Being an early adopter certainly has its perks but there are also times in which it's a total drag - like when the hardware you purchased is no longer supported. Fortunately, early Dropcam buyers won't know what that's like as the company recently announced a legacy camera replacement program.
The issue - if you can even call it that - is related to future Dropcam updates. As it turns out, some of the improvements the company plans to introduce simply won't work on older legacy hardware. And rather than leaving early adopters out in the cold, the Nest-owned company is providing new replacement hardware.
Specifically, those that own the original Dropcam and the Dropcam Echo are due for an upgrade.
Both models will continue to operate normally until April 15. After that, they'll stop recording and connecting to the Dropcam service.
Those with an old Dropcam will be contacted directly regarding a replacement. From there, users will need to fill out the replacement form at which time they can expect a Dropcam HD replacement to arrive in about three weeks. Best yet, the old cameras don't need to be returned but since they will no longer connect to the Dropcam service, I'm not sure what good they'd be.
Those on a monthly cloud video recording (CVR) plan won't be billed past February 1 although the service will continue up until April 15. Saved clips will remain in your account until you decide to delete them.
If you have a yearly plan, the remaining months will be refunded. It's also worth noting that the replacement camera will come with one free month of CVR.