Need suggestions indoor/outdoor cameras

[Volffas]

Summer is almost here, and the kids are going to be home by themselves. The oldest is 17, so I don't need to use the cameras to babysit, but I would like to peek in from time to time. I would like a fairly easy system that can be viewed online at any time. Probably looking for 3 to 5 indoor cameras and 2 or 3 outdoor cameras. I do not want a monthly fee. Trying to stay under $800 or so total, but not dead set on it. We have an old computer that I thing would work as a storage system.

I searched this forum, but the last post I could find on this subject is from 2016 and I'm sure is very outdated by now.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Bluewater272]

I have a few ReoLink 410s on the outside of my house. They work great, and easy one-wire install with Power over Ethernet. I run BlueIris software on my home PC, which allows for easy remote viewing.

 

[props2you]

Similar to my situation, not using the camera's to babysit, but to check in under numerous circumstances. Don't let the price deceive you, these things are AMAZING and excellent! Only down side is they are corded.

https://www.wyzecam.com/

 

[Neutron]

I have a 16 channel Lorex 4k POE system using only 9 cameras. Great system.
7 cameras outside one in my garage and one inside my great room that is in view of all my entry doors

I also have two indoor 1080 YI Home cameras in the dogs room and my grandkids room(as a baby monitor)
These YI indoor cameras are cheap and work very well

 

[vanmurray]

I have nothing but the best to say for Nest. I’ve been using since Dropcam (2 of 4 are actually still Dropcams, 1 outdoor Nest and 1 indoor Dropcam outside).

The “person recognition”, alert zones and interface is great. 4 cams using ~1M upload. More expensive than others (Amazon cams good too) but I won’t switch. Also have smoke/CO detectors and thermostats so that is also nice to have in single app.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

I have the Swann 1080P system 8 channels with 4 cameras was about $300 on sale. App works great and it keeps ~30 days of recordings.

The wireless ones look better from the phone app IMO, but the Swann with hardwired cameras and a few TB of storage was the way to go. I also have it wired into my TV, and the clarity is extremely good from that view. Most of the wireless ones you need to pay for DVR service, plus if your router goes down you are SOL. I like that I can do playback on my phone and the timeline has alerts of when motion was detected.

 

[Peelz]

we have an indoor AND outdoor NEST camera

I REALLY dig it. Can pull it up on my phone 24-7. we opted to pay 8$ / month to get the longer term access/storage feature for both cameras.

can yell at my kids through it when they fight over the xbox lol

 

[Julian]

I now have an Alexa show (may get a 2nd).....was looking for a doorbell with camera that would automatically put up the camera image on the Alexa show when the doorbell rings (have multiple doors I'd like to do this for too). I've not seen that his is doable yet....but someone has to have thought of this!

I have 2 Swann systems hardwired into our house, one older, one newer (1080). They are good and you can look at them remotely, but lots of work to install, and the recordings are all kept locally.

 

[djetok]

I have a lorex wireless system and it works great. You need power for each camera. I am thinking of going with a wired system. It also takes up bandwidth of my modem on 2.4 ghz

 

[justason]

I ran a thread on here a while back this subject. I ended up going with FOSCAM at the time. I ditched those cameras last week and installed an ARLO system. Costco had it on sale $399, 3 cameras and a base station, The base station can manage up to 5 cameras. All cameras are the same for indoor or out.

They offer 7 days of camera videos free online based on motion detection . The base station can have a hard drive plugged into it for storage as well. the viewing angle is excellent

The camera is designed to be used on Battery. There is a power cord that can be used as well opening up several other features. It has geofencing feature that is nice, and you can stream it online. Another cool feature is you can send an invite to people to create an ARLO account and they can then view any camera you wish to allow them access. (grandma likes this).

the following images are from a foscam and arlo, located at the same location foscam 1st, arlo 2nd. motion alerts pick up near the end of the grass on the right side


https://www.cnet.com/topics/smart-home/best-smart-home-devices/best-security-cameras/

 

[Billtex2000]

