I noticed today someone took a crowbar or similar to my steel entry door on the outside of my attached garage between it and the frame but weren't successful at getting in.

What wireless exterior cameras does everyone recommend? I want ones that will hold the images for a week or longer. What are the associated costs involved?

I've been using Wyze for years, but if I were starting from scratch I'd go with tp-link Tapo.

Six weeks is quite awhile.

There are lots of good options, but for wireless right now, with what you want and not already invested in an ecosytem, I think I'd go with with Tapo C660 (and others such as the doorbell) and then use their base station and add a 6TB hard drive. That should probably get you at or close to the six weeks.

I went with Google, the devil I already know rather than another devil I don't know.

I, too, have been using Wyze, but I won’t endorse them. I have the latest pan cam, which has a really good image, but the jury is still out. Some of my older gens I have stop recording to the micro SD cards after a while.

Wyze were a relatively good price at first, but like everything else, go up over time. Because of that and the recording problem, I would look at other popular brands.

Simplisafe and monitoring with police dispatch.

I have Eufy and am happy with them.Ive seen some mixed reviews with issues but I think that is with just about anything.Mine do what I need them to do.

quote:

Originally posted by triggertreat:
I have Eufy and am happy with them.Ive seen some mixed reviews with issues but I think that is with just about anything.Mine do what I need them to do.

I have a Eufy as well just at the front door. It's solar powered so simple as it gets. It has some quirks now and again but overall it's been quite reliable for two years. Other than that I use trail cams around other parts of the property.

Simplisafe seems to be very picky about WiFi signal. I’ve got one that I can’t get to stay connected, within 20’ of another that works fine.

They insist the device is fine, the signal strength is reading as good and only advice is “move it closer to the router.” I shit you not!

Arlo.
I installed Arlos on my Mom’s house about 7 years ago.
All are still working. Have had to do nothing but recharge them.
They can have solar or power wires too.

Do you have power in the area, if so a powered camera is much better than battery, if not then run power, the different in image quality and response/notification time is significant.

Moved from Blink, which basically told me that something had already happened, by the time I could get linked on the phone to the servers, and the resolution isn't there.

Changed over to Spotlight cameras from Ring, replaced all the spotlights on the house, leave them powered on and the difference is significant.

Also have a couple of rechargeable battery Ring cameras where there isn't' power but I wanted one in that area to cover a blind spot.

They are simple to install and setup, have a better wifi signal and notifications are quick as well as the camera coming up. It will store images for a long time an you can pull them up from your phone on a yacht in the Bahamas.

I have a mix of POE and wifi cams, Ring, Wyze, and Reolink. I don't think Ring has a local recording option unless you get into their alarm system. Reolink can take an sd card for local recording or with an nvr you can record to a hdd.

I have had Eufy cameras at 2 locations(home and remote property) for well over 5 years. Have had zero issues. Cameras are a mix of older cameras with added solar panels, as well as integrated solar panels. They just work and no issues with power. Cameras consist of stationary and point/tilt/zoom with tracking.

Until something goes wrong or significantly better comes along, I will stick with Eufy.

I’ve been pretty happy with Arlo and Simpli Safe.

I put an Arlo brand solar panel up for the camera on the shed. The camera has a built in rechargeable battery so in periods of low sun it still works fine. Never had it not have enough power.

I have multiple types of cameras on my home from traditional wired to a DVR, to a Ring camera, and several Wyze cameras. I do like the Wyze cameras. They have many types and I have each of them. I have their doorbell camera, flood light, solar, regular cameras, and one that is a camera/light that screws into a light socket.

Arlo wireless for our house. We have a subscription and WiFi router with Arlo that lets me download the videos and save them. No complainrs.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
Simplisafe seems to be very picky about WiFi signal. I’ve got one that I can’t get to stay connected, within 20’ of another that works fine.

They insist the device is fine, the signal strength is reading as good and only advice is “move it closer to the router.” I shit you not!

My SimpliSafe cameras do that on occasion as well. I’ll try to look at the live feed from the camera in the app and it says “not connected” but when I do a connection check it says it’s good. Then it’ll clear up in a little while. Goofy. Overall I’m happy with SimpliSafe.

I did have to replace my SimpliSafe doorbell cam and I went with Ring instead for the doorbell. The battery lasts a few months on a charge and it came with a spare so I can just swap them out.

I do that with my SimpliSafe cameras also, actually. Because I have them notify me of any activity, the batteries need charging every couple weeks depending on our outdoor activity.

What I like about the Wyze cameras is that you can install a MicroSD card and the video is recorded to that. You can view them remotely and download video with no subscription. Of course they want you to pay a subscription and there are some advantages if you have a subscription. I only have one camera on a subscription for a specific reason. All others just record to the SD card, I can view them live or in the past from the app, and I can download video without pulling the SD card out of the camera.

Another long time Wyze user here.
I haven't shopped around in several years to see if there's something better and I'm reasonably happy with mine.

I use Arlo at the shop, and have some I need to install at home

TP-Link/Tapo are a great bang for the buck.

I use them all the time.

Both TP-Link and Wyze are made in China.

I would buy them asap as the router ban just went into effect and I have no idea what that is going to do to supply.