GB of memory, which proved sufficiently long in my case: enough for a few weeks’ recording, easily. You’ll get more if the camera is triggered less.
There’s the optional CloudPlay service, which costs £2.99 for three days of history. That price is alright, but seven-day history costs £4.99. Go with a Nest camera, and 30 days of history for all devices costs the same. Ring and Arlo are also better value for multiple cameras. I prefer the onboard storage, since it’s free.
Video clips are displayed as thumbnails in a long view. Tapping any clip plays it, but downloading video is more fiddly than it should be. Hitting the download button brings up a new page with the same list of thumbnails; from this page, one or more clips can be downloaded to the Album section of the app. From that Album, clips can then be saved to the phone. That’s a few steps too many.
Both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant support are available for live streaming video to a compatible smart display.
Video Quality
- 2K resolution
- Detailed daylight video
- Sharp full-colour night vision
With a 4-megapixel resolution, the EZViz BC1C can shoot video at a 2K resolution (2560 x 1440). That’s a step up from other lower-priced cameras, which tend to offer Full HD. Shooting during the day, I found that the EZViz BC1C shot detailed footage. Video is well exposed, even with the camera shooting into the sun, with a sharp picture right into the background.
People are easy to recognise, and to freeze-frame on a shot that clearly showed faces was simple. As far as video quality goes, the EZViz BC1C is up there with the best.
At night, I used the EZViz BC1C in full-colour mode, with its spotlight lighting up my garden. There is a slight softening of detail, but only a little. I still found it easy to find a frame where people were clearly identifiable, and there was a lot of detail right into the background.
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Should you buy it?
If you want great video quality and no ongoing costs, this is a great camera – particularly if you buy the optional solar panel.
If you want a camera with a greater selection of detection modes and cheaper cloud storage, you’re better off looking elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
Great quality video, night and day, with no storage costs – the EZViz BC1C is a neat battery-powered camera. With the cheap optional solar panel, the EZViz BC1C can even be free to run, with no costs to charge it. It gets most of the basics right, too, although easier-to-download video would help. If you’re after a camera with better cloud storage and more options, check out my guide to the best outdoor security cameras.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every security camera we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main security camera for the review period
We test compatibility with the main smart systems (HomeKit, Alexa, Google Assistant, SmartThings, IFTTT and more) to see how easy each camera is to automate.
We take samples during the day and night to see how clear each camera’s video is.
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FAQs
No, it has 32GB of integrated storage only.
It connects to the camera’s USB port and keeps the internal battery topped up.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
