Aqara’s indoor security camera E1 is the smaller sibling of the excellent Camera Hub G3, aimed at those who don’t need all the extra features or higher prices. But don’t let that fool you! The Pan and Tilt E1 is a solid indoor security camera with a great feature set and solid video performance in both day and night scenarios. I have one minor complaint. We’ll cover this shortly.
Aqara Camera E1: Pricing and Availability
The Aqara indoor security camera E1 is currently available exclusively through Amazon.com for $59.99. Price cuts for this device don’t happen often, but in December 2023 it was $44.99. At the time of this writing, Amazon is offering a 10% discount voucher in the US.
Aqara Camera E1: Specifications and Features
Aqara’s Camera Hub G3 is one of the best indoor cameras, but if you’re invested in the Apple ecosystem, the Aqara Hub might not be what you want. That’s where the indoor security camera E1 comes into play. For $50 less, you get many of the features the G3 offers, plus some updated ones, in a smaller, 4-inch-tall package.
The E1 supports Wi-Fi 6 and the Camera Hub G3 supports Wi-Fi 5. E1 improves on G3’s powerful privacy features by adding masking areas. If you add a black block to your video feed, that area will literally appear black. This is in addition to the automated privacy mode, which allows you to set specific times when the camera will move and point towards a wall or other privacy-focused area. The privacy option is a great feature. This 2K, f/2.0 camera lets you see everything super sharp, so it looks great in both good lighting and low-light conditions.
Connected to Apple HomeKit, the E1 supports Secure Video, which allows video of incidents to be stored in the cloud. However, you can also record locally, as there is a microSD slot for up to 512GB of local video storage. This is especially useful if you turn on your camera’s 24-hour recording in time-lapse mode. Accessing that slot is simple. Slide the camera’s tilt lens up to reveal a microSD slot at the bottom.
One of the features I enjoyed using was the two-way communication system. The E1 has a built-in speaker and microphone so you can use it as a communication device to talk to the person on the other side of the image. Talk with your children, lovers, and pets!
Aqara Camera E1: Making and Appearance
The Camera E1 feels well made despite being primarily plastic. It’s very small at just 4 inches tall and 2.68 inches wide, so it can easily fit on a bookshelf shelf or most other locations. You can also mount it on the ceiling and change the video direction by going to the Aqara Home app.
The camera uses an infrared backlight to be unobtrusive and, if you’re in a bedroom, unnoticed even with the lights out. The motor is whisper-quiet, so you won’t hear it spinning at all.
Aqara Camera E1: Ease of Use
Aqara and Apple Home apps use QR codes, so setting up the Camera E1 is simple. Once you have everything you need, you can be up and running in just a few minutes. In this case, having everything you need means owning a power adapter, as the E1 comes with no components in the box, just a USB-C cable.
Setting up privacy features in the Aqara Home app is very easy, and although there is some lag, the manual pan and tilt functions work well. If you choose to connect your camera to HomeKit or give up Aqara Home and just use HK, you won’t have access to manual pan and tilt controls, as well as various privacy features. You’ll still be able to track people and detect motion, but you won’t be able to set these privacy locations, and you’ll lose the ability to set up to three occlusion zones. To use the privacy feature, you must first set up a scene in Aqara Home and then expose it to Apple Home. You can then run it using automation in Apple Home without the Aqara Home app.
One important aspect of privacy features is that it is processed locally. The E1 has a built-in neural processing unit that allows the device to detect people and sounds.
As mentioned earlier, our only complaint about Aqara’s indoor security camera E1 is that the person-tracking automatic pan and tilt is finicky. Like the Camera Hub G3, we found that placement affected tracking capabilities. I found that if I placed the camera around hip height (I’m 6 feet tall) it was a bit slow to pan to moving objects, namely me. Human tracking is improved by placing cameras higher where AI can capture faces.
Aqara Camera E1: Competition
There are few pan and tilt options that support HomeKit Secure Video, but there are a couple of other cameras worth checking out. We’ve reviewed and liked Eufy’s Pan 2K, the 2K Indoor Cam E220, and currently priced at just $35.99 on Eufy’s site and Amazon, it’s hard to beat.
The VOCOlinc Opto HomeKit indoor camera is also an affordable option, available on their site for $49.99. It also has pan and tilt capabilities, but when bound to a 2K camera like the E1, it only runs decent 1080P video due to HKSV limitations. HomeKit downgrades 2K video to 1080P for video recorded on Apple Home and in the cloud.
Aqara Camera E1: Should You Buy It?
If this is the case, I should buy it…
- You want a pan and tilt at a good price
- Privacy features are essential for your use case.
- You don’t need all of Camera Hub G3’s features.
If this is the case, you shouldn’t buy it…
- It must be installed on a vertical surface such as a wall.
Aqara Camera E1: Verdict
With the Aqara Indoor Security Camera E1, you get a great deal of camera for an affordable price. Onboard people and sound detection and strong privacy features make it a great option for use cases where it’s important to know what’s on the camera at any given time. Wi-Fi 6 provides more reliable access to live video feeds in homes with dozens of other Wi-Fi devices, and 360-degree rotation lets you view almost everything.
At this price point, there isn’t much pan and tilt functionality with this feature set, so if you want PT functionality, the Camera E1 should be on your shortlist. If you don’t need a hub but PT is a must, check out the Camera Hub G3, which has more reliable tracking, facial recognition, and HomeKit-exposed alarms.
Aqara 2K Indoor Security Camera E1
It’s a hard act to follow, but it follows you!
There are dozens of pan and tilt cameras that support HomeKit Secure Video, but among them, Camera E1 is one of the best.
