Presence with 3.13.0 - generally OK! (and quick competitor review)

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riskymoth
Posts: 18
Joined: 14 Jul 2019, 19:40

Presence with 3.13.0 - generally OK! (and quick competitor review)

Post by riskymoth »

After a rocky few months my Presence, running 3.13.0, is now working pretty well. Despite having fairly poor WiFi reception, it generally records everything it should and streams smoothly, even if it does have to heavily compress video at times when doing the latter. It also works well using HomeKit Secure Video! Normally people are (justifiably) moaning about their camera on this forum, so I thought I'd balance things a little with some positive news. I'm even thinking about buying another one...

I have just bought the new Eve Outdoor Cam, and to say I'm disappointed would be an understatement. Despite having a much stronger WiFi connection, it misses people walking in front of it, and both streaming and recordings are incredibly glitchy - everything just freezes for a second or two, or in recordings people suddenly jump a few meters every five seconds or so - it looks like without a really strong WiFi signal, it just can't cope. It might be early days for this device, but the lack of on-board storage means that it's completely reliant on a strong rock-solid WiFi connection to the HomeKit home hub. At least if the HomeKit part screws up on the Presence, it still records internally (and has the flexibility to stream to FTP and DropBox). Yes, it's smaller than the Presence, and has a wider-angle lens, but that's about all I like about it. The floodlight on the Eve is weaker and has a colder colour temperature, and has a stupid "boost" mode that lasts only 20 seconds before the light reduces in power. Coupled with all this, the installation process is awful. As you can tell, I'm not impressed - I think I might return it and get another Presence.
riskymoth
Posts: 18
Joined: 14 Jul 2019, 19:40

Re: Presence with 3.13.0 - generally OK! (and quick competitor review)

Post by riskymoth »

An update to my previous post: the Eve Outdoor Cam was sent back, as it had let in water during a period of heavy rain, with the result that moisture was visible behind the camera window. I did indeed replace it with another Presence - I was reminded that installation is not great with these either, but still slightly less painful than for the Eve Cam. Importantly, setup worked first time, and it is much more reliable in exactly the same place as the Eve. In my experience WiFi is therefore actually better on the Presence, or at least it's much more robust dealing with a weak signal. The Presence updated itself twice, ending up at 3.10.0 - so not quite as new a version as my existing camera - but it seems to work well, recording to HomeKit Secure Video without any stutters. I think the main downside that I'm noticing compared to the Eve is that the field of view is much more narrow - in some ways this is not a problem in my case, as I'm no longer recording bits of my neighbour's garden...
Subzero
Posts: 312
Joined: 08 Oct 2016, 14:03

Re: Presence with 3.13.0 - generally OK! (and quick competitor review)

Post by Subzero »

Yeah this firmware has been fine for me, and fixed the nighttime detection that a previous update had broken. I like Netatmo for the most part it's detection is spot on and quick, although the camera lense tech has moved on now, and they really need to release a better version with 2k/ twilight sensor!
Subzero
Posts: 312
Joined: 08 Oct 2016, 14:03

Re: Presence with 3.13.0 - generally OK! (and quick competitor review)

Post by Subzero »

Just a shame the support and community is dead, not a good indicator regards future Netatmo products. :-/
riskymoth
Posts: 18
Joined: 14 Jul 2019, 19:40

Re: Presence with 3.13.0 - generally OK! (and quick competitor review)

Post by riskymoth »

Yes, has gone very quiet on here lately…
dashman
Posts: 98
Joined: 21 Mar 2017, 12:37

Re: Presence with 3.13.0 - generally OK! (and quick competitor review)

Post by dashman »

if your presense hasnt let in water yet...just hang on, itll get to you.... detection.. yeah...errm.... ease of setup? you are a luckyMF lol .....im not saying all other are better... Nest setup is WAY WAY better... but detection not so precise.. but the WIFI on these things is DREADful...
Helvetica
Posts: 6
Joined: 10 Mar 2023, 18:17

Re: Presence with 3.13.0 - generally OK! (and quick competitor review)

Post by Helvetica »

Firstly, thankyou for your "review" of the Eve. My Netatmo Presence has been disconnecting and/or not sending any alerts or sound alerts for the past week, and I was considering replacing it with a different make, also considering the Eve.

The problem is that companies these days rely - to a greater extent more than ever before - on what people write about their products on the internet. Word of mouth and personal recommendations, once so important, are further down the "why should I buy this product ?" list than they used to be.
Companies should therefore be aware of comments, reviews, criticism, suggestions etc. on consumer websites and forums such as this and take heed of them. If they do not give some kind of contact address on their own websites (clicking on "Help" on the Netatmo website just gives a generic list of tips for the installation etc) for the support of people who have paid out money for their products, then they should either hire a techie to help people with the problems which forum members here are experiencing (disconnection, no light, no sound, no alerts, SD card usage, doorbell failure, temperature monitor totally incorrect etc etc), or get out of the market.
The only way I was able to get help when - after 2 months of use - my Netatmo Presence began to send an alert every 90 seconds (!) - which resulted in an almost permanent "oooeeeooo" alert for 3 days solid - was to write a review on the Apple Store's Netatmo app page. The company contacted me and replaced the camera unit. Maybe we should all write comments on the AppStore page.
marsm
Posts: 34
Joined: 25 Jun 2020, 11:12
Contact:

Re: Presence with 3.13.0 - generally OK! (and quick competitor review)

Post by marsm »

My cameras are still all on 3.1.0… does the firmware update automatically?
Our country living, smallholding and sustainability journey: https://myhomefarm.co.uk
Subzero
Posts: 312
Joined: 08 Oct 2016, 14:03

Re: Presence with 3.13.0 - generally OK! (and quick competitor review)

Post by Subzero »

Helvetica wrote: 11 Mar 2023, 16:30 Firstly, thankyou for your "review" of the Eve. My Netatmo Presence has been disconnecting and/or not sending any alerts or sound alerts for the past week, and I was considering replacing it with a different make, also considering the Eve.

The problem is that companies these days rely - to a greater extent more than ever before - on what people write about their products on the internet. Word of mouth and personal recommendations, once so important, are further down the "why should I buy this product ?" list than they used to be.
Companies should therefore be aware of comments, reviews, criticism, suggestions etc. on consumer websites and forums such as this and take heed of them. If they do not give some kind of contact address on their own websites (clicking on "Help" on the Netatmo website just gives a generic list of tips for the installation etc) for the support of people who have paid out money for their products, then they should either hire a techie to help people with the problems which forum members here are experiencing (disconnection, no light, no sound, no alerts, SD card usage, doorbell failure, temperature monitor totally incorrect etc etc), or get out of the market.
The only way I was able to get help when - after 2 months of use - my Netatmo Presence began to send an alert every 90 seconds (!) - which resulted in an almost permanent "oooeeeooo" alert for 3 days solid - was to write a review on the Apple Store's Netatmo app page. The company contacted me and replaced the camera unit. Maybe we should all write comments on the AppStore page.
Unfortunately Netatmo support isn't what it was, they really should interact on the forums as I would be nervous buying new products from them as a result. It's a shame as I still think their detection is still the best compared to competition, just the camera/codec tech is out of date now, they really should have released a Presence 2k by now.
Last edited by Subzero on 07 Mar 2024, 16:26, edited 1 time in total.
riskymoth
Posts: 18
Joined: 14 Jul 2019, 19:40

Re: Presence with 3.13.0 - generally OK! (and quick competitor review)

Post by riskymoth »

Apparently version 3.16.1 was released late last month - hopefully this will download soon to my cameras - has anyone else had this yet?
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