YI Dome 1080p Security Camera

This is a little camera that sort of forced me to write a review. I already got a 2nd one. It's not quite a PTZ camera as it only has digital zoom but that's okay as it doesn't pixelate much. Here are the pros and cons that I noticed in last few weeks. TL/DR: You can't get better picture quality even at twice the price and those options are unlikely to have many of Yi's functionality (Pan and Tilt, for example). I highly recommend these if free cloud storage is not a mandatory requirement. Pros: 1. Picture quality in HD is very good. Even SD looks decent on 4.7" iPhone. There is 4X digital zoom but as expected, the quality degrades but can be handy at times. 2. Pan and Tilt control works quite well. Note, how far it can go towards bottom is limited. If you place it on a table near the edge, it'll not be able to point directly below it. I have mounted it on the wall as I have limited need to capture the ceiling so it works for me. 3. Motion detection - it's software based and quite reliable. I have not been able to fool it by running fast. The video is blurry (it's 15fps) for fast moving objects and expected. Even switching on the lights in the adjacent rooms show up in the alerts. Alerts can be scheduled per camera for different times on weekdays and weekends. 4. The mic is quite good at picking up distant sound. The speaker is tinny but loud enough to have a short conversation with kids and to calm the dog 5. Not battery powered - once installed, there is no need to remove it to charge 6. Decent night vision - the central area of the screen is well-lit. Surrounding is also visible, just not as bright 7. Micro-USB based connector - can be easily taken to a different place and powered with any USB source. I might get another one for my office and power it off of my computer's USB port 8. MicroSD based storage - I don't use this feature as I have mounted the cameras on the wall at a height and removing the sd cards is not easy but it can be useful in case of network problems to view the recording later 9. Stable software - The iPhone app has yet to crash on me. The same experience is my wife's on her Note 4. 10. Automatic Pan / Tilt option - it can automatically switch to different views continuously, to monitor a much larger area. There is a slight noise when it moves around. It can potentially reduce the number of cameras one needs to monitor a large area. Cons (most are nitpicky so I didn't want to deduct any star) - 1. The cable is too short unless you set it on a table/counter with a wall socket nearby. I had to order a 15ft cable for one of the rooms 2. As mentioned before, it doesn't pan too far to bottom. If mounted on a table / kitchen counter, the blind spot down is larger than I expected 3. Night vision IR LEDs are not powerful enough to light up a large room entirely. I am talking about corners that are 20 ft away so not a big deal for me 4. I had to restart the router for a different reason and the cameras didn't connect automatically later when the router came online. I had to recycle the power for both the cameras - I hope it's something they can fix with a firmware upgrade. Since a power recycle fixed it, I believe after a power outage it'll start working without any manual intervention. 5. No free cloud plan for a day or two like some of the competitors Overall, I am very happy with the purchase. I was planning to get Netgear Arlo Q for their free 7-day storage but decided to give these a try at half the cost and pan/tilt option as my previous experience with Yi (have their action camera) has been good. If free cloud storage is not a must, I'd highly recommend these tiny inexpensive cameras loaded with features. Now if I could get Alexa to show the alert videos from previous night on my TV it would be perfect :-)