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1LtCAP

Arlo or Blink wireless cameras

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ok. one of my relatives keeps talking about cameras. so I was thinking of getting him one of the wireless setups. I know there were 2 threads in here about the 2. I've viewed them both on amazon, and to be honest, they've both got pretty shitty reviews. 

 I know a couple of you guys have used them. which is better? are EITHER of them really worth the money? 

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Why buy a wireless setup when it's only providing a partial solution. Plus, the reviews should tell the story.

Buying a wireless security camera system is like buying a pair of shoes, but only getting one shoe. Unless you're just going to use the camera as a novelty item, and not serious security.

 

 

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The Arlo system is good, at least the pro 2 cameras. You can even record locally on a storage drive, and get a free week storage for up to 5 cameras.

The problem is that you will have to recharge the high traffic cameras every 3-4 weeks. There is nothing around powering a camera that often unless you can tap into a power source. The cameras really have much better options when plugged in. Our front door camera does last a solid 3 months on one charge. 

The Arlo interface is also really easy to use and has about a 4 second lag time. A lot of options for notifications.

It will also work on itttf. 

If I recall, a lot of complaints were made about a charging issue and batter life. The charging issue was solved with an update and using the correct power cord. I have had zero issues running for almost a year.

 

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I got the Blink last week. Very easy to set up is a plus. Cheap mount but they work ok. I played with them alot and no battery loss. Nite vision is good I guess. I use mine to see the front door when I'm upstairs and to watch my garage cause its at the back of the property. I like the Blink camera because it's very small. My stepson still hasn't noticed them. The thing you have to remember is these cheap cameras are NOT security cameras.

 

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Depends on what your idea of a security camera is. 

The Arlo pro 2 cameras are not what I would call cheap in comparison to other options. They ain't cheap either. It provides better than adequate video for any homeowners needs with out dropping a couple Grand on CCTV. I hard wired a few cameras which allows me to get a lot more function out of them too. 

I was worried at first about the motion sensors but damn, they pick up everything. 

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For true security you should have hardwired with off premises video storage.  I have not installed but bought the Blink XT cause I just wanted to be able to see when a package was delivered of see who was at the door and monitor my dogs outside.  I live in a gated community and there really is no significant security issues.  I bought the five pack for $349, but sent them back as they were offered a week ago for $299 with a third Gen Echo Dot.  Have the package sitting here and will probably play with it this week.

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1 hour ago, JackDaWack said:

It provides better than adequate video for any homeowners needs with out dropping a couple Grand on CCTV. I hard wired a few cameras which allows me to get a lot more function out of them too. 

That's the misnomer and mis-information.  It doesn't take a "couple of grand"  to get a hard wired CCTV true security system. You can get a decent 4 camera/8 channel system with 2 TB storage for under $500. bucks. All it takes is some time to run the wires, which is what you're doing basically with the "wireless" ones to get them power.

 

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My garage is 80 ft from the house. I had 4 cameras up and running in about 2 hrs from opening the boxes and I didn't need to dig a trench. But I don't feel I need a true CCTV security system.  The other good thing about wireless is if you pick a spot that you're not real happy with the view you can easily move it. Might be helpful for someone looking to ultimately installing a good system as to where the best place to put the cameras in advance.  

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This really depends on what the intended use for these cameras is.  If you're talking about being above or next to an entry door to watch who comes in and goes out, sure.  Watching your gun safe, sure.  Inside the garage watching your vehicles, sure.  If you want motion further than 15ft or so to trigger them reliably, these will not work well enough.

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One cool thing about the arlo. We had an alert a few weeks back . It was 10:30 pm ish in a rain storm. Two individuals in hoodies bypass the side walk by about 30 feet into my driveway to ck my wife’s car doors.  Called 911 and was able to email the clip to the responding officer .

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1 hour ago, Sniper said:

That's the misnomer and mis-information.  It doesn't take a "couple of grand"  to get a hard wired CCTV true security system. You can get a decent 4 camera/8 channel system with 2 TB storage for under $500. bucks. All it takes is some time to run the wires, which is what you're doing basically with the "wireless" ones to get them power.

 

For what? a system that is probably less reliable? One with even crappier cameras? Probably terrible support too? 

If ur gonna go that route, you might as well do it right. A true POE system with a solid DVR and true HD cameras 

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2 hours ago, JackDaWack said:

For what? a system that is probably less reliable? One with even crappier cameras? Probably terrible support too? 

Hyberbole much without any specific facts?

2 hours ago, JackDaWack said:

If ur gonna go that route, you might as well do it right. A true POE system with a solid DVR and true HD cameras 

A hardwired system IS the right way, versus wireless, where you have no idea if the network or wireless router is working correctly or can drop out.

The system I mentioned above all have HD cameras.

Hardwired has a lot more reliability than hoping someone else's hardware works as designed. Hoping Comcast doesn't have ANOTHER network drop out issue doesn't fly in my book, when protecting MY family.

