well, i’ve had the HB3 for a couple of days and i have some info that might help anybody that has issues with the initial setup. first let me say the HB3 is lightyears ahead of previous homebases in build quality. the thing must weigh 2 to 3 times as much as the homebase 2. setup is much the same as the HB2 so moving your cameras, sensors and motion detectors should feel quite familiar. the unit has not one but 2 usb ports on the back, and it appears you can connect an external hard drive to expand storage. this is separate from the on board 16gb (9gb usable) and the built in 2.5 hdd slot you access from the top of the unit. setup of the HB3 was straight forward with no hiccups. after install the app will prompt you for an update to the HB3 firmware which takes about 5 minutes. after the firmware update i began the tedious process of migrating my cameras and doorbell to the new HB. it was at this point i ran into my first problem. i started with the doorbell, the process went as expected until the HB3 said it was connecting to the new device. at that point it failed to connect. i tried multiple times without success. a call to eufy support did not resolve the issue, they showed the battery doorbell and 2c cameras were currently supported but try as i might nothing would connect. they issued me a support ticket and were going to look into it. the next day i called and spoke with a support rep that had me try some different things. first he had me do a factory reset of the HB3. then he had me uninstall the eufy app from my phone and reinstall it. at that point we attempted to join the cameras and doorbell to the HB3. WaLa, now the cameras and doorbell connected seamlessly. so, if anyone has a connection problem with this new HB3 try the factory reset of the HB3 and reinstallation of the app on the phone or tablet you use to control eufy security.
first, 2 major improvements and one thing to consider. the first improvement is with the range of this thing. just plugged into my router, cameras 80ft away (through 8 to 10 walls) display quickly without buffering, also, viewing your cameras on echo devices using alexa work flawlessly. no buffering and the cameras 80ft away display in under 10 seconds. now the one thing to consider is the HB3 does not have built in wifi. so for people that were using that feature with previous homebases, take that for what it is. so far, this thing is a beast.
No WiFi? That’s really odd, and really good feedback!
i think most of the support calls eufy was getting had to do with camera connection and buffering issues they had with the built in wifi. they probably felt it better to do away with that feature. i can’t think of another reason.
ok, for the past couple of days I’ve been trying different things with the HB3 to see how it compares to my homebase 2. i still have 2 homebase 2’s in service to compare the two, however the HB3 is doing the heavy lifting (more cameras and sensors). i wanted to try a feature that i have not used for over a year since eufy broke it and never fixed it and that’s geofencing. setup with a small radius and only 1 device (my phone) geofencing now appears to work as you would expect. i may need to change it to the medium radius however as it switches now at the end of my driveway and switches back as i enter the driveway. i have no idea what changing the homebase could have as it applies to geofencing, but this is just an observation. i will continue to test it and we will see if it is now a stable feature. for others that now have the HB3 in service but have not used geofencing in a while could you check it with your setup and chime in with your observations.
Hey mate, I’ve got a hb3 coming in the mail. I have cam 2, 2c pro, solo cam s40 and indoor and outdoor cams. I’m curious if they will all connect, especially the indoor and outdoor cams since I have them on continuous recording.
What’s your thoughts on the motion detection. Any noticable difference?
I have a small dog, hopefully the ‘pet’ detection is able to detect her!?.
I have a cam 2 connected to my Homebase 3 and about 80% of the time I download the videos from that camera the iPhone crashes. I haven’t had it crash from the new cameras that came with the Homebase 3.
I have noticed that sometimes I get a notification that the new cameras have
detected motion. If I click on that notification it will go to the video but if I go into the app main page where all my cameras are listed sometimes it will not show an updated preview of the last video or a number indicating how many videos it record since I last looked at it.
here is the current list for supported cameras and the schedule for all HB3 camera support. ( Schedule for Eufy Security Devices to Be Compatible With S380 HomeBase (HomeBase 3) (eufylife.com))
as to motion detection, it’s been solid. what i like is you just don’t get “motion detected on the driveway camera” , you get " a vehicle has been detected by the driveway camera" or “a person has been detected by the driveway camera”.
I like the way that if the camera sees someone it doesn’t know or if it doesn’t recognize you, you can tell it “that’s me” or you can name them as a family member or neighbor etc. The more you do that the better it learns what you look like etc. I wish you could do that same training for pets. The cameras pick up my black and white cat with no issue but struggle with my brown dog. Frustrating I can’t “help” it learn that the brown motion is my dog
Any feedback on the alarm/siren volume on the Homebase 3 unit?
The volume is woefully low on the v2 and a louder siren has been a recurring “Wishlist” item on the forums so anxious to hear if that was addressed.
Thanks in advance!
i just compared the alarm volume between the HB2 and the HB3. at full volume they are identical.
Thank you for the response. Stinks they didn’t address that issue.
that’s awesome news thank you!
My old cameras now work like I thought they would. ( at least the 2c/cam2) still waiting on the rest. HB3 still needs lots of work. Really should still be a beta product at this point.