Is It Worth the Money Saved?

Indoor security cameras come at a wide range of price points, and it’s hard to get much cheaper than this Onn indoor security camera. It’s undoubtedly one of the most affordable security cameras available, but you do make some concessions for that price.

5/10

Brand

Onn

Resolution

1080p

Connectivity

WiFi (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz); Bluetooth

App Compatibility

Google Home

This Onn wired indoor security camera is incredibly affordable and offers serviceable performance, including two-way audio and 1080p resolution. However, it is lacking some features that many would consider important to such a device, such as the ability to tilt and pan the camera from its controlling app.

Pros & Cons

• One of the most affordable indoor security cameras on the market
• Incredibly quick and easy setup, both physically and digitally
• Very wide field of view at 130 degrees

• Requires a hefty subscription to get the most valuable features
• Camera cannot be panned or tilted through the controlling app
• Subpar night vision, cannot see very far in truly dark conditions
• Only compatible with Google Home as a controlling app

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Price and Availability

The Onn Wired Indoor Security Camera is an incredibly affordable $23 when you buy it directly from Walmart. You can buy it from third-party sellers like eBay, but the price will often be higher. Considering the type of product this is, you can’t expect much in the way of customization options. The camera is white and comes with a mount and a fairly lengthy power cord. That’s about it. It’s quick and easy to just take it out of the box and set it up right away, but there are no bells and whistles.

A design that’s a little too simple

The design of this camera is incredibly simple. It’s a cube on a hinge, which you can attach to a base. A charging cable plugs into the back of the camera. On one hand, this simplicity means it takes about sixty seconds to physically set up this camera, which is nice. But it’s also lacking in one feature that really seems like a big problem; the camera itself cannot rotate. It sits in a completely fixed position. It can be manually adjusted across the X or Y axis, but you cannot actually pan or tilt the camera from the app you control it with.

Credit: Jacob Hudson / How-to Geek

This is a little wild to me. Literally every other security camera, indoor or outdoor, that I’ve tried has the camera on a gimbal of sorts, which allows it to move around. That way, the user can adjust the view the camera is getting through the relevant app, allowing them to look around the space where the camera is placed. You can’t do that with the Onn Wired Indoor Security Camera. Once you place it, the angle it has is fixed without manual adjustment.

On top of this, the camera has no onboard storage, so if you want to look back on older footage, you can only do that with a subscription. There are many benefits to local storage for security cameras, but that is not an option here.

Decent visual and audio quality for dirt cheap

A touch over $20 is incredibly cheap for a security camera. And admittedly, 1080p resolution does seem a bit archaic in this world of 4K or even just 2K cameras. But 1080p gets the job done in most indoor environments. Indoors, you’re usually just using a camera to see who is around or keeping an eye on your pets when they aren’t home. 1080p is more than enough resolution to do that, and this Onn indoor security camera offers crisp visuals at that resolution.

There is a microphone and speaker in this camera, allowing for two-way audio between your phone and the camera itself. Admittedly, it’s not the best audio I’ve ever seen with a camera, but it’s serviceable. It might sound like talking to someone through a telephone, but you can definitely make out what’s being said and hear loud, alarming noises, which is all you really need it to do. It detects motion fairly precisely and doesn’t send out false alerts too often.

Unfortunately, I don’t really have a lot of good to say about this camera’s night vision. It can see a little bit in the dark, but not nearly as well as many of the other cameras I’ve used. This Onn camera can see in low light, but it doesn’t see very far when it’s truly pitch-black, like it gets in my home in the mountains. Even in the tiny room where I keep my cats, this camera could barely make them out in the darkness when they were just a few feet away. Even when they are close to the camera, their image is blurry.

All in all, this indoor security camera is serviceable in these areas, especially for how cheap it is. But there’s no denying that it falls short of its more expensive counterparts, even if that’s to be expected.

Limited smart home options locked behind a paywall

Security cameras work together with smart home software. This camera from Onn specifically works with Google Home… and that’s literally it. Now, Google Home is a nice tool. It’s simple and easy to use. Even connecting this Onn camera to Google Home was as easy as scanning a QR code. But it is still only one option, so if you have a bunch of smart home appliances already, and you aren’t managing them with Google Home, this camera is not going to integrate into your current setup easily.

Moreover, like most security cameras these days, you don’t get access to all of the product’s features unless you are paying a subscription fee. If you want all the good stuff, like extended video history, intelligent alerts, event descriptions, and automations, you’ll need to subscribe to a Google Home plan. Standard is $100 a year, and Premium is $200.

Without a subscription, the camera’s functionality is heavily limited. You won’t be able to store clips (the camera will be live feed only), and you won’t have any of those features mentioned above. If you already have a Google Home subscription and you just want to add this camera to it, then it’s not bad. But if you don’t, it’s hard to justify buying a camera this cheap, only to shell out five or ten times as much per year to make it useful.

Should you buy the Onn Wired Indoor Security Camera?

The value of the Onn Wired Indoor Security Camera really depends on the subscription. More accurately, whether or not you would be adding this camera to an existing Google Home subscription, or paying for a brand-new subscription just for this camera. If you are already paying for a Google Home subscription and you want a cheap security camera to add to the list of products that benefit from that plan, then sure; this camera is a perfectly viable pick. It’s not amazing, but it gets the job done at a super low price.

But if you need to subscribe to Google Home just for this security camera to have all of its most useful features, then no, it’s definitely not worth it. Here’s the thing; pretty much every security camera these days requires a subscription to make full use of their features. Those subscriptions will almost always be around $100 a year, minimum. If you have to pay that no matter what, why not shell out a little extra upfront cash to get an objectively superior camera?

For example, the Arlo Essential Pan-Tilt Indoor Camera is only $40, not even twice the cost of the Onn Wired Indoor Security Camera. For less than $20 extra, you could get an indoor camera that has 2K resolution, better night vision, can pivot and rotate its view, and is compatible with more smart home setups. The Onn camera might be cheaper, but it sacrifices a lot compared to other cameras that really aren’t that much more expensive.

Ultimately, there are a lot of indoor security cameras out there that are plenty affordable at $40-$60, and those cameras are just outright better than this camera from Onn. If you want the cheapest thing you can get, this offering from Onn is fine and serves decently well. But if you want the most value for your buck at an affordable price, there are better options.

5/10

Brand

Onn

Resolution

1080p

Connectivity

WiFi (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz); Bluetooth

App Compatibility

Google Home

This Onn wired indoor security camera is incredibly affordable and offers serviceable performance, including two-way audio and 1080p resolution. However, it is lacking some features that many would consider important to such a device, such as the ability to tilt and pan the camera from its controlling app.