Amazon sticks two cameras together for the 180-degree Blink Arc

Amazon is launching a trio of new Blink cameras today, headlined by a strange-looking device that sticks two cameras into a single body. The new Blink Arc looks like two of Blink’s standard cameras mounted together at an angle from one another so that they capture different views of the same area. The camera then stitches their footage together into a single feed with a 180-degree field of view.

The camera is designed to get rid of “blind spots,” Blink’s marketing lead, Amy Wiedemann, said on stage today. The Arc will be available for preorder today and sell for $100. The specific release date wasn’t shared.

Amazon is also launching two other cameras, the Blink Outdoor 2K Plus and Blink Mini 2K Plus, which feature upgraded video quality. The Outdoor 2K Plus is battery powered and offers 4x zoom (presumably digital), “enhanced” low-light performance, and two-way talk. The Mini 2K Plus offers the same features but requires wired power and is meant to be used indoors.

The Blink line has developed a reputation for budget prices, decent quality, and a focus on local-reliability, all of which makes it somewhat distinct in the smart home world. Where a single Nest Outdoor Cam from Google goes for $180, you can buy three Blink outdoor cameras from Amazon for just $75. Even if there feature tradeoffs between the two lines, at that price, it’s easy to forgive them.

Amazon also announced a number of new smart home products from Ring this morning featuring 2K and 4K recording with new tech that the company called “Retinal Vision” that’s meant to improve video quality. It features on new doorbells, cameras, and spotlights.