re: Exterior home security camera system

There's a fair bit of topics on this on the tech board.

From a quality, reliability standpoint, a power over ethernet(PoE) based system is going to be the best. You get higher quality videos, 24/7 recording, and can still have the ability to view from an app/phone. There's several systems out there...reo/ubiquiti etc. Downside is that you need to run cables from a central location to each camera location.

On the other hand, you can do something like Ring(or arlo, etc) which is wireless/wifi based. While not recording 24/7, they will take shots a set intervals an then record when motion is triggered for a predetermined time. The app works fairly well. Pros is that the set-up is easy. Just stick the cameras up were you want and go from there. It's easy to add more cameras or other functionality without having to run a new wire to each location.

With that said, I have a ring based system and mostly like it. I will say that the devices/cameras that I have powered via an established power(I replaced a couple of floodlights I had with Ring floodlights) work better than the battery powered devices (I have a solar charging panel). They are much more responsive and you can set more frequent motion/interval checking than you can with battery powered devices. Motion detection is okay for either. I did turn off motion alerts on a one of the cameras that were firing too often due to bushes moving or spiders. It'll still record, but I just wont get an alert on my phone. This is some way defeats the purpose of having the system, but I suppose still being able to record an event is useful regardless.