eufy SoloCam E42 Review

The SoloCam E42 is eufy's attempt to remove every excuse for not fitting an outdoor camera: it shoots in 4K, pans a full 360 degrees, and runs from a solar panel wired straight to the camera, so there is no cabling to run and no battery to think about.

It is a fairly imposing unit, and how imposing depends on how you mount the solar panel — it can sit directly on the camera or be positioned remotely. The main block carries the wall mount, with the speaker on the front and an SD card slot and USB-C port on the back. The camera itself sits underneath, with its main video sensor, two LED floodlights, the sensors and the microphones, and it moves through a genuine 360 degrees.

Construction inspires confidence, and an IP65 rating means rain and snow are not a concern. A range of third-party accessories exists to adapt the mount to a gutter or a post.

Resolution is 4K Ultra HD, with a 110-degree field of view. In practice the image is good, if a little less detailed than expected — you can see clearly what is happening, and faces are distinctly recognisable.

There is no optical zoom, only digital to 8x. As usual with that arrangement the results are mixed: up to about 4x it is acceptable, beyond that it turns messy.

At night it does well. Infrared usually costs a lot of detail; here detail drops but the picture stays highly legible, and faces near the camera remain distinguishable. The colour night mode, using the floodlight, also works well provided the subject passes close to the camera.

Audio is a genuine strength. Capture is excellent — conversations are distinctly audible 3 to 4 metres from the camera — and two-way talk through the app is equally clear.

The camera is controlled through the central eufy app on Android and iOS, the same app used across the rest of the range. This test paired it with the HomeBase 3. The app is easy to pick up: cameras appear on the front screen with a thumbnail and an event count, and the live view carries the standard controls for recording, calling the camera, steering the E42, and managing the light and alarm. Settings cover motion detection, power management and video and audio parameters. On features, nothing is missing.

For smart-home use it is unusually well connected: Google Home, Alexa and — rarer, and worth noting — Apple HomeKit, so the video stream is reachable whatever ecosystem you use. There is no official Home Assistant support, which is a shame, but the E42 supports RTSP, so it can be pulled into a NAS or a system such as Frigate.

It is best installed 2 to 3 metres above the ground, not least because, like most PTZ cameras, its upward viewing angle is limited. The 360-degree movement is genuine, though manual steering showed occasional latency even with a strong signal.

The AI detection works well, and it runs locally, reinforced by the HomeBase 3. Face, animal and vehicle recognition all worked in testing, along with motion tracking, and no false positives appeared despite moving trees. With more than one eufy camera, tracking can hand over between them.

When an event is detected it is stored either on an SD card — not included — or on the HomeBase 3, locally and without a subscription, so it does not depend on an internet connection and carries no recurring cost. eufy does offer optional cloud plans for those who want them. The built-in alarm is loud at 103 dB, and there is a strobe mode.

Battery life is effectively indefinite thanks to the solar panel: no cable to run, no installation work, no battery management. The camera pairs a built-in battery with an integrated panel, and eufy quotes up to 90 days on a charge, with its SolarPlus 2.0 panel needing 2 hours of direct sunlight to cover a day's use. In practice even grey winter days caused no problem. It can alternatively be wired to the mains — cable and adapter are not supplied — which unlocks continuous recording when paired with the HomeBase 3.

eufy classes it as an outdoor PTZ surveillance camera: 4K Ultra HD, a 110-degree field of view and 360-degree coverage with automatic tracking, digital zoom to 8x, and AI detection of people, vehicles and significant events. Night vision is in colour, deterrence comes from a motion-triggered floodlight, strobe and siren, and audio is two-way. Local storage takes a microSD card up to 128 GB, with no monthly fees, and the body is rated IP65. eufy lists Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility, while HomeKit and RTSP support came out of the testing rather than the spec sheet.

The SoloCam E42 is a well-judged outdoor camera whose appeal is as much about installation as image quality: solar power removes the cabling, and local storage on an SD card or HomeBase 3 removes the subscription. The 4K image is good rather than exceptional and the digital-only zoom is the weakest part of the package, but night performance, audio capture and the breadth of smart-home support — HomeKit included — make it a strong choice for anyone who wants a camera that runs itself.

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