In my opinion, since MY family is worth it, spending a few extra dollars is absolutely worth it for a reliable video security system. Everyone needs to make that decision for themselves.

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It's not about money. The Arlo system is more money.

I get notified when my network drops.. no issue there. The Arlo pro system runs on its own network router which seems to be extremely reliable. 

Even on a cctv system, if your network drop you don't get notifications, no back up, and if something did happen your in the same boat. If I lose internet, I still record locally.

Afaik, the only difference to me is a possible network hack.. and if someone is targeting you like that... Well you got bigger issues.

That just defualts to the next line of defense, and the security system runs on backup power with cell service.

I have looked through all the systems, wired and wireless for under a grand... I wasn't impressed with the plug and play systems their interfaces, HDR's, picture quality, reviews or customer support.  If I went CCTV, each POE camera would have been close to 200 each, and the DVR was $600, add in cables and install... 

I have yet to have any of the problem you seem worried about. 

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I have 3 NVRs in my office at work running 40 cameras.   One of those cameras is wireless, the rest hard wired POE.   I have a problem with 2 cameras.   One is hard wired, the other one is the wireless.   The hard wired one is 3 years old and only 1080P and only H.264 so I will probably just replace it with a 5mp or 8mp camera that supports h.265.  The wireless one though is a Dahua, fairly new and what happens is the wireless just drops and the NVR alerts me.  It's not every day, it's just enough to be annoying.  If I could get a wire over to where it's at, I would, but it's 80 feet across a drop ceiling to get there and frankly, I'll deal with the drops. 

Fortunately there was power there from when the building was built so I'm not dealing with batteries.   It's even within range of two APs, so I switched 'em, no change.   I guess I could try a Hivision or a different brand ONVIF.    I'm real close to correlating the drops with UPS deliveries, and while it's not every time its often around the same time of day.

I ran the wires for my house NVR and before that the old analog system.   I've had a camera fail, but when they run, they run. 

If a wireless system works for you, great, my experience with it has been less than perfect.

 

 

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I cannot tell you anything about the Arlo system, but after we became suspect of our babysitter, weordered five blink cameras. You can set the length of time they record at from 5 seconds to a minute at a clip. You can also check them live. They have motion sensors for recording and you can set a schedule as to when you want them to be active. Biggest drawback, if they record a long time or there is lots of motion, you can go through batteries quickly. I don't think I have any complaints other than. Battery life. 

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17 minutes ago, 1LtCAP said:

that is something I wasn't able to find a definite answer to.....viewing livetime….thanks

Yeah, that seems to be an issue with the wireless cameras, the duration of the live feeds. It seems to only be in short windows, and not continuous for as long as you want.

My live watching is forever, there's no limitation.

One feature my wired system has, in when motion triggers a camera to record, it actually goes back and records/saves the 20 - 30 seconds BEFORE the trigger event. So when you play that recording, you can see what happened right before the camera got triggered. With some of my cameras, I have them overlapping an area, so when it triggers, I can go watch the camera to the side of that one to see the incident start.

I don't believe the wireless cameras can do this, and give you the lead in segments. Plus, my system will continue to record if there's movement and not time out, which could be for minutes, and continue to record until 30 seconds after movement stops. Also, that record duration is completely programmable to be extended or shortened, as needed.

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2 hours ago, JasonSeidman said:

I cannot tell you anything about the Arlo system, but after we became suspect of our babysitter, weordered five blink cameras. You can set the length of time they record at from 5 seconds to a minute at a clip. You can also check them live. They have motion sensors for recording and you can set a schedule as to when you want them to be active. Biggest drawback, if they record a long time or there is lots of motion, you can go through batteries quickly. I don't think I have any complaints other than. Battery life. 

Saw on Amazon tonight there are solar power systems for the Blink that cost about $30 so you will effectively never need to worry about the battery.

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8 hours ago, Sniper said:

Yeah, that seems to be an issue with the wireless cameras, the duration of the live feeds. It seems to only be in short windows, and not continuous for as long as you want.

My live watching is forever, there's no limitation.

One feature my wired system has, in when motion triggers a camera to record, it actually goes back and records/saves the 20 - 30 seconds BEFORE the trigger event. So when you play that recording, you can see what happened right before the camera got triggered. With some of my cameras, I have them overlapping an area, so when it triggers, I can go watch the camera to the side of that one to see the incident start.

I don't believe the wireless cameras can do this, and give you the lead in segments. Plus, my system will continue to record if there's movement and not time out, which could be for minutes, and continue to record until 30 seconds after movement stops. Also, that record duration is completely programmable to be extended or shortened, as needed.

limited live time viewing may or may not be an issue. they live in a senior community, and not much crime there. i think he wants them more to view wildlife outback(just about everything that roams wild in the state goes through their back yard it seems) and to check in once in awhile while they're in florida......

