Lynx Security Camera with Facial Recognition

Brand: Tend
Manufacturer: Chamberlain
Model: TS0020
EAN: 0859986005642
Category: #2508 in Electronics (Dome Cameras)
Price: n/a  (127 customer reviews)
Dimension: 3.50 x 2.25 x 2.25 inches
Shipping Wt: 0.45 pounds. FREE Shipping (Details)
Availability: In Stock.
Average Rating: 3.2 out of 5 stars
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Product Description

Designed to make securing the people, places and things that matter most incredibly simple with powerful and sophisticated technology, the new Tend secure lynx indoor camera offers the perfect combination of intelligent, yet effortless, video security. Featuring crystal clear 1080p HD live video and audio streaming, Tend secure lynx indoor provides a smart video monitoring solution that pairs effortlessly with any existing Wi-Fi network for easy set up in just minutes. Lynx indoor can easily be placed or mounted anywhere with no complicated wiring for 24-hour day- and Nighttime (infrared) monitoring. Multiple lynx indoor cameras can also be installed on the same network to monitor different rooms, entryways or other locations around the home or business workspace. Lynx indoor’s built-in, advanced facial recognition technology automatically recognizes familiar faces to maximize security and eliminate false alarms. Perfect for keeping an eye on children or elders left home alone, simply use the free Tend secure app (for iOS and Android) to preload images of familiar faces. Once configured , Tend secure issues a mobile check-in notification with familiar faces, or if unfamiliar faces are detected users can get an alert notification and immediately see a live stream of the activity. In addition to live video streaming and still image capture, users can also use lynx indoor’s two-way audio system to communicate with loved ones, pets or other occupants via the Tend secure mobile app. The system comes with a lifetime free seven-day cloud storage; all captured video and audio are saved automatically and stored for up to seven days on Tend insight’s cloud-based servers for secure access from anywhere using the Tend secure mobile app. With the Tend secure lynx indoor, you can always Tend to what matters most.

Features

  • FACIAL RECOGNITION | Intelligent facial recognition software lets you choose who your camera recognizes, get a check-in notification with familiar faces
  • HD VIDEO QUALITY | Night & Day Crystal clear HD real-time live video streaming and recording from your mobile device using the Tend Secure app from any location
  • EASY SET UP | The Tend Secure Lynx Indoor 2 provides easy to use home security for you and your family - With quick and easy Bluetooth setup, your camera is up and running in minutes
  • FREE CLOUD STORAGE | Backup and review videos with our cloud storage, included with your purchase. It’s free, so you can always see what’s happened for the previous 7 days
  • MOTION DETECTION & INSTANT ALERTS | Get immediate notifications on your mobile device for events triggered by motion detection from our FREE app (compatible with iOS and Android)

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Top Reviews

Keep your expectations realistic
by PhotoGraphics (4 out of 5 stars)
June 19, 2017

Having owned a video security company you might imagine that my home and properties are well-equipped with the latest and greatest camera technology. They are. The quality of images from my security cameras rivals the best high-def Blu-Ray movies and they are equipped with ultra-sensitive night-vision, motion-sensing and hifi audio. The only thing they lack is facial recognition, which is why I ordered this camera from Tend Insights to test and evaluate. I was intrigued by their marketing claims to offer such technological innovation at a price below even the cheapest no-name cameras. Could their performance match their hype ... and that more famous brand that wants 300 bucks for almost the same thing? Let's see.

WHAT IT IS

This is a stand-alone indoor-only monitoring camera (much like a babycam) that works though your wifi internet connection. You MUST have wifi internet in your home and a smartphone equipped with a specific app to use this camera! And your wifi signal must be strong enough at the location where you plan to install the camera for it to operate. If your wifi signal goes down the camera does nothing, not even record to a local memory card or disc.

