HOME SECURITY CAM - What do You Use?

[TrailHunter]

I didn’t even realize that was a thing to have a LTE cam. Pretty cool option.

Ring has a Jobsite option for this as well... The GC on one of our jobs is using it right now. He set it up after someone broke in.

Ring Jobsite Security, an Outdoor Construction Site Security System

Ring's Jobsite Security protects your construction site, materials & equipment with a monitored security system that's based not only off wifi signals but cellular as well.

ring.com

 

[bobfriesenhahn]

It’s on land, with no power or utilities.

It seems like the equipment to support and use Wi-Fi does not require much power. There are solutions...

 

[JAGS]

Just saw this. New cam option from eufy. Had no idea there was lte cams till this thread. Then I just see this.

 

[wayoflife]

Just saw this. New cam option from eufy. Had no idea there was lte cams till this thread. Then I just see this.

View attachment 406912

Yeah, they're like game cams but in a lot of ways, better or at least, for home security. I think piginajeep has something similar but made by Arlo.

 

[JAGS]

Yea

Yeah, they're like game cams but in a lot of ways, better or at least, for home security. I think piginajeep has something similar but made by Arlo

Yeah. His post here was the first I’d seen that actually. When doing my research a couple years back, I chose over eufy over arlo based on details/reviews at the time. Not sure how they go head to head now, but eufy does have a LTE option for those who want it.

 

[JAGS]

For anyone interested, just got an email from Eufy that they started their 8th anniversary sale. Some good deals depending on what one needs if you click on the items to see the coupon price.

 

[Colorado4x4]

We had Simplisafe system for 4 years and then moved into a new house and the wife got us set up with a Vivint system. The Simplisafe system was always losing connection and causing all kinds of errors. I think we paid $40/month for this crap. The Vivint system is 10X better. We have 3 cameras on the exterior of the home and then the doorbell camera. It’s been a year and a half and they haven’t had one glitch. The software and hardware on these cameras is solid. The app mostly always works. I think we’re paying $80/month for this one. If you didn’t want monitoring, I would look and try to find some high quality, plug in cameras with WiFi like the ones I have. You can find the ones Vivint sells from the manufacturer I would think

 

[jamesrw30]

Interested in this. I've looked at Reolink cameras and building me a machine to store them. Using something like blue iris to run them but I know there's alot of cost involved going that route.

 

[jamesrw30]

So for those using eufy, I'm assuming they have their own app for notifications and viewing. I notice they use on board storage which is nice. Are they pretty reliable and clear? I have been looking at the 2k wireless cams, especially adding the solar panels as I get plenty of sun at my house. If it's several days or rain, are the batteries plenty capable of lasting for a good while?

 

[wayoflife]

So for those using eufy, I'm assuming they have their own app for notifications and viewing. I notice they use on board storage which is nice. Are they pretty reliable and clear? I have been looking at the 2k wireless cams, especially adding the solar panels as I get plenty of sun at my house. If it's several days or rain, are the batteries plenty capable of lasting for a good while?

I just bought a eufy Security 4G LTE Cam S330 and it's 4k cam and yes, it has it's own app for notifications and viewing. I got it specifically because it's solar powered and its ability to be used with both wifi and more specifically for me, with cell service. So far, it's been working well but then, I've only had it running for a few days and the skies have been clear. Picture is awesome when it's coming in clearly and I love that you can zoom in up to 8x and still get a good picture. I also like how you can rotate the cam so that you can see 360° around it. If there is a downside, it's that my cell service isn't super great and so the picture gets distorted from buffering from time to time. However, if you have a strong signal and or wifi, this won't be an issue for you. I look forward to posting up again after I've had it working for longer.

 

[wayoflife]

I should note that eufy does have a cool power management section on their app and in it, you can see how much power has been used and where it's at now. Here's a shot of what I see on my one cam that I have set up and you can see it starts at just shy of 100%, got fully charged, dipped down a bit but now is at 100% again.

 

[matt]

Hi Eddie, I use Ubiquity. Its not for the budget minded.

However it does solve many needs for me while leaving me to deal with only one ecosystem for firewall, wifi, telcomm, and security. most cams are wired however there are wireless options. everything is stored locally and can be accessed via iPhone/iPad/browser, and yes android too. extremely easy to add additional hardware and configure. you can have it as simple or as complex as you needs warrant.

probably not the solution you were looking for but thought id share my usual .02 for others that might be interested.

