The new EufyCam S3 Pro promises impressive night vision

The new security camera from Eufy – Anker’s smart home company – can see well in the dark, uses a radar motion sensor to get fewer false alarms, and records 24/7 if it’s wired. Like other Eufy cameras, the new S3 Pro has free face, package, car, and pet detection, as well as local video recording with no monthly fee.

Unlike other Eufy cameras, the S3 Pro will work with Apple Home and is compatible with Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video service.

The EufyCam S3 Pro launches this week as a two-camera bundle with one HomeBase S380 for $549.99. HomeBase 3 enables smart alerts and local storage (16GB internal storage, expandable up to 16 TB). It also connects the S3 Pro with Apple Home, making it the first Eufy camera to work with Apple’s smart home platform since the EufyCam 2 series from 2019.

Eufy spokesperson Brett White confirmed this The Verge that the S3 Pro will work with HomeKit Secure Video. Apple’s end-to-end encrypted video storage service. “The plan is for all future devices to be compatible with Apple Home, and we’re looking at older devices,” White said.

The S3 Pro has a new night vision feature called MaxColor Vision that promises “day-like images even in pitch black conditions, without the need for light.” I saw a demo of this technology at the IFA tech show in Berlin this month, and it was amazing.

The camera was placed inside a pitch black room, sending video to a monitor outside, from which I could see everything in the room as if it were daylight. Eufy says a 1/1.8-inch CMOS sensor, F1.0 aperture, and an AI-powered image signal processor power the technology.

While the color night vision doesn’t use a flash, the S3 Pro includes an activated flash that Eufy says can adapt to real-time lighting to give you the best picture possible. The brightness can also be adjusted using the app while watching the live stream.

Dual motion detection uses radar sensing technology combined with passive infrared (PIR) technology. This should identify people more accurately and not send out warnings that someone is in the yard if it’s a tree blowing in the wind. Eufy claims to reduce false alarms by 99 percent.

The S3 Pro is battery powered with a 13,000 mAh battery that provides up to a quoted 365 days of power. The built-in solar panel can power the camera for a long time. In my testing of the EufyCam S3, which also has a built-in solar panel, I didn’t need to recharge it in over a year.

The S3 Pro’s solar panel is 50 percent larger than the S3’s, and Eufy says it can keep the camera fully charged in just one hour of sunlight per day. Eufy also includes an outdoor solar panel with a camera, so you can put a camera under the eaves and get power.

Eufy says the S3 Pro records up to 4K resolution and is powered by a USB-C cable. When wired, it can record 24/7 — the first consumer-grade battery-powered camera from Eufy with this capability.

• Full-duplex two-way audio
• Dual-mic array that can record human voices up to 26 feet away
• 100dB siren and motion-activated voice alerts
• 24/7 snapshot feature that can take a picture every minute
• Work and privacy areas
• Integration with Google Home and Amazon Alexa
• IP67 weather protection
• 8x digital zoom

Following serious security and privacy events in 2022, Eufy has published a new list of privacy commitments on its website. The company also engaged cybersecurity expert Ralph Echemendia following the issues, and last year, completed an audit that, the company says, shows it “met all applicable and effective security indicators.”