Best Surveillance & Security Cameras
At 720p, each camera requires 200 to 500 Kbps of upload bandwidth while streaming video.At 1080p, each camera requires 450 to 1200 Kbps of upload bandwidth while streaming video.
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."
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."
Remarkable Field of View with Super Wide 90 degree Viewing Angle, Remote Pan/Tilt, Intelligent Digital Zoom, and IR LED Night Vision Up to 32 feet. Stay in Touch with Two Way Talk, Intelligent Motion Alerts, Email Alerts/Snapshots as well as Mobile and Web Apps (Safari, Firefox, IE Supported - Chrome Supported on Amcrest Cloud).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The IP camera needs to have HD video with good night vision view so we can monitor the room 24 hours. Connect the IP camera to router through Ethernet port (I highly recommend do NOT do first-time setup using the wireless way). Download and install "Amcrest Pro View" app and setup the camera through in app instructions ( Connect smartphone to same device as wired connection, scan QR code for serial number, and establish connection to camera). The IP camera can also be setup through PC if you're familiar with finding IP address of device. For me, I found the easiest way is to check router for connected device and see which one is the newly pop-up right after connecting the IP camera to network. Pan/Tilt/Zoom is supported on this camera and it helps to check the area without physically moving the camera. Amcrest cloud offers up to 4 hour recording free for 1 IP camera."
"I've purchased 3 surveillance cameras with the intent of monitoring my girlfriends retail art supply business. The store owner is somewhat computer savvy, but not overly so and had no problems with the operation and adjustment of this camera's parameters. The cheaper ones just won't do it and you'll barely even be able to decipher the ill-written instructions, much less speak with someone you'll be able to understand IF you can contact anyone in the first place."
"I originally bought the Logitech Circle camera at the same price and ended up returning it because the picture quality was terrible and it didn't have pan/tilt (the most commonly desired feature!). Fantastic picture quality in both day and night mode, super light and portable so you can put it anywhere in the house, and the range for the pan/tilt is huge."
Best Bullet Surveillance Cameras
An affordable security solution for your home and business.This wireless home security camera kit can meet all your needs to check on your home, kids, pets or business anywhere anytime.It is very easy to setup via Zink.You can remote access using smartphone, iPad or PC. * Easy and Quick Wireless Setup. New Zink wireless setup technology allows you to setup your camera easily in seconds. You can expand and customize quickly and easily with extra cameras, to make a whole solution for your home and business. With the plan, you can review, save, and share footage at any time, and reduce false alerts with cloud intelligence. Always Stay Connected - Seamlessly stream video remotely via the mobile Zmodo app for iOS and Android or via Internet browser on user.zmodo.com anywhere anytime. You can share the device to your family and your friends on the app to enjoy the happy moments in your house.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I installed mine on the corners of my house and used a 1/2" drill bit to run the wire through the soffit into the attic."
"The ones I previously bought had long shafts so you could mount the camera on a vertical surface and point the camera straight out."
"I have 8 of these cameras around my property now."
"I have only been able to hook up 2 of the four cameras so far, but I am using them in a small business and they are very easy to use."
"The app that you have to use is junk. (The 5 camera stills probably would have been fine if the motion detection actually worked) (More on that later). I don't know if it's the fault of the camera or the app, but the motion detection is so bad that out of the 50 to 100 cars that pass by my house every day, it has caught 1 car in the last 2 days. It didn't even catch my wife's car or mine when we went to work, came home, or left to go shopping."
"Be advised, unless you pay a monthly subscription fee for Zmodo's "cloud service" these do NOT record."
"I purchased a nvr as well but haven't installed it yet....if these cameras are compatible with the nvr I purchased I will be a very satisfied customer and keep this review at 5 stars. Update: so after purchasing a couple Hi tech nvrs I found out that these cameras are only compatible with their own brand of nvrs."
