Best security camera for the house

[rtjh]

What are some recommendations for good security cameras for my house? Just looking for cameras that notify me when somebody is there, record videos of such events, etc. Ring is popular but there are a bunch of options out there. Also, hardwired in or solar?

[Txhunter3000]

We use Blink wireless cameras. Easy to use, simple to set up. Decent range. Videos are short but when notified you can hit live view and watch longer. You can even 2 way talk through them.

[Man]

We tested several brands over the past couple years. Settled on Ring and just expanded our Ring assortment throughout the house and yard.
Most of the major ones that Best Buy sells are probably fine. The generic stuff on Amazon was the hit or miss type cameras.

[crxshooter]

We have Logitech and will not buy again. Needed to replace the base on one of our 4 year old cameras and learned from them they no longer support that model. Customer support did offer to sell us an updated system. Don't think so Scooter..............

[Bill M]

I use Reolink Argus PT with Solar with a 128 GB card. I have one front and back and the doorbell. Can set it to record when you want and to send push notifications. I have been using them since July of 2022 and batteries have stayed at 100%. No subscription or hosting fees.

[Meatcutter]

I have 9 nest cameras(now google) at home and ranch and they work fantastic. NOT a single issue with any of them. 3 are 7 years old. Pricey but worth it. I've had 4 Wyze and all crapped out in weeks, junk!! I also have 1 blink and after 3 months is still working fine.

[Huntingfool]

Arlo

[sahunter]

tagged

[bowhntrmatt]

I have Blink and have been very pleased with them. I love that they allow for local storage so you don't have to pay any monthly fees, and they are all battery operated so they go anywhere your wifi reaches.
At work, we sell models from alarm.com that are also fantastic. They require power, but have great features and clarity.

[JhuntsAlot]

I installed an Amcrest 16 camera HD DVR system at my house, using half of possible cameras. Always on and always recording. Hard drive is big enough to hold 3-4 weeks of recordings.

Also setup a DNS provider and I can see my cameras from anywhere connected directly. And no need to use their "cloud" option. Seems like most companies force you to use their cloud service to view and I dont like that. Adds a way for someone to hack into it. My way has less chance of that.




J

[Greenheadless]

Also setup a DNS provider and I can see my cameras from anywhere connected directly. And no need to use their "cloud" option. Seems like most companies force you to use their cloud service to view and I dont like that. Adds a way for someone to hack into it. My way has less chance of that.

J

Would you explaining this like I am a 5th grader? I am about as ignorant as they come to this type stuff, but exactly what I am looking for.

Sorry OP for the hijack.

[rtjh]

Would you explaining this like I am a 5th grader? I am about as ignorant as they come to this type stuff, but exactly what I am looking for.

Sorry OP for the hijack.

I too am a 5th grader when it comes to these things so the more info the better. I'm trying to avoid paying a monthly fee for storage/access if at all possible.

[Chase4556]

I have Amazon Blink cameras at the current house. They work fine for their intended purpose.

However, at my old house I installed a Lorex POE wired system. Overall, I much prefer that type of system. The 24/7 recording has extra perks you may not really think about. Being able to go review the footage if something happened in the neighborhood is great. We still could get notifications. If someone knocked on the door, my wife could open the coat closet near the front door(where a loaded home defense .410 was kept) and see who was at the door and view all cameras around the house. Hear a bump in the night? View all cameras at once on the screen and see if anything is lurking around. Suspicious car reported in the hood? Go back and review and see if they drove by(maybe aiding in vehicle identification). Lorex did charge for cloud storage, but I never used it. I could access all my live feeds and review footage remotely from my phone, but it did not store footage anywhere by the hard drive in the unit. So if someone broke in and snatched that hard drive, there went all my video. If I did it again I would be putting my hard drive in a hidden remote location or in a safe of some sort.

Just the other day my neighbor across the street had a camping tent out drying that went missing. He came and asked if my cameras caught anything. Luckily my front door camera catches cars driving by(sometimes annoying) and I could see his tent. Turns out the wind got ahold of it and he found it about 5 houses down blown up between two houses. Took us going through about 10 videos of cars driving by to come to that conclusion. The Lorex I would have just scrolled through the continuous video and gone “ah yep, at 3:32pm it finally let loose and blew away”.


Anyway…. Long winded. Really think about the pros/cons and what you really want out of the system before making a decision. I have zero complains with the Blink cameras outside of the “only record motion”.

https://www.lorex.com/products/lorex-fusion-4k-16-channel-8-wired-8-wi-fi-2tb-nvr-system-with-dome-cameras-featuring-listen-in-audio?variant=42716734554262

[Bowhica]

I also have the 8 4K camera NVR from Lorex. I have the cameras wired direct with CAT6 POE and I ran an HDMI to my TV, with a wireless mouse and keyboard. I can access the NVR remotely in the livingroom to watch videos on the 65" TV or I can view them on the LOREX App. With 24 hr recording I usually get 6 days of backup before it records over.

The night time footage is not bad, but the mics pick up sound really good. I can catch conversations of people walking down the street.

I have a neighbor with a couple HS kids and she was always asking if I could look at my footage of the camera that faces her house. She had concerns about her daughter having "friends" over while she was at work. I found a feature of this set up where I could grant her access to that ONE camera for a specific amount of time or indefinite. All she needed was to download the app and accept my emailed invite. Pretty cool.

I picked mine up at Costco for $599 about 3 years ago.

[JhuntsAlot]

Would you explaining this like I am a 5th grader? I am about as ignorant as they come to this type stuff, but exactly what I am looking for.

Sorry OP for the hijack.

Sure thing.

1. Purchased Amcrest 16 channel DVR and 8 cameras from Amazon.
   1. Install cameras and DVR and test video.
   2. I setup mine with a small computer monitor next to tv in living room and DVR in hall closet.
2. Setup a DNS service, DynDNS, Dynu, etc.. Using Dynu right now cause its cheaper, $11 a year.
   1. This is used for resolving a DNS name to IP address, i.e. Texasbowhunter.com to 35.161.X.X. Mainly used if you have a public IP that changes, non-static IP address.
   2. It will come with a program to install on a computer at your house that is always running in the background and updates the public IP address when/if it changes.
   3. When you sign up, it will allow you to select or create a DNS name to use.
3. Log into DVR and setup a static local IP address and note the port number. Port could be 99999 or 37777, or something like that.
   1. You will need to setup a login for the DVR and that login will be used on the phone App also.
4. On the home router, setup a "Port Forwarding" rule the redirects the port traffic coming into the home network over to the surveillance DVR.
   1. Almost all routers have this option and even some ISP modem's. If you only have an ISP modem, call them to get assistance setting it up.
5. Install the Amcrest app on phone and configure using the DNS name setup with the DNS service and port number setup on DVR.
   1. Dont forget the DVR login information.

With this setup, I can access the live video and playback recorded video from anywhere and there is no cloud usage or charges. It is a direct connection to my home.

We have become a little reliant on having the cameras able to be viewed from the living room easily.

Hope this helps.




J