Best Remote Home Monitoring Systems
Arlo Pro is a 100% wire-free indoor/outdoor security camera with rechargeable batteries and audio and can be added to any Arlo base station system. Weather-resistant - Arlo Pro cameras are Weather-resistant so you can place them anywhere-indoors and out.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Mounted a few outside, and that's when I started to notice how poor the quality was. I understand the benefits of having a wire free system (renting a place where you cant drill or run wires, or having the ability to move the camera when ever you want). I would have kept it if it didn't cost so much or if it had a slightly higher bit rate which would result in a lot more detail."
"I bought this unit because we didn't want wires running down our tree where we could set it up. Hooking up the unit to the existing wifi turned out to be a giant issue which took me hours. By the time I was done with them, they had "joined" my computer, went through my internet settings and told me that I had unwanted users on my network which is the reason why the secure camera won't work. But just in case and considering Netgear was on my computer, I decided to reset my router and change the password. Once I did that here's what I did: Syncing to Wifi: Reset Router and only connected my personal Macbook Pro laptop. Reset and synced the Arlo Base Station and Camera - VIOLA!! It comes with a half round metal adapter that the Arlo Pro camera connects to either on top of the camera for ceiling mount or on the back for wall mount. Even on the "lowest quality" setting that's suppose to save battery life, it's not bad. I live in a high traffic area, which is a HUGE issue with Arlo's battery. Since my camera is up in a tree which I need a ladder to access it, I hooked up the USB cord and let it rest on the limb. Getting to the camera settings to adjust length of recording and picture quality is a bit confusing the first few times simply because it doesn't feel intuitive. There is an USB option, which I haven't tried yet which allows me to backup my videos in real time as they're being recorded on Netgears cloud servers."
"According to the specs they will work to -4 degrees F. In my experience they quit working right about 0-8 degrees F."
"*** EDIT *** Always be cautious of reviews that are overly positive, especially when people with supported evidence speak out negatively. In the email there isn't a clear spot to click to start the review, but has a listing of 5 stars in the middle. I didn't complete the review on the phone after clicking the one star and being sent to possibly what is a completely different review process..... but I can't stop to wonder if that would have excluded the Amazon posting part for everyone to see as a one star..... Hrmmmmm.... As a person that is very into and understand technology, I really sit here thinking, did they hire people who literally have no idea what they're doing? SO much promise like having a really fully wire free product, great resolution to the cameras, ease in mount... yet so much fail in the actual implementation of it. A networking company created a product that actively seeks and destroys the quality of your normal home wireless network, and ironically their official response is that's the best technical solution (followed by eleventy billion actual experts, which at this point even my technically inept grandparents and 10 minutes on google searching wireless co-channel interference can have them understanding that the NETWORKING COMPANY Netgear/Arlo made a horrible decision). Minimal thought and intelligence built in here, and pretty much doesn't follow the lead of EVERY OTHER MOTION DETECTING PRODUCT OUT THERE. Given the fact the detection range is only 10-15', this means someone can almost walk at a decent speed across the entire camera angle before it even starts recording. If the app is still running in the background even though you've left to go do something else, or you close your web browser without giving it some secret handshake, the cameras and station may decide NOT to record until you open and close the app again (and maybe that's after you're robbed and you go back to try to find footage)."
