Thinking of putting up a couple of outdoor cameras, not ready for a full install of an in house system, more interested in video ability to view around the house.

Two options I'm looking at are the Blink Cameras, and Ring Spotlight cams. I can get three Blink for $130 and $129 Each for the Rings. Yes they are not NSA quality cams, but we're not safeguarding the national banking data at a secure offsite facility called Woodlawn.

Big difference is the Rings will replace the existing non LED spotlights on the corner of the house where I have existing electrical boxes and provide a good powered system.

Blink is battery operated, so I can put them wherever I'd like but have to get on a ladder occasionally to change batteries.

Curious about comparison on the two as to how quickly they connect for video viewing, getting 450 down and 24 up speed in the casa. Running Netgear Orbi Mesh, may have to add a node to expand coverage.

The Ring would have night advantage in that they have spotlights and "Get off My Lawn" interface.

Any information and experience apprecated.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: HRK,

As frequently as I find myself replacing Arlo batteries I'd definitely go with the hardwired option.

I can't speak to your exact situation, but do have experience with Ring. We have a front and back door wired doorbell camera and a Ring floodlight camera on the garage, also wired.

Love the interface - you can pull up the cameras from your computer, smartphone or Alexa devices. Response time is very good.

Here's a video from the front door yesterday:


For $100/year, just a bit over $8 a month I can monitor/record from as many cameras as I want. I will eventually add a few of the stick up cams down at the barn, but have to get internet down there first.

From the computer dashboard view:

Amazon owns both and they in the same ecosystem.

Blink battery life is supposed to be better.

If you are looking for a non amazon alternative look at wyze,

They used to be free storage now it subscription too.

https://wyze.com/shop-wyze

We have 5 Blink cameras set up. No issues at all. Have the Blink app on our 2 phones. Setup is easy. No battery changes since installed December 2019. Blink Control Module is located in the center of our house and we have no connection issues.

When are these clever rascals going to allow you to store your evidence on a local NAS. Damn Them.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
We have 5 Blink cameras set up. No issues at all. Have the Blink app on our 2 phones. Setup is easy. No battery changes since installed December 2019. Blink Control Module is located in the center of our house and we have no connection issues.

Exactly the same for us. Five cameras, two phones, two years, no battery changes yet. Easy installation.

I have an Arlo Pro3 camera system with the rechargeable batteries. The audio/video quality as well as the battery life is great. The cameras are supplied with a magnetic charging cable. Cloud storage for up to five devices for 30 days is $9.99/month.

Ordered a tri-pack of Blink off woot $130 for three, would like to have more but can always add a couple more cameras.

Appreciate the input, will see how they do.

That is a great price for the Ring Spotlight cameras!
The Spotlight is less conspicuous than the Floodlight, while offering the same amount of light.
Motion sensing is excellant with Ring. You can custimize zones, movement, person detection.
The Mesh system should do well.
Need to pay $100/year for the Subscription Plan. It allows for instant viewing and archiving.
The higher you mount the Ring--better coverage. If you already have power--go with Ring. You do not want to be changing batteries.
Add the Ring doorbell to complete the package .

I have been using Arlo Pro for a few years and replace the batteries 3-6 months. It just depends on the activity level in those zones. I just got another four Arlo Pro 3 and am using solar charges which are working great but have not yet tested them on a cloudy day. Expect the battery issues with all the wireless cameras. I have neighbors who have blink and ring and they have to replace them just like I do with the Arlo. Some have hooked them up to a power source which is nice and an option which I might think of if the solar does not work out since I am in here in gloomy Seattle area.

I'm using Ring.

We have a mix of hardwired Spotlight Cams and battery operated outdoor stickup cams.

I'm happy with the products, they work fine for their intended uses. I've been using their products for 3 or 4 years now? Maybe more?

I like that the doorbell is tied into the ecosystem. Functionality is constantly improving with software updates. Most recent updates now allow the triggering of systemwide actions based on conditions--for example, if an alarm is triggered I can have all lights activated and all of the cameras begin recording. Or can have certain cameras deactivated if I'm home (e.g. backyard cameras) and activate motion sensitive recording if I'm away.

I pay the $9 a month subscription which supports the cameras as well as provide alarm monitoring. That is also well worth it because the subscription gives you premium warranty support. I've gotten cameras replaced after becoming hinky after running continuously for a couple of years with no out of pocket costs.

If you add the monitored alarm and add the smoke detector listener, you may qualify for savings with your homeowners insurance for having a monitored fire alarm.

My caveats are that I would never allow cloud based video recording anywhere inside my home. Exterior is ok for me, my outside privacy is limited by having suburban neighbors, but I wouldn't trust internet connected cameras inside my home that might be recording without my knowledge.

quote:

Originally posted by RGRacing:
When are these clever rascals going to allow you to store your evidence on a local NAS. Damn Them.