Best Dome Surveillance Cameras
Amcrest cameras also record to an internal MicroSD card (not included), upload to an FTP as well as record to any Amcrest (or ONVIF compliant) Network Video Recorder (NVR) (not included). Amcrest ProHD 1080P (2.1MP) WiFi Security IP Camera IP2M-841B (Black): Sony Image Sensor & Ambarella Chipset / Quick Setup / Super-Wide 90° FOV / Remote Web Access from Smartphone or Tablet / Storage to MicroSD, NVR, or Amcrest Cloud / Pan and Tilt + Intelligent Digital Zoom / Night Vision Up to 32ft / Two-Way Talk / Smart Motion Alerts. Remarkable Field of View with Super Wide 90 degree Viewing Angle, Remote Pan/Tilt, Intelligent Digital Zoom, and IR LED Night Vision Up to 32 feet. Stay in Touch with Two Way Talk, Intelligent Motion Alerts, Email Alerts/Snapshots as well as Mobile and Web Apps (Safari, Firefox, IE Supported - Chrome Supported on Amcrest Cloud).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The IP camera needs to have HD video with good night vision view so we can monitor the room 24 hours. Connect the IP camera to router through Ethernet port (I highly recommend do NOT do first-time setup using the wireless way). Download and install "Amcrest Pro View" app and setup the camera through in app instructions ( Connect smartphone to same device as wired connection, scan QR code for serial number, and establish connection to camera). The IP camera can also be setup through PC if you're familiar with finding IP address of device. For me, I found the easiest way is to check router for connected device and see which one is the newly pop-up right after connecting the IP camera to network. Pan/Tilt/Zoom is supported on this camera and it helps to check the area without physically moving the camera. Amcrest cloud offers up to 4 hour recording free for 1 IP camera."
"I've purchased 3 surveillance cameras with the intent of monitoring my girlfriends retail art supply business. The store owner is somewhat computer savvy, but not overly so and had no problems with the operation and adjustment of this camera's parameters. The cheaper ones just won't do it and you'll barely even be able to decipher the ill-written instructions, much less speak with someone you'll be able to understand IF you can contact anyone in the first place."
"I originally bought the Logitech Circle camera at the same price and ended up returning it because the picture quality was terrible and it didn't have pan/tilt (the most commonly desired feature!). Fantastic picture quality in both day and night mode, super light and portable so you can put it anywhere in the house, and the range for the pan/tilt is huge."
Best Hidden Cameras
No worries any more for your families, pets, office or stores' security! The resolution of this stores, office and home surveillance camera is high enough and run at fast enough frame rates to enable this advanced camera features like pan, tilt, and zoom or image stabilization. With the core technology "Smart Eyes", this HD IP camera provides a clear night vision through infrared red light! The 32FT night vision range helps protecting your home from theft, burglaries, and vandalism. Latest TENVIS camera technology and top-quality standard for video mark this wireless IP camera as an ideal and distinctive solution for many occasions!
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I had ordered two of a different brand about a week ago and they were a pain to set up- one never would set up right- and the feed would go in and out and worked about 10% of the time- at best. I set both of these up in straight up 7 mins total, in two different rooms, of course, the feed, picture quality, panning and scanning is FLAWLESS!!!"
"Which I found out my dog can hear and then proceeds to bark furiously at (which is no fault of the camera, see attached screenshot."
"the IP camera has a motion detection sensor that triggers alerts and pushes email notification."
"We purchased this camera to use as a baby monitor, more to watch the older kids play in the playroom well I am cooking."
"Another great plus for us is that while that baby is quiet, we do not hear any static coming from the camera's audio. The camera produces a great picture at night with the infrared lights, better than any dedicated baby monitor I have ever used."
"Are I scanned the bottom of the camera that I needed to everything else was smooth to set up."
"Update: 1/4/18 purchased a 2nd Tenvis camera because the 1st one was so dependable and because they my great improvements in the. software where you can see videos taken on line without having to remove and view the SD card."
Best Simulated Surveillance Cameras
Apply it to the shop, supermarket, hotel, parking lot, library, office, plant, community, storage and so on to prevent crimes. Features: The inexpensive solution for security theft problems with high resemblance to real cameras and activation light. Mix dummy and real cameras to increase your security at a fraction of the cost of real cameras. Package Includes: 4 x Wali Bullet Simulation Camera (Silver), 12 x Screw, 4 x Steel Bracket, 4 X Warning Security Alert Sticker Decal, 18 Month Protection, 2 pcs AA batteries operated (NOT included).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"These dummy security cameras really look real because there are real security cameras that are made and look exactly like them…. However, what we did was to hide our real cameras and expose the fake ones."
"While they're made of plastic, you can't really tell unless you're up close and really look at them or touching them which generally won't be the case. I received this product at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased review."
"Sturdy and look very much like the real thing from a distance."
"i added some in with my real cameras....and they look almost identical."
"They Look as real,as real can look.An intruder will surely not assume otherwise.An effective deterrent to help keep your home safer,for far less money,than the cost of a video recorder.Combined with a real full blood German Shepherd,you can't go wrong.when a friend of mine came by to visit,he was absolutely convinced they were indeed very real.I just didn't tell him they were not.Serves their purpose.As for strangers,there's no doubt about the Big Dog."
