Home Security Cameras

[Agclone91]

We are looking into getting some wireless home security cameras for outside the house. I would love to go with a wired setup, but the layout/finishing of our house would make that more difficult and costly than I would probably like. I have the ability to get to an outlet with a couple of them for power, but another 2 would need to run on battery.

Arlo, Ring, and Blink seem to be the most common, with pricing following that same order. I like the idea of Blink not requiring a subscription and having the option of local storage, but if the cameras are crap that doesn't really do me any good. Right now I'm leaning towards the Ring Spotlight, assuming there will be a good sale on Prime Day in a couple weeks.

Curious what folks are using, and how you like them - ease of use, video quality in dark vs lighted areas, motion detection accuracy, etc?

 

[BCClone]

Have blink. Cameras are very clear, voice very good, negative is the detection. Wish it was further.

 

[nfrine]

This works...

 

[TXCyclones]

I have a Ring camera on the side of my garage with a solar charging pad mounted adjacent to it. It works great! It's tied into my Ring doorbell camera and other cameras throughout the property.

 

[Agclone91]

Have blink. Cameras are very clear, voice very good, negative is the detection. Wish it was further.

How are they in unlit/low light areas? We have a couple of those that were leaning me towards the spotlight function of the Ring.

 

[Agclone91]

I have a Ring camera on the side of my garage with a solar charging pad mounted adjacent to it. It works great! It's tied into my Ring doorbell camera and other cameras throughout the property.

I would like to go the doorbell route for the front door, but our doorbell is on the adjacent wall. I've seen some spacers that you can install to allow for use in this situation but all of them have pretty mixed reviews as far as quality. Thinking I'm just going to have to go with a full camera at the front door.

 

[BCClone]

How are they in unlit/low light areas? We have a couple of those that were leaning me towards the spotlight function of the Ring.

We have a street light on our corner so I can’t say about unlit. Low light I feel I can see decent enough. Wife refuses to have a motion detector flood light so I just roll with it. Cost and no subscription is what made me go blink.

 

[JP4CY]

Have Eufy wireless with a home base (local dvr).
No subscription.

Work great.

 

[Agclone91]

Have Eufy wireless with a home base (local dvr).
No subscription.

Work great.

Definitely going to look into Eufy closer. Seems to be a nice option without a subscription, but the cost is rivaling Arlo. Not opposed to spending a little more if the quality is there.

 

[CYedUp]

Have Eufy wireless with a home base (local dvr).
No subscription.

Work great.

Eufy has done some pretty shady crap sending images to a server and claims they dont store stuff on the cloud. That being said I do use their doorbell/camera as well as the flood light and solar. I dont really care about privacy all that much since most of my cameras are front yard facing. Just want to let you be aware of this though. If you are going wired you should look into ubiquiti. They have an amazing DVR as well as networking server all in one for homes/small businesses. You could do a few drops for wifi and cover your whole house.

 

[TitanClone]

Had a Ring Spotlight Cam over my garage at my last place and Blink cameras in the garage and backyard, Both are solid. The Ring Spotlight Cam has a deafening alarm. Ring was nice because it has 2 batteries and you can charge one while the other keeps it running vs Blink is just AA's if it's not plugged in.

 

[CycloneEggie]

Have Arlo. Like them.

 

[Agclone91]

Had a Ring Spotlight Cam over my garage at my last place and Blink cameras in the garage and backyard, Both are solid. The Ring Spotlight Cam has a deafening alarm. Ring was nice because it has 2 batteries and you can charge one while the other keeps it running vs Blink is just AA's if it's not plugged in.

What is your opinion on picture quality - Any advantage to paying more for the Ring vs Blink?

 

[CY74]

We have a Blink system, and not had any problems with the cameras or sync modules. As mentioned, no subscription. Set up was not too hard and there are multiple settings for motion detection, sensitivity, and zones for each camera. As for camera quality, I can’t really compare them to another system. Maybe there are others with better resolution or field of view, I don’t know. We’ve had our system for going on six years with no camera failures. Battery life in the cameras has been really good, 3+ years in some of them, but only have the system armed when we are away from home overnight. Low light photos are essentially black and white. Motion detection sensitivity seems to have a fairly wide range. All of our cameras are set in the mid range and seem to function well at those settings. Depending on how large of an area you are intending to cover, using 2 sync modules might be needed to ensure good communication between the cameras and sync modules, which are then linked to your Wi-Fi.

 

[BCClone]

We have a Blink system, and not had any problems with the cameras or sync modules. As mentioned, no subscription. Set up was not too hard and there are multiple settings for motion detection, sensitivity, and zones for each camera. As for camera quality, I can’t really compare them to another system. Maybe there are others with better resolution or field of view, I don’t know. We’ve had our system for going on six years with no camera failures. Battery life in the cameras has been really good, 3+ years in some of them, but only have the system armed when we are away from home overnight. Low light photos are essentially black and white. Motion detection sensitivity seems to have a fairly wide range. All of our cameras are set in the mid range and seem to function well at those settings. Depending on how large of an area you are intending to cover, using 2 sync modules might be needed to ensure good communication between the cameras and sync modules, which are then linked to your Wi-Fi.

Didn’t realize I could adjust this, went in and cranked them up. Will see what they do. Don’t turn them on unless needed. Although, I bought them when my one pickup got stolen, I was home at the time but it was parked in the street on the other side.

 

[TitanClone]

What is your opinion on picture quality - Any advantage to paying more for the Ring vs Blink?

Both are solid 1080p. No preference. Sound is a bit better on the Ring. The apps for both are also easy to use. The spotlight on the Ring was the only real advantage, night vision on the Blink is good but not as good as having a light. Having a standalone light in the backyard negated that.

 

[HOTDON]

I've had a Reolink PoE system I've been adding to incrementally for several years. 5 cameras ranging from 4 to 12MP all tied back to a central DVR. PoE is so much better than finding local power for each camera if you like the reliability of a hardwired system. Recently upgraded the DVR for the new 12MP cameras which includes car, person and pet detection in addition to just regular motion. No subscription and pricing seems reasonable for what the system is capable of.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I don't trust the "cloud" and hate subscription services. So I've done down the DIY route, and have a PC running Blueris, and ran Cat-6 to my cameras.

Assuming you don't want to do that, I have dabbled a little bit with Wyze cameras and they seem solid. My parents have a few of them and they work really well for what they need.

 

[1100011CS]

Have blink. Cameras are very clear, voice very good, negative is the detection. Wish it was further.

Same. Had some trouble with one of my first cameras but they replaced it and haven't had any issues since.

 

[Agclone91]

I've had a Reolink PoE system I've been adding to incrementally for several years. 5 cameras ranging from 4 to 12MP all tied back to a central DVR. PoE is so much better than finding local power for each camera if you like the reliability of a hardwired system. Recently upgraded the DVR for the new 12MP cameras which includes car, person and pet detection in addition to just regular motion. No subscription and pricing seems reasonable for what the system is capable of.

I don't trust the "cloud" and hate subscription services. So I've done down the DIY route, and have a PC running Blueris, and ran Cat-6 to my cameras.

Assuming you don't want to do that, I have dabbled a little bit with Wyze cameras and they seem solid. My parents have a few of them and they work really well for what they need.

Would love to go the hardwired route, but I don't have attic access to the area where two of them would go, and the basement is finished in that part as well, so I just don't have a good option for it.