Wyze Cam Pan v3 review

The Wyze Cam Pan v3 is a security camera perfect for monitoring your pet’s whereabouts and daytime pursuits. Its 360° pan and 180° tilt capabilities make it an omnipotent dog sitter, with a live stream available to download on your phone or tablet. While the motion tracking and live stream can be prone to lag, it's still a commendable option for anyone who wants to keep a watchful eye on their home or fur baby while out and about.

Wyze says that installation is easy and takes 20 seconds – and it’s true. It might take longer if you purchase the camera for an outdoor setting and need to bust out the screwdriver, but for an indoor camera, it is insanely easy to install.

Simply take your camera out of the box, tear off the protective film, and attach it to the mount. Plug the USB cable into your camera, then plug the other end of the cable into the socket plug and stick that in the wall. 

The most arduous part is finding an ideal place to set up your camera so it can take in as much of its surroundings as possible. This was the longest part of the installation for me, so I could get the most out of the 360° pan and 180° tilt.

I primarily tested the Wyze Cam Pan v3 to supervise my dog while I’m out of the house. While he’s not prone to barking or doing anything too mischievous, he did have a medical condition I wanted to keep an eye on. I wanted the peace of mind that he’d be okay when left to his own devices, and this camera delivered. 

While on the way to work, I opened the Wyze app to check on him. When I clicked on the live stream, I noticed he was experiencing a flare of his medical condition. After debating whether or not I should head home and immediately jumping to the worst-case scenario, I contacted a friend, who was working as a veterinary nurse. She advised I monitor his symptoms through the camera. 

My main concern was that it would get exponentially worse. Throughout the day I monitored his behaviour and symptoms, and as the day progressed, watched him recover. I could work effectively knowing my pup was safe. Thanks to the two-way audio, I could call him up to the camera to take note of any reappearing symptoms and his general demeanour. This is an excellent feature for pet owners, especially those who are curious as to how their furry friend is faring all by their lonesome. 

Among other things, the app lets you record the stream or capture photos, motion track a pet or person, and do a whole 360° scan of the environment to see where young Fido has run off to.

There are additional features available in the app, but they're locked behind one of Wyze’s subscription services, Cam Plus. I didn’t purchase it and honestly don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything groundbreaking. 

With the Cam Plus, you get an alert once a person, package, pet, or vehicle enters your camera’s line of sight. Live streams are uploaded to the cloud for 14 days and can be viewed at any time. Cam Plus is AUD $1.99 a month, or AUD $19.99 a year per camera, which is certainly on the cheaper side for a security camera subscription plan.

If you're mounting the camera outside and are using the Wyze Cam Pan v3 for monitoring suspicious activity outside your home, you may want to purchase the subscription for people, package, and pet detection. 

If you’re a cheapskate like me and still want to keep an eye on your pet without forking out money for a subscription, you can still set presets in the app to notify you or trigger an action when someone enters the frame. You can set the camera to turn on when you leave the house or notify you each time your pet enters the frame. The Wyze Cam Pan v3 also comes with a microSD card slot for additional storage if you’re not a fan of cloud storage, or don’t want the additional features.

The motion tracking was the biggest issue I had with this camera, and user reviews reflected that other people had the same issue. Once the camera latches on to a target and notices it's in motion, it stops, and buffers. The target moves out of frame, and the camera fails to react. My pet doesn’t move much, and only has two spots around the house he loves to nap, rotating between those throughout the day. The camera picks up when he moves to another location, but the motion tracking feature just can’t keep up. Instead, I have to manually follow his footsteps by moving the camera. 

We only tested the camera in an inside environment, but it's quite versatile, and can be used as an outdoor camera thanks to its IP65 weatherproof rating. For maximum safety, it also requires an outdoor power adaptor, which has to be purchased separately. Using the provided screws and mounting kit you can position it close to the front door, for example, to keep an eye on parcel deliveries or nefarious activity outside your home.

The Wyze Cam Pan v3 is an excellent, all-seeing watchful eye to monitor your pets while you’re out of the house. It's affordable, easy to install, and allows you to speak to and respond to your pet through two-way audio. While the motion tracking can be laggy and it doesn't come with all features unlocked, we think the camera does perfectly fine without it.

We feel the best way to review a product is to get our hands on it and test it ourselves. That’s exactly what we did with the Wyze Cam Pan v3. To get the most authentic experience, we set up the camera in our own home and tested the installation process, app, and camera features.

To learn more about our research and testing methods, take a look at our methodology.