Annke Crater in the test: An indoor surveillance camera for 25 euros is that good The Annke Crater offers a pan and tilt lens including movement tracking. Is it a real bargain for 25 euros? 5:32 p.m. tech stage

With the Crater (I41KR), Annke supplies an indoor surveillance camera (main topic) that can monitor an area of ​​almost 360 degrees thanks to a pan and tilt lens (Pan & Tilt). As if that weren’t enough, it also offers motion tracking. It saves videos in full HD on a microSD card or in the cloud. So for 25 euros you can’t go wrong, right? But it’s not quite that simple – more on that later.

The Annke Crater does not offer a battery and must therefore be powered. A USB power adapter with 5 watts is included in the scope of delivery. Alternatively, the power supply can also be provided via a USB socket (guide) . Unfortunately, the supplied micro-USB cable is very short at just under 80 cm, so that you are quite limited when choosing where to set it up.

The camera weighs almost 200 grams and is about 12 cm high. The diameter of the round base is almost 6.5 cm. Three rubber knobs are attached to it, which ensure a stable hold. So you can just put the camera on the shelf. If you want to set it up more stably, use the bracket supplied, including the screws and dowels included in the scope of delivery. Since you can rotate the image of the camera with the app, it can also be mounted upside down on a ceiling. The scope of delivery also includes a quick start guide, which is also available in German. However, it is full of translation and typographical errors. Small sample: “Create a new account” or “Add device” (see also picture gallery).

Commissioning is carried out with the Annke Smart app, which is available for iOS and Android. This requires an account, which you confirm with a confirmation code that you receive by email. If you want to save video recordings locally on a microSD card, you should insert a corresponding model into the slot provided on the underside of the camera before you start using it. Alternatively, you can also use a paid cloud subscription for storage, which you can test for 30 days free of charge.

An installation assistant in the app and an English-language voice output via the loudspeaker help to integrate the camera. The setup is initiated via the plus sign in the top right corner of the app and the selection of “Add device”. Then select “Intelligent Camera”. If the camera was freshly delivered, it is in pairing mode. If the camera does not make a sound, the pairing mode can be activated by a reset. To do this, turn the upper part of the camera upwards so that the reset button on the underside appears. You press this for about five seconds until a beep from the speaker confirms the factory reset. An English-speaking female voice then sounds from the loudspeaker, confirming the reset.

Now select a 2.4 GHz WLAN in the app to pair the camera with it. After entering the WiFi password, the app generates a QR code. You hold it in front of the camera and wait until the voice from the loudspeaker confirms the scanning. Again, this is in English. The Annke Crater is then ready for operation.

The app now wants to send a test notification to ensure that it actually works. However, this does not work with the Annke Smart App on Android. Notifications only show up in the app, not in the phone’s notification center. Unfortunately, an attempt with another Android smartphone does not bring any improvement. On iOS, however, the notifications work without any problems.

Since the interface of the Annke smart app and the pairing process is very similar to the Tuya smart app (review) , we tried pairing the Annke Crater with it to see if the notifications worked with it. And that works. With the Tuya app, notifications also appear on Android as you are used to. The fact that the Annke Crater can also be operated together with the Tuya app is a fundamental advantage, because the platform supports over 400,000 smart home devices and anyone who uses even more Tuya devices in their smart home will be happy about the possible automations.

The camera offers a two-way audio function, which is disabled by default. If you activate it, you can also use it as an intercom and communicate with the person in front of the camera. In the test, the integrated loudspeaker shows an acceptable sound quality. However, it is not well suited as a baby monitor, as it only reacts to movements and not to noises.

Motion detection can be limited to people, so that false alarms, such as those from pets, are almost impossible. The camera also offers movement tracking so that people, for example, are automatically captured by Annke. In the test, this works well as long as you are a few meters away from the camera. However, the technology fails when you walk closer to the camera, about a meter away.

The image quality is okay for a cheap surveillance camera. Thanks to the Full HD resolution, the Annke Crater delivers detailed images that, thanks to night vision, are still impressive even in the dark. However, backlit shots show that it does not have image-enhancing features such as HDR/WDR. Faces are almost impossible to see against the light.

As mentioned, the Annke Crater can be used together with the Tuya app. This allows you to use them with other compatible devices of this platform for automation. The surveillance camera can also be controlled by voice via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. The fast display of the live stream on a compatible output device such as Echo Show is outstanding. Otherwise, the camera reacts quickly to user inputs. And the software also offers the option of saving certain viewing angle positions. This greatly simplifies manual monitoring.

Annke sells the craters in his online store for just under 25 euros . Bundles with microSD cards and a three meter long connection cable are also available there. The latter makes sense, since when it comes to choosing the place of installation, very few people can get by with the supplied cable, which is very short at 80 centimeters. Annke charges a surcharge of 4 euros for this. On Amazon, on the other hand, it is only available in the standard configuration, at a current price of just over 20 euros .

With the app intended for the Annke Crater, no notifications were received in the test under Android. These are only available in the app. This makes it actually useless as a surveillance camera on Android. But there is a trick: If you use it together with the Tuya app, you will not only receive prompt notifications, but you can also use the Annker Crater for automation if users are also using other Tuya-compatible smart homes. On iOS, however, notifications work just fine.

For currently around 20 euros, you can’t complain about the services offered by the Annke Crater. In return, you get a full HD surveillance camera that can monitor a large area thanks to the swiveling and tilting lens if it is not disturbed by backlight. Then you can hardly see anything in the pictures. It is less than ideal as a baby monitor because it does not have any noise detection. If you are looking for a surveillance camera for this purpose, you are better served with other models such as the Aeotec Cam 360 (test report) .

Voonze readers can find more information on the subject in the Security Cameras section . Useful information on selecting a surveillance camera is provided in the article WLAN, cloud, solar: surveillance cameras for indoors and outdoors from 30 euros . In it we explain the most important purchase criteria and present the best surveillance cameras in the various categories with prices between 30 and 500 euros.