Wireless CCTV, Doorbell etc
Discussion
I have been browsing the forum looking for advice on a decent wireless CCTV and doorbell set up... we currently have the doorbell that came with Sky Insurance and it is simply rubbish! Would like to get a better one, but add in a camera or two outside. Trouble being is I don't really know what I want or need!
Needs to be wireless - both power (so solar or battery) and wifi. Am looking at the TAPO site - don't mind those prices - Arlo seem to be more so assume they are a bit better. Don't mind paying for subscription so the recordings are kept as long as it is reasonable.
So what I am asking the experts here is really life experience with these... any recommendations and advice for someone with zero knowledge on this subject. Would simply like a "attach to the wall, link to the router/phone, subscribe, forget" sort of approach. We are apple users so integration with HomeKit might be useful, but we also have Alexa all over the place (don't ask!!) so integration with that would also be cool.
Thanks in advance!
Needs to be wireless - both power (so solar or battery) and wifi. Am looking at the TAPO site - don't mind those prices - Arlo seem to be more so assume they are a bit better. Don't mind paying for subscription so the recordings are kept as long as it is reasonable.
So what I am asking the experts here is really life experience with these... any recommendations and advice for someone with zero knowledge on this subject. Would simply like a "attach to the wall, link to the router/phone, subscribe, forget" sort of approach. We are apple users so integration with HomeKit might be useful, but we also have Alexa all over the place (don't ask!!) so integration with that would also be cool.
Thanks in advance!
xx99xx said:
Blink cameras/doorbell can do this, and integrate with Alexa (as they are an Amazon product also). Some great deals available on their various discount days.
Change the word Blink for the word Ring and thats us. We have a Doorbell, three stick up cams and a spotlight cam. The spotlight is the best of the bunch primarily because it powered through the mains rather than batteries that said the rest is pretty decent so no real complaints.Bluevanman said:
I had a Blink doorbell,it was rubbish,the delay for notifications was too long to be useful
I believe you can connect the blink doorbell to a traditional chime, using standard doorbell wire. So it will chime immediately just like a normal doorbell (and then probably xx seconds later on your app).geeks said:
Change the word Blink for the word Ring and thats us. We have a Doorbell, three stick up cams and a spotlight cam. The spotlight is the best of the bunch primarily because it powered through the mains rather than batteries that said the rest is pretty decent so no real complaints.
Ring for us as well.We find their products and app to be excellent. Truly fit and forget.
Bluevanman said:
I had a Blink doorbell,it was rubbish,the delay for notifications was too long to be useful
I've got a Ring and it's no better, by the time I get the view on screen any delivery driver is long gone.When we first got it I put this down to our slow internet speeds but we have since got fast cable but no improvement.
I've got various Eufy cameras and doorbell. Doorbell is totally wireless, but cameras I decided to go for wired for power (wifi for transmission of images to hub though).
Generally pretty decent. If you have any way to running power cable to a camera then I'd really recommend doing so. This way you'll get the ability to do constant recording and also not have to faff around with battery charging etc. Eufy do some solar cameras, albeit I've not tried them so can't comment on how well they hold a charge in winter/northern aspect etc.
Eufy app is decent and has no subscription, which was one of the reasons for choosing it. Hub has a hard drive which stores about two weeks of footage (for our 6 cameras, would be a month if you only had a couple of cameras).
One downside is the delay in loading up the footage if you're in anything other than very strong wifi/phone signal. This would likely be improved if cameras were wired for data too, but that would have required running a serious amount of cables to each end of the house to reach the various cameras. If I was doing it all again though, then I'd probably opt for a fully wired system and perhaps look at HikVision professional setup.
Generally pretty decent. If you have any way to running power cable to a camera then I'd really recommend doing so. This way you'll get the ability to do constant recording and also not have to faff around with battery charging etc. Eufy do some solar cameras, albeit I've not tried them so can't comment on how well they hold a charge in winter/northern aspect etc.
Eufy app is decent and has no subscription, which was one of the reasons for choosing it. Hub has a hard drive which stores about two weeks of footage (for our 6 cameras, would be a month if you only had a couple of cameras).