Arlo Pro is a 100% wire-free indoor/outdoor security camera with rechargeable batteries and audio and can be added to any Arlo base station system. Weather-resistant - Arlo Pro cameras are Weather-resistant so you can place them anywhere-indoors and out.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I had some locations outside far from power outlets where I wanted surveillance, purchased and Arlo Pro system for this coverage. The image quality is slightly poorer, but the functionality is easier, there is free cloud recording, the app interface is cleaner, and the wireless feature means I can place these in spots the others can't go. Works out of the box, recent app update lets you scroll through video feed in time-lapse fashion. A small hiccup in that a recent app update seemed to wipe camera settings, but afterward everything else has been fine. From personal experience I will say the cost doesn't sound so bad at first, but after 3 years of paying it I'm realizing using Nest cameras has become a multiple thousand dollar system for us. No cloud option; SD card stores video locally, app on phone allows you to view feed in real time. In my experience, Samsung's zoom is crisper and its night vision is superior than Nest. Night vision is on par with Nest, but if you buy the Arlo Pro skins (sold separately), they actually reflect off the IR in the corners of the screen and wash out the image. If you use it to monitor & talk to a baby or pet, the lag is considerable and you cannot hear yourself on the other end. Fantastic audio quality, and it's true two-way so both sides can speak and hear each other at the same time (like a cell phone). Samsung Smartcam can also double as a baby monitor by playing lullaby music and a few other songs. I used to have a Nest cam in my detached garage but I had to bring it back in the house as it was dropping signal multiple times per day. But it has worked every time I've called on it, connects fast, doesn't drop video for me, and is currently located farther from my router than my Nest cams. And in this winter's 30 degree weather, my Arlo Pro cameras had no problems recording clips while my outdoor Nest cam fell offline several times. Recording sometimes takes too long to start (i.e. 2-3 seconds after motion first detected), which means I get a lot of clips where I see the tail end of something moving across the screen. I have the cameras perpendicular to the area they are monitoring so objects go across the screen, if you use them head-on the motion sensing is poor. For me, the positives easily outweigh the negatives: Ease of use, everything working out of the box, and the wireless capability is a combination of features the other systems don't have. If you're still on the fence, the one thing I'd circle back to are Nest cam's long term costs for cloud storage. UPDATE: Less than a month into ownership, some of the shine has come off the Netgear Arlo Pro. None of these issues started until after a week or two after deployment, the cameras worked well out of the box but began to show warts soon after. The biggest disappoint has been Netgear tech support, they never did help me and left my trouble ticket with the answer that a new app will be coming out soon and that should resolve things. When the cameras record video clips, I get large green stripes blocking the field of view. During the Spring and Summer we had no green blotches and the cameras properly reported power levels. If the cameras make it through the winter without doing the green blotch thing and I can pull up the feed on command, I'll raise the rating again. I do like the system, the app and cameras, but the niggling issues (and the fact it still doesn't pick up everything) have kept it from being a five star product."
"I bought this system because I wanted to hang cameras outside of my house so that I can see what's going on when I'm not home and so my wife can feel safer. I have 4 cameras all together, and 3 of them are attached to trees outside, the 4th is outside, but attached to the house. The camera sends you an alert, almost immediately (which I love) when it detects motion. I was looking at the camera image in real time and when I saw one of my cats in the backyard I was able to tell her where he was and she was able to retrieve him. That being said, I have lots of trees near my house, and even with pruning branches, I still get so many alerts when it's windy that I tend to turn off the cameras until it gets less windy. Also, I had to work on placement of the cameras so that I don't get an alert every time a car drove by my house. For me to get on a ladder, unscrew the camera from the mount on the tree, bring it in to charge via USB, then go back out and get on my ladder and try to re-aim the cameras is a pain the butt. The camera is supposed to be an HD camera, but the image during the day is really pixelated, especially if it's windy. The cameras internal IR light is puny, but I have security lights outside to light up my yard, so I don't rely on the cameras own IR light. I would recommend this if you want a general idea of what's happening around your house, just don't expect crisp, sharp images (but really, how often do you see security cameras footage on the news that's clear? I think most security cameras aren't that sharp anyway. ). In fact, I felt the difference was great enough that I've returned my previous system of 5 arlo pro cameras (thank you Amazon for your amazing customer service) and bought 5 arlo pro 2 cameras. I did call netgear and ask if they had some kind of exchange program for owners of the arlo pro who want the arlo pro 2, where I could send my old cameras in, pay the difference, and get new cameras..."
