Last year we published the 2020 edition of the UniFi Protect Product Line Guide and in those 11 months since then Ubiquiti has drastically expanded the UniFi Protect product line with a new 4 bay NVR, 4K PTZ camera and a wireless camera for under £30 / $30. The UniFi Viewport was also launched for easy plug and play camera viewing on a monitor.

What is UniFi Protect?

UniFi Protect is Ubiquiti’s latest version of its video and CCTV recording platform, the company has been producing CCTV hardware and software for a number of years now with the previous product, called UniFi Video. UniFi Video 3 was replaced with the newer UniFi Protect in late 2018. As of 1st January 2021, UniFi Video is no longer supported. Ubiquiti offers three different hardware choices for camera storage and as of writing there is not an option for self installation.

Cameras

Ubiquiti has 11 different models of cameras on sale which all work with UniFi Protect and UniFi Video. Only two of the models are indoor only, the rest are rated for indoor and outdoor. Much like the UniFi Network product line, all of the cameras apart from the G3 Instant and G3 Micro are powered over PoE only and are not wireless.

G3 Flex

The G3 Flex which is around £80 here in the UK and $79 in the US, and hence the name the mounting options are very flexible, it works indoor and outdoor, is weather resistant, is powered from 802.3af PoE and is 1080p. It also offers an IR filter and IR lights for night vision. Ubiquiti offers ceiling mounts, wall mounts and outdoor weather proof mounts too for the G3 Flex.

Ubiquiti has the G3 Flex up for $79 in the US or £64.28 in the UK.

G3 Bullet

The next one is the G3 Bullet camera, which is which is around £130 here in the UK at $149 in the US. Like the name suggests the G3 Bullet is more like a traditional camera, it also works indoor and outdoor and is weather resistant. Power is supplied by 802.3af PoE, older models are 24v passive PoE only. Video is 1080p. It also offers an IR filter and IR lights for night vision.

Ubiquiti has the G3 Bullet up for $149 in the US or £129.66 in the UK.

G3 Dome

The G3 Dome has all the same features as the G3 Bullet, but can only be used outdoors if it is under an overhang. The main difference is the form factor, it be a more discrete on a ceiling to see down a corridor or above a door with a wide angle. It’s around £130 here in the UK at $149 in the US. Power is supplied by 802.3af PoE or 24v passive PoE.

Ubiquiti has the G3 Dome up for $149 in the US or £129.66 in the UK.

G3 Pro

The G3 Pro is based on the G3 Bullet sensor, it has 1080p maximum resolution, but it is fully waterproof with a rating of IP67, a fully motorised optical zoom lens, a larger sensor and a more powerful infrared system. It’s around £250 here in the UK at $299 in the US.

Power is supplied by 802.3af PoE or 24v passive PoE. Ubiquiti has the G3 Pro up for $299 in the US or £271.30 in the UK.

G3 Micro

The G3 Micro works over 2.4GHz and 5GHz and it around the same size as a golf ball. It has a resolution of 1080p, works indoor only and has a few unique options for mounting. It can be wall, ceiling or magnetically mounted. It also has a speaker and microphone integrated for two way audio support. It’s around £180 here in the UK at $199 in the US. Compared to the brand new G3 Instant, the G3 Micro is quite expensive.

As it is wireless, it can be powered by a AC adaptor or via an adaptor for 802.3af, but the data will still go over the wireless. Ubiquiti has the G3 Micro up for $199 in the US or £173.24 in the UK.

G3 Instant

The new G3 Instant was just launched in December 2020 and is the most affordable camera Ubiquiti has made so far, at $29 in the US – it features 1080p video, dual band WiFi, IR for night time viewing and two way audio.

Currently the G3 Instant is not on Amazon as it is up for pre-order on store.ui.com for $29. Ubiquiti has the G3 Instant up for $29 in the US or £27.24 in the UK.

G4 Pro

The G4 Pro supports 4K video at 24FPS, and can be powered by 802.3af or 802.3at PoE. It’s around £460 here in the UK at $449 in the US. It also has an LED ring for when motion is detected. With one of the latest updates to UniFi Protect, the G4 Pro now supports a maximum of 60FPS too. Being a G4 camera, it also supports smart detection.

Ubiquiti has the G4 Pro up for $449 in the US or £412.94 in the UK.

G4 PTZ

Lots of people have been asking for a PTZ camera from Ubiquiti for a long time, the idea has been dismissed in the past for being something the company wouldn’t want to do as it is too mechanical. However earlier this month the G4 PTZ was announced, with 4K video, it’s on sale now on store.ui.com for $1,800 (£1,440) – at this time, no Europe or UK pricing is yet available.

