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Started By
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Lookin for Outdoor wifi security cameras on a budget.
Posted on 10/20/21 at 9:40 am
Posted on 10/20/21 at 9:40 am
Any recommendations. Need a few for outdoor to take video/pictures of movements. Looking for something that connects to wifi and stores media on cloud.
Posted on 10/20/21 at 9:40 am to Shuga4689
go post on the tech board
Posted on 10/20/21 at 9:47 am to Shuga4689
Eufy. I preferred them because it was local storage on micro sd, no cloud subscription.
This post was edited on 10/20/21 at 9:51 am
Posted on 10/20/21 at 10:02 am to Shuga4689
quote:Wyze
Any recommendations. Need a few for outdoor to take video/pictures of movements. Looking for something that connects to wifi and stores media on cloud.
Posted on 10/20/21 at 10:27 am to The Third Leg
quote:
Blink is cheap. Amazon.
This. Once you buy the sync module, you can get as many interior or exterior cameras as you want. Its pretty basic, but they are cheap and cover the basics listed in the OP.
Posted on 10/20/21 at 11:02 am to Shuga4689
I have admittedly never tried anything else, but I love Ring.
Posted on 10/20/21 at 11:21 am to Shuga4689
Reolink has some good solar options
Posted on 10/20/21 at 11:54 am to Shuga4689
Gonna follow this thread.
Sometimes the Tech Board gets too detailed and too focused on "best", and overloads/scares off folks.
I recently had a couple things stolen, and am looking at basically the same idea as the OP.
I picked up a Wyze, but not necessarily sold on it yet. I would like 2-3 cameras, with ability to monitor through wifi, mainly wanting to look from my desktop (in addition to phones). I don't MIND having cloud and SD storage, but I also want to store on an Easystore drive at the same time.
I think the Wyze3 camera itself is pretty nice, we tested it out last night and I don't need the night-vision setting. The boosted ambient light was great. I could make a face out clearly, while in person you can barely see your hand in front of your face.
Biggest problem I have with this, is where I want to put a camera, I don't have an outlet or power source near. Second biggest issue is that I would like to view 2-4 cameras, and be able to monitor/view from a single interface on pc at the same time, with ability to zoom into one if I want.
Sometimes the Tech Board gets too detailed and too focused on "best", and overloads/scares off folks.
I recently had a couple things stolen, and am looking at basically the same idea as the OP.
I picked up a Wyze, but not necessarily sold on it yet. I would like 2-3 cameras, with ability to monitor through wifi, mainly wanting to look from my desktop (in addition to phones). I don't MIND having cloud and SD storage, but I also want to store on an Easystore drive at the same time.
I think the Wyze3 camera itself is pretty nice, we tested it out last night and I don't need the night-vision setting. The boosted ambient light was great. I could make a face out clearly, while in person you can barely see your hand in front of your face.
Biggest problem I have with this, is where I want to put a camera, I don't have an outlet or power source near. Second biggest issue is that I would like to view 2-4 cameras, and be able to monitor/view from a single interface on pc at the same time, with ability to zoom into one if I want.
Posted on 10/20/21 at 11:59 am to Shuga4689
I have a few of the Ring stickup cameras and they've been great. Not sure if the other options are cheaper/easier.
They last a while on a batter charge, I can view the alerts on my phone specific to each camera. I can quickly silence or disarm if we are doing activities in the area of the cameras.
They last a while on a batter charge, I can view the alerts on my phone specific to each camera. I can quickly silence or disarm if we are doing activities in the area of the cameras.
Posted on 10/20/21 at 12:01 pm to Shuga4689
If you are on a budget, keep in mind that your wifi data will be used to add video to the cloud. Installing an Arlo on my house made me go over my data plan and I got extra charges. Ended up having to up my plan. Just a thought.