WHAT ITS NOT

Right out of the box it became clear that this is not related to the Lynx smart home product line. In this instance Lynx is simply used as a model name of a particular style of camera, not a smart-home ecosystem. One of Tend Insights unique marketing niches is that they brand their products with cute familiar themes like John Deere, Kodak or Universal Pictures characters. Unfortunately, as is much too common, Tend Insights uses their own proprietary app ... yet another app that isn't compatible with anyone else. The major downside is that at this point they are not compatible with Alexa, Google or Siri, leaving them all alone in an increasingly interconnected world.

FEATURES

The number one (and most unique) feature of this camera is face recognition just like the 300-buck cam. Given that otherwise the camera performs roughly on a par with other typical indoor monitoring cameras (and at a fraction of the price of that heavily advertised major brand) my testing concentrated a lot on the value of performance of how well it recognizes faces. Realize something right up front if you are going to consider this camera ... it is NOT going to recognize the face of a stranger and identify them to the police. That would be cool (in a way) but no, it has to be preprogrammed by you for each and every person you know that might walk into the camera's view. And that process is a bit time-consuming. Then, once your camera is programmed to store the faces of your friends and family it will generally recognize them only under certain ideal conditions ... it will not recognize a face from a distance, at an angle, backlit, if they are moving rapidly, if they are wearing anything different like a hat or sunglasses ... in my tests it did its job best if the subject walked right up to the camera and posed. I can see that as being fun for the kids to do for "mommy I'm home from school" but of questionable value if it happens to be a burglar wearing a ski mask who crawls through the doggie door.

OTHER THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

There are numerous advantages to owning a camera like this as a convenience appliance but it is not recommended as a primary home security device because it is 100% wifi dependent and has no local storage.

The company promises free lifetime cloud storage. Compared to other similar companies that offer is a big incentive. But be realistic when considering this ... today's startup crowd-funded tech companies often have the lifespan of a fruit fly. Lifetime cloud storage is only good for as long as the manufacturer manages to survive.

This is not part of a multi-camera home monitoring system. Only one camera can be monitored using the app ... there is no split-screen, no pan/tilt, no zoom and remember this is an indoor only camera (ruling out using as a doorbell cam). That's not to say (at the remarkably low price) that it's not worth considering. I have mine pointed at the garage entrance door of my home to test its face-recognition capabilities so it alerts me every time someone walks up to the door.

Tend Insights offers no less than 4 different apps to use with their cameras which could be a bit bewildering to the average person. Hopefully as they get more experience they can tame that down to something a little less ambitious. So far their app for the Lynx has no valid user reviews.

REALITY CHECK

I've tried to base my review of this one based on a lot of years experience with video security products and actually comparing it side-by-side to several models I own that are made by the long-established brand manufacturers. Here then are the pros and cons for you to consider:

PROS
* Easily at the top of the list is low price, I have not seen any similar model that has as good an image or is as well-featured anywhere near this price
* Size - this is one of the smallest around, a must to be able to hide it from view of burglars
* Discreet night vision illumination - most similar cameras have IR lights that glow like a Christmas tree after dark, like a huge welcome sign to burglars exactly where the camera is located. The Tend camera has the least obtrusive night vision lights I've ever seen, just one small glowing red light
* Standard USB power cable that can be extended to any length. Why hasn't every other camera company thought of doing this?
* Very fast app startup, important during an intrusion so you can immediately log in and see what's happening. Some other brands take up to a minute to log in and even resort to showing you ads for their other products before you can see why you got an alert