"They are easy to install ( Just 3 screws) and the look real."
"These look real."
"for the price I paid for these they look pretty good."
Best Hunting & Trail Cameras
iPhone and iPad Bone View Trail Camera Viewer for Apple iPhone & iPad, View Photos and Videos from any Wildlife Scouting Game Cam on Smartphone, SD & Micro SD Memory Card Reader for Deer Hunters. Works with any Apple iPhone or iPad - includes Free extender adapter to fit most phone cases.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If I do have a spare card, I can switch them out and look at pics while I'm in the stand.No problems saving pics to my phone if I choose to do so and I can delete pics I don't want."
"No running back to the truck or leaving bigger card reader or laptop at home! Just store in the case(separate purchase) and keep in your pocket!"
"I also like the fact that I have received a few emails from Outdoor Performance since taking delivery to make sure I was happy with it and that it was working to my expectations, they are willing to help you get it figured out if you have a problem."
"Product works great."
"This is an amazing product."
"I highly recommend this product for SD card viewing by cell phone, iPad, iPhone or any tablet."
"I Loved it at first but it finally just got to the place where it wouldn’t sink and open."
"Verified I had 35 pics to review with onothwr viewer but this thing doesn't work at all."
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 & 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)."
"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."
"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."
Best Complete Surveillance 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"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..."
"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."
Best Remote Home Monitoring Systems
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..."
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)."
Best Safety Mirrors
Specifications Model. Size and Coverage. Mounting Hardware Included. PLXO8. 8" diameter, covers small areas and spot applications. Single bracket. PLXO12. 12" diameter, covers small areas and spot applications. Single bracket. PLXO18. 18" diameter, covers areas up to 15 ft. Single bracket. PLXO26. 26" diameter, covers areas up to 20 ft. Dual brackets. PLXO30. 30" diameter, covers areas up to 25 ft. Dual brackets. PLXO36. 36" diameter, covers areas up to 35 ft. Dual brackets. PLXO48. 48" diameter, covers areas up to 45 ft. Dual brackets. Mirrors installed with a single bracket can be adjusted to almost any angle. Circular convex mirror reflects a wide angle image at a diminished size to extend a field of view.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The problem is that the mirror has a very limited range of adjustment, so you can only position it to be roughly parallel to the wall it is mounted on."
"This filled the bill for me to see the front deck while I'm working at my sewing machine."
"Each mounting post pivot ball is held to the mirror by a plate and three small screws."
"We are 1/4 mile off the road and have an alarm that notifies someone is up the lane and passing the barns, but we could not see who it was."
"Hubby purchased this mirror after a neighbor complained that all of our flowering trees lining the driveway would have to be cut down so that she could see around the curve."
"My wife can now see around the uphill corner when she's turning left into our driveway, our neighbor across the street can see down the road around the curve when she's turning left out of her driveway, and even the UPS driver said it was a big help."
"I found the mounting system to be awkward for my application, where I had to install it on a pole and aim it properly, but I was able to overcome that by using an extra bracket from an old mirror."
"Got tired of pulling out of the driveway into speeding traffic hoping that no one would t-bone me."
Best Outlet
Indoor/outdoor weather-resistant cameras.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Fortunately for me, I do have lighting around my home and will be installing a motion detector on my flood lights to make the camera in the rear of my home more effective."
"Two of the four cameras are just now needing new batteries. I understand that it can be an expensive proposition to need two cameras at each location, however if all you need are the possible entry points to to you home or location to be monitored I think these are just the ticket. I really like the versatility of having zero wires the cameras can literally be placed anywhere within range of your WiFi ie in trees, on roof etc.. The cameras in front pretty much cover the whole front of my home the way I have them set up, and the same in the back."
"So as a user your forced to select 120 always making the other settings useless. Related note on Android you can't even scrub the video playback, you see a play button that you can toggle between playing and pausing but you can never go back in time. I have the camera over looking a large area, so lets say a person walking is like 20 feet away, they are able to walk anywhere from 1/2 the frame to 3/4 of the frame before it kicks into video mode. So basically you're forced to put the cameras so far back to give adequate boot up time for camera recording that the video quality is useless. The solution posted on your forums is to use 2 cameras to over lap an area and daisy chain the detection of one to start the next one. At $150 a camera that is NOT acceptable."