This article is a Soliom S100 Camera Review.
The camera is designed to work outdoors and use its solar panel to charge the internal battery to keep it working for 365 days.
I've been testing the Soliom S100 for some time, and now I want to share my opinion about the product to help you decide if it's right for you. So keep reading...
The picture shows the Soliom camera installed outdoors for testing.
Just click the link below to check the price and availability.
Soliom S100 Overview
The Soliom S100 Camera is a 1080p Full HD Battery Powered Security Camera with a spotlight. It is IP66 weatherproof and has an integrated solar panel.
The camera has bi-directional audio communication, records video in a local micro SD card, and a cloud server (Free trial for 30 days/Paid subscription).
The camera detects movement with a PIR sensor.
My first impression
I decided to test and review this camera because I had a good first impression of it.
It's not that small, but it brings the integrated solar panel, and it's easy to install and set up. The video quality is good, and the spotlight is pretty powerful.
The camera comes with a detailed user manual (one of the best I have ever seen).
What is on the box
The Soliom S100 comes with everything necessary for the installation and set up.
The box brings the camera, a mounting bracket, a USB cable, plastic anchors, installation screws, and a user's manual.
The Soliom S100 Camera in a nutshell
The camera has a beautiful design, and it's very easy to use.
In the front part, there's a lens, a PIR motion sensor, 4 spotlights, a built-in mic, a light sensor, and a status LED (See some of them in the picture below)
A solar panel and the Wi-Fi Antenna is also clearly visible in the picture.
The camera bottom
There's a reset button, SD card slot, USB connector, and a power switch with no ON/OFF indication in the camera bottom, as shown in the picture below.
The USB charger port is standard so that you can use your smartphone charger.
The silicone flap that covers this area is not attached to the camera, which means it's possible to get it lost, and the camera can be exposed to the weather.
Soliom could address this issue in future versions of the product.
The Soliom S100 camera features
This camera has a lot of interesting features; let's talk about them.
Camera quality and resolution
The Soliom S100 captures images with full resolution, which means you can set up the camera to record videos with 1920 x 1080 pixels.
The camera has good quality, as you can see in the picture below.
Good angle of view and details even with the light contrast.
The camera is installed on a balcony; it's nighttime, and there's a contrast of light from the left to the right side.
In the daytime, the camera can handle the light contrast pretty well, as shown below.
Weatherproof
The Soliom S100 is weatherproof to install outdoor and won't have any problem with rain. It's IP66 rated (which means it complies with the international standard).
The camera Spotlights
If an intruder comes close to the camera, it can turn the spotlight on to illuminate the area; everything is automatically controlled by the camera that senses the motion using the PIR sensor, so it works with people and animals.
The battery and solar panel
It's recommended to charge the camera battery for at least 10 hours before start using it. You can use your smartphone adapter (make sure not to exceed 5V).
At least 1 to 3 hours of direct sunlight is necessary to keep the battery charged.
I've been testing the camera for a month and didn't have to recharge it manually.
Yeah, I live in Florida, the sunshine state, so the camera has plenty of sunlight to play with; however, I've also tested the camera on a shadow area and still could see the battery at the maximum level all the time.
I think the battery indicator could be more informative.
There's a small icon with no clear percentage indication.
Bi-directional audio
The camera has a speaker and a microphone that you can use for bi-directional audio communication to hear the camera's sounds and speak into a mobile phone to someone close to the camera.
Alert notification
The camera can send notifications via the App and email.
See below an example of the alert I got on my mobile phone.
It looks like the camera is calling you. Pretty cool, huh?
The PIR sensor detects a human or animal motion and triggers the alarm.
Yeah, I'm using a cat as my helper to test the camera sensor 🙂
SD Card Recording
You can use a micro SD card to record the videos.
I recommend you to buy a class 10 micro SD card to avoid problems with recording. The picture below shows the camera micro SD card slot.
The micro SD card must be formatted with the FAT32 filesystem.
You can see the memory card total and available space via the mobile App.
Cloud Recording
You can use the Soliom cloud recording service for free for 30 days.
If something happens to your camera, you will have the footage in the cloud.
You can retrieve the video via a mobile app.
The image below shows the image retrieved from the cloud.
It's possible to playback the recorded footage and also delete old ones.
After the 30-days trial, you can choose a subscription plan for 30, 180, or 360 days.
Wi-Fi connection
The camera can connect to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi routers.
The 5GHz frequency is not available, but that's OK since the 2.4GHz can reach further distances even though it happens more susceptible to interference.
Ensure the camera antenna is not being blocked by objects, and check your router and camera position to make sure their location is optimized for good signal transmission and data communication between the devices.
The Pros and Cons of the Soliom S100
OK, it's time to talk about the pros and cons of the Soliom S100 camera.
Based on the tests I've done for this review, here are the results...
Pros
Cons
Conclusion:
The Soliom S100 is an excellent camera.
I definitely think it's a good product for the price.
It's designed for outdoor application, and it can keep the battery charged for a long period of time due to the use of the integrated solar panel.
I hope this review can help you make up your mind and make the right decision.
Click the button below if you want to check the best price for this product.
I've talked to Soliom's staff, and they said they are working to improve the app interface. As soon as they do, I will update this article.
Disclaimer
I'm not a Soliom employee, neither a company representative.
I received the product from Soliom to evaluate and write a review about it, but I don't have any obligations to enforce the product advantages.
My opinion about the camera quality is based on my tests and analysis of the features, and I'm just giving the final verdict accordingly.
I do receive a small affiliate commission when people buy this product using the buttons available on this article, but there's no extra cost at all to the buyer.