CONS
* The mounting bracket is virtually useless. Some people have complained how it is difficult to adjust. In fact that's not true, it's just that Tend doesn't explain anywhere that you have to find the tiny adjustment screw hidden deep in the base to be able to adjust it. Once you find the screw in the base it has good adjustment range. The problem is if you want to wall-mount the camera ... that tiny screw can't (and I stress the word can't) be reached once the camera is mounted. But that's only half the problem, the biggest part of the problem is that they designed the mounting keyholes so they can't (and I stress the word can't) be used with mounting screws. Using the supplied screws with the mounting base is impossible.
* There is no zone selection adjustment for the motion sensing. Security camera pros will tell you that motion sensing is useless and basically a marketing hype. A good security camera records everything24/7, not only when it senses motion. But at minimum if you insist on using motion sensing, zone selection adjustment is mandatory. Look at my photo with the red flower leaves blowing in the wind. Even with the Tend camera set at its most minimum sensitivity, every time one leaf moves in the wind it alerts me and records it as an intrusion. I installed the camera in a very typical way to watch my garage door, there is no way possible for me to stop the leaves from blowing in the wind.
* A less urgent issue but still important is that the designers have the control panel display on their app intruding on critically important viewable screen area, blocking the view of a significant part of the screen. Look at my sample photo, the control panel completely blocks part of the view of the 2 cars.
* Installation ease is only okay. The first time it wouldn't install at all, giving me a bizarre error message. The second time it went okay but later suddenly lost connectivity. The bad part of that is that it didn't reboot automatically, I had to go through the entire setup process from scratch. The #1 critical task of a security camera is dependability ... this one isn't there yet
* Only one user can view the camera at one time. I've never seen a limitation like that. So if I am viewing an event and I text my spouse to check it out with me, it disconnects me and I have to reset my camera app all over again.

This camera has a lot going for it, especially at the low price and has good picture quality, but it seems to have been rushed to market without real life field testing. The company has potential, especially with their co-marketing with companies like Universal, Kodak and John Deere. I would give them serious consideration if they come out with a Version 2 that addresses all of the flaws and I would especially interested if they come out with a weatherized outdoor version that beats the competition on price and cutting-edge features. By the way, it's common these days for many of the new-tech products being hawked through the various crowd-funding sites to be peppered with glowing paid-for reviews, often posted by the people pushing the product. I suggest it's wise to seek out trusted reviews from established consumer reporting sources if considering this product.

Despite the limitations my rating of this camera (following the guidelines of 4-stars means I like it) is perhaps higher than it should be. I do like it because it has a lot to offer for the low price and it has a lot of potential. If the bugs described above don't bother you it sure beats paying four times as much for the heavily-advertised name brand.
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Camera goes offline every day.
by Hoo96 (1 out of 5 stars)
January 11, 2018

Bought this to keep an eye on our new puppy during the day in her crate while I'm at work. Worked well at first for about a month, now the camera keeps going offline. Unfortunately, I can't do anything to it while I'm at work and it is offline. So, when I get home, I unplug it every night and restart it. During the next day, it goes offline for most of the day. I have an arlo Q that works flawlessly and I'd rather spend a little more to buy that rather than the Lynx Indoor again. Lynx got great review on PC Mag which is why I bought it, but it is not reliable.
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Won't maintain connection to router .
by Regulator (1 out of 5 stars)
January 14, 2018

Had to return first camera for same reason . Camera will not maintain contact with router , goes off line constantly . Support is non existent .

They return calls a couple of days later and don' t answers e-mails . beware . Bought it after reading PC Magazine review . What were they thinking . Friend bought the camera also and had to return for same reason .
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No problem mounting on a vertical surface
by Gary R C (4 out of 5 stars)
August 3, 2017

Smaller than I expected. Good quality video.Good motion detection, mounts easily. Connected to w-ifi was very easy. 7 days motion detection cloud service is fantastic.Adjusts easily right and left and up and down. Great price.Well built.

No local built in memory card capability.

I don't know what all of the fuss is about on the steel plate on the bottom of the base. If you want the camera mounted on a wall remove the metal base and it works great. To remove the metal disk just give the plastic disk that covers the metal disc a slight turn and the plastic base disk comes off and the round metal disk falls out in your hand.

If you just want to set the camera with the base down on a flat surface and not permanently mount it leave, the round metal disk in the base so it will work well as a weight to keep the camera from tipping over. I mounted mine on a vertical surface with 2 wood screws. Just put the screws in until they are almost flush, then slide the plastic base over the larger part of the screw hole and pull the base down so it locks.