"These cameras should come with an ALARM and GPS/TRACKING ON THE CAMERA units themselves... so if someone steals it, an alarm will go off and the camera will be tracked, much like an iPhone."
Arlo Smart Home Security Cameras are the world’s ONLY 100% wire-free, HD, Indoor/Outdoor video cameras for home monitoring. Motion activated cameras w/ Email or App notifications- Records and alerts only when motion is detected with 7 days of free rolling cloud storage.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"My cars sit close enough to my home that I can place a camera on the dash of the car and it will record if anyone enters my car."
"Previously I've had a four camera wired system with DVR and a two camera Logitech Alert system. Cameras. Nice looking little cameras and they have a bit of weight to them. Video quality. There are three options for video quality: High quality (reduced battery life). Balanced (compromise of image & battery life). Best life (reduced image quality). I used the suggested balance mode and found the image quality to be comparable to my old non-HD wired system and a bit lower in quality than my old Alert cameras. I changed the mode to high quality and the image improved to be comparable to the Alert cameras. You can adjust the image itself using pan & zoom controls (which may in itself adjust the detection zone) but with my old Alert cameras I could zoom the image all the way out but set specific areas that would trigger recording. Of course neither of these works with a Windows phone so you are out of luck if you were hoping to monitor your cameras from a Windows phone. To be fair, I already knew there was no Windows phone app when I bought the system but I hoped there would be a mobile optimized site that would work with my phone. Fortunately the email that is sent when motion is detected does allow (even on a Windows phone) you to play the video that was captured. So from a Windows phone you can play videos after they are triggered (when they are emailed to you) but you cannot stream your cameras in real time. Live streaming (from website). The site basically gives you static images of each camera's view with a play button. You may also take a snapshot of the image as well using a camera button. I want to expand my system to five cameras but the add on cameras are not available until the end of the month."
"Arlo Smart Home - 1 HD Camera Security System, 100% Wire-Free, Indoor/Outdoor with Night Vision (VMS3130-100NAS). I have been bombarded by false alarm alerts that are triggered by cars passing since I installed this camera 5 days ago. But the biggest disappointment is when a postman walked from left FOV to right FOV to my front door (point A to point B in the attached pic), Arlo starts recording only when he turns away. Too many false alarms (>10 videos of nothing per day) and missed detection made this camera useless."
"Totally missed the thief getting into my vehicle. The lag from when the camera picks up motion to when it starts recording is far to long."
Best Dog Feeding & Watering Supplies
In addition to knowing when your dog is active, it can help you to identify separation anxiety through patterns such as constant pacing or licking feet. 3) Person Alert: Furbo will let you know when a human comes into view: whether a dog walker is scheduled to stop by or an intruder enters the home. Furbo uses DOG RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY to send you Dog Activity Alert, Person Alert & Dog Selfie Alert.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The first night I had the Furbo I was awaken several times in the middle of the night by high pitched squealing and giggling of glee from my gf not being able to contain herself."
"When I got my Furbo I had problems making my smart phone work with it-NOTHING to do with the Furbo-but the Furbo people were extremely wonderful and helped me know what to do! I was an hour away from home through this so I connected, and it was sooooo wonderful to see my dogs and know they were doing ok! They went and laid back down and I watched them sleep happily while my husband drove us home!"
"Furbo sends your phone alerts when your dog is barking or when their are loud noises in your house- i.e. when your CO detector is going off!"
"I bought the Furbo as a family Christmas gift so that our kids who are away at school could watch their two dogs at home at pop them treats for fun. I'm out of town for work right now, and the last two nights I've connected and been able to watch the dogs on my smartphone as I shoot them treats which they love. We have to unplug and replug-in the device to start it up again regularly which takes about a minute or two (at home), and/or close the Furbo app and reopen it remotely."
"Furbo sent me notifications to my phone when he was crying, so I would log on and talk to him right away."
