I currently have four second-gen Nest cameras from before Google took over. I still use the old Nest app, but I need to add more cameras and was thinking about switching to the newer Google Nest cameras. I have a few concerns and was hoping for some input.
Are there still wired outdoor cameras? Almost everything I find is battery-powered and needs charging, which wouldn’t work for me since my cameras are mounted high up and require a ladder to access.
Does the Google Home app work like the Nest app? Right now, my Nest cameras let me scroll through five days of 24/7 recorded footage. I don’t want to lose continuous recording and only have event-based clips.
How is the picture quality on the new cameras compared to the older Nest models? I always found the quality on my current cameras to be average, and I’m hoping for an upgrade.
Also, what’s the pricing for subscriptions now? Any advice from people who have switched to the new system would be helpful.
The newer Nest outdoor cameras are battery-powered, but you can buy a weatherproof outdoor power cable separately to keep them plugged in.
If you migrate your Nest account to a Google account and subscribe to Nest Aware Plus (instead of paying per camera), you’ll get 10 days of 24/7 recording and 60 days of event-based history. As long as your cameras are wired, they will record continuously.
Scrubbing through video works in the Google Home app, and you can filter events like in the Nest app. If you enroll in Public Preview, you can use the Google Home app for both old and new cameras, but the experience with older models is hit or miss.
@Donald
Thanks! If I’m replacing all my old cameras with new ones, do I still have to migrate my Nest account, or can I just start fresh with a Google Home account?
The Google Home app is awful compared to the Nest app. I had to add cameras to another property recently, and I refused to buy the newer models just to avoid using Google Home. The Nest app is way more user-friendly and just works better.
Instead, I found brand-new Nest IQ outdoor and indoor cameras on eBay and stuck with those.
Jarrod said: @Davis
I thought about doing that too. Can you still add new cameras to the Nest app and subscribe to Nest Aware for them?
I only pay one subscription fee, not per camera. I think it’s around $16 per month, which gives me 10 days of 24/7 recording plus 60 days of event history.
@Davis
Looks like I’d have to migrate my Nest account to a Google account to get that. If I do that, will the Nest app still work, or does it force me to use Google Home?
Yes, the battery-powered outdoor cameras can be plugged in, but you’ll probably need to buy the outdoor-rated power cable separately. The included charging cable is short and not meant for outdoor use.
Google Home allows 24/7 recording, but only if you subscribe to the higher-priced Nest Aware Plus plan ($15/month or $150/year). The pricing now covers all cameras in the home instead of being per camera, so it might be cheaper or more expensive depending on how many you were paying for before.
One big downside of Google Home compared to Nest is that there’s no skip 15 seconds forward or back when scrubbing through footage. This makes finding specific moments really frustrating.
Julius said:
One big downside of Google Home compared to Nest is that there’s no skip 15 seconds forward or back when scrubbing through footage. This makes finding specific moments really frustrating.
Same issue here. I used the Nest app for years and just switched to Google Home recently. That’s the one thing that really bothers me about it.
I don’t think you can save random clips in the Google Home app unless they were already marked as events. In the Nest app, you could save any part of the footage you wanted.
Mia said:
I don’t think you can save random clips in the Google Home app unless they were already marked as events. In the Nest app, you could save any part of the footage you wanted.
That’s actually been added recently. You can now save clips manually.