Blink Mini review 2023: great indoor camera

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It’s hard not to love a good home security camera that costs very little. One of these is the Blink Mini, which is like the famous Wyze Cam and the cheap Ring Indoor Cam. It’s a small plug-in camera that costs $35 and is good enough for most people to use to keep an eye on their home. The Blink Mini records video in 1080p resolution, allows two-way audio chat from the smartphone app to the camera, and can send an alert to your phone when it recognizes movement in one of the activity zones you set up.

The Mini’s field of view is 110 degrees, which is wide enough to see most of your room. It can also see in the dark. If you have other Blink cameras, like the new XT2, you’ll be able to see clips from the Mini as well as clips from your other cameras in the same app. None of these features are particularly amazing on their own; at this point, they’re expected from a smart home security cam, even one as cheap as this one. The Blink Mini meets my needs, but it doesn’t go above and beyond in any way.

Blink Mini Specifications

Specification	Details
Camera Type	Indoor security camera
Video Resolution	1080p Full HD
Field of View	110 degrees
Two-Way Audio	Yes
Motion Detection	Yes
Night Vision	Yes
Connectivity	Wi-Fi
Cloud Storage	Subscription-based
Dimensions	Varies by model
Colors	White

Blink Mini: Design

The Blink Mini’s style isn’t very interesting, but that’s fine. Security cameras aren’t supposed to be eye-catching, and the Mini’s simple cube shape and black-and-white paint job give it a simple, polished look that’s nice to look at and completely unobtrusive, which is exactly what we want from a product in this category.

The Blink Mini lives up to its name, as it is only two inches (five cm) tall. Given the price, it’s not surprising that it’s mostly made of plastic, except for a metal disc in the base. The plastic ball and socket joint makes the usual creaks and groans when the angle and position are changed. Still, the whole thing feels strong and sturdy, which is all you can ask for, and the joint in question is stiff enough that you can be sure it will always stay in the right place. You can buy this Blink Mini from its official website

Image Quality

During the day or in well-lit areas at night, the image quality is adequate but unremarkable. What sets it apart from other security cameras in its price range is that it records video at a smoother and less jerky 30 frames per second. It’s also impressive that the Blink Mini can record video in complete darkness. Its single infrared LED produced brighter and more uniform illumination than the Yi’s, allowing for better image capture.

The microphone and speaker combine to provide clear, audible sound in both directions. The camera is functional, however it lacks advanced settings. It has a motion detector but no other features, so it can’t see faces or pets. The inexpensive Yi Smart Security Camera, for instance, can distinguish between a human voice and a baby’s cries, making it useful as a makeshift baby monitor.

Blink Mini: Live Streaming

The ability to transmit live video is built into the majority of modern security cameras, including the Blink Mini. During our time away from our apartment, we relied primarily on the Blink Home Monitor app to feed videos to our phones so that we could keep an eye on things there. In addition to that, we watched it on the Echo Show and our smart TV. Because the Blink Mini was tethered to an external power source, we did not face the same concerns regarding the battery life as we had with the XT2.

Pan-Tilt mount

In the fall of 2022, the Pan-Tilt mount for the Blink Mini was made available. When this $29 device is attached to a camera, it lets you move the camera in a full circle and tilt it about 180 degrees. To use it, you connect the Blink Mini’s microUSB plug to the base of the Pan-Tilt mount. Then you attach the camera to the top of the mount and plug the mount’s microUSB plug into the back of the Mini. Very easy.

Open the Live View for the Blink Mini camera in the Blink app to use the pan and tilt features. Under the picture from the camera is a small virtual D-pad with up, down, left, and right keys. To move the camera, all you have to do is press on one of them.

Blink Mini: Performance

Even though the field of view isn’t the widest, the camera’s image quality is helped by a better-than-average white balance, and the corners of the picture have good detail. We were a little surprised that the audio cuts in and out when you pinch and drag to zoom in and out. Even though HDR isn’t listed as a feature, the camera did well in places with different kinds of light, which is useful indoors where windows only light one side. Motion sensitivity is very high, but the app’s Activity Zones feature (unlike the other Blink cameras) is no longer in beta. The sensitivity scale and Activity Zones were just used to get alerts ‘right’.

Price and availability

At $34.99, the Blink Mini indoor security camera is a good choice if you don’t want to spend a lot but still want to keep an eye on the inside of your home. It can record 1080p video clips, senses movement, lets you have clear talks in both directions, and works with both Amazon Alexa and IFTTT. To save motion event records, you have to pay for either a subscription plan or a separate hub. So, the Wyze Cam OG ($23.99) is still our Editors’ Choice because it costs less, has local storage, and works with Google Assistant.

Final Words

The Blink Mini is a strong, good-looking, and easy-to-use home security camera. It has clear, Full HD video, good night vision, and a full app. It’s not perfect, though, because it doesn’t have person recognition and you’ll have to pay for cloud storage or buy an extra sync module after the free trial is over if you want to look at footage you’ve already taken.

Blink Mini review: The good and The bad

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