Amazon takes on Wyze with Blink Mini

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In something of a pivot for Amazon’s Blink brand, the company has just introduced an indoor video camera that requires AC power. Unlike the prior rev, the new Blink Mini comes in a more palatable white finish and is aggressively priced at $35. Like Wyze, the camera plugs in via a small USB nugget. However, as an Amazon joint, there’s presumably deeper Alexa integration with less friction – including Echo Show video display.

From the marketing materials:

  • 1080P HD indoor, plug-in security camera with motion detection and two way audio that lets you monitor the inside of your home day and night.
  • Get alerts on your smartphone whenever motion is detected or customize motion detection zones so you can see what matters most.
  • See, hear, and speak to people and pets in your home on your smartphone with Blink Mini’s live view and two-way audio features.

Also new is this time around are video storage subscription plans. The company will comp owners through the end of the year, then it’ll be $3/mo for the base plan. Which seems quite similar to Ring’s pricing model… and I could imagine future synergies amongst these offerings, both hardware and services, given their corporate lineage.

14 thoughts on “Amazon takes on Wyze with Blink Mini”

  1. Any idea what the FPS is? Wyze is going to have a problem if this hardware is better AND has a full desktop interface

  2. 30fps. Also trying to find out it if has a magnetic base.

    Forgot to mention a $35 accessory will be available later this year to enable local USB storage, for up to 10 cameras, for those that prefer. (Whereas Wyze cams have an integrated SD slot for similar.)

  3. Who needs a home webcam when we’re all stuck at home?

    Seriously, the appeal of Blink was that it was battery operated – made it easy to mount anywhere. If it requires a battery, it’s no better than the rest of the cams in the market.

  4. Seems likely there would be some reduced demand for an indoor camera. But, obviously, they started work on this before the world turned upside down.

    Also, many or even most wouldn’t use for security purposes. My Wyze cam is currently hunting mice in the basement (and not doing so well due to its low fps, as Mark alluded to). A coworker has two Arlo Q cameras to keep an eye on her frail, elderly mom a few states over. In fact, once upon a time I also used an Arlo Q to keep an eye on an infant/toddler and a coworker has a family room camera to keep an eye on his four boys. Many also use indoor cams as outdoor-cams-thru-a-window, which is why Wyze allows you to turn off IR.

    $35 is about 1/3rd the cost of the Ring indoor camera, with potentially higher quality video than Wyze, and I have a feeling many more folks are going to be watching their spend in the coming months.

  6. If people are isolating in the home from each other, I could kinda see the appeal. For me, I have to use FaceTime to engage, but if people want to just be able to keep an open stream going between them from two separate spaces in the home, this could be beneficial. I don’t understand why Amazon doesn’t just roll Ring and Blink into one, since the offerings are fairly similar. Even if they called it “Blink Cam by Ring” to benefit from name recognition on both ends, it just seems odd that both subs make camera-related products separately.

  7. I’ve been very happy with the 2 Wyze pan cameras I installed in my mom’s home across the country. They allow me to look in on her once in a while and also if the Medic Alert company calls me when they get an alarm.
    Bonus – no monthly fee.

  8. Hey Dave Z., slightly off topic, how are your and your family doing during this crisis we’re going through.

  9. Thanks for checking in!

    Struggling psychologically, but physical health and family finances are good, so I can’t complain. I mainly feel for my four year old daughter who is so missing friends and activities and my wife who’s on full-time parenting/entertainment duties since the preschool shut down and while I’m preoccupied with my day job (which is fortunately now telework).

    Hope everyone else is hanging in there as best they can. We’re going to warrant at least one or two paragraphs in future US and World History text books. :/

  10. Glad you’re hanging in there Dave. Can relate to the missing friends thing. I see people if I have to go to the store, but I can’t see anyone I know.

  12. Blink seems to have scored a bizarre own goal! In a bizarre strategic decision, even though the Mini is powered, it can’t deliver an on-going video stream for more than 30s without manual intervention.

    So while it’s fine for a certain class of tasks where the video is triggered by motion, or where you want short snippets of video on demand, it’s useless for use cases where you want the video always streaming in, and you can look up at it as convenient. (Think, eg, baby monitor.)

    I’ve no idea why Blink made this decision, but it means that they’re absolutely out of the race for the next camera I buy, which has a very specific use case where I want to trigger the camera and have it display video on the Echo Show for about 15..30 min. But the cheapo $25 WyzeCam looks like it’ll do that just fine.

  13. I would prefer WYZE but the reason I chose Blink is that I can mount their outdoor camera without plugging it to an outlet. Hopefully WYZE will make a battery operated to compete with Blink.

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