In her review, Rita called the Blink indoor home security camera "an interesting proposition that falters in execution." In spite of its shortcomings, one of the Blink's virtues was its battery life. Both the original Blink and the outdoors-ready Blink XT run on two AA lithium batteries, with two years of battery life under normal use. Now Blink is doubling down on that strength without hampering its cameras by enabling three video recording modes: Saver, Standard, and Best.
The Blink indoor camera, which records in 720p, now shows two video quality options in the app's camera settings section: Saver and Standard. The Blink XT, which is IP65 rated, can record in either 720p or 1080p, has infrared night vision, and has a Best video quality setting.
Here's an overview of the three video recording qualities for Blink's two cameras:
- Saver mode (Blink indoor camera and Blink XT): lowers the video quality to 360p, which purportedly increases expected battery life to 2.7 years with normal use
- Standard mode (Blink indoor camera and Blink XT): video quality is kept at 720p, which means expected battery life remains at two years with normal use
- Best mode (Blink XT only): keeps the Best XT recording in 1080p only, which lowers the expected battery life to one year with normal use.
The camera settings screen for the standard (non-XT) Blink camera.
The Blink indoor camera starts at for a camera and sync module set. The Blink XT starts at 9.99 for a pair of cameras and sync module (the one-camera set, starting at $129.99, is currently sold out).
The Blink XT is the more compelling version overall, and the new battery-friendly recording settings make it even more appealing for homeowners interested in capturing outdoor wonders like this one:
Source: Blink support