Wyze. They have USB powered, battery, and solar cams. Oh and wired or wireless doorbell cams.

They also have a security system (windows and door sensors), door lock, environmental sensors, and smart plugs.

You can record to SD cards, pay for cloud storage, and pay for AI sensing.

Ring cameras are all I use and they work great

Sam’s Club is going to have 4 Arlo cameras with Solar panels for $169 starting December 3rd.
I’ll be grabbing a set.

My Blinks work great without their paid service, batteries last a couple years and the cameras themselves are cheap

I have three Arlo cameras and two door bell cameras. I’ve been happy with them for my simple needs. I can cover a pretty wide areas for motion sensing but the more area/distance you want to cover less likely you’ll be to catch license plate numbers. I like that I can notifications of motion around the property while I’m not home. The doorbell cameras are wired but they still rely on a built in battery that temperature drops cause to lose capacity and that triggers tamper warnings during cold snaps.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
My Blinks work great without their paid service, batteries last a couple years and the cameras themselves are cheap

We have a couple Blink cameras at work, in our conference rooms. They work well for their purpose.
We've had a couple breakins over the years, since we have 65 & 75in TVs in both instead of a projector.
Our proximity to IAH, the freeway & the neighboring Greenspoint area makes it a bit of a necessity, sadly

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
I run axis, but its at the top of the price chain.
But its top tier stuff.

I purchased an Axis Security system many years ago. Everything ran on a dedicated PC. A few of my co-workers ended up buying the same system after seeing mine. I have moved on to another security system now but they do make good stuff.

I like these: Empire Tech 4MP.

They have a big sensor for great low light video. You can get more megapixels, but without spending 2-3x as much, you won’t get better low light performance.

Planning and setup is key for security cameras. There’s a big difference between being able to see what’s going on and seeing who is doing it.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

Our proximity to IAH, the freeway & the neighboring Greenspoint area makes it a bit of a necessity, sadly

Isn’t Greenspoint generally referred to as “Gunspoint” nowadays?

Thumbs down on Blink, poor wifi access, drop signals, typically they notify you AFTER everything is over, so you can watch the Amazon guy leaving in his truck live, if the live view comes up. Cheap but not high quality video either.

Just upgraded ours to RING floodlight cams, 4 of them, they were on sale 50% off, and they still have some on sale. This replacement started off when the battery doorbell from Ring finally gave up after 5 years.

The new unit is the Pro model, the video is significantly better, alerts happen while the delivery guy is approaching the door.

I have some Plus and Pro cameras, the Pro are hands down better quality. We live on a golf course, after cutting down a hedge the rear camera started picking up Golfers on the Green over 100 yards away.

https://ring.com/

Cyber Monday has products at 50% off. They have a retrofit alarm kit, if you have existing hard wired system, you can put this in and connect it to the Ring alarm ecosystem without having to buy a bunch of contacts, you get the retrofit unit, alarm base, keypad, extender....

Will be a good way to upgrade our 30 year old system without contracting with an alarm company.

I have a mix of three Blink cameras and a commercial grade NVR with three fixed POE cameras where it matters most to me. Blink has performed well for me and it is really cheap to add a camera to pick up a blind spot. But activity really impacts battery life.

If you are able to DIY this I feel strongly that POE hardwired cameras provide the greatest image, low light and analytic performance assuming distance does not complicate things. There is a lot of parity in the industry in that many of the internals are from the same manufacturers. Everyone is rendering an amazing image.

If I rewire my pole light that is right by my mailbox, I will be pulling two cables to add two discreet cameras with license plate recognition on the mailbox post up tight against the bottom of the box. They will capture every plate that passes my house in either direction. My road is a loop so the majority of vehicles pass me. Storage has never been cheaper so that even with a high frame rate and high image quality it should not be prohibitive to get 90 days of recording.

Are video security systems at the current time for the most part largely or mostly a DIY system ? Or are there any advantages of hiring a security monitoring company to design it and istall it ? I'm asking from both security and technology perspectives. Or are those guys no better than DIY setups these days, for homes at least?

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
Are video security systems at the current time for the most part largely or mostly a DIY system ? Or are there any advantages of hiring a security monitoring company to design it and istall it ? I'm asking from both security and technology perspectives. Or are those guys no better than DIY setups these days, for homes at least?

I found a solid independent security guy on Angie’s List during Covid. He’s been excellent. I would find an independent security guy and get some quotes before you start buying DIY kits. I have 12 fixed cameras, 2 of those are follow me cams, and I also have a ring doorbell/floodlight combo to get the push notifications for motion alerts. They also have mics and speakers. The Rings are the only cameras dependent on WiFi. The fixed cameras, he sold me all of them for cost, just wanting the labor and the labor cost was very favorable. He’s had to come out to replace 1-2 cameras over these 5 years and been very professional, and honest. He’s always given me camera choices along with the cost and his opinion on dollar value, etc. Really good guy and had really good ratings because he isn’t out robbing folks on one job trying to make his mortgage. He stays busy 52 weeks a year due to this. The follow me cams are outstanding and I can’t recommend them enough. They auto track humans, putting a vertical rectangle around them. We also hid the DVR in the attic “somewhere” and it’s on UPS backup so even in a power outage all my fixed cameras are up and recording 24/7.

As far as using a pro design and install, local is better, and knowledge of coverage w different lenses, not just as 6 cameras with X.Ymm lens because they’ve got a pallet full of those cameras. You’ll need different lens/coverage for doors vs garage vs entire from or back yard. One camera cannot fit all those uses.

I've got Reolink cameras with an NVR for local storage, a couple Wyze and Ring. Happy with all.

The deeper I dig in to this the deeper it gets. So many choices.

I originally considered a do it yourself but now thinking I should go the local company route.