Security cameras recommendation

leemschu

I’m sure many of you have seen my post about my dog being poisoned and want to thank everyone for their responses. I am now looking at security systems with cameras before I bring anything up to the neighbor I believe responsible. I am looking at Nest for their outdoor cameras they are just a little expensive. Does anyone have any experience with any systems with outdoor cameras?

Hook_emHornsfan_74

Arlo Cameras at best buy are really good.  Caught my neighbor with them.  They are motion activated and send you alerts to your phone.  Really easy to set up.

leemschu

Hook_emHornsfan_74 said:

Arlo Cameras at best buy are really good.  Caught my neighbor with them.  They are motion activated and send you alerts to your phone.  Really easy to set up.

I have not seen these that’s what I’m looking for is something to notify me on my phone.

sirweighsalot

I have a ring doorbell and am going to get a ring floodlight cam for the back of the house.
same deal get notifications on your phone when motion sets them off

WeberWho

Hook_emHornsfan_74 said:

Arlo Cameras at best buy are really good.  Caught my neighbor with them.  They are motion activated and send you alerts to your phone.  Really easy to set up.

Any monthly fees with that particular setup?

Hook_emHornsfan_74

WeberWho said:

Hook_emHornsfan_74 said:

Arlo Cameras at best buy are really good.  Caught my neighbor with them.  They are motion activated and send you alerts to your phone.  Really easy to set up.

Any monthly fees with that particular setup?

If I am not mistaken, the first month is free then after that it is like 12.99 a month or something like that.  I didn't use that service.  I think it was so that they could store any footage you wanted to keep for a long period of time. 

ColtsFan

I use Yi cameras available on Amazon. Has a nice little phone app and Windows App. Add SD cards and it will record motion, etc. or they offer a cloud subscription service. 

This is the app for Windows.

Leopoldstoch

I have had arlos in the past (loved them when functional) but went through two different complete sets of them that failed on two different occasions so I swapped all of them out for the nest iq outdoor cameras and couldn’t be happier with them. Facial recognition, tracking features, great app integration. Have worked flawless for me personally. I know lots of folks that have the arlos and love them, and I enjoyed them when they worked but personally gave up on them after two different sets failed within a few month period.  Also have the ring doorbell (nest hello wasn’t available when I made this purchase) and I enjoy it quite a bit so I’m sure their other products are quite nice too. 

Just my two cents!

cookingdude555

I like ring. I have the doorbell, 5 spotlights, and 4 floodlights. I can see every every corner of my property. I use it mostly to see if covers have blown off a grill. Then I send a kid to bring them in. Last night I had my 9 yr old bring in the akorn so it didn’t collect water during an upcoming snow storm. The important stuff matters. Security cameras are about bbq. 

caliking

Consider installation issues/options too. I didn't like that the Arlo system had batteries that would need to be changed every few months. For a hardwired system, you'll need to run wiring to each camera. 

Costco was selling a bundle of 2 Ring cams with solar panels, which I thought was a nice workaround.

MattBTI

I've been researching this topic as well. I've been seriously considering "Blink" home security cameras. Theyre developing a more robust home security package, that's soon to be released. 

dmourati

I have Ring. It is a very useful and mostly hands off solution with a cloud storage option. One area I felt Ring was lacking was in video quality. All of my Ring cams are wide angle which is great for overall view but not so great for details like faces/license plates, etc. I therefore supplemented my Ring system (two floodlights, and a Pro doorbell) with a prosumer camera from Axis.



It's is pointed down my driveway and gets high res footage of anyone coming/going. The downside is you have to install/manage software to use it and to do useful stuff like motion detection, tracking, etc.

The other system to look at is Nest. I think they are stronger on indoor cameras but they have some nice features and good ease of use.

I looked at Arlo but ruled them out for the battery aspect. All my cameras are hard wired.

OhioEgger

I have an outdoor Nest camera and I really like the quality of its recording. I have the 10 day history plan for $100/year, but they recently added a 5-day plan for $50/year. Pretty hard to beat IMHO.

milesvdustin

My entire house is spray foamed so the thought of trying to run hard wire anywhere gives me a bad feeling. 

I guess i could tuck it in under the trim. 