 

[jamesrw30]

I just bought a eufy Security 4G LTE Cam S330 and it's 4k cam and yes, it has it's own app for notifications and viewing. I got it specifically because it's solar powered and its ability to be used with both wifi and more specifically for me, with cell service. So far, it's been working well but then, I've only had it running for a few days and the skies have been clear. Picture is awesome when it's coming in clearly and I love that you can zoom in up to 8x and still get a good picture. I also like how you can rotate the cam so that you can see 360° around it. If there is a downside, it's that my cell service isn't super great and so the picture gets distorted from buffering from time to time. However, if you have a strong signal and or wifi, this won't be an issue for you. I look forward to posting up again after I've had it working for longer.

Thank you for the update. I'll be interested to see more updates. They're stuff isn't cheap but I'm thinking you get what you pay for. The 4G option is really cool but the wifi in my house is really good so I'd just go that route but I get needing it, especially at your properties. The power management screen is definitely a nice touch.

 

[piginajeep]

My Alro is still running on battery, how long ago did that solar panel come off? A week ago ? Not to bad.

 

[Bear_JT]

I’m definitely going to try the Eufy. I had an incident happen literally in my driveway today in front of my Ring cam and the POS didn’t even activate so nothing recorded.

 

[Chain Reaction]

I have Ring and like the spotlight camera. The one camera I don't like is the doorbell camera because no matter how sensitive I set it, it starts recording after someone is leaving the porch, and the video quality sucks too, so I probably need a new one.

 

[OverlanderJK]

I have Ring and like the spotlight camera. The one camera I don't like is the doorbell camera because no matter how sensitive I set it, it starts recording after someone is leaving the porch, and the video quality sucks too, so I probably need a new one.

My ring did the same. And the few times it did work, the notification came after the person was gone. I’ll never buy another ring.

 

[jamesrw30]

My ring did the same. And the few times it did work, the notification came after the person was gone. I’ll never buy another ring.

I got rid of my ring doorbell for the same reason. It always only worked OK but after several years it got much worse. Went with a nest doorbell and really like it. For cams I like having something that's doesn't need a plan to use.

 

[waynem]

Hi Eddie, I use Ubiquity. Its not for the budget minded.

I've used Ubiquity for years on the network side and have Ring installed for cameras since I needed an actual monitored alarm and was already paying the annual fees. Ring is simple enough to use, the cameras are decent quality and there are lots of wired and wireless options for them.

I used Logitech's Circle cameras for a while but their batteries were complete trash in the cold winters. At least Ring has a wired option where it's possible to get cable/power to them.

The issue with the cheap consumer stuff is you don't always know who makes it, where they are actually storing your videos and if they understand software and network security (answer.. they don't). Eufy, for example, is made by Anker. They have been trashed repeatedly for bad security including finally admitting that none of your pictures/videos are encrypted and, at one point, could be easily viewed by anybody using VLC. They did finally join HackerOne's bug bounty program so maybe they are taking things more seriously now.

Ring isn't necessarily any better... they have, for years, been accused of turning over video to the police so your doorbell cam is effectly spying on the neighbourhood.

And of course, we drive Jeeps made by a company that seems to think that manual transmissions need computers and software so we are already screwed....

 

[bobfriesenhahn]

I've used Ubiquity for years on the network side and have Ring installed for cameras since I needed an actual monitored alarm and was already paying the annual fees. Ring is simple enough to use, the cameras are decent quality and there are lots of wired and wireless options for them.

I used Logitech's Circle cameras for a while but their batteries were complete trash in the cold winters. At least Ring has a wired option where it's possible to get cable/power to them.

The issue with the cheap consumer stuff is you don't always know who makes it, where they are actually storing your videos and if they understand software and network security (answer.. they don't). Eufy, for example, is made by Anker. They have been trashed repeatedly for bad security including finally admitting that none of your pictures/videos are encrypted and, at one point, could be easily viewed by anybody using VLC. They did finally join HackerOne's bug bounty program so maybe they are taking things more seriously now.

Ring isn't necessarily any better... they have, for years, been accused of turning over video to the police so your doorbell cam is effectly spying on the neighbourhood.

And of course, we drive Jeeps made by a company that seems to think that manual transmissions need computers and software so we are already screwed....

The only way that encryption can work if it is done in the camera using a key/certificate that only you can know. And then decrypted on your end using a key that only you can know. It should never be possible for anything in the "cloud" to be able to make sense of your files.