My ex-wife is have an issue with what she thinks is an ex-boyfriend who pulled a gun on her and my 12 year old. He’s been creeping around outside leaving “presents”. She wants me to go to sams and grab some outdoor surveillance cameras on at least the back deck, carport, and out towards the road. She’s hoping for something she can monitor on an iPhone. I’m not well versed in this stuff and ne need some help.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: buddy357,

A battery operated wireless camera system will get you up and running quickly. Call Brickhouse Security, the are knowledgeable and can advise you on the best system for your situation.

Go to Amazon and look at Blink External Cameras. I just bought 7 cameras for our volunteer fire department,

Costco has several kits with 4 or 5 cameras.

Nest or Arlo will get you rolling. Arlo has free 7-day cloud storage of video while Nest is $3/month for cloud video (otherwise it is real-time).

Both can be wired with the right selection. Battery might be 2 months+ without 24/7 monitoring (motion sensor activation).

My choice, without having used one, would be Arlo. I did a bunch of research for two people but we never completed the project.

https://www.arlo.com/en-us/products/default.aspx

https://store.google.com/us/ma...are_cameras?hl=en-US

Not exactly what you asked for but these are great and inexpensive. You need to be able to plug them in and have them under shelter as they are not for exposed outdoor use.
The video is great, easy to use too.
The app works good too and no monitoring fees.

https://www.wyze.com/wyze-cam-pan/

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Not exactly what you asked for but these are great and inexpensive. You need to be able to plug them in and have them under shelter as they are not for exposed outdoor use.
The video is great, easy to use too.
The app works good too and no monitoring fees.

https://www.wyze.com/wyze-cam-pan/

I was going to suggest Wyze cams too, but the less expensive no pan version. I have a couple and love them. You could also buy a Wyze Sense Kit to further expand motion detection. Great options while not breaking the bank.

Costco has the Arlo Pro 3 pack outdoor for $499

You can get single, double, triple and 4 packs on Amazon, The Arlo Ultra is 4K and the video images look pretty darn good, $1K for the 4 camera.

Teach your 12yr old how to shoot.

A 22 or 410ga can be very effective

Get a dog.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Get a dog.

LOL, didn't expect that from you. :ROFL:

For the OP..... There are hobby grade systems (which is what I have), there are professional systems, and there is plain shit.

It's easy to think you have a professional system, when you really have at best a hobby grade system, or worst case, you have a shit system which blanks out now and again, and has crap recordings and even gaps where nothing updates. There are cameras that work well at night and there are some that just show darkness at night.

It's not easy to buy something and set it up and expect perfect results the first time --- I know, I've had my hobby system going for 3 years now, and I've been building on it.

Can she just hire a pro, or is that not in the budget? A hobby system can be fine, but it takes a lot of tinkering. I've been tinkering with mine for, well, 3 years now.

She is your ex wife for a reason. Hire someone to do the work.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Costco has the Arlo Pro 3 pack outdoor for $499

You can get single, double, triple and 4 packs on Amazon, The Arlo Ultra is 4K and the video images look pretty darn good, $1K for the 4 camera.

We have the Arlo Pro from Costco. Works well. I had security company install but easy to do yourself. I also installed motion sensor lightbulbs in outdoor fixtures.

I've been reading up on security cameras, and based on what I've read you'll need at least a 5 megapixel (8 mp even better) camera to have a chance at a clear image of a face or license plate.


My neighbors all have wireless DIY cameras (e.g. Arlo's) and love to post videos on the neighborhood FB page. Christmas night at about 2 AM (technically Dec 26th), some teens came through the neighborhood checking for unlocked car doors. Their biggest haul was from a neighbor who lived next door to a LEO (with cruiser in driveway). He had a bunch of Christmas money in his wallet, and had driven 200+ miles home w/ his wallet in the center console. They arrived home after midnight, carried the kids into bed, carried the presents into the house, and locked up the house (notice I said nothing about grabbing his wallet or locking his SUV). Tons of security cam pics posted on FB the next day, but all you could tell was 3 minority youths were the perps and couldn't read the plate on the car that picked them up. The LEO neighbor did everything he could with the security footage, but in the end it just wasn't good enough resolution. The thieves were at the mall when it opened the next morning and were able to make credit card purchases before my neighbor realized his wallet was missing. The LEO neighbor viewed the store video footage and it was too poor of resolution to ID anyone either.

Nobody has the new Arlo 4k Ultra HD cameras so I cannot comment on them.

If you go wireless, bandwidth may be an issue if you try accessing via iPhone. The more data you push, the bigger that pipe has to be at home.

With that said, my neighbor across the street and has a Blink camera system available from Amazon. It was stupid simple to get up and running and the video is pretty good. This was the Gen 1 system not the current XT2 system that has not as good reviews.

Hopefully, your wife has already filed a police report and got a restraining order. If nothing else, it could add jail time if/when something happens.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jcsabolt2,

The Wyze are toys. Useful, great for the price, but still toys. I got mine via Amazon Prime. I have two. No weather proofing means you must keep then dry, but you can buy 3rd party weather resistant housings for them. They only record and save a 12 second clip to the cloud upon detecting motion then they have a pause of a few minutes before they will save another clip. If you want 24-7 saved recordings you can buy a micro SD card and put it in each camera and it will record to that and that can be accessed by the phone app. Also require 120v power, not battery. Not much in the dark either, the onboard illuminator only reaches a few feet.
In good light and not much movement they are great... for the money. Here is a still shot from the one overlooking my pool.

If you can install it under a soffit, you could also go with the Arlo Q:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod..._title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

While it's technically not meant for outdoors I have had one installed outdoors for over a year and it has worked perfectly. Several others on the Arlo forum have also successfully used them outdoors.

The Arlo Q has some advantages over the Arlo Pro.

Much less expensive
Wired for power (no need to change batteries)
Better range for motion detection
No limitations on sensitivity settings since you aren't eating through batteries
Connects directly to your existing WiFi, no base station required
Better picture resolution day and night

I have 5 Arlo Q cameras total and they have been excellent for several years. I've shopped the other wireless DIY options and Arlo is the best balance of quality hardware with no monthly fees, that lets you store videos for up to 7 days on the cloud. The smart phone interface is very good and user friendly.

quote:

Originally posted by ulsterman:
She is your ex wife for a reason. Hire someone to do the work.

I don't think the OP divorced his 12 year old kid!!!!!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I've been reading up on security cameras, and based on what I've read you'll need at least a 5 megapixel (8 mp even better) camera to have a chance at a clear image of a face or license plate.

Keep in mind that at night it's a different story. Those tons of megapixel cams often can't pick up enough light to do any good because the sensor is too small for all those pixels. There are many factors and if I cared about faces at night, I would buy a cam specifically designed for this. But it may cost more than most people want to pay -- that's the trade-off.

Thanks jimmy123x. That’s the point of the whole deal. This guys pointed a shotgun at both of them then spent the next couple days sending texts about how my kid was evil and wanting to kill him because my son took priority over the boyfriend. There are restraining orders in 2 counties. She may go the professional route eventually but wants something up for now.

As much as I’d love to teach little man to shoot he has no interest. He’s scared of them and refuses to go near them.

We picked up a 2 camera arlo pro set last night to try out. If she doesn’t like it, I’ll take them home since I’ve had packages stolen and a neighbor caught a guy stealing the grill off my rear deck. If she does like them at least there’s something for now