Who should I use for hardwired type? Cat5 ones would be easiest? I considered calling a local security place. I live way out in the boonies, closest police station is a good 25 minute drive

BugFreak72

I have the Arlo kit and love it. It takes some tweaking to get every angle right but once set up it's great. I put two on each corner of my house so I can see every window. I would advise getting at least the Pro so you can get the rechargeable batteries. The original Arlo cameras have to be removed to replace batteries where the Pros do not. Also for very active cameras the solar panel is a must or you will be charging every month or so. Don't buy the total amount of cameras right from the start because they offer refurbs in their forums to current owners for a nice discount.

If you don't have trees or bushes right near them I could see the batteries lasting for months on end.

Netgear also sells a motion light that can auto trigger cameras that you set it to which is a nice trick too.

By the way when you catch the bastard that did that to your dog make sure you kick em once or twice extra for me.

Hungry Joe

Maybe try a game/trail camera? Something like this.

https://www.cabelas.com/product/BUSHNELL-B-MP-TRAIL-CAMERA/2536658.uts?productVariantId=5241689&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=04837890&rid=20&ds_rl=1252079&gclid=Cj0KCQjwttbWBRDyARIsAN8zhbJ-aqXr09HPLfO9cmTb-IwCaVGU26CKKt-832V8pBYScMUZ-RJGOoUaAg-vEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

They are battery operated but the batteries last a long time and you can position them almost any where. I have a different brand that can shoot video or still photos and the resolution is amazing. Night or day.

Mine is a reconyx, a little pricier but it doesn't miss anything. I get a whole year plus out of a set of lithium batteries.

BTW, if you go this route get one with infrared flash. It's invisible to humans which makes it more stealth.

This is what I have for reference. 

http://www.reconyx.com/product/HC600-HyperFire-High-Output-Covert-IR

Bustersdad

I have both the Nest Outdoor Camera at my front door and the Arlo Pro 4 Pack all around the outside of the house, all working with Wink.  If any camera senses motion all my outdoor lights turn on.

The Arlo service is free for the first 5 cameras.  

leemschu

Leopoldstoch said:

I have had arlos in the past (loved them when functional) but went through two different complete sets of them that failed on two different occasions so I swapped all of them out for the nest iq outdoor cameras and couldn’t be happier with them. Facial recognition, tracking features, great app integration. Have worked flawless for me personally. I know lots of folks that have the arlos and love them, and I enjoyed them when they worked but personally gave up on them after two different sets failed within a few month period.  Also have the ring doorbell (nest hello wasn’t available when I made this purchase) and I enjoy it quite a bit so I’m sure their other products are quite nice too. 

Just my two cents!

OhioEgger said:

I have an outdoor Nest camera and I really like the quality of its recording. I have the 10 day history plan for $100/year, but they recently added a 5-day plan for $50/year. Pretty hard to beat IMHO.

Bustersdad said:

I have both the Nest Outdoor Camera at my front door and the Arlo Pro 4 Pack all around the outside of the house, all working with Wink.  If any camera senses motion all my outdoor lights turn on.

The Arlo service is free for the first 5 cameras.  

For those of you with the nest outdoor. Did you install yourself? I’m not really handy with wiring or anything but thought about having a pro install them. I am interested in the IQ at least for one or 2 or them. Also it claims to have “night vision” how quality is the video at night?

leemschu

cookingdude555 said:

I like ring. I have the doorbell, 5 spotlights, and 4 floodlights. I can see every every corner of my property. I use it mostly to see if covers have blown off a grill. Then I send a kid to bring them in. Last night I had my 9 yr old bring in the akorn so it didn’t collect water during an upcoming snow storm. The important stuff matters. Security cameras are about bbq. 

How do you feel about the floodlights?

alaskanassasin

Hungry Joe said:

Maybe try a game/trail camera? Something like this.

https://www.cabelas.com/product/BUSHNELL-B-MP-TRAIL-CAMERA/2536658.uts?productVariantId=5241689&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=04837890&rid=20&ds_rl=1252079&gclid=Cj0KCQjwttbWBRDyARIsAN8zhbJ-aqXr09HPLfO9cmTb-IwCaVGU26CKKt-832V8pBYScMUZ-RJGOoUaAg-vEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

They are battery operated but the batteries last a long time and you can position them almost any where. I have a different brand that can shoot video or still photos and the resolution is amazing. Night or day.

