Hey Hey I Can See You Right: A Hands-On Review of the Nest Cam IQ

I'm MKBHD, and you've probably heard of Nest by now. They're just one of many companies that make home security cameras, but they're definitely one of the most popular and well-regarded ones out there. As someone who's been a Nest user for a couple of months, I've got a few of their cameras, thermostats, and smoke detectors all integrated into my smart home system. And let me tell you, it makes life so much easier to keep everything in one place, using just the Nest app.

Of course, no new product is perfect, and there are definitely some minor annoyances that come with using a Nest camera. But overall, I've been really impressed with their attention to detail and commitment to making sure their products work seamlessly together. And now, they're out with their latest model: the Nest Cam IQ. I'm excited to share my thoughts on this new camera, which has some amazing features that make it stand out from the competition.

First off, let's talk about the design. The Nest Cam IQ looks sleek and modern, with a matte white finish that's both clean and understated. One of the biggest debates when it comes to security cameras is whether you should hide them away in a corner somewhere, or leave them on full display in a prominent spot. I chose the second option, placing my camera right at the entrance to my home, where everyone will see it as soon as they walk in. And let me tell you, it's not ugly – in fact, I think it looks pretty sharp.

One of the things that really sets the Nest Cam IQ apart from other security cameras is its 4K sensor. Now, technically, this camera isn't constantly recording 4K footage at all times – that would be a bit absurd! Instead, it's recording in 1080p, but with the ability to zoom in up to four times without losing any quality. And when you do want to zoom in, the image stays crisp and clear, even at high magnification levels. This is the main benefit of having a 4K sensor – and it makes all the difference when you need to get a close-up look at something.

But what really gets me excited about this camera is its smart features. With the Nest Cam IQ, you've got facial recognition, which allows the camera to identify humans and other objects in the frame. This means that if someone walks into your home, the camera will automatically notify you – no more waiting for a minute or two to see who it is! And if they're a known face, you won't get any notifications at all. It's like having your own personal AI assistant built right into your security camera.

Of course, there are some limitations to this feature – for example, the camera still notifies you every time an unknown person walks in, even if it's just someone who doesn't have a familiar face on file. But overall, I think facial recognition is a game-changer for home security cameras, and Nest has nailed it with their implementation.

Another great feature of the Nest Cam IQ is its microphone array and speaker system. The camera itself isn't waterproof – that's not what it's designed for! – but the speakers are louder and more clear than I've ever heard before. And if you want to talk back to someone through your camera, the audio quality is amazing. It's like having a conversation with someone right in front of you.

One thing to note is that the Nest Cam IQ still doesn't have some of the features that other security cameras have – for example, it can't be used outdoors, and there isn't even talk of making an outdoor version. But overall, I think this camera is more than capable of serving its purpose in a home setting.

So what's my verdict on the Nest Cam IQ? In short, I think it's a fantastic security camera that builds upon the strengths of previous models. It's not necessarily necessary to upgrade if you already have a current Nest camera – but if you don't have one at all, I would highly recommend getting this thing. For me, the peace of mind it provides is worth every penny.

In terms of value for money, I think the Nest Cam IQ falls right into the premium section of the security camera market. It's not cheap, but it's definitely an investment that's worth considering if you're serious about home security. And when you consider all the features and benefits this camera offers – from facial recognition to smart alerts and clear audio quality – I think it's a no-brainer.

