Wyze Cam Pan v4 review: The best budget 4K security camera

Wyze has long offered relatively affordable smart home devices that are reasonably high quality. The Wyze Cam in particular has been popular among smart home enthusiasts and those getting started with smart security who may not want to spend much more than necessary. The latest in the series is the Wyze Cam Pan v4, which is built to go beyond the basics with a 4K resolution and a series of smart features while still retaining the affordable price tag.

The new camera is a pretty significant upgrade over the v3 model. Notably, it steps up the resolution, all the way up from 1080p to 4K, while upgrading the night vision tech, adding AI-powered tracking features, and more.

The upgrade comes at a time when we’re starting to see more low-cost, high-quality security cameras — like the new Arlo Essential Pan Tilt Indoor Camera 2K, which has many of the same features. Does Wyze do enough to take the top spot among the best home security cameras?

Wyze Cam Pan v4 review: Price and availability

The Wyze Cam Pan v4 went on sale in the second half of 2025, and is available from the Wyze website and online retailers like Amazon. It costs $59.98 for a single camera. You can also buy it in two or three packs, which gives you a little discount over purchasing them individually.

Wyze Cam Pan v4 review: Design and installation

The overall design of the Wyze Cam Pan v4 is similar to the third-generation model before it, though not exactly the same. There are basically two main parts to it: a base and the camera, both of which are little cubes. These are connected by an arm on the side, which can tilt the camera up or down while the base rotates to pan the camera side to side.

It's not necessarily the most premium looking smart home device out there, but it's also not ugly. It's made mostly from white plastic with a black circle that houses the camera lens and a spotlight for color night vision. Attached to the base is a fixed cable that you'll plug the USB-C cable into. The fact that Wyze hasn't gone for a traditional USB-C connector could make for some durability issues down the line, but if you're careful, it should be fine, given the fact that you likely won't be messing around with the cable very often.

On the bottom of the main camera component is a button that you might use to reset the camera or set it up, along with a rubber door hiding the microSD card slot. Note, I didn’t have to use the Setup button during setup — the camera should enter a pairing mode when it’s first plugged in. But, if it doesn’t you may need to use the button.

The Wyze Cam Pan v4 is IP65-rated, meaning it can be used both indoors or outdoors. That makes it relatively versatile — and more versatile than some competitors.

Setting the camera up is a relatively simple affair. You can opt to simply place the camera on a flat surface or use the included mounting hardware to mount it upside down. I didn't use the mounting hardware, instead placing it on a windowsill, so I didn't really have to do much to physically set it up. After you've positioned the camera, all you have to do is plug it in, then download the Wyze app and either create an account or log into your existing one. Then, follow the on-screen instructions to add the camera to your account.

Once you've added the Wyze Cam Pan v4 to your account, you'll be walked through setting up things like a home position, which is where the camera will return to after it has tracked motion or you have manually moved it. You'll also get some basic instructions on how to use the camera and the app, which is always helpful. If you're impatient or you already know how to use it, you can skip this.

Wyze Cam Pan v4 review: Image and audio performance

As mentioned, one of the headline changes for the Wyze Cam Pan v4 comes in the form of a 4K resolution, which is up from the 1080p resolution on the previous model. It makes a huge difference. I didn’t have the v3 model on-hand to compare with, but I’ve tested plenty of 1080p security cameras, and have two installed in my home (which I only still have because HomeKit Secure Video only supports 1080p). I could tell the difference in detail right away.

It is true that the difference between a 2K and a 4K camera is probably less noticeable than the difference between a 1080p and a 2K camera, but having that 4K resolution is still a pretty impressive improvement over a 2K one, like what's on offer by Arlo's newest model. To that end, the Wyze Cam Pan v4 was able to provide crisp, detailed footage, allowing me to easily see smaller details, and making things like faces and license plates more legible.

I do wish the camera’s lens offered a wider view though. At 105.4 degrees, it’s not able to see as much as many competitors, like Arlo’s pan/tilt camera.

I also found the camera offered vibrant colors during the day. To be clear, this isn’t quite as important as the resolution, but the ability to produce bright colors helped make the image look more accurate. Could that be the difference between catching something and missing it? Probably not, but it certainly can’t hurt.

What does help is the solid dynamic range. Wyze isn’t marketing the camera as supporting HDR, but I did find that it captured decent detail in shadows and highlights. It wasn’t dramatically better than comparably-priced cameras in this area, but it still did well.

Low light performance

Low-light footage was generally crisp, and with the built-in spotlight, the camera was able to capture color night vision. It’s not the most powerful spotlight out there though, so you might still want it to use infrared if you’re using the camera to capture larger environments.

Wyze Cam Pan v4 - Nighttime example - YouTube

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I did find the color footage to be slightly blurry and lacking in detail, especially when there were nearby objects that reflected the light back, and when the camera was moving to track motion. Once it stopped moving, it was usually able to dial in video settings enough to gain some clarity and color-accuracy though.

By default, the spotlight is scheduled to work between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., but you can change it to work based on sunset and sunrise, including setting it to start working a set number of minutes before or after sunset and sunrise. I recommend changing the default to this so you can forget about having to change the schedule depending on the season.

