VOSKER VKX: Best Off Grid Camera?

VOSKER VKX: Best off grid camera?

By Allan R Smith

One of the main problems living off grid is often communication, especially when it comes to security and cameras on your homestead. Blink and others require a home wifi connection and systems like these are location centric and placing a camera 100 feet or more is problematic.

After having a disaster of an experience with a different company offering “off grid” cameras, we knew there had to be a company with something better and so we reached out to VOSKER.  It was amazing to get a company rep that called us back and happy to answer all our questions.  The VOSKER company was founded in 2018 with a moto, Culture, Mission and Vision, founded by three friends and located in Canada, it was clear they valued their customers.

After speaking with VOSKER they offered to send us the VKX security camera to test and review.  The product arrived quickly and during the unboxing it was clear the exterior quality of the VKX camera was exceptional.  The VKX is a smart, app-controlled camera designed to be placed anywhere there is cellular connectivity because this camera uses LTE to connect to your phone via the VOSKER app.

The sales point here is that you can place the camera anywhere you want it, within reason. This camera is meant to be placed outside of your home in a remote setting.  Think of a long driveway and you would place this at the gate, or your on several acres and affix this to a tree to monitor certain areas you have a concern with and capture movement of humans, animals, or vehicles and the camera will notify you when something happens.

THE VKX CAMERA:

As mentioned above, this camera is designed to be outside. The housing for the camera is a solid plastic and not at all flimsy.  Mind you, this is not a small camera like some trail cams and the VKX comes with a mounting plate and adjustable arm.  Once installed you can aim this camera in the direction you want and the frameless solar panel that is mounted on top of it is fantastic. To think this will stay powered up and no need to worry about changing batteries is simply awesome.

When looking at the front of the camera, on the right side, there’s a large clip that holds the camera closed. The heavy rubber seal keeps the insides dry, and Inside the casing you’ll find a pretty large battery, a test button, a battery indicator a status light.

Just like all solar panels and this one is no different, full sun is your friend for charging.  The camera is 100% autonomous and you can take it anywhere you need.  With the 14,000 mAh battery, the camera should run for days at a time, even if weather conditions aren’t perfect.  Another great feature is the battery is removable, so if you need to charge it, just remove it and you don’t need to take the whole camera down.

A negative I found is that this camera maxes out at 1080p resolution. These days, 2K and 4K cameras are common and I would like to see that on a future upgrade.

The camera comes with a subscription fee,  but do understand, VOSKER is not alone on this and most others offer some form of subscription plan. Check out the website for a specific plan that may interest you.   https://www.vosker.com/plans/

MONTHLY

YEARLY

THE APP

When you open the app, you get a list of events the camera has recorded, such as a person, animal, car, space aliens, it’s basically anything.

The benefit to this camera is that it captures everything and you can filter the images in the app. A note for our experience, it captures a windy day with branches moving, to the sun coming up in the morning.  You can turn down the sensitivity and set boundaries for where movement needs to be, as well as what’s recorded as photos or video clips, which are configured in the app.

They offer a Basic plan, Alerted plan and the Elite plan.  the Elite gives you unlimited alerts per month and in our opinion is the best plan to start with and then throttle back to the Alert or Basic as your history permits.  you can save a few bucks by paying one year in advance, but if you are unsure of usage, we would suggest the monthly and then adjust as necessary.

I would add that it’s a bit frustrating as the plans limit you to the number of photos-videos in your download history, but again, they are not alone on this. I would like VOSKER to reconsider this in the future, after all, capturing photos and videos are what this camera is made to do, so why limit us?

NIGHT VISION

For capturing footage at night, the VKX has IR sensors which is necessary for a camera like this. When we look at video quality, the 1080p is old school and regardless of night or day, we found the VKX blended in well with the tree and unless you were looking for it, chances are you wouldn’t see the camera.

Vosker VKX price and final thoughts

Whether you are a contractor, prepper or homesteader, the VOSKER VKX is a plug and play security camera we fell in love with.  For approximately $200 USD, this is a right out of the box excellent product.

You can purchase the camera on Vosker’s website www.vosker.com and don’t let the price and subscription scare you off, they are right in line with other products on the market. Difference, this is the best we have found and you can’t put a price on safety and security.