Xiaomi has removed pixels and also 5 GHz Wi‑Fi. The completely new CW401 Dual is worse in two ways than the older CW500 Dual

Xiaomi added a new outdoor camera Xiaomi Outdoor Camera CW401 Dual to its global site. It combines a fixed and a pan/tilt lens in one body. It looks like a twin of the older CW500 Dual that Slovak stores already sell, but when you put both sets of specs side by side, the new model is more modest in two ways. Xiaomi has not stated the price yet, and the camera is not yet available on the manufacturer’s European websites.

One part watches the yard, the other goes after the person

The upper section with the fixed lens is adjusted manually—left/right by 180° and up/down by 25°—so during installation you can point it, for example, at the yard or the driveway. The lower ball is driven by a motor; it rotates by 355° horizontally and 95° vertically and is controlled in the Xiaomi Home app. According to the manufacturer, a single device can cover the entire area around the house.

Both parts work together, so when the fixed lens detects a person, the pan/tilt lens turns automatically toward them and tracks them—while the fixed view keeps pointing exactly where you aimed it. In the app you can see both images at the same time, so when someone visits, you won’t miss what’s happening at the entrance.

Compared to the CW500 Dual, it has fewer pixels and weaker Wi‑Fi

Both camera lenses have a sensor with resolution 3 Mpx (2304 × 1296 px) and a brightness of f/1,6—what Xiaomi calls 2K on its page. The older CW500 Dual, which looks almost the same and even has the same rotation angles, offers 4 Mpx on both lenses instead (2560 × 1440 px). You’ll notice the difference mainly when zooming in—when you want to read a car license plate or recognize a face at the other end of the property.

The second concession is about the network. CW401 Dual connects over Wi‑Fi 6 only in the 2,4 GHz band, while CW500 Dual also supports 5 GHz and, according to the specs, can save to a network storage (NAS). With the new model, the manufacturer doesn’t mention NAS and lists only a microSD card and cloud. The 2,4 GHz band, however, penetrates walls better—which helps for a facade camera—and if the signal still isn’t enough, you can connect the camera by cable.

In color at night, with a siren for an intruder

Each lens has two white and two infrared diodes—so eight in total. In the dark, the camera records in black-and-white using infrared light, and when it recognizes a person, it turns on the white diodes and switches to color night vision.

Person and vehicle recognition runs directly in the camera on both lenses. Some AI features are disabled by default, according to a note on the page—so you need to enable them in the Xiaomi Home settings. You can draw private zones in the frame that the camera will cover—for example, when a sidewalk or a neighbor’s property area enters the picture.

When it detects suspicious movement, it triggers the siren and flashing light, or plays its own voice message. You’ll get a notification on your phone with a video, but by default it sends it at most once every 10 minutes—and you can change this interval in the app. With the microphone and a noise-canceling speaker, you can talk to the person in front of the camera.

It has no battery—the power cable to the outlet is required

CW401 Dual has no battery or solar panel and is powered with a 12 V adapter via a three-meter cable. The adapter is not waterproof and is meant for indoor use. Xiaomi also doesn’t recommend extension cables, because with them the camera may restart. The camera itself has an IP66 rating and works at temperatures from –30 to 60 °C.

In addition to Wi-Fi, the RJ45 port is for a network cable (Ethernet) with a speed of 100 Mb/s. Power over this cable (PoE) isn’t supported, so you still need a power outlet near the camera no matter what, and there’s no network cable included in the box. The security chip MJA1 encrypts the recordings—same as the one in CW500 Dual—and according to Xiaomi, each chip has its own encryption key.

Recording to a card, to the cloud, and also as a time-lapse

Video is saved to a microSD card with a capacity of 16 to 256 GB, which you have to buy separately, or to Xiaomi’s paid cloud. With this camera, the app adds three months of cloud with a free 7-day history. One interesting feature is AOR mode, in which the camera records continuously when there’s no event, with a low number of frames per second, and when motion is detected it switches to full smoothness. On the card, you’ll then get a continuous recording that takes up less space. The mode needs to be turned on manually and it will turn off when you open the live view.

Both lenses can record time-lapse video, and you can watch the live image on an intelligent display with Alexa or Google Assistant. You’ll mount the camera on a wall, ceiling, or pole, but the pole mount has to be bought separately. The viewing angle of the lenses, the camera’s weight, and NAS support aren’t listed.

When and for how much will you buy it in Slovakia

The product page for the CW401 Dual currently exists only on Xiaomi’s global website—you won’t find it on the UK, German, or Czech pages. On Heureka, Alza, or in the EU warehouses of AliExpress, we didn’t find it on 13. 11. 2026, and the Notebookcheck editorial office in the article dated 13. 11. also says it’s not in stores yet.

The older CW500 Dual with 4 Mpx and dual-band Wi-Fi is on Heureka for less than 67 €, and the CW100 Dual with two lenses expands the field of view sideways—also for under 40 €. The new model is worth buying only if it’s noticeably cheaper than the CW500 Dual. Otherwise, for similar money, you’d better go for the older model with a sharper image.

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