Just considering upgrading the security, surveillance at OTS towers. We already have a Ring doorbell, but now I’d like to add a couple of cameras. I’d prefer to not to have to wire them into the mains, be wifi and saving images to cloud.
Blink seem like the obvious choice, but what else should I be considering?

all cameras of that type are much of a muchness, I guess if you’ve already gone down that route it makes sense to stick with Amazon brands.
EDIT: actually having said that, I think Ring & Blink are completely separate and not compatible even though they’re both owned by Amazon, so maybe just stick with Ring if they do cameras as well?

The other route would be proper, wired (with network cables, not into the mains) IP cameras, but that is more technical, more hassle to install & more expensive (although better in every other way!!)

I’d have thought Ring would be the obvious choice if you’re already happy with the doorbell. Their battery stick up cam is around £20 more than the outdoor Blink, but often on sale.

BT Shop has the white ones for £72 at the mo.

Reolink are excellent quality and excellent value too. My go-to cameras.

Reolink

I’ve two reolink lumus cameras

Works well, cameras have an led light that turns on when it detects movement and it’s surprisingly bright enough.
Built in siren and 2 way audio.
No subscriptions and the app is good.

Reolink are excellent quality and excellent value too. My go-to cameras.

Reolink are OK and often very cheap on Amazon but they aren’t particularly highly regarded on ipcamtalk (basically this place but for CCTV nerds 😃) vs professional brands like Hikvision & Dahua. I’m sure they are better than Ring or Blink though, at least they are proper IP cameras.

We looked at a few options a year or so ago when someone rifled through my Wife’s unlocked car overnight.
Eufy seemed to have some good solutions, and store the footage to an in-house wireless unit, so there is no subscription to pay.
We never actually got round to buying them so can’t comment on how good they are, but the reviews seem good.

Mmm Eufy is an Amazon brand IIRC. More research required.

oldtennisshoes

Mmm Eufy is an Amazon brand IIRC. More research required.

Not sure about that. You can get them all over the place – not just Amazon.
This website, reckons that they are owned by Anker.

https://www.t3.com/reviews/eufycam-2c-review

This website, reckons that they are owned by Anker.

Of course 🤦‍♂️ I knew they were owned by someone famous/reputable.

Thanks

I have Eufy (about 18 months old) – 2 cams then added a doorcam and also added door sensors on the outside shed and garage. It’s been fine with a few blips after software ‘upgrades’. But overall it has mostly worked fine. The cam models I have (Eufycam2) have had fairly long times between charges – 4-5 months.

They were an Anker company when I bought them (according to packaging).

Very happy with our monitored Ring system.

4 exterior cameras (3 with floodlights), 2 mains wired, 2 battery, 2 interior cameras, 6 motion sensors, 10 door/window sensors and an exterior siren was £780 including 2 years monitoring.

I’ve got a couple of Blink cameras and a Ring doorbell. The Blink doorbell has only just been released or I would have bought one of those as well. The interior camera is mains powered, the exterior is battery powered and has LED spots as well as night vision.

Another vote for Eufy, though there can be some glitches after some software updates. The updates are reasonably frequent though as are the corrections.

Go for the solo cams as these have a longer battery life than the 2C Pro type and also appear to have some AI that you can programme to ignore the residents and pets.

Very happy with our monitored Ring system.

I must admit I’m curious about how many of these systems have been “used in anger”, and how useful the images/videos were during/after the event. (Obviously I appreciate the value re. Peace of mind from these systems)

Also, is it not a bit of a stretch from Ring calling their system “monitored”? AFAIK there isn’t someone sitting there viewing these streams… doesn’t it just phone you automatically when the alarm is triggered?

We have one Ring cam outside, but following a break-in I went with Eufy.

Currently have two cameras and several sensors. Works well enough, app can be a little laggy at times but notifications come through quick enough 99% of the time.

Hopefully I won’t have to chase a scumbag from my home again though.

The Eufy options look good. The wired cams would be perfect if they could be wired directly into the mains, rather than needing a USB socket, as I could then just piggy back them onto the security light wiring. I guess I need a tiny usb socket that I can place in a junction box. 🤔

Got a Blink doorbell, 2 external battery powered cameras, wireless hub thingy, a show 5 and echo dot for £123 during Prime Day. No subscription required and at that price a lot of tech for the money.

Got a Blink doorbell, 2 external battery powered cameras, wireless hub thingy, a show 5 and echo dot for £123 during Prime Day. No subscription required and at that price a lot of tech for the money.

We got the doorbell and echo show 5 on a similar deal. Sent them back a couple of days later. Awful, laggy things. The doorbell alone wasn’t too bad, but the echo show was about as fast as my first smartphone in 2009. When someone rang the doorbell it didn’t automatically display the camera on the Echo show and then when you asked it to show the front doorbell it would just say it was offline, even though it had just chimed on the Show and told me there was someone at the door!

Really like the Reolink ones. Offer a good feature set and price point. Also ONVIF compatible if you need to connect them to something open source. Used some Swann stuff in the past – cheap but crap build quality. Most outdoor stuff leaked or otherwise degraded in 36 months. Plus they had fairly short support and maintenance lifetimes. There’s growing disquiet around Hikvision hardware. Mix of crap security security and patching, and general rise in anti Chinese sentiment.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/05/uk_ban_hikvision_dahua/

The show seems to work ok, that said it only cost a tenner so I’d keep it just for the music and YouTube etc, it’s currently in the shed.

Thanks @cezza168

There’s growing disquiet around Hikvision hardware. Mix of crap security security and patching, and general rise in anti Chinese sentiment.

As someone highly privacy-aware, El Reg have just stopped the Googling I’d started for Hikvision and Dahua. Especially when combined with the questionable ethics.

As someone highly privacy-aware, El Reg have just stopped the Googling I’d started for Hikvision and Dahua. Especially when combined with the questionable ethics.

it’s not to do with the privacy of your personal cameras – they’re talking about state-controlled CCTV in general. Can’t argue with the Chinese-government-ethics part of it, bit out-of-the-loop with that tbh 😳 Shame as the Dahua stuff especially is quality gear!

it’s not to do with the privacy of your personal cameras

Absolutely correct. I didn’t mean that I was concerned with someone watching me hanging my washing out.

I was referencing the bigger picture 🙂

I like my Blinks, but ime they’re not good outside, the weather protection’s fine for keeping the camera intact but not for keeping it producing useful video. But I have them inside the sheds so I don’t care. (on paper it’d be good to have one outside for early warning but in practice, it’d wake me up 10000 for cats)

The whole push alarms etc really are bloody good. Getting instant video is awesome too- OMG WHAT’S THAT NOISE! Oh it’s a bike falling over.

Blimey I was looking on line at these and the doorbell goes and it’s a CPO. Came in, had a long chat and he presented me with a video doorbell. Serendipity.

I’ve got three Blink cameras – one in the garden office, one in the garden and one in the front porch. Video quality is excellent, even at night. Range isn’t great though and notifications to your phone won’t wake you