I wanted to take a moment and make an update to my original review I gave this product. The original review was made prior to the new app update, which really does an amazing job in increasing overall functionality of the camera as a whole. As you can see in my original review of the product, I was not happy with using the camera as a baby monitor. The previous version didn't make it conducive to having it in a baby's room due to limited notifications. That has sense been changed. Now, the camera will give us alerts whenever our child moves around. Very nice. I'd also mention that I really appreciate that Nest took the time to update a previous gen product. All-to-often companies will leave an older product to focus on making it appealing to purchase new products. Not so with nest and I'm glad I made the decision to go with them.

While many of the issues I had with the camera have been fixed, the grainy picture is still an issue. Perhaps I need a degree in network engineering to really get the best picture. It's good, but it just doesn't have a crisp clear picture. But, for what it is, it's more than enough.

I can't say enough good things about the new app. The feature to scrub through a timeline to quickly see activities is perfect. There's no load time / buffering when going back, I don't know how the engineers at Nest were able to do this, but their video compression algorithm is really top notch. Maybe they're using the middle out compression. Regardless...a tip of the hat to them.

I'm planning on buying the new outdoor camera soon and possibly another indoor camera. I've also updated my previous review from a 4 star to a 5 star. Well worth the investment. By updating the app they have given new life to this product!

--ORIGINAL REVIEW--

While the nest cam is "cool" and works as it should, I simply can't give it 5 stars.

We invested entirely into the nest ecosystem. We purchased 2 thermostats, the smoke alarms and the nest cam.

Like other nest products it's a design gem! Small, attractive and website and app are very well designed and work great! It's ease of use and functionality are the few shining stars in this product. Through the app, setup was done very quickly, and it starts working fast as well.

The picture quality is ok, not amazing by any means (not sure how they call it 1080). It is somewhat grainy, the night vision works great, but the overall picture is just grainy. Also, you can't really keep it in 1080 or it'll freeze.

The "alert" system is oddly conceived. You only get alerts every 30 minutes. So, since we use the unit as a baby monitor, we have to constantly keep an eye on it. It won't alert you again until you enter into a new 30 minute window.

Remotely viewing the camera (which technically is the only way) works okay as well. Sometimes it freezes and you have to reset the app and start over. But I've never just not been able to join it. Although sometimes it seems like it takes a while, but I'll chalk that up to a bad network connection.

The dvr function or cloud storage is great. The monthly fee is a bummer but it's a good service and worth it.

Overall I give it 4 stars. It's pricy for what it is, but it's still cool.

If you are looking for this as your baby monitor I suggest you keep looking, until they update the app to be a better baby monitor.