Blink lets you "store your evidence" on a local USB drive—with no recurring costs—if you have a Sync Module 2:

Sync Module 2 Local Storage Operation

quote:

Originally posted by hurstolds1:
I have an Arlo Pro3 camera system with the rechargeable batteries. The audio/video quality as well as the battery life is great. The cameras are supplied with a magnetic charging cable. Cloud storage for up to five devices for 30 days is $9.99/month.

I did an Arlo system for my mother and grandparents and it is a great solid and stable system.
Also there is no need for the monthly fee just plug a hard drive into the base station unless it is at a location where you can’t frequently get to the base station. You get 7 day cloud storage for free.

Also if your wifi goes down your cameras still work. You just have to access them later.
The cameras connect to the base station and not wifi.

quote:

Originally posted by sig2392:
Amazon owns both and they in the same ecosystem.

Blink battery life is supposed to be better.

If you are looking for a non amazon alternative look at wyze,

They used to be free storage now it subscription



too.

https://wyze.com/shop-wyze

wizen seems to be quite the deal and will allow me to ditch my aging simple safe alarm system. Whats your experience with Wyze?

quote:

Originally posted by bjor13:

quote:

Originally posted by sig2392:
Amazon owns both and they in the same ecosystem.

Blink battery life is supposed to be better.

If you are looking for a non amazon alternative look at wyze,

They used to be free storage now it subscription



too.

https://wyze.com/shop-wyze

wizen seems to be quite the deal and will allow me to ditch my aging simple safe alarm system. Whats your experience with Wyze?

I am very happy with Wyze indoor cameras. I have only used the indoor versions though.
Mom and grandma wanted cameras in two spot in their Florida house and I had already done the Arlo system at their place in Ohio. So I used the Wyze cameras and they are good. But they both are plugged in and inside.

I have 8 Blinks - 3 outdoor and 5 indoor and have been very happy with them. I haven't had to change batteries yet in the outdoor ones, my indoor cams are the Minis and are USB powered.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
We have 5 Blink cameras set up. No issues at all. Have the Blink app on our 2 phones. Setup is easy. No battery changes since installed December 2019. Blink Control Module is located in the center of our house and we have no connection issues.

We have 6 Blink cameras of various ages, including one located inside our storage building about 75 feet from the hub module. They work fine, batteries lest a long time, depending on amount of use.

Ring doorbells are providing customer data to companies such as Facebook and Google, an investigation suggests.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation found the Ring app was "packed" with third-party tracking, sending out customers' personally identifiable information.
Five companies were receiving a range of information, including names, IP addresses and mobile networks, it said. Ring said it limited the amount of data it shared.

The company told Gizmodo: "Like many companies, Ring uses third-party service providers to evaluate the use of our mobile app, which helps us improve features, optimise the customer experience and evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing."
But the EFF said Ring was failing to protect users' privacy, noting only one of the trackers it had found was mentioned in the company's privacy policy.

"The danger in sending even small bits of information is that analytics and tracking companies are able to combine these bits together to form a unique picture of the user's device," the EFF said.
"This cohesive whole represents a fingerprint that follows the user as they interact with other apps and use their device, in essence providing trackers the ability to spy on what a users is doing in their digital lives and when they re doing it."

The five companies identified as receiving information were:
* Facebook, via its Graph API - each user's time zone, device model and screen resolution and a unique identifier
* Branch, which describes itself as a deep-linking platform - a number of unique identifiers, as well as each user's IP address, device model and screen resolution
* AppsFlyer, a big data company - a range of information, including sensor data related to the magnetometer, gyroscope and accelerometer on users' phones
* MixPanel - the most information, including users' full names, email addresses, device information and app settings
* Google-owned Crashalytics - an amount of customer data "yet to be determined"
Out of these, only MixPanel is mentioned in Ring's privacy notice, along with Google Analytics, HotJar and Optimizely.
The investigation by EFF tested Ring for Android, version 3.21.1.
'Shut down'
Amazon, which bought Ring in 2018 and sells a range of home security cameras as well as doorbells, has been criticised for partnering with at least 200 law-enforcement agencies to carry out surveillance via its devices.

Digital rights campaign group Fight for the Future said at the time Amazon was encouraging neighbours to spy on each other.
And last year, there was a series of stories about Ring cameras being hacked.
One Alabama-based man, who claims a hacker spoke to his children via his Ring camera, is leading a group legal action against the company over the security of its products.
Writing on Medium this weekend, Max Eliaser, one of Amazon's software development engineers, called for Ring to "be shut down immediately and not brought back".
"The deployment of connected home security cameras that allows footage to be queried centrally are simply not compatible with a free society," he wrote in an article seeking the views of Amazon employees on a range of issues.

Look up these Ring cameras not recording deliveries from Amazon. Lots of people complaining that Amazon is using some sort of technology to prevent your Ring cameras from recording them. My own mother confirmed hers has this "issue" when I asked her about it.

I know there are others, but I have also been looking at the Lorex offering. No subscription needed, and their doorbell can be connected to a recorder so that it can be used like a regular camera.