I'm using BLINK outside and a few FOSCAM units inside. The BLINKs are wireless/battery operated (AA) which is what I wanted. Motion sensors work well and cheap enough that you can put up a ton of them. The BLINKs also have night vision. which works very well. Only restriction is the distance from the sync module which plugs in and links the camera to you WIFI and they don't zoom/tilt/pan. The Blink cloud service is also FREE and stores clips for 7 days. FOSCAM units are wireless but need to be plugged in to an outlet. They tilt/pan/zoom which is nice to check on the dog, but they are monitor only...no storage unless you install SD cards in them. I got the FOSCAMs first and had I known, would have gotten BLINK indoor cameras instead and had everything on one system. Both can be monitored from a phone app. BLINK was just bought by AMAZON and are supposed to be coming out with a doorbell soon. The BLINK cameras have a pretty good field of view so if you set them up right, you shouldn't miss the lack tilt/pan.
QVC has a 3 pack of BLINK for $279. I bought two 3-packs and sold the extra sync module on ebay for $50. The BLINK indoor cameras are less expensive. You can put up to 10 cameras on each sync module and can have multiple sync modules.

Watch the demo on QVC.

http://www.qvc.com/Blink-XT-3-Pack-HD-Weatherproof-Security-Camera-w-Motion-Sense-&-Night-Vision.product.E232015.html?sc=SRCH

On the BLINK website, add-on cameras are $89 with the code MAYSALE30

 

[Mainah]

The nice part about arlos is they are battery powered and wireless. The downside of arlos is that they are bettery powered and need to be recharged every two - three months depending on how active the area is. Another ipside to arlo is the alarm built in to the base station and free montioring. Also motion detection is Ir and not frame buly frame. I got a lot of flase posites on frame by frame motion detection with my old system. Arlo also has a speaker and mic so each one is capable of doing the doorbell thing on a way but with a bit of latency.

If not for having to recharge them Arlo would be near perfect.

 

[Billtex2000]

I just pop a new set of AA's in the BLINKs every couple of months. I guess you could use rechargeable AA's if you wanted to go that route. Blinks have a mic but no speaker. I prefer to dial 911 rather than scare someone off. I'm hoping the BLINK doorbell will be available soon.

https://blinkforhome.com/pages/blin...V2FqGCh2bFg4aEAAYASACEgI31PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

My neighbor has an Arlo cameras and I think the BLINK video is better quality. To be fair, I think his cameras may be older and might not be HD.

 

[justason]

The nice part about arlos is they are battery powered and wireless. The downside of arlos is that they are bettery powered and need to be recharged every two - three months depending on how active the area is. Another ipside to arlo is the alarm built in to the base station and free montioring. Also motion detection is Ir and not frame buly frame. I got a lot of flase posites on frame by frame motion detection with my old system. Arlo also has a speaker and mic so each one is capable of doing the doorbell thing on a way but with a bit of latency.

If not for having to recharge them Arlo would be near perfect.

not sure what gen ARLO you have. the original s I believe were battery only. I have the ARLO PRO which can be powered full time

 

[Mainah]

not sure what gen ARLO you have. the original s I believe were battery only. I have the ARLO PRO which can be powered full time

I have the pros. I will have to check that out.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

Arlo is deal of the day today:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/arlo-p...y-camera-system-white/5778900.p?skuId=5778900

 

[Honey Badger]

I use amcrest off of amazon. Great quality video, can view online anytime, store video to local storage or a dedicated hard drive, and best of all no monthly fee.

 

[spatty99]

I am using Amcrest also and have been pleased.

 

[Markk]

Summer is almost here, and the kids are going to be home by themselves. The oldest is 17, so I don't need to use the cameras to babysit, but I would like to peek in from time to time. I would like a fairly easy system that can be viewed online at any time. Probably looking for 3 to 5 indoor cameras and 2 or 3 outdoor cameras. I do not want a monthly fee. Trying to stay under $800 or so total, but not dead set on it. We have an old computer that I thing would work as a storage system.

I searched this forum, but the last post I could find on this subject is from 2016 and I'm sure is very outdated by now.

Thanks in advance!

Check out https://www.pimfg.com/ 32ch DVR is under $300(add your own HDD), 5k POE cameras are under $100ea. Use RXCAMView app to view remotely.

 

[veedubtek]

I also use Lorex (made by Flir, which is why I chose it). 8 channel PoE system. Absolutely infatuated with it, and it fell in right around $800.