Testing The Cheapest Wire-Free Battery Powered Security Camera I Could Find

You will find this battery-powered security camera being sold under many different brand names which is common when it comes to cheap security cameras. The one I got is branded as Zilnk and I bought it from Aliexpress and I paid $36 for it including shipping. I will post my affiliate link in the description of the seller I used if you wanna check it out.

So this is a completely wire-free WiFi smart security camera that is powered by two 18650 batteries which is not included and needs to be bought separately. There are two types of 18650 batteries and the ones you need for this camera are the flat type otherwise you can’t close the back cover and as I will show you later on there are problems even with the flat ones.

According to the seller, the batteries could last up to 6 months if the camera would wake up 15 times a day. I would not count on that though and I haven’t tested how long they last since I don’t feel like waiting 6 months before making this review.

The camera records in 1080p and has a 110-degree viewing angle. It has PIR motion detection and when motion is detected you will get a push notification to your smartphone.

It supports SD cards up to 64GB. Nightvision will turn on automatically in low light and it has 6 infrared lights. It supports 2-way audio so you can have a conversation with anyone close enough to the camera through the APP.

What we get in the box is the camera, mounting bracket, a quick start guide, a bag of screws, and a small screwdriver.

My first impression of the camera is that it looks good but it’s cheaply made and as I mentioned before there is a design flaw with the back cover of the camera.

After inserting the batteries you can’t really close the back cover properly since only two very small pieces of plastic are supposed to hold it all in place. And the first time I tried to close it, one fell off.

I did glue it back on but I can’t properly close it. And I’m not the only one who had this problem when reading customer reviews a lot of people are complaining about it.

So if you are planning on using this camera outdoors I would recommend placing it somewhere where there is a cover like under a roof or something like that since it is most definitely not waterproof.

On the front of the camera, we have the Motion sensor, camera lens, 6 infrared lights, light sensor, indicator LED, and the microphone.

Under the camera, we will find this rubber and if we open it up we will find the ON/OFF switch, Micro USB port for charging, Reset Button, and the SD card slot. And this is the speaker.

It is really easy to get the camera up and running. First, we need to download and install an APP called ToSee then insert the batteries, and don’t forget to turn on the camera on the ON/OFF switch.

Open up the APP and then click on the + icon in the top right corner, click on add a device, then click “the red light is flashing”, and then “enter the configuration interface” Now you should see “TOSEE” in your available networks, click on connect.

When you are connected, head back into the APP click “next” and add your home WiFi and password. Now you should be connected to the camera.

On the main screen in the APP, we can take screenshots, speak, and record video and if we click on playback we can watch clips from motion detection saved on the SD card. In Scene, we can change the backlight and highlight compensation. In the top right corner, we have the settings menu. It will ask for a password and the default  password is
“admin”.

Here you can play around with the different settings. For example, we can change how long clips we want when motion is detected, and as you can see there is an alternative for permanent recording which means it will record 24/7 but this camera doesn’t support that so it will only record when motion is detected.

We can change motion detection sensitivity between high, middle, low, and closed. Not really that much to change in here.

This is the image quality at daytime.

And here is nighttime footage.