There's a new version of my favourite video doorbell - and it's £20 cheaper

11 December 2023 , 08:31

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There's a new version of my favourite video doorbell - and it's £20 cheaper

For most of this year, I've been living with my favourite video doorbell, the Eufy Video Doorbell S330.

It's been a marvellous bit of kit, with its unique twin-camera setup keeping a wide eye on not only people who come and go, but the parcels they drop at my doorstep.

It does this by using AI to detect the parcel, using its lower camera, which is pointed down. A main camera does the usual job of filming anyone coming up to the door, but the doorbell's software blends the two images, giving you a complete view of your driveway and your doorstep at the same time.

I've been delighted with the S330, then, it's been reliable and accurate and, when it's paired up with Eufy's Homebase (which comes at quite a price) it stores weeks of footage without any sort of subscription, which is really handy.

So you can imagine how keen I was to test Eufy's new dual-camera doorbell, the E340, when it came out a few months ago.

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Like the S330, it's battery-powered, it has the same twin camera layout with the same AI system, and it links up to the app in exactly the same way. It's slightly smaller, and a little bit cheaper. I'll come back to prices.

The E340 also has the same 2K resolution, it features motion detection, human face recognition and package detection, but there's no radar detection. It does however have colour night vision.

It ticks a lot of boxes, basically, and it's one of the reasons it's still my favourite camera. In use, it works exactly the same as the S330, but there are a few little differences. The lights seem a bit brighter on the E340, but not by a huge margin, and it seems a little quicker at loading up footage when you click on the smartphone notification.

One of the biggest physical differences in the E340 is the fact it has a detachable battery pack. And I'm not entirely sure why.

The S330 needs to be charged through an old-fashioned micro USB socket, but the E340's battery pops out and plugs into USB-C.

The trouble is, to pop the battery out, you've got to take the doorbell off the wall and, once the battery's out of the unit, the doorbell is no use anyway. Eufy says it's "to avoid downtime due to charging" - but... Maybe I'm missing something?

I have noticed the E340's battery doesn't last as long. Maybe that's the brighter lights, or the colour night vision - or maybe it's just the fact the battery is physically smaller. It'll still happily trot on for about two weeks though, which isn't bad.

But using Eufy's Delivery Guard parcel protection system is just as good as it's always been on the S330, and it's such a useful tool.

I get a lot of deliveries in my job, and most drivers these days will happily just drop the package and run, they're under so much pressure.

The Eufy doorbell will spot a delivery driver long before he's rung the bell - and then it will track the package he's holding

So the fact I can keep an eye on my package from the comfort of the pub is a joy. It can make me a bit paranoid, but I'd rather have a camera keeping watch on it, and letting me know if a "porch pirate" is snooping around, than be left guessing.

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If someone does creep up to my package, I can use the doorbell's two-way audio to yell at them, or I can prevent the driver from doing a drop-and-run in the first place by pointing out to them we have a storage bench.

The S330, incidentally, costs £179.99, while the E340 costs £159.99 - so the new device is £20 cheaper. Interestingly, the S330 is available as a bundle with Eufy's older-style Homebase, for £229. And that's a good deal because the Homebase adds a chime and increases your storage.

My package, in the bottom left-hand corner, is being monitored by Eufy's Delivery Guard system - so I'll know if someone goes near it

Buying the newer Homebase, to go with the E340, for example, would cost a further £159.99. Which would make it quite expensive. And that's a shame, because the Homebase is well worth having.

Without a Homebase, storage is limited to an extent, and you'd have to rely on an Alexa or Google Home device to act as your chime. Or just stick to smartphone alerts.

If, like me, you've already got a Homebase, perhaps to underpin a Eufy home security setup, then it's not a problem anyway.

If you've lived with a video doorbell of any sort, you'll know how incredibly useful they can be. And I've tested dozens of them over the years.

But the reason I settled on the S330 was because it just did the best job. And now the E340 has replaced it, and I'm by no means disappointed. I still think it's the best one on the market.

Gareth Butterfield