Mine is a reconyx, a little pricier but it doesn't miss anything. I get a whole year plus out of a set of lithium batteries.

BTW, if you go this route get one with infrared flash. It's invisible to humans which makes it more stealth.

This is what I have for reference. 

http://www.reconyx.com/product/HC600-HyperFire-High-Output-Covert-IR

Holy smokes that baby is pricey, don’t know where you live but does it stay outside all year in cold weather too?  My browning quit
after one ohio winter. 

tarheelmatt

Anyone try Blink XT?

Batteries last much longer than Arlos. 

JNDATHP

We went with POE and POE+ cameras, mostly dome Dahua's powered by Ubiquity 802.3af switches. The software NVR is Blue Iris ($60) running on an older HP laptop. 

Hardwired is the best way to go. We, too have insulation packed walls. I ran my Cat 5e from a switch in one of our closets to the attic, then down the inside of the office closet in pvc pipe - unless you know it's there you can't see it. Then, from the closet into the garage. From the garage accessed 3 outside locations - driveway, side door and the hardest, the front door. 

The backyard is from the attic down the corner of our bedroom wall in coving - again you can't see it unless you're looking for it. Went to below the floor and after lots of measuring, drilled through the stucco and fished it. 

milesvdustin

I should clarify i built a pole barn house. Framing in weird places. I think I coukd drill into the soffit and pull the whole underside trim off and have it wide open. I can mount the switch or whatever in the attic. 

JNDATHP

What ever you decide, go with quality equipment. You won't be disappointed.  

dmourati

JNDATHP said:

What ever you decide, go with quality equipment. You won't be disappointed.  

Pretty similar to my network. Same AP. Once I had PoE for the AP it made sense to get a PoE cam (Axis).

Toxarch

I got a wired POE Cat5 system I still need to finish installing. Front porch was going to be hell to get wire to so I went with Arlo Pro cameras and a Ring doorbell. The Arlo has been great so far. Be aware that the range is not great. And cloud video is free for up to 5 cameras. You are better off buying a second system if you need more cameras. Install is simple. Been running for 5 months and still have 35% on the lowest one. You can add solar panels to them, even the cheaper off-brand ones will work. The wind and some flying bugs have been setting them off lately. I might turn down the sensitivity. Usually it's deer in the front yard setting them off. 

etherdome

leemschu said:

Hook_emHornsfan_74 said:

Arlo Cameras at best buy are really good.  Caught my neighbor with them.  They are motion activated and send you alerts to your phone.  Really easy to set up.

I have not seen these that’s what I’m looking for is something to notify me on my phone.

Just be careful what you wish for. I have a buddy at work that gets 50 texts or emails a day from that thing. Every time I see him he’s looking at a video of a cat, or a bird, or a squirrel , yard man, Mail man, wind blowing stuff around, you name it. All day.  It’s  actually become a running “office “ (work in an operating room) joke. He’s quite annoyed with it at this point and when at first I thought it was cool, This has deterred me from buying one. 

Tracebuzta

I use Ubiquiti... I am really happy with it

billt01

zmodo systems are fairly solid, I picked mine up on EBAY...I received 16 cameras w/ a 1TB system for ~500 bucks 4/5 years ago...it still running solid today...

leemschu

etherdome said:

leemschu said:

Hook_emHornsfan_74 said:

Arlo Cameras at best buy are really good.  Caught my neighbor with them.  They are motion activated and send you alerts to your phone.  Really easy to set up.

I have not seen these that’s what I’m looking for is something to notify me on my phone.

Just be careful what you wish for. I have a buddy at work that gets 50 texts or emails a day from that thing. Every time I see him he’s looking at a video of a cat, or a bird, or a squirrel , yard man, Mail man, wind blowing stuff around, you name it. All day.  It’s  actually become a running “office “ (work in an operating room) joke. He’s quite annoyed with it at this point and when at first I thought it was cool, This has deterred me from buying one. 

Yeah that’s why I’m looking at the Nest IQ. It’s supposed to cut some of this out. Different recognition software.

GlennM

Yes, I have blink at my home and my vacation home. Works great, no fees, batteries last 2 years, no wiring and very easy install. App lists both homes. Highly recommended. I get notifications and free cloud storage