Blink Outdoor 4

Introduction

With a general trend towards more expensive security cameras, the Blink Outdoor 4 resets that expectation, with a cheaper-than-you-might-think price, both for purchase and the cloud subscription that increases the range of features.

Sure, the app’s a little basic, as are camera controls, but if you want something cheap, easy to set up, and with long battery life, this is a decent choice.

Design and Installation

• Options with and without a Sync Module
• Wall or ceiling mountable
• Runs off two AA batteries

Although larger than some of the other Blink cameras, such as the Blink Mini 2, the Blink Outdoor 4 is still tiny by modern standards. A small square box, this camera is easy to place where you want it. This particular version is available in black only, which is alright by me, as it makes the camera unobtrusive.

You can buy this camera in multiple packs. The version that I have on review ships with the Sync Module (£69.99), but you can also buy the camera by itself (£64.99) if you already have the module.

Two-, three- and four-pack versions are also available, each with the Sync Module. Overall, regardless of which version you buy, the Blink Outdoor 4 is extremely good value and much cheaper than most of the competition, such as the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus.

As with previous Blink models, this one is powered by two Lithium AA batteries, which are built to last a lot longer than traditional Alkaline batteries.

The batteries plug into the rear of the camera, and the cover slots into place. Blink also sells a bigger battery pack, which takes four of these batteries.

Physical installation options include wall or ceiling mounting, with the adaptors provided in the box, and the mount screwing into place. The camera then clips into place and is easy to point up and down to cover the area that you want to watch.

It’s simple to use the app to connect the camera to a Sync Module and the internet, with setup only taking me a few minutes.

Features

• Needs a subscription for most features
• Basic motion detection zones

As with so many other cameras, bar the likes of the subscription-free Eufy eufyCam S3 Pro, the Blink Outdoor 4 is best when paired with a cloud subscription. Unlike the main competition, such as Ring, Blink’s subscription plans are relatively cheap.

If you’ve got up to three devices, then you can pay £2.50 per device (or £24.99 a year) to get 30 days of cloud storage. For unlimited device support, it’s £8 per month (or £80 a year).

There is an option for offline recording with a USB drive and a Sync Module 2 (this is different to the bundled Sync Module), but you don’t get all of the advanced features of a subscription package.

At its most basic, the Blink Outdoor 4 has simple motion detection, using the whole picture for detection. It’s very basic, and I found that I got quite a lot of notifications, with wind blowing through a bush setting the camera off.

There are several options to help reduce this. At a more basic level, there’s a slider to adjust motion detection sensitivity and motion zones. These zones are quite basic, with the image split into a grid. Grey grid squares are deactivated for motion detection, but you don’t get the same flexibility as with higher-end cameras that let you draw polygon zones.

With a Blink Subscription, you get an upgrade to add person, vehicle and other motion detection. It’s an important upgrade. By selecting the person detection option only, it reduced the number of notifications that I got to only the important ones.

There’s also an option to Arm or Disarm the system, turning the cameras off and on as you see fit. It’s nice to be able to do this, but you don’t get the same flexibility as a Ring system, where you can turn cameras on and off in sync with the Ring Alarm.

Streaming to Amazon Alexa smart displays, such as the Echo Show 15 is supported, but there’s no support for other smart assistants, as you might expect, given that Blink is owned by Amazon.

Performance

• Sharp video during the day
• Slightly soft video at night
• Can shoot full colour night vision

Although the Blink Outdoor 4 is a Full HD camera, to save on battery life the resolution is set to 1280×720. It’s possible to override this setting if you want higher quality video, but below I’ve used the standard settings.

This camera has a 143° field of view, which is wider than that of the older model, so you can capture a wide area and see more of what’s going on easily.

Image quality is acceptable, given the price. In full daylight, the colours and exposure are spot on, but detail is a little lacking. Even so, it’s generally good enough to see details in people’s faces and see what’s going on.

At night, the Blink Outdoor 4 can use full colour night vision, provided there’s enough ambient light. The overall colours are good, but there’s quite a lot of motion blur to the point where it’s hard to get sharp details on someone’s face, although you can clearly see what’s going on.

In darker conditions, the camera turns on its IR lights, which have a good range, but the image still suffers from a bit of motion blur.

Likewise, audio quality is basic, but good enough to hear what’s going on.

For the price, the video quality is good enough, and you can see what’s going on around your home, even if the detail isn’t as sharp as with more expensive cameras. Ultimately, that’s the trade-off you have to make: higher quality video costs more.

Battery life is rated at up to two years, depending on how many recordings the camera has to make. Set it up correctly, point it away from very high traffic areas and control how many times the camera triggers and this should be about right.

Should you buy it?

FAQs