Currently the G4 PTZ is not on Amazon yet.

G4 Doorbell

The G4 Doorbell was another product from Ubiquiti that was highly requested, it launched in July last year, has a 5MP sensor with a resolution of 1600 x 1200, 30 FPS for streaming. It also features a screen which can be customised with messages. The doorbell is WiFi only, using existing doorbell cables and doesn’t support PoE – which is a shame.

The G4 Doorbell is up on Ubiquiti’s store for $199 on store.ui.com. Europe and UK avaiblity has not been confirmed yet. However we did find a listing on amazon.co.uk below.

G4 Bullet

The G4 Bullet is essentially an upgraded G3 Bullet, with the same form factor but improved everything, the case is now metal – an upgrade over plastic, the video quality is now 1440p over 1080p and as it is a G4 model, it supports Smart Detection. Other changes include gigabit ethernet now, as opposed to a 100mbps port.

Ubiquiti has the G4 Bullet up for $199 in the US or £173.24 in the UK.

G4 Dome

The new G4 Dome was launched a few weeks ago, now up for pre-order on store.ui.com. It features a IK08 rating for vandal resistance, an improved sensor from 1080p to 1440p and a jump from a 100mbps port to 1Gbps. Ubiquiti has the G4 Dome up for $179 in the US or £166.70 in the UK.

Currently the G4 Dome is not on Amazon yet.

 

Smart Detection

With a recent update in 2020 to UniFi Protect, Ubiquiti added Smart Detection to the G4 line of cameras, which uses the onboard processing of the camera to recognise objects, such as people with more things it’ll be able to recognise coming down the line. Notifications can be specified for only people or just motion or both.

NVR Models

Cloud Key Gen2+

The UniFi Cloud Key Gen2+ was the first product Ubiquiti launched when UniFi Protect was first released and it has a pre-installed 1TB 2.5-inch hard drive, which can be expanded to 5TB if you remove the hard drive and Ubiquiti says it can only handle 20 cameras. It also runs UniFi Network, UniFi Access, UniFi LED and UniFi Talk. Powered by 802.3af PoE or USB C.

Ubiquiti has the Cloud Key Gen2+ up for $199 in the US or £173.24 in the UK.

UNVR

Most of the new line of devices were actually launched last year, and the UNVR is no different. When UniFi Protect first launched, the option for self installation was removed and up until June, Ubiquiti had a very limited option for UniFi Protect, the UDM-Pro with one hard drive bay or the Cloud Key Gen2+ which has a maximum storage of 5TB. The UNVR has four 3.5-inch bays for hard drives with support for RAID 5 too, which automatically configures itself. UNVR runs only UniFi Protect and doesn’t come with any hard drives installed. It can support larger hard drives of up to 14TB.

Ubiquiti has the UNVR up for $299 in the US or £271.30 in the UK.

Currently the UNVR is not on Amazon yet.

Dream Machine Pro

The Dream Machine Pro has been offered since February 2020 and is an all in one product – a powerful firewall, network switch and appliance server for running UniFi Network, UniFi Access, UniFi LED and UniFi Talk. UniFi Protect uses the one hard drive bay for camera storage and supports up to 14TB hard drives.

Ubiquiti has the UDM Pro up for $379 in the US or £347.46 in the UK.

Accessories

Viewport

Ubiquiti launched the Viewport in April 2020 and its a plug and play device for turning a HDMI monitor or TV into a display screen for up to 16 UniFi Protect cameras. Powered by 802.3af PoE, it can be mounted to the side of a network rack, wall or with included sticky material – to the back of a TV. There is also an included mount for mounting to the back of TV using the VESA mounting holes.

Ubiquiti has the Viewport up for $199 in the US or £173.24 in the UK.

IR Extenders

For the standard G3 Bullet and G4 Bullet, the built in IR isn’t quite as powerful for larger deployments, so Ubiquiti has a clip on extender for those two cameras. The amazon link below is for the G3 model only. On the Ubiquiti store, there are separate listings for the G3 model and G4 model.

G4 Bullet IR Extender

G3 Bullet IR Extender

Ubiquiti has either one up for $79 in the US or £64.28 in the UK.

Conclusion

I hope this overview of the Ubiquiti UniFi Protect product line was helpful, if you have any suggestions or if we have missed anything please let us know in the comments below or email us at info@alexandtomstech.com

All of the items on amazon.co.uk

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