Blink Mini 2 Review

The Blink Mini 2 is an ecosystem camera that happens to be inexpensive. It is 1080p, fixed, plug-in, and at home in the Blink app and around Alexa. Our preference is to buy it only when that app is already paid for and already open on your phone. As a first camera, it teaches the wrong lesson: that the hardware price is the price. The subscription is the price.

We like how little space it takes. We do not like 1080p as a reason to skip a 2.5K Wyze, and we do not like spotlight night vision in a sleeping room. There is no pan. There is no starlight sensor. There is a very clear job, and it is "another Blink."

If a Sync Module and local clips are your plan to avoid the monthly fee, test that setup before you rely on it. If the test feels like homework, buy a camera with a card slot and be done. The Mini 2 is allowed to be the right camera. It is not allowed to be the default.

If you are adding a Mini 2 to an existing Blink system, put it where the other cameras cannot see, not beside them as a duplicate angle. A kitchen corner, a side door, a garage interior. Then open the timeline once and confirm the plan you already pay actually includes this new device. A camera that is live but missing from the history is the usual unpleasant surprise, and it is a billing setting, not a defective lens.

Mini 2 at a glance

Price the subscription for two years before you call this the cheap camera.

When it is the right yes

You already have Blink outdoors, you already pay, and you want a small plug-in camera in the kitchen. Buy the Mini 2. One app is worth more than the Wyze's extra pixels in that house. Alexa is already the way you talk to the system. The Alexa guide is the map.

Starting from an empty shelf, do not buy it. The Wyze Cam v4 is sharper and records to a card you own. The versus page is the arithmetic.

What the size does not fix

A tiny camera still cannot see around a corner, still uses a spotlight for color at night, and still will not merge with a Ring doorbell into one subscription. If the doorbell is Ring, read Blink versus Ring before you add a second Amazon plan.

Where to check the current price

Street prices move with sales. These links search a major retailer for the model named in this review. Confirm the exact model number on the listing before you pay.

• See the Blink Mini 2

Questions people ask before they buy

Can I use it without the subscription?

You can view it live. The timeline people buy Blink for is the plan, unless a Sync Module's local clips are enough for you. Most people who choose Blink wanted the timeline.

Does it work on 5 GHz?

Blink Mini models have generally been 2.4 GHz. Confirm the current sheet. Do not plan on 5 GHz.

Is it a hidden camera?

It is small, and we are not going to suggest hiding it. Put it where the people in the home can see it. A small body is for a shelf, not for a deception.