So there you have it – my thoughts on the Nest Cam IQ, in all its glory. Do you guys have any questions or comments? Let me know what you think of this amazing security camera!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey hey i can see you right drop the cheerios and no one gets hurt what is up guys mkbhd here and you've heard of nest right they're a company that's one of many that make a home security camera i've been a nest user for a couple of months so i have a couple of their home security cameras i have their thermostats and i have some of their smoke detectors so obviously it makes it easy to keep it all in one place in one app it's not perfect there are definitely some minor annoyances but there are also some really well thought out features to it but now their newest cameras come out and it's called the nest cam iq so shout out to nest for sending a few of these over to the studio and helping me make this video it has a 4k sensor an updated design and some new internals and a new price tag so naturally the question is is it worth it this little guy over here it's 300 bucks and also a lot of its best features go hand in hand with a monthly subscription called the nest aware subscription so it's definitely not cheap so what exactly are you getting with this thing well the design first of all is pretty clean as you can see the matte white look and there's always the argument with a security camera in an office with a lot of obviously very expensive gear like this do you hide the security camera out of sight like up in a corner somewhere to secretly get footage in case anything happens and you need it or do you put it like right in the doorway right in the field of view so you know it's there to discourage anything from happening in the first place i chose the second option as you can see it's been in previous videos it's pointed right at the doorway you walk in you know you're on camera but at least it's not ugly so a lot of security cameras are really unattractive but you might have seen it blend in in the background i'd consider it a pretty modern two-tone panda design it has that eve from wall-e type of look it's got a swiveling head it connects to power by usb type-c which is again modern and you can mount it to the wall pretty easily if you want to also so this thing is pretty clean and then the main headlining feature of nest iq is the 4k sensor which actually needs some explaining technically yes there is a new 4k sensor inside the camera as well as all the processing power and hardware to support it but it is not constantly recording 4k security camera footage at all times that would be a little insane it is recording at all times in 1080p but because it is a 4k sensor anytime you want to zoom in up to four times on anywhere in the frame you can do that without losing any quality and it will continue to be full 1080p even though you've zoomed in without losing anything that's the main benefit of having the higher resolution sensor so then the nest cam iq as you can probably tell by the name is trying to be really smart with all this new hardware so it has a bunch of smart features to take advantage of having this new 4k sensor has facial recognition all this stuff so the normal full field of view for the camera is 130 degrees using the whole sensor super wide angle as you can tell looks like your normal security camera footage but obviously really really crisp and clear zoom in four times on any part of the image and you can see it keeps its quality a hundred percent it's basically lossless zoom and then you can keep zooming way in all the way to 12 times on the live feed if something's really getting your attention and you want to check it out now let's say someone walks into the frame nest aware recognizes faces and humans and will sort of zoom in a bit and follow and track that person around the frame as they move it follows them around usually with pretty decent success sometimes if you move fast enough it can sort of lose the subject but i've had no complaints about this it makes sense to follow the action and then those of you who are familiar with nest will know about the notifications already so i have mine set to turn off whenever i get here and then turn back on whenever i leave so if i'm out and it detects some motion it'll send a notification to my phone actually with a little clip of what i just saw which is pretty convenient the funny thing is probably like 95 percent of the time on the old nest cam probably like 99 of the time it's just like a random sunlight change or a leaf blowing outside of a window it would just send notifications for random things that weren't humans and i could set these uh hot zones where it's specifically monitoring that one zone but i just kind of left it on and got a lot of spare notifications but nest cam iq has been really good for me about not sending me all those spare notifications and just notifying me when it sees unknown faces or unknown humans in the frame because it's using facial recognition it can tell when it's a human and when it's just a blob or something else that it doesn't have to worry about and then on top of that you can set what's called familiar faces so instead of notifying me about an unknown human every time it sees something you can tell it to remember certain faces so it knows and can put in the notification if it's a trusted person entering so that makes perfect sense for a studio like this if someone who works here walks in their face is recognized and it notifies my phone and has the person's name already i don't have to worry about it the weird thing is it doesn't let me turn on notifications for unknown faces and turn off notifications for known faces it still notifies me every time a person walks in but i'll know quicker if it's someone unknown or not seems like a pretty obvious thing i could add to the software right if it's not a known face i want to know if it's a known face i don't really care but otherwise yeah everything about this camera is better than the previous version better microphone array louder speakers for talkback the camera itself is not waterproof so it can't be your outdoor cam uh but maybe able to make a 4k version of that in the future overall though this thing fits nicely into their ecosystem of products so my consensus on this little guy is it's really similar obviously to previous nest cameras but a little bit better in every way so if you have a current nest camera you probably don't need to upgrade you probably haven't seen anything here that's going to make you want to spend that money however if you don't have any security cameras you don't have a nest cam i kind of highly recommend you get something just to be safe and this kind of fits itself nicely in the premium section of that market for a lot of people including myself who kind of value that peace of mind i think it's worth it so that's why i like them but that's pretty much it let me know what you guys think maybe you'd get one of these or something else thank you for watching talk to you guys the next one peace you\n"