I bought the Ubiquiti Camera G6 PTZ to replace a failed G4 camera on a corner mount, with the plan of using patrol mode to cover a broad arc and the zoom function to pick up details from a distant, otherwise-uncovered space. It has worked well for both purposes. The camera is larger than expected—the pan-tilt mechanism adds a conspicuous cylinder that’s less discreet than a dome—and the PTZ controls take some trial and error to learn, but the image quality is good and patrol mode is easy to configure once you know the basics. Aside from a puzzling Fast Ethernet connection speed, the overall impression is positive.

Physical Design

The G6 PTZ is larger than I expected. The camera portion looks similar to the G4 but bigger, and it adds a large cylinder — roughly 2" across and 6" long — that houses the pan-tilt mechanism. This cylinder can protrude out of a downward-facing mount point, or with an extra accessory, be hidden inside the ceiling. If it’s not hidden, it looks odd and stands out. It’s definitely less discreet than a dome camera.

PTZ Controls

The PTZ function works, but the UI is not intuitive. You have to click on an icon to enable PTZ mode, then click on the borders of the camera view to pan and tilt. Zoom in and out are controlled via keyboard shortcuts. It’s functional, but not something you’d figure out without some trial and error.

Patrol Mode

Patrol mode is easy to configure once you know the basics — you just choose which of your preset views to include in the patrol. Setting those preset views is simple once you figure it out, but not obvious, since it’s done via a hotkey.

It’s important to understand the camera’s natural orientation. There’s a point on the rotation circle that the camera cannot pass through, and you’ll want that point oriented towards an area you don’t need to cover. This matters mainly for patrols: if the short path between two presets passes through the rotation limit, the camera has to go the long way around instead.

Image Quality

Image quality is good. I found the HDR support more distracting than helpful and turned it off.

Networking

For some reason, this camera only connected at Fast Ethernet speeds, not even 1 GbE. This may be an issue with the cable run, since the previous camera at the same location had a similar problem — even after I replaced the cable.

Overall

So far the impression is positive, aside from the Ethernet speed issue. The G6 PTZ does what I bought it for: covering a wide area from a corner mount using patrol mode, with the ability to zoom in on distant spots. Just be prepared for a camera that’s bigger and less discreet than a typical dome, and a PTZ interface that takes some getting used to.