A neighbor down the street had a package stolen off her porch in broad daylight. The thief walked up, grabbed the box, and walked away in under ten seconds. She had a doorbell camera but the footage was grainy — you could see it was a person in a hoodie and that was it. The police said they could not identify anyone from the video.

She replaced it with a Wyze Cam v4. Three weeks later, someone tried again. The new footage was sharp enough to read the logo on the thief’s hat. The police made an arrest within two days.

The Wyze Cam v4

The Wyze Cam v4 costs about thirty-five dollars. It shoots in 2.5K resolution (2560×1440) — not quite 4K but close enough that faces and license plates are clear at porch distance. It has color night vision, which is the feature that makes the difference for identification. Most cheap cameras switch to grainy black-and-white infrared at night. The Wyze Cam v4 uses a larger image sensor and a built-in spotlight to capture color video in low light. A face under a porch light at night is actually recognizable, not just a blurry pale blob.

What you get for thirty-five dollars

• Indoor or outdoor use: It is not weatherproof by default but Wyze sells a weather-resistant mount for outdoor installation. Or stick it in a window facing out — the night vision works through glass if you turn off the status light to avoid reflection.
• Motion and sound detection: The camera alerts your phone when it detects motion or sound. You can set detection zones so passing cars do not trigger alerts every two minutes.
• Two-way audio: You can talk through the camera. Useful for telling a delivery person where to leave a package — or telling a thief that you are recording them and the police are on the way.
• Continuous recording with a microSD card: Pop in a microSD card (sold separately, about ten dollars) and the camera records 24/7. No monthly subscription required for local recording.

The cloud storage option

Wyze offers a Cam Plus subscription for about two dollars a month per camera. This gives you cloud storage of motion-triggered clips, person detection (the camera distinguishes between people and, say, a tree branch blowing in the wind), and longer clip lengths. The camera works without the subscription but person detection and cloud storage are locked behind it. For a security camera specifically meant to catch thieves, the two dollars a month is worth it for person detection alone — you do not want an alert every time a cat walks across your porch.

The privacy tradeoff

Wyze is a cloud-connected camera made by a company that has had security issues in the past. In 2023, a security flaw let some users briefly see other users’ camera feeds. Wyze fixed it and tightened security but the incident is worth knowing about. If you are uncomfortable with a cloud-connected camera, consider a local-only system like a Reolink or Eufy camera that records to a home base station instead of the cloud. They cost more — around eighty to a hundred dollars — but the footage never leaves your home network.

For thirty-five dollars, the Wyze Cam v4 is the best budget option for catching package thieves. The color night vision alone makes it worth the price. A grainy black-and-white video is security theater. Clear color footage gets results.