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1 hour ago, 1LtCAP said:

limited live time viewing may or may not be an issue. they live in a senior community, and not much crime there. i think he wants them more to view wildlife outback(just about everything that roams wild in the state goes through their back yard it seems) and to check in once in awhile while they're in florida......

I regularly flip over to my live screen, just to see what's going on with all my cameras. Many times just to check and see if they're working right, if there's any spider webs, see what's going on, just look around the yard, see if the pool cleaner is working right, checking to see if night vision is working, package delivery, if wifey pulled into the driveway, where poochie is in the yard, etc. From what I've read, some of these wireless cameras require you to keep clicking "continue" every 30 seconds or so to watch the live feed.

If I had to do that each time, it would drive me totally out of my mind.

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20 hours ago, Sniper said:

Yeah, that seems to be an issue with the wireless cameras, the duration of the live feeds. It seems to only be in short windows, and not continuous for as long as you want.

My live watching is forever, there's no limitation.

One feature my wired system has, in when motion triggers a camera to record, it actually goes back and records/saves the 20 - 30 seconds BEFORE the trigger event. So when you play that recording, you can see what happened right before the camera got triggered. With some of my cameras, I have them overlapping an area, so when it triggers, I can go watch the camera to the side of that one to see the incident start.

I don't believe the wireless cameras can do this, and give you the lead in segments. Plus, my system will continue to record if there's movement and not time out, which could be for minutes, and continue to record until 30 seconds after movement stops. Also, that record duration is completely programmable to be extended or shortened, as needed.

If you plug in the Arlo pro cameras they can live stream for ever, and will pre record trigger events. 

There is obviously limitations to what you can do when running off just a battery. There is zero substitute if these are a must as a wired system will do all of that much better. 

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10 hours ago, Sniper said:

From what I've read, some of these wireless cameras require you to keep clicking "continue" every 30 seconds or so to watch the live feed.

If I had to do that each time, it would drive me totally out of my mind.

Blink does require that - every 30 seconds

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8 hours ago, fishnut said:

@Sniper what inexpencive wired system would you recommend? I dont need much just 4 outdoor cameras that have night vision. Just to keep an eye on who and what is going through my property when I'm not looking. 

@fishnut

The first question I have is what's your definition of "inexpensive". That can have very many different levels to everyone.

Then, what is it that you're trying to accomplish. Start from the result and work backwards.

What distance do you need to see? Are you watching the access to the house or bigger sections of your property? That will determine what resolution and field of vision you need.

What's the distance for the night vision? Different cameras have different IRs, which will determine how much will be seen at night.

How many cameras? Just 4, or is there a chance maybe one or two more. Consider a 4 camera system with a 8 channel DVR, that will allow expansion.

Camera type? The most popular are dome or bullet, but there are other types, depending on what you want to see, like PTZ, covered dome, pinhole, etc.

Finally, the actual system. Do you want a NVR (Network video recorder) with PoE (Power over Ethernet), which will run higher resolutions over Ethernet cable or is Analog with  HD 1080P or 4 MP cameras run over standard Video cables OK?

Some of the standard systems I'm familiar with are Swann, Lorex or Q-See. Lately, I see a whole bunch more Chinese systems that entered the market, but I have no idea how good they are.

You can get a standard HD 1080P or 4 MP system from those three I mentioned, with a 4 camera/8 channel DVR with 2 TB of storage for around $300 - $400.

 

 

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1 hour ago, JackDaWack said:

If you plug in the Arlo pro cameras they can live stream for ever, and will pre record trigger events. 

There is obviously limitations to what you can do when running off just a battery.

I see lots of limitations of Arlo compared to a wired system.

First, the cameras are only 720P. That's considered low, based on what's available today.

Night vision is only 25 feet. That's nothing.

They charge for video storage with a monthly fee. No thanks.

Record time: Looks like the maximum is 2 minutes and shuts off. Not good if what's going on is longer than that.

Cloud based recording and saving of video. Where exactly is it and who's viewing it? I prefer having MY video on MY DVR in MY house.

They're wireless and need regular recharging, who wants to deal with that when they're mounted outside up on the house. No power supply, so you need to buy an additional battery or power supply and run the wires for long term use. Or climb up and take the camera down and charge it all the time. Some reports only after a few days the battery is dead. That's a major pain in the ass.

They're wireless, not hardwired, which has known drop offs in reception of video signals. Video requires a GOOD signal strength to transmit video data. Hard wire beats this hands down for video transfer with no drop off of signal.

Even with all these limitations, a 4 camera Arlo system is $650., not even close to being competitive to a wired 4 camera system. And that's before all the add-ins you need to make it a true functioning, long term system and then paying for video storage.

I went over to read the reviews on them. The biggest issues I see mentioned over and over is battery issues and video drop off and viewing issues. Also, a bunch of cold weather issues, which with a  battery powered system, I would expect. Many issues with missing recording clips too and delay in the motion activation.

For a $650. system (plus all the add on costs), all of that would be a MAJOR concern and a no-go for me.

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