"UPDATE*** 1/6/18 customer service contacted us and offered to send us a completely new one for no charge. We've contacted the customer service email a week ago-still haven't heard from them."
Best Door Bells Chimes
With Chime Pro, you’ll never have to worry about your Ring devices going offline, and you’ll always know when you have a visitor. Amplifies notifications from connected Ring Video Doorbells, Video Doorbell Pros and Stick Up Cams.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I've always been tempted to order a Ring, but if you're like me, you've read the reviews and the many horror stories about how bad the product is. I then disassembled my old doorbell and installed the two existing wires to the back of the Ring 2 circuit board. Although the video stated that it did not matter which wire attached to either screw on the back of the circuit board, in my case it did. I then mounted the Ring 2 to my door frame with the 4 provided screws, and made sure everything was level. Once mounted, I adjusted the motion sensor zones and live view settings via the Ring app on my iPhone. I got the notification instantly, connected via the Ring app, and was able to talk and hear her perfectly."
"Before I got the Chime Pro, the signal strength on my Ring Wi-Fi was "Poor" to "Good"."
"after I have installed the new product from Ring, the Ring Door Chime Pro, which is also a Wi-Fi extender, the time lag has been reduced to less than 1 second."
"That being said, every time there is motion on the porch I get a notification wherever I am and can access the video and audio. 30 bucks a year for the basic service is doable for me, and as much Amazon as I do, could pay for itself. I agree with another review that the packaging is super and everything you need is there, though I found a cordless drill helpful."
"I've had the Ring Doorbell 2 and ChimePro for two weeks, and all continue to perform as expected."
"My ring devices are the only things in the household getting horrible wifi, all other devices seem to be working just fine with high speeds and little interference."
Best Surveillance & Security Cameras
The Nest Cam Outdoor is the perfect addition to any home. SECURITY HAS NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD: The Nest Cam Outdoor is here to help set your mind at ease. Nest Cam Outdoor is beautiful, weatherproof, and it plugs into power, so you never have to worry about dead batteries. Whether you're watching for the kids to get home from school, checking to see if your package has arrived, or scaring off a potential burglar, Nest Cam Outdoor is here to help! Nest Cam looks for motion and listens for loud sounds, like a boom or the crash from a window breaking.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Had a Christmas package stolen form my driveway, because of the camera we were able to identify the license plate and the thief which ultimately resulted in his arrest."
"We've had occasional situations where a camera has gone offline, but I attribute that to a flaky WiFi signal and not necessarily the camera. Regarding the Nest video recording service, we pay the monthly fee for all of our cameras. In the simplest of installations, you'd mount your camera in the desired location and then run the cord to an outdoor power outlet, securing the cord along the way with the included clips. I wanted to use this wiring so I was able to use a power over ethernet (POE) splitter and injector (bought on Amazon) to run power to the camera and then connected the splitter to the camera's power cable using a USB adapter. Because the cable is permanently attached to the camera itself (which isn't inherently a bad thing, and probably has to do with waterproofing), installations like mine which don't require the cable to span a long distance to connect to power end up with a long mess of extra cord. Aside from the physical installation, Nest makes it simple to connect and configure the camera to your home wifi. Using the app you can view your camera's live feed, view past motion events (still images if you don't subscribe to the Nest Aware service to record your video), configure settings like night vision, sound, etc., as well as turn the camera off and on (if you ever need to)."
"The problem is that they only offer 2 cloud storage option subscriptions to store your history with their Nest Aware cloud storage offering. Here is the break-down: Currently as of 10/24/2016: 1) 10 day - $100 per year per camera with a $50 discount for each additional camera. So for me - that would be $300 / year - to store 10 days of history for 5 of my cameras. OR - They also have: 2) 30 day - $300 per year / camera with a discount 50% discount per camera ($150 per year). This is ridiculous for home consumers who want simple home security. Nest - please make a subscription option for home security for owners to choose how much storage they want or offer and entry level package to store 1 or 2 days storage at a reasonable price."
