Aqara Camera G100 (2-Pack): problems, parts and running costs

Checked: 2026-10-10

Summary

The G100 2-pack is a budget 2K indoor camera whose owners’ complaints cluster on reliability: frequent Wi-Fi dropouts that need a ladder and a full re-setup, firmware v4.5.20_0006 bricking cameras in a restart loop, an RTSP main stream that can die for NVR users, night vision that flips between modes and false “person detected” alerts. The only consumable is a microSD card and a yearly subscription is optional, so running cost is a one-time card plus whatever electricity a 5V 1A camera draws, which the research does not compute. No non-Amazon street price was published in the research, so there is no defensible price threshold — judge it on whether you can tolerate the Wi-Fi and firmware behaviour.

Common problems and fixes

Wi-Fi disconnections — the most common complaint; one owner says 9 out of 10 disconnections mean climbing to the camera, holding reset for 15 seconds and setting up from scratch, made worse by the pairing QR code being printed on the bottom of the mounting base; another owner links repeated offline events to 2.4GHz signal instability; no permanent fix is reported — improve the 2.4GHz signal or mount the camera where you can reach it. [2] [3]
Firmware bricking — v4.5.20_0006 left cameras stuck in a restart loop with a flashing yellow light, never completing boot; a factory reset (10-15 presses of the reset button) does not fix it, and Aqara support recovery files did not always work; contact support via the forum (it auto-creates tickets), support@aqara.com or the Aqara Home app. [4]
RTSP main stream corruption — on some units the ch1 stream stops emitting valid keyframes and parameter sets, so Frigate, Blue Iris and Dahua recorders get nothing while HomeKit Secure Video and the Aqara app keep working; the fault is per-unit and per-channel and survives factory reset and reboot; the workaround is recording the 720p ch2 stream instead. [5]
Night vision mode switching — the camera flips between night vision and normal mode through the night, even in complete darkness; firmware 4.3.7_0010 was reported to partially resolve it. [6]
False person alerts — frequent false “person detected” alerts make the guard function unreliable; firmware updates improved the rate without ending it. [7]
NAS upload failures — multiple owners report inability to configure NAS 24/7 storage. [11] [12]
HomeKit pairing failures — after firmware 4.3.8_0004 and the iOS 26 update, some owners could not add the G100 to HomeKit. [13]

Parts and consumables

No replaceable parts reported — nothing in the research describes user-replaceable components beyond the microSD card. [1]

Yearly running cost

Not enough data for an electricity figure — the camera draws 5V 1A over USB, but no kWh calculation exists in the research. Recurring costs are limited: the microSD card is a one-time purchase, and the optional yearly subscription for extra features and cloud storage has no published price. If you record locally to microSD or to an NVR over RTSP, no subscription is strictly required. [1] [5] [7]

When it is a good buy

Choose it only if local microSD or RTSP recording without a monthly fee matters more than the reported Wi-Fi and firmware reliability. Matter support was still in beta as of March 2026 and required a Hub M3 and a SmartThings Hub, so if Matter matters, wait for the shipping version. [1] [5] [10]