One downside is the delay in loading up the footage if you're in anything other than very strong wifi/phone signal. This would likely be improved if cameras were wired for data too, but that would have required running a serious amount of cables to each end of the house to reach the various cameras. If I was doing it all again though, then I'd probably opt for a fully wired system and perhaps look at HikVision professional setup.
catso said:
I've got a Ring and it's no better, by the time I get the view on screen any delivery driver is long gone.
When we first got it I put this down to our slow internet speeds but we have since got fast cable but no improvement.
Check if you have 'smart motion detection' set on the camera in the app as you can set it on and off, if you have set it 'on' it can delay notifications, its supposed to be smart and you can set it to not notify if they think motion is an animal or a car, so there is a bit of a lag while it does this, if you have it on. I have 7 ring cameras a combo of battery and plugged in, they are alright, the battery spot light one that's usually around £149 you can stick 2 x battery in an, last for months. I have the same camera battery and plugin and the plugin one is better tbh, I think they throttle the battery one a bit to conserve battery life. With the Ring subscription you can set up the cameras to work in groups etc, so if one goes off the others will start recording, you can setup times for the light on the camera to go, also the sirens set to go off in groups.When we first got it I put this down to our slow internet speeds but we have since got fast cable but no improvement.
Edited by PostHeads123 on Thursday 10th April 14:51
Voguely said:
I've got various Eufy cameras and doorbell. Doorbell is totally wireless, but cameras I decided to go for wired for power (wifi for transmission of images to hub though).
Generally pretty decent. If you have any way to running power cable to a camera then I'd really recommend doing so. This way you'll get the ability to do constant recording and also not have to faff around with battery charging etc. Eufy do some solar cameras, albeit I've not tried them so can't comment on how well they hold a charge in winter/northern aspect etc.
Eufy app is decent and has no subscription, which was one of the reasons for choosing it. Hub has a hard drive which stores about two weeks of footage (for our 6 cameras, would be a month if you only had a couple of cameras).
One downside is the delay in loading up the footage if you're in anything other than very strong wifi/phone signal. This would likely be improved if cameras were wired for data too, but that would have required running a serious amount of cables to each end of the house to reach the various cameras. If I was doing it all again though, then I'd probably opt for a fully wired system and perhaps look at HikVision professional setup.
Dufy is what I was looking at off the back of a couple of installation/review videos by the Proper DIY guy so it's good to hear some real world experience of their products too. Another review video seemed to rate the notification speed of the Dufy cameras too.Generally pretty decent. If you have any way to running power cable to a camera then I'd really recommend doing so. This way you'll get the ability to do constant recording and also not have to faff around with battery charging etc. Eufy do some solar cameras, albeit I've not tried them so can't comment on how well they hold a charge in winter/northern aspect etc.
Eufy app is decent and has no subscription, which was one of the reasons for choosing it. Hub has a hard drive which stores about two weeks of footage (for our 6 cameras, would be a month if you only had a couple of cameras).
One downside is the delay in loading up the footage if you're in anything other than very strong wifi/phone signal. This would likely be improved if cameras were wired for data too, but that would have required running a serious amount of cables to each end of the house to reach the various cameras. If I was doing it all again though, then I'd probably opt for a fully wired system and perhaps look at HikVision professional setup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_pSkcomXlA&t=...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgdxHaNZctM&t=...
I'll need to sort my WiFi so it reaches the garage before I get them though.
ianreeves said:
We have Swann cameras and doorbell..
They are a real pain with wireless, to the point we hard wired the cameras and have a repeater right by the door bell.
I'd not recommend 5/10
I had a Swann wired CCTV system which was comically bad. Couldn't read a number plate at 7 or 8 metres so sent it back. They are a real pain with wireless, to the point we hard wired the cameras and have a repeater right by the door bell.
I'd not recommend 5/10
We use a mix of ring and TP link. Both good.
PostHeads123 said:
Check if you have 'smart motion detection' set on the camera in the app as you can set it on and off, if you have set it 'on' it can delay notifications, its supposed to be smart and you can set it to not notify if they think motion is an animal or a car, so there is a bit of a lag while it does this, if you have it on.
Thanks, just checked and 'Smart Alerts' (if that's the same?) is off and not required as my driveway is well away from any passing traffic so no 'accidental' movements there also, it's connected to power so not battery/saving related.Just doesn't respond quick enough or maybe my expectations are too high?
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