"You will either get too many annoying alerts that aren't important or basically no alerts. You get (Some) snapshots of alerts. (This means you're probably going to get a lot of annoying alerts that don't matter to you, or you can basically not get any alerts). Since you only have picture snapshots, a lot of alerts won't even have anything in the picture because the motion detected it too late."
Best Surveillance DVR Kits
SMONET Camera System Transmits Video by 2.4GHz Wireless Signal. Internet is ONLY Required When User View Video Remotely on Phone, Tablet, Laptop and Computer. One Channel is Viewed by Full Screen on Mobile, User can Use 2 Fingers to Zoom In and Out Camera Picture. Need to Find Outlet Nearby for Each Camera or Use Extension Cable for Power Supply. Need to Spend A Lot of Money for Replacing Batteries in the Future. Networking Protocol: UPNP, SMTP, PPPOE, DHCP etc. What's Included: 1 x 4-Channel 1080P NVR Pre-installed 1TB Hard Drive. 4 x 720P Bullet IP Cameras. 4 x 10 Feet Power Supply (12V-1000mA) for Cameras. 1 x 3.3 Feet Power Supply (12V-2000mA) for NVR. 1 x 3.3 Feet Network Cable. 1 x Mouse. 1 x Screw Bag. 1 x User Manual. (Be Sure to Have a TV or PC Monitor to Display Camera Picture, a VGA or HDMI Cable for Monitor Connection and a WAN Router To View Video Remotely.). Pls Note, the NVR Supports 4TB HDD Maximum.The Size of Hard Drive is 3.5 inch. There is NO Picture if All-in-One Computer or Laptop is Connected to NVR Box Directly. 4 Channel HD Wireless Security Camera System for Villa, Home, Office, Shop, Warehouse or elsewhere(Indoor/ Outdoor). The System builds a more Powerful Wireless Signal Coverage and Make the Connection Quick and Easy. Wireless Surveillance Camera System Allows you to View the Live Video Remotely Anytime and Anywhere by Phone and Pad(Available for Android & IOS system, not Windows Users). You can Receive Email Alerts upon Motion Detection or App Alert When Set it Up (Noted: Please Set it Up Properly to Avoid Email Blast). Seamlessly Stream Video Directly to your Smartphone, Tablet and PC. Provide Free 10db Antenna and 10/16/30 Feet Power Extension Cable. Continuous Day/Night Surveillance is Accomplished by IR-CUT Smart System, Powerful IR-LED for Night Vision.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Great system, the video quality is great, the footage is quick and clear, it does not skip."
"So you can have one camera (camera A) communicating directly with the NVR, a further out (camera B) Connecting to Camera A, and a further out yet (camera C) that connects to Camera B. In the attached picture, I have Camera 1 and Camera 2 talk to the NVR directly, Camera 3 talks through Camera 1, and Camera 4 the furthers out camera communicates through 3 back to 1, to the NVR."
"I went inside and dug out an old Swann single 640dp camera security camera system l had but never used. I installed the camera on my barn overlooking the area the kittens lived and hooked up the receiver to my DVR system used to convert miniDV tapes to DVD. I ended up moving the camera to cover more area but I wanted more cameras to catch every move and to make sure no one messed with them. I really wanted to get an 8 camera system but had no way to power them all without doing extensive work running electrical lines everywhere. The cameras were already paired with the NVR so it was pretty much plug and play out of the box. One of the cameras IR lights stopped working a couple months later but Smonet replaced it no questions asked which was really nice. Be sure to delete the bad camera from the system first before trying to set the new one. With the card, I now have hours of kittens playing for the world to watch on YouTube. With all 4 cameras recording you'll get about a month and a half of 24/7 recording before it starts recording over the oldest video."
"I had to message customer support for PC software issue and was taken care of within 15 minutes."
"The product seems to work OK. All cameras are within the suggested range to the main box but still seem to lag a lot."