I did not like the white because it shows up to easily on my dark brown wood background so I carefully painted mine with a black marker pen.
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all of my other wirelessly connected devices are working just fine. I purchased these units warily a
by James Johnson (3 out of 5 stars)
December 20, 2017

I ordered 2 units. The 1st one I set up was non-functioning out-of-the-box. Got it to connect to Wi-Fi, then the app, then got the blinking orange light of death immediately. No amount of factory reset would resolve the blinking orange light.

I got the 2nd unit hooked up and it worked for not quite 24 hours. Then I got a "camera offline" message on the app while trying to view remotely from work the next day. Got home to another blinking orange light. Again, factory reset did not work.

Yes, my router is 2.4 GHz and yes, all of my other wirelessly connected devices are working just fine. I purchased these units warily after seeing them as one of the editor's choices on a reputable website. However, I believe I now know the reason they are so much cheaper than the other models. Buyer beware.
**UPDATE** I am editing this review to clarify what was some misunderstanding on my part. When I was doing the factory resets on the cameras, I was holding the reset button until the light turned off. That wasn't long enough. You have to hold it down long enough for the light to go off, then come back on, or about 15 seconds, per the manual.

I now have been able to get 2 cameras up and running after the initial issues and they have been online for about 24 hours now. I am upgrading my intial review from 1 star to 3.
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Pretty good for a small camera!!!
by Bruce Asian Springsteen (4 out of 5 stars)
July 1, 2017

Just received it yesterday, nice video, pretty good night vision, easy to connect, able to zoom in and out, easy app, motion detector works well when sensitivity is at the highest, alert notification is delayed 4 to 5 seconds after motion detector is activated, able to have invite other to view the camera, user can manually or automatically take video or pictures. Only flaw I can see as of today is that when you unplug the camera, it takes awhile or need to set it up again. Need to read the instructions properly before use.
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Network connectivity very sketchy
by The Sundance Kid (1 out of 5 stars)
November 4, 2017

I attempted to connect this camera to 3 different WiFi networks in 3 different locations without success, despite contacting the company's support line. I was able to connect the camera intermittently, but most of the time I was not able to establish a connection or stay connected. If the power was disconnected while the camera was on the network, the camera would not reconnect to the network. I don't know whether this particular unit was defective or whether the product is generally not good. Beware.
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Recommend without hesitation, I'm going back for more.
by Bookworm (5 out of 5 stars)
December 9, 2017

I have an Arlo wireless system and got fed up with it eating batteries like crazy (yes, they came out with solar powered chargers, but they're as expensive as the cameras!). So I was looking for a better option, and could live with the cameras being indoors provided they could be pointed out a window. So I wrote to the manufacturer and got a very quick reply about that (it can point out a window if you turn the IR off, and the area it is pointing to at night is well-lit from another source, like a driveway light). So I ordered one of these VERY reasonably priced cameras and held my breath.

Setup was a PIECE OF CAKE - the app walks you through it, and I was up and running in under 5 minutes, including install time. I will update this at a later date, since I've only been living with it about a week now, but suffice it to say I have today ordered ANOTHER of these, and am retiring my Arlo's fully.

