Zosi C186A Aurora Lux 5MP WiFi security camera Review

What’s the big deal with this one? Well, it does something most cameras can’t – full color night vision without infrared. Yeah, you heard that right. This thing uses ambient light like moonlight or streetlamps to record in color at night. And if it’s really dark, it’s got built-in spotlights to light things up. No black and white night vision here.

I gotta say, the color night vision impressed me. If you’re looking for a budget-friendly camera that can do full color at night, definitely check out the Zosi C186A Aurora Lux WiFi. Oh, and they make a POE version too if you’re not into WiFi.

Daytime quality is solid – you’ll have no problem making out faces or reading license plates up to about 25-30 feet away. Build quality seems good too – it’s mostly metal except for the antennas, and it’s rated IP66 so it should handle the outdoors just fine.

Now, full disclosure – Zosi sent me this camera to review. But everything I’m telling you is based on my own testing, no BS.

Let’s get into the nitty-gritty. It’s got a 5MP sensor, records at 2880×1620 up to 25fps. Lens is 4mm with a 90-degree view. It’s got person and vehicle detection to cut down on false alarms, which worked pretty well in my tests.

You’ve got two-way audio, so you can talk through it. There’s also an alarm and lights to scare off any bad guys.

One thing to note – no web interface, and I couldn’t get it to work with ONVIF. So you’ll probably want to use their app, Zosi Smart. It’ll send push notifications when it detects motion, and you can view footage right there from the SD card (supports up to 256GB).

The app’s pretty straightforward. You can pause the stream, toggle audio, adjust quality, go full screen. There’s buttons for two-way talk, snapshots, recording, and the alarm. And of course, you can access your recordings.

I’ll run through the settings real quick just so you can see what you’re working with.

Alright, let’s check out some sample footage. Here’s daytime at max quality, 25fps. And here’s nighttime with the spotlights off… and now with them on. Pretty sweet, right?

That about wraps it up, guys. If you found this helpful, don’t forget to share this article. Catch you in the next one!