Recommendation for home security cameras

[Kellsbells]

We have the Ring doorbell camera. I don't find it to be reliable. I've played with every possible setting, and it will catch every car going down the street and every person walking their dog on the sidewalk past the house, but miss the Amazon driver coming up the steps and putting a package down right in front of it. There have been important events (a neighbor's car being stolen in the middle of the night) that just had no footage. Have any of you had similar experiences with Ring and have a solution, or have recommendations for something better?

 

[dsturgeon]

Don't go down that road. It will make you a nut. If you are not armed, get armed, and get a dog. Then don't think about it.

 

[Kellsbells]

Don't go down that road. It will make you a nut. If you are not armed, get armed, and get a dog. Then don't think about it.

That's a bit drastic. Not really worried about break-ins, just like to be able to see when the kids are coming and going, and when packages are delivered.

 

[dsturgeon]

That's a bit drastic. Not really worried about break-ins, just like to be able to see when the kids are coming and going, and when packages are delivered.

you can setup a dark corner of your house to monitor the cameras, make daily and monthly reports on your kids activities, can sit at work and monitor the front of your house, you can place trackers on your kids and their electronics, you can connect all of your electronics including your vehicles

You can sit on the throne of electronics and control your world. You are a cyborg

Haha, I'm joking with you, kind of

 

[John813]

Yea, the ring system is a bit of a hit or miss. That being said I still use the system. The cameras have good enough video quality and I don't want to spend another 500-1000 to replace the ones I got. They seem to better at night at picking up movement more consistently.

I used to have Arlo, but they had a lot more connectivity issues but at this point, they've probably released 1-2 future generations of their cameras

 

[Crazed Liotta Eyes]

We have the Ring doorbell camera. I don't find it to be reliable. I've played with every possible setting, and it will catch every car going down the street and every person walking their dog on the sidewalk past the house, but miss the Amazon driver coming up the steps and putting a package down right in front of it. There have been important events (a neighbor's car being stolen in the middle of the night) that just had no footage. Have any of you had similar experiences with Ring and have a solution, or have recommendations for something better?

I'm interested in this topic too. External cameras still feel like one of those techs that is about to get a lot better, so I've been holding off. I wish I could offer advice but everything I look at seems to have a lot of negative reviews. Reasons like you mentioned. It's a huge market so there should be a lot of motivation for improved technology. I've actually considered the fake ones just as a deterrent but would be a little embarrassed when the "See No Evil" cops showed up at my door. The ID fans out there no what I'm talking about.

 

[Dunks3001]

Just adding my 2 cents. I use the google nest outdoor camera. Catches the delivery driver and others every time

 

[Cowpolk]

Just adding my 2 cents. I use the google nest outdoor camera. Catches the delivery driver and others every time

I checked that one out and am thinking about buying Google is good at spying they have been at it a long time

 

[The Fonz]

check eufy systems..you can find on amazon

 

[Rack]

No problems at all with my ring camera. I also like Blink a lot.

 

[LonnieElam]

Whatever you do, do NOT get Arlo cameras. They're garbage.

 

[triplets_93]

I've been using Ring for about 4 years now. But I'm not an expert on settings. There's probably a Forum on the Internet somewhere that can answer questions and help you. The many levels of sensitivity can be daunting.

I have friends that use the Vivint camera system, and that also works well. Their Vivint system also has a remote security monitoring system.

 

[SlammedZero]

I've had hit and miss experiences with my Ring cameras. I have a doorbell cam and it drives me nuts. I would say 90% of the day I can't see the street because it is whitewashed out in the picture. Ring blames the install location, but I know it was one of their updates. While it is true the camera is tucked away in my doorway and under an eave, I know for a fact it used to work fine. When I first got the camera I could see the street clearly at any given time of the day. In fact, cars cruising by on the street would constantly send me notifications. Then they updated the cam so that I could have zones, and HDR, and it messed it all up. Now I could have somebody standing on my sidewalk, and I couldn't see them because they're lost in the whitewash. The camera is several years old, so I have thought about updating it, but I just haven't yet.

With that said, I also have one of their Stick Up cams. That thing is fantastic. Has a great picture and solid connectivity. We bought it when we got our last Husky puppy, so we could keep an eye on her during house/yard training, and it did great. You could even speak to the dogs through it (which totally messes with them lol). It's been sitting idle for awhile now that they're trained, but I think it's going to go up over the garage.

I've really been debating just getting a DVR system. That was I can keep all my video on storage and I don't have to pay anybody a monthly subscription. It just seems like a lot of those systems come with multiple cameras and I don't really need that many. I don't want to be the guy with a camera on every corner of my house, lol, this isn't Fort Knox. I just would like to be able to keep an eye on a few things.

 

[Creeper]

I've had the Nest cameras around my house for a few years, before Google bought them. I have the doorbell camera, and outdoor cameras mounted outside my house to see all yards and entries into my house. The cameras work great. The doorball picks ups rain instead of people sometimes but otherwise it works exactly as I wanted it too. The cameras are hi-def, and they are equipped with night vision technology. The Nest app lets me turn off the cameras when I am home. Then it turns them all on automatically when no one is home. I get alerts on my phone if it detects people around the house.

There are some little annoyances though, at least for me. In order to change the wi-fi settings you have to scan a QR code on the camera. I guess this is good security, but the problem is the cameras are mounted up under the eaves of my house so the first time I needed to get up on a ladder to get that done. Since then I took pictures of the QR codes just in case. If you get a nest system, then do that before mounting the cameras and save yourself some aggravation later.

Also, Since Google bought Nest they replaced the Nest phone app with their own app, which I do not think is as good. But also to activate certain functionality you have to download the Google Home app and set up your ID through the Google app. The new ID is supposed to work on Nest and Google Home, but it is not perfect at that. Since Google took over nest, I can no longer replay videos when the cameras detect a person. I only get a still picture or 1 frame. So they want me to sign up for the google service to get video playback. I am not a fan of google because I do not trust them with my information or privacy.

and btw, I also have guns, and a dog, although the dog weighs only 4 lbs and doesn't care who comes in the house. The camera alerts give me time to get my guns out of the safe and ready them for any ensuing negotiations.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

I use a Nest cam. Works good.

 

[nobody]

I use a Ring. It sometimes has issues and sometimes doesn't. With it's current sensitivity, I'm beginning to think whether or not it picks up things too far away or to close is based on astrology and voodoo rather than anything else because I have it set to not very sensitive at all and about 30% of the time it picks up stuff on the street when it shouldn't and will on random occasion will miss a delivery guy 3 feet from it.

 

[triplets_93]

The WYZE security cameras are affordable, and, they move, they follow the movement of a person in an area. For example the Wyze V3 Pan camera. No subscription is necessary, but one is offered. Camera can use an SD card to record images.

 

[cityochamps]

 

[Creeper]

Don't go down that road. It will make you a nut. If you are not armed, get armed, and get a dog. Then don't think about it.

Funny, I have a friend whose house was burglarized while he and his wife were out. The cops told him the same thing. Get a shotgun and a German Shepard. He got both, although the dog bit his son's friend and he had to get rid of it. He still has the shotgun though.

 

[dsturgeon]

Funny, I have a friend whose house was burglarized while he and his wife were out. The cops told him the same thing. Get a shotgun and a German Shepard. He got both, although the dog bit his son's friend and he had to get rid of it. He still has the shotgun though.

German Sheppard is the dog I have always wanted, but i was watching clips of rottweiler puppies, and I think they have won me over. I have an attack/gaurd cat at the moment, but when this situation is right, I am going to get a puppy.