Posted on 10/20/21 at 12:23 pm to Shuga4689
I have Blink (Amazon) two outdoor cameras with a WiFi module that stays inside. You can add as many as you’d like. You manage it through your phone/iPad app. The video clips can be saved to a USB on the module or you can pay for a cloud subscription. I had a free cloud subscription at first and then moved to saving to the USB. Honestly the only difference is you have to delete each clip one at a time vs. with the cloud there is a “select all” option to deleting clips. I’m satisfied.
This post was edited on 10/20/21 at 12:24 pm
Posted on 10/20/21 at 12:52 pm to tigeroarz1
Eufy
Up to 14 cameras per hub. All wireless. No subscription fee. Usually around $100 per camera. Has a light you can turn on. Mic and speaker so you can talk to anyone on the camera. I’ve got one at least 200 feet from the base unit and it works great.
It has an away mode that will sound an alarm if anything is caught on camera. It notifies you by phone if the camera picks up anything.
I’ve got the 2C unit with 4 cameras and love it.
Up to 14 cameras per hub. All wireless. No subscription fee. Usually around $100 per camera. Has a light you can turn on. Mic and speaker so you can talk to anyone on the camera. I’ve got one at least 200 feet from the base unit and it works great.
It has an away mode that will sound an alarm if anything is caught on camera. It notifies you by phone if the camera picks up anything.
I’ve got the 2C unit with 4 cameras and love it.
Posted on 10/20/21 at 12:56 pm to Scoob
quote:I hear you on the details and overload, but to be fair it is the tech board.
Sometimes the Tech Board gets too detailed and too focused on "best", and overloads/scares off folks.
As for the "best", the tech board doesn't do that with security cameras. Rather they/we try to steer folks away from shite products. The suggestions on this topic are usually budget-friendly, it's just people tend to have their expectations too high for their budget.
One issue is most people refer to these battery-powered wifi cloud cameras as "security" cameras, and a lot of security camera guys object to that terminology. They might be more accurately called "monitoring" systems or similar.
I will address a couple of your comments, and I hope I don't get too detailed and scare people off. I just think it's important for people to manage expectations.
quote:There is rarely an outlet at the best places for security cameras unless you are replacing floodlights. If you need a camera where there is no power, you can either go completely wireless with battery powered (not recommended, they miss a ton of action and you will quickly grow tired of charging), or you have to run some wire. And if you're running wire, it is highly recommended to run ethernet cable because it is cheaper than getting an electrician out AND you can use a better camera too.
Biggest problem I have with this, is where I want to put a camera, I don't have an outlet or power source near.
quote:So now we start to run into the limitations of these wifi cloud cameras. What a lot of people don't realize is that while you might have 100mbps or 300mbps internet speed, that is your download speed. Cameras that record to the cloud use your upload speed, and most residential internet is somewhere around 10mbps upload. Something resembling decent quality video starts around 1mbps and goes up from there. Just a handful of cameras eat up a significant chunk of your upload speed, which slows everything down, and if your service has a hiccup your video may be dropped completely. This is less of a problem if they only record on motion, but you would be shocked if you could see what you've missed in this case.
Second biggest issue is that I would like to view 2-4 cameras
Further, while your wifi signal may look strong outside your home, realize that the signal you see is what your phone hears from the router. The router likely hears your phone much "quieter", and this is the part of the equation that an outdoor wifi camera needs to be strong and loud. In some cases the signal isn't strong enough outside (especially through brick or metal) to reach the ~1mbps mentioned above, and your video quality will suffer.
Running ethernet cable and recording to a recorder in your home avoids these problems. It also avoids ongoing monthly cloud storage fees. The video quality is far higher, you can record 24/7 so you don't miss anything, and you can scale up to as many cameras as you need without interfering with your wifi at all.
quote:AND you can do this.
be able to monitor/view from a single interface on pc at the same time, with ability to zoom into one if I want.
TL;DR:
Get a couple security or low voltage companies out to give you some quotes. The prices might seem high compared to these other options, but it really is worth it. Especially if security is really what you want.
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