I also wish it could work based on a light sensor — even if it knows when the sun sets and rises, perhaps it actually gets dark a little earlier because it’s cloudy. That’s not a huge deal though, and I found that setting it to start 59 minutes before sunset and after sunrise worked perfectly fine, even on overcast days. You’ll also need to set how long the spotlight stays on after motion stops being detected.

Motion tracking

The camera did a pretty good job at tracking moving objects as they appeared in its vision, but it wasn’t the most responsive to motion. At times. It began recording quickly, but on occasion, it didn’t start recording until well after it should have. On a few occasions, I was alerted to motion from a neighborhood cat in my backyard — but the clip started with the cat right in the middle of the view of the camera.

Wyze Cam Pan v4 - Daytime example - YouTube

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I could give the camera a pass if the cat had sprinted into view, but given the behavior of the cat in the footage, I doubt that’s what happened — and I’d guess there will have been at least five seconds of motion that should have triggered recording before it actually started.

On one occasion, the recorded clip began with the camera moving from its home position. That means that it did detect motion, and began tracking the cat in the backyard, but didn’t start actually recording until later. This behavior seemed related to the size of the subject in the footage — when I walked directly past the camera, it began recording immediately.

Wyze Cam Pan v4 - Infrared example - YouTube

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I do hope that audio-based tracking comes to cameras like this at some point. This is obviously much trickier, as the microphones built into these cameras don’t offer any kind of directionality, but with features like alerts for barking or crying, it seems like cameras should at least pan around to look for the source of that audio when they hear it.

Audio quality

The audio experience on the Wyze Cam Pan v4 isn’t bad. The camera picked up voices with decent clarity, however when streaming video through the app, it seemed to cut out quieter sounds (which included quieter voices), compared to after sharing a clip and playing it back offline.

It wasn’t a big deal, but it did impact two-way audio a little. While the camera cleanly played back my voice spoken into my phone, I had to ask the person in front of the camera to repeat themselves once or twice. This isn’t super uncommon, and it wasn’t a huge deal. Again, exported clips still sounded clean though.

Wyze Cam Pan v4 review: App and smart home support

As you would expect, the Wyze Cam Pan V4 works with the Wyze app, which is relatively well-designed and easy to use. From the main screen of the app you'll see a live feed of your cameras, and you can jump through tabs for favorites, all of your devices, and any automations you have set up. The app has screens to show you a list of events. Plus, there's a monitoring tab that will give you an overview of the kinds of events over the course of the day. For example, it will split events up by person, motion, and so on.

If you tap on a device or a camera feed, you'll be taken to its own settings. From there, you can change the positioning of the camera manually, or access features like a siren and a pan scan, which has the camera pan around the scene. You'll also be able to access more in-depth settings like night recording settings, alarm settings, and so on. As you would expect, there are options for setting up motion zones too, which can come in handy.

The Wyze Cam Pan V4 works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT. It's a good selection of smart home integrations, with the notable omission being Apple Home support. That's not completely unexpected, as Apple Home only offers very basic camera support. It doesn't allow for cameras with a resolution higher than 1080p, and there are no controls in Apple Home for things like panning and tilting. So a camera like this wouldn't really work very well in the first place.

Wyze Cam Pan v4 review: Video storage

One of the best things about this camera in particular is that you don't have to rely on cloud storage for your footage if you don't want to. There's a MicroSD card slot built right into the camera, and you can have the camera save footage to it, then access that footage from the app down the line.

Of course, if you prefer cloud storage, Wyze offers a subscription service, which also gives you access to additional features. Without a subscription, you’ll still be able to use the cameras with basic features like motion detection, and local storage.

Upgrade to Wyze Cam Plus ($2.99 per month, $19.99 per year, only supports one camera), and you’ll get 14 days of video storage, rich notifications, smart object recognition (people, animals, and packages), smart audio detection (barking, crying, etc), and more.

Wyze Cam Unlimited ($9.99 per month or $99.99 per year) offers similar features but supports unlimited cameras, though it does also have facial recognition and critical alerts. The most advanced plan is Wyze Cam Unlimited Pro ($19.99 per month, $199.99 per year), which adds AI-powered descriptions and an emergency dispatch feature.

Wyze’s pricing is fairly competitive, but it offers far less video history than other brands. For example, Ring’s plans give you up to 180 days of storage, while Arlo and Google give you 30 and 60 days.

All that to say, while you might be looking at a camera like this for its ability to record locally, and thus not need a subscription, you might end up wanting one anyway, so you can access some of the smarter AI-powered features that work in the cloud. It does make sense that a subscription would be required for those, especially for a camera at this price point. Some cameras, like the Aqara Camera Hub G5 Pro, can process some of these smart features locally, but they generally cost more, partially due to the processing power required for local AI processing.

Wyze Cam Pan v4 review: Verdict

The Wyze Cam Pan v4 may not be perfect, but at this price point it’s close. With a 4K resolution, advanced object-tracking features, local storage, and more, it’s easily the best home security camera for those who want a pan/tilt camera at a reasonable price — and even beats many options at far higher prices.

The only exception would be for those deep in another ecosystem. For example, the Arlo Essential Pan Tilt Indoor Camera 2K is a solid option, and while it’s not as good as the Wyze model when it comes to video quality, it’s still a decent choice for those who want to stick with Arlo. For all others, though, the Wyze Cam Pan v4 is the camera to beat.