Question

Where do novice home security camera users turn to for information to get a handle on the current marketplace & players (website, fb group, something more than simply relying on product reviews. )? Background - We have a ring doorbell & now want to add 2 more cameras- one in the garage & one outside facing the back of the house. Weighing how to go about the upgrade-stick with ring & upgrade the cloud storage package, or use a different manufacturer and end up with a different set of issues (paying extra cloud costs / having to manage local storage, separate apps).  

Answer 1

The ring isn’t a security camera, it’s a video door bell.  

Comments

@compander they have a variety of cameras for indoor and outdoor use. The doorbell is motion activated when anyone approaches the front of the house, not just when they press the button.  

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@antonia yes I know, and as someone with 30 years in the electronic security profession The Ring is nothing but a video door bell. Aiphone offers the same ability only more secure and not wireless.  

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@compander With 30 years in, I’m sure you’re good at what you do; however, I’m at the general retail consumer phase & just want to add 2 basic cameras myself, not pay for someone to do a full on security install. I’m sure that is the most secure, and best way to go, but that is not best for my current situation. If you have resources you’d recommend for regular consumers to read up about the current retail marketplace, I’m open ears.  

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@antonia since you already have the ring, they make a Ring camera that goes on your garage with motion lights. Only draw back is you need 120 volts to power it.  

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@compander that one looks cool, but we’re actually looking for the inside of the garage-to check if our doors are closed at night & to see if anyone comes in when we have the bays open during the day for yard work or kids going in and out. Plus, we want one affixed to a fence post on a back corner of the yard focused on the back side of the house.  

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@compander that’s the one I was eying for the garage. But at that point I’d be committing to ring’s ecosystem with a multi cam cloud account. Was questioning if that’s the best vs another system? I tried ordering their indoor/outdoor battery cams on a Costco sale, but was dismayed to find there is no screw securing the battery compartment. Someone can just walk up, twist off the bottom, and take the battery. This would be the concern for the camera we’d need to attach to the fence post out back. So, I figured what I really needed was a website that broke down all the current brands, what separates each model, etc to figure out which path forward was best.  

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@antonia hard wired is the only way to go.  

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@compander I feel you. I want to save the hard wired, expert install for 10 years from now when the kids are teenagers & I need to make sure they stay where I put them  right now, I just need to make sure if some minor property crime occurs, I have a picture of whodunit.  

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@antonia try Lorex cameras. They have wireless and a dvr recorder and you can order directly from them.  

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@antonia don’t trust anyone that claims to have 30 years experience and recommends lorex!  

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@quartzite like SD cards are any better. Lorex is within her price range and she doesn’t have to swap out SD cards to view video. That’s worse than suggesting Lorex.  

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@compander who said anything about swapping out SD cards?  

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@quartzite SD cards fail. Do you even install?  

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@compander for a homeowner like this? No. I don’t install for these customers. I make a quick easy recommendation like a wyze cam, and move on with me day. For serious clients, I won’t install anything lorex, or hik. Customer calls and asks me to install their Costco lorex system? I say no thanks.  

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@quartzite so you’re a trunk slammer then. Hobbist. If Lorex is within her budget, let her try. The post was about ease and cost. It’s not like I’m pushing Genetec, ONSSI or Milestone. Leave it up to those of us that actually know what we are doing.  

Answer 2

There isnt one place. Ipcamtalk. com is a pretty good start, but you'll need to actually read through the posts.  

Answer 3

Just use wyze cams and keep your ring. Using 2 seperate apps isnt the end of the world

Answer 4

We faced the same decision. We have a second home with cameras and we have cameras at our primary home. We started with Ring, because it seemed good and novel. We had no idea we were making a commitment in a way. With the addition of a vacation rental to the mix we decided we were too far in with Ring to change. Not to mention, many of the other cameras on the market have their own set of issues, so we decided to stick with what we knew. Good news, now we have 6 cameras (all Ring), and the newer ones with POE adapter connected to Google Wifi points have good clarity and we have been much happier now that they are not Wifi only. They perform very smoothly and reliably. Good luck!  

Answer 5

I use wyze. Simple and inexpensive. I also have a ring doorbell. I like wyze better than ring. Too much delay with ring.  

Answer 6

Depends really on your budget. Swann systems with DVR start at less than £300, or you can take a more professional approach and go for something like I have a 16 port Hikvision DVR and colorvu cameras. (About £90 each trade) difference is quality. The Swann ones are OK, but the likes of Hikvision the quality is much better.  

Answer 7

I've got imou cameras. When doing research I found the looc camera has the same or better spec then the hive and half price. It also has the option or cloud storage, sd card or NAS.  

Answer 8

Hi Nicole, I do this professionally. Costco has a 3 pack of the ring stick up cams for $250 it's the same as the newly rebranded elite stickup cam. That's your best cost effective way. Also when you go up a cam the plan changes to $10 a month or $100 per year but its unlimited cams at that point.  

Answer 9

Order a few Wyze cams, put SD cards in them, be done with it. No cloud expenses, push notifications to your phone, they’re the Bic lighter of cameras. They’re reliable, yet disposable. They generate very little traffic on your network, continuous recording to the SD card inside, and push notifications with 10 second clips of motion alerts, and remote playback of recorded video. 32gb SD card will hold about 14 days of continuous recording.  

Answer 10

Hardwire IP cameras. that's the only real answer for security. otherwise, just trick your self into ring.  

Answer 11

Cloud storage is useless unless you have 4g backup. First things a smart thief will do is cut your phone line. Then bam, no footage. We are up against thieves stealing the hard drives hence why we hide backups on site. Hard wired IP cameras are the answer with backup secondary hard drives on site.  

Answer 12

I’ve watched hours of reviews and this guy if you search through his videos does head to heads and you can see the same tests with all brands. I choose EufyCam. Every review on them is fantastic and having owned mine for several months they work great!  
https://youtu.be/Rgg48ec9lHA

Answer 13

I’ll go back and read though the other replies later, but my quick take would be to buy a IP cam system. I bought one for $349, has 4 4MP cams, 4 TB hard drive, all is stored locally, motion detection, trip line detection, easy setup, remote access without setting up an account (giving you info out and linking it to your NVR) and the ui is pretty in depth.  

Comments

@aksoyn what brand of cameras did you use? Do you mind sharing the details?  

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@diastyle the WD Readyview. It's on sale at Micro Center for $299 right now. It's not professional grade, but the quality is good for consumer gear.  

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Thanks. @aksoyn