PROS and CONS:
*Install, as already noted, was a cinch. Install the App on your phone or tablet, it walks you through the process. The settings that are available to play with are pretty basic, so simple to run through. The app pulls up quickly on my phone, flipping over to a recorded clip to review is easy, activating the voice mode on the camera is literally as simple as tapping on the picture.
* The video quality is exceptional - actually better than my Arlo, but the OUTSTANDING quality of the video is that unlike my Arlo system, which always seemed to MISS the action, this not only captures the action it captures the few seconds BEFORE the action. With Arlo, the camera doesn't even come out of "sleep" mode until it detect motion, and by then someone typically comes and goes - I have a thousand clips of someone's backside on my porch. 2 seconds of them as they leave. Because this is a wired camera. the Lynx is always in at least a low-level "on" mode, so when I review the clips I get the seconds leading UP to the whatever it is that triggered the motion detection, as well as the actual motion. That's just ridiculously superior and useful.
*Once the camera detects motion, it records the clip and sends you a push notification on your phone. You CAN set it to only send those notifications at certain times (like NOT at 3am!), which is helpful, but there are two features I'm accustomed to seeing with pretty much any security camera system that are missing - the ability to get the notifications sent to EMAIL instead, and the ability to tell the camera how long to record each clip. It apparently records as long as there is motion, but only up to 30 seconds, and there's no way to tell it to record longer. (Though if action continues, I have noticed it will record an additional clip). There is also no geo-caching option - so you can't, for instance, tell it NOT to record a clip or send you a notice if your phone is at home. That's a very helpful feature on many systems, so you don't get notifications, for instance, if you're at home and step in front of the camera dozens of times a day.
* I did email the company and ask about the email notification thing, and they indicated they are working on developing a higher tier subscription option down the road, so perhaps some of those things will be included at a later date.
* In the meantime, don't get me wrong - even without those features, I'm TERRIBLY impressed with this camera! Ease-of-use, ease-of-install, picture quality, the app's responsiveness, the fact that it also includes audio - these are top tier features I'd expect to pay more for, so Lynx has carved out a nice corner of the market for a fairly priced, high functioning camera.
* One "con" worth noting, as others here have mentioned the teensy screw on the underside of the mounting base it very poorly designed - it requires you to know somehow in ADVANCE exactly what angle you want the camera placed, before you even mount the bracket. If you're not planning to actually mount the camera on a wall, this is a non-issue - the screw is easily accessible, no problem once you figure out your positioning. But if you're using the bracket to mount this on a wall or door frame or whatever, it requires you to figure out the angle, somehow then take it down and tighten the screw, then somehow align that back up with the base you have to twist this into once it's mounted? It's just poor design - the screw should be somehow EXTERNAL, somewhere other than on the UNDERSIDE of the base, so it can be more easily adjusted AFTER you get the camera placed just so.

DEFINITELY recommend, without hesitation. I may even have to add on one of those cute little MINION cameras the company makes, just cuz' I think they're adorable (plus, it occurs to me that someone coming into my house is unlikely to look at that on a shelf and think "security camera" - they're more likely to think tchotchke! :D
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Free Cloud Storage (7 Day) and Great value for a very capable Camera
by Jeffery (5 out of 5 stars)
July 15, 2017

NO COST FOR CLOUD STORAGE... Yes, I'm shouting out to the world. :) This camera is by no means as sophisticated as my Nest Cams but I wish this was available before I purchased 5 Dropcams/Nest Cams. You can get 3+ of these for the price of Nest Cam. There is no doubt the Nest/Dropcams are 5-star products and deserve their accolades but if someone is in the market for simple efficient, effective security cameras I would without a doubt recommend this camera. Matter of fact I have recommended these and 1 person purchased 4 and another 2. It has a very sharp image and night vision is awesome as well. Plenty of features and a great little app. 7-day FREE cloud storage which is huge. Last month I paid about $250.00 (again) for a year's worth of cloud storage to Google for the 5 cameras. And at the time I purchased them I was fully aware of this expense but it "was" worth that amount in "peace of mind." There were not as many choices 3 years ago. If Google doesn't get with the trend of free cloud storage then next time I'll just purchase 4 or 5 of these and save on cloud storage costs. Bottom line GREAT camera and GREAT company.
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It worked absolutely GREAT - for about a week.
by JS (1 out of 5 stars)
February 27, 2018

Very disappointed. It was everything we wanted -- for about a week. Then it suddenly developed a series of random, hare-brained, inexplicable faults. It records way too much - like several hundred videos a day - when it shouldn't, then it fails to record humans. It turns its microphone on all by itself for no reason. The IR goes on during the day and doesn't work at night. Playback from the app is almost impossible. The camera is 5' from the router but it drops connectivity constantly and requires almost daily re-installation (from scratch). All these issues are all the more maddening because it worked SO well for that one golden week. We know it CAN do what we want, it just WON'T. And their alleged customer service is at the "unplug it and plug it back in" level. This camera could be terrific - it WAS terrific - but I'm about to see how far I can throw mine. Enjoy it while it lasts, or buy another product.

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