Early last year, we published the 2021 edition of the UniFi Protect Product Line Guide and in the nearly two years since then, the UniFi Protect product line has changed quite a lot. First of all, a new larger UNVR was launched, in the form of the UNVR Pro which has seven bays, as well as a small 1.3-inch LCM screen. Many new cameras have been launched, including the AI 360, AI Bullet and coming soon, the AI DSLR. For the doorbell line, last time we looked at the G4 Doorbell, but since then the new G4 Doorbell Pro was announced, with support for PoE and an additional package camera.
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 and UniFi Video is no longer supported. Ubiquiti offers many ways to run UniFi Protect, from installation on UniFi OS Consoles, dedicated UNVR devices to the original Cloud Key Gen2 Plus. As of writing there is not an option for self installation.
Cameras
Ubiquiti has 15 different models of cameras on sale which all work with UniFi Protect. In the US, this number is currently at 11, as some older models are still offered in the EU. Only two of the models are indoor only, the rest are rated for indoor and outdoor. Much like the UniFi Network product line, most of the cameras offered support PoE, with only a couple being WiFi only.
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. 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 with older models being 24v passive PoE only. Video is capped at 1080p/30fps and it also offers an IR filter and IR lights for night vision.
Ubiquiti has the G3 Bullet up for £129.66 in the UK. The camera isn’t offered in the US anymore.
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. Power is supplied by 802.3af PoE or 24v passive PoE.
Ubiquiti has the G3 Dome up for £156.28 in the UK. The camera isn’t offered in the US anymore.
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 £300 here in the UK.
Power is supplied by 802.3af PoE or 24v passive PoE. Ubiquiti has the G3 Pro up for £314.65 in the UK. The camera isn’t offered in the US anymore.
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 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 £173.24 in the UK. The camera isn’t offered in the US anymore.
G3 Instant
The G3 Instant 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, but 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. G4 Pro now supports a maximum of 60FPS too, when ‘High Frame Rate’ mode is enabled. Being a G4 camera, it also supports smart detection for people and vehicles.
Ubiquiti has the G4 Pro up for $449 in the US or £412.94 in the UK.
G4 PTZ
The G4 PTZ is Ubiquiti’s first PTZ camera and was launched back December 2020. It features 4K video recording, a massive 22x optical zoom lens and like all UniFi cameras, IR night vision. Due to the motors, the PoE requirements for the G4 PTZ are large, it needs 802.3bt PoE++ and Ubiquiti does sell a range of PoE switches which supports 802.3bt.
Ubiquiti has the G4 PTZ up for $1,800 in the US or £1,576.36 in the UK.
G4 Doorbell
The G4 Doorbell was announced back in July 2020 and was a very hyped product. It has had a few issues over the years with cold weather and rebooting when the button is pressed and has since been overshadowed by the newer G4 Doorbell Pro. Despite this, the G4 Doorbell remains a solid offering and has a 5MP sensor with a resolution of 1600 x 1200, 2MP HD at 30 FPS for streaming.
Ubiquiti has the G4 Doorbell up for $199 in the US or £209.42 in the UK.
G4 Bullet
The G4 Bullet is essentially an upgraded G3 Bullet, with the same form factor, but everything has been improved. The case and mounting are now metal, a huge 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
When compared to the G3 Dome, the G4 Dome can be used outside now, has a higher resolution sensor, vandal resistance and support for smart detections. It has a 2k resolution (1440p) whereas the old model had a 1080p sensor.
Ubiquiti has the G4 Dome up for $179 in the US or £188.88 in the UK.
G4 Doorbell Pro
The new G4 Doorbell Pro went on sale in May 2022 and was a much anticipated release, offering substantial improvements over the standard model. There are two cameras, a small display screen, fingerprint reader and support for PoE, with data going over the cable too. Camera is improved from 2MP to 5MP on the main sensor and the secondary lens is used for package detection.
