The Swann CoreCam Pro has all of the features you need in a security camera. It’s easy to use, has fantastic motion pickup, and it runs on battery power so you don’t need to place it by a power outlet. Once paired with the Swann app you can see a live view or view your saved clips, but the camera also has a memory card in case you’d like to download stored video to your computer. The 2K video quality is crisp and clear too, and it even has a siren alarm and audio.
Here’s what I thought of the Swann CoreCam Pro and why it’s a great choice for anyone looking for a wireless security camera system for their property.
Features on Swann CoreCam Pro
The Swann CoreCam Pro 2K wireless camera pack comes with a 3-pack of indoor/outdoor wireless cameras, mounts for the cameras, and a charging cord. Each camera has a 32GB microSD card preinstalled so you can access your footage via the SD card or the Swann app.
- Wire-free cameras are up and running in a few minutes
- 2K (4MP) Quad HD resolution
- Heat and motion sensing for more accurate motion detection
- Connects to your home’s Wi-Fi network so you can see and store video in the Swann app
- Motion-activated spotlight and built-in siren
- Two-way talk so you can hear and speak to whoever is in front of your cameras
- 100-degree FOV
- Colour night vision up to 50 feet (15 meters) away
- Wi-Fi range up to 65 feet (20 meters)
- IP65 rating for dust and water resistance
Setting up Swann CoreCam Pro security cameras
I’ve liked all of the Swann security systems and cameras I’ve been testing out lately, but the Swann CoreCam Pro is definitely a favourite. I like easy to use cameras that work right out of the box, and the Swann CoreCam Pro does just that.
It’s extremely easy to set up a Swann CoreCam Pro security camera. You’ll need to plug the camera in to charge for a few hours so the battery is 100%. I let it charge overnight so I’m not sure how long it takes to reach a full charge. Once it was charged I took the mount and the camera outside and found a place to mount it. Mounting the camera required a screwdriver but the screws and drywall plugs are included.
I like the mount on the Swann CoreCam Pro. It’s flexible so you can position the camera up, down, or move it side to side. It’s easy to take the camera off the mount when you’d like to charge it. All you have to do is loosen a bolt on the bottom of the camera and remove it. When you are done charging you just attach the camera back to the base.
Once the camera was mounted and turned on I paired it with the Swann app. It will only connect to a 2.4GHz network so you’ll want to make sure you aren’t trying to connect to a 5G network. The camera has a range of 65 feet from your router so you’ll need to stay within that range. I placed the camera approximately 40 feet from my router and I maintained 2 to 3 signal bars for the connection. You can see how strong your Wi-Fi signal is by looking at the settings of the Swann CoreCam Pro in the Swann app.
Testing Swann CoreCam Pro wireless security cameras
Video quality on Swann CoreCam
I captured a lot of video when testing out the CoreCam Pro. I had the camera I set up trained on my driveway as it’s a high traffic area and it was able to capture video clips of cars, people, and pets. The video quality was excellent day and night. I like how you can adjust your resolution when viewing a live stream, so if you are watching while on cellular data you can adjust your stream to lower quality than 2K.
The colour and clarity of the saved video clips is very impressive for a Wi-Fi camera. It captured amazing footage on sunny days, and it’s very easy to make out details in the footage. Even when there was less light, around dusk for example, the video quality was very good. The camera has Night2Day technology so it switches to night vision automatically, and if you’d like to you can view your video with colour night vision. To turn colour night vision on you just have to tap the setting in the app during live view.
The only thing to keep in mind is that night vision requires ambient light to really work. I have a lot of outdoor string lights on my property so it’s lit up enough outside to pick up good quality night video. I liked the colour night vision, but I also thought standard night vision was very good too. The video details seemed a bit richer when streaming standard night vision.
Heat and motion detection
Swann security cameras have True Detect heat and motion sensing technology. This tech can identify thermal heat signatures so it knows the difference between a person or vehicle. When it detects motion it will send a notification to your phone and you can check out the video in the Swann app. The app will have a label on the motion that identifies what it is. In my experience testing out the Swann CoreCam Pro, it’s blazing fast when picking up motion. If you are walking past the camera you can see a red light turn on as it detects you. I walked back and forth all the time and it picked me up almost instantly. The camera has a 100-degree field of view too, so it can detect someone walking past before that person even realizes there is a camera nearby.
I like how it can easily identify people by heat signature. With technology like that, the CoreCam Pro is much more accurate than cameras without it. For me, having a camera with accurate motion notification is important for theft prevention and it saves me a lot of time checking footage. If, for example, the Swann CoreCam Pro sends me a notification for a person on my driveway at 12 am, I will instantly check the footage or go to live view. If it had been a vehicle, I would be less concerned as it would most likely be one of my kids coming home.
Two-way audio and siren
I’m so glad Swann added audio to their security cameras. Having audio and the ability to talk to whoever is in front of the camera is extremely helpful. When listening to live view or streaming clips, the audio quality is very clear. I found the two way talk had a slight lag, almost like a two way radio, but it was impressive given that the camera is streaming via Wi-Fi.
For another layer of extra security, the Swann CoreCam Pro has a built in siren. The light will turn on and the camera sounds shrill. It’s loud enough to hear in the house but not so loud that the entire neighbourhood would hear it.
Battery life
I set up the CoreCam Pro in a high-traffic area, which triggered a lot of motion detection so by the end of my 2-3 weeks of testing the camera, the battery had run out. Depending on where you set up your camera and what detection settings you activate, you can expect to need to recharge your camera about once a month.
Should you choose the Swann CoreCam Pro 2K security camera?
The Swann CoreCam Pro is easy to set up, easy to use, it has great battery life, and it captures detailed 2K video footage. You don’t have to adjust a bunch of settings to make sure you’re capturing the best footage or your camera is picking up motion either. It just works straight out of the box. It picks up motion almost instantly and every time it detected motion it knew what type of motion it was. I didn’t add on the Swann cloud subscription with this camera but it’s nice to know there are options if you’d like to customize your motion detection for things like pets and packages.
You can find the Swann CoreCam Pro at Best Buy right now.
2k security camera is very good