Ubiquiti has the G4 Doorbell Pro up for $299 in the US or £314.65 in the UK.
AI Bullet
The AI Bullet camera was launched a few months ago in August and was the first black camera offered from Ubiquiti. It has a very similar design to the G4 Pro, but features a lower resolution sensor. The AI Bullet has some new advanced smart detection capabilities and range. Ubiquiti say up to 10 meters for people and up to 20 meters for vehicles.
Ubiquiti has the AI Bullet up for $399 in the US or £419.18 in the UK.
AI 360
Ubiquiti launched the AI 360 in December 2021. The camera has a 360° fisheye lens, with a resolution of 1920 x 1920 at 30FPS and it looks like it can be moved around by pan tilt zoom in software, its also vandal and water resistant, rated at IPX4 and IK08 with the optional bubble lens. Being an AI camera, it can do smart detections for vehicles and people.
Ubiquiti has it on sale in the US for $399 or £432.38 in the UK.
G4 Instant
The G4 Instant went on sale in March 2022, with a small controversy. The initial YouTube promo video pictured the camera having support for smart detections, however, when it was shipped that feature was missing. Fast forward a few months to July 2022 and Ubiquiti finally added support for it. The new G4 Instant has an upgraded sensor, now 5MP which is capable of recording 2K video, compared to the G3 which can only record up to 1080p.
Ubiquiti has it on sale in the US for $99 or £104.19 in the UK.
Smart Detection
Ubiquiti updated UniFi Protect back in 2020 to support smart detections. Initially, this was only supported on the G4 line of cameras and was only capable of recognising people. However, since then the new AI cameras have been released, with more powerful detections and as of 2022, both the G4 and AI cameras can now recognise people and vehicles. Notifications can be specified for only people or just motion or both.
NVR Models
Ubiquiti offers many ways to run UniFi Protect, from installation on UniFi OS Consoles, dedicated UNVR devices to the original Cloud Key Gen2 Plus. As of writing there is not an option for self installation.
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
When UniFi Protect first launched, the option for self installation was removed and for a while 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.
UNVR Pro
After the launch of the 4-bay UNVR, Ubiquiti expanded into offering larger devices such as the UNVR Pro. This device has 7 bays as well as a small 1.3-inch LCM touchscreen used for checking stats and even for viewing playback from the cameras. Unlike the smaller UNVR, the UNVR Pro supports stacking which allows you to stack two devices together for improved performance and storage.
Ubiquiti has the UNVR Pro on sale in the US for $499 or £525.11 in the UK.
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.
UDM SE
Following on from the popular UDM Pro, Ubiquiti released the UDM SE in January 2022. This is otherwise known as the ‘Dream Machine Special Edition’ and is like a face-lifted UDM Pro, with PoE on all the LAN ports, internal SSD and 2.5GbE WAN port. However, this device also supports UniFi Protect and can run it out of the box, with no additional hard drive required. However, considering that the internal SSD is only 128GB, it might be a good idea to invest in a proper HDD to go in the bay, which supports up to 14TB hard drives.
UDR
Earlier this year in April, Ubiquiti unveiled the all new UDR. This little all in one device is the most affordable UniFi OS Console and is capable of running UniFi Network, plus one extra application. Choose UniFi Protect and the integrated PoE ports could be used to power up cameras and then use the SD card slot to store your footage. The performance of the device certainly matches the price, with slow boot up times but for the price, it is a nice affordable way to get the power of UniFi Network and if needed, UniFi Protect into your home.
Accessories
ViewPort PoE
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.
Floodlight
The floodlight is powered by 802.3af PoE and can be paired with any UniFi Protect camera for a seamless floodlight system. If the camera detects motion, the light will come etc. It is managed by UniFi Protect and was launched in May 2021.
Ubiquiti has it on sale in the US for $99 and in the UK for £104.19.
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.
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@theinterface.uk
