Top positive review
56 people found this helpful
reasonable expectations were surpassed!
By Amanda jobin on Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2020
After having worked a few jobs where I worked with security systems I knew what to expect with a cheap system. what I expected was: grainy image, failing camera: bulky and hot running equipment. night vision of a blind man. what I received was: super clear- read licenses plates from the passing cars clear, cameras that all worked out of the box, equipment that doesn't get hotter than a playstation 2, and reasonable night vision that lets me see clearly about 100 feet. for the price I was expecting a product that would let me try the concept of video monitoring around the outside of my home. Then, if it was something our family felt has promise we'd replace the system a part at a time with higher end gear. This gear is way better than we expected and better than I could have hoped for. IT by far surpasses all of the professional systems I've ever worked with. A wonderful side note is that if there is a blind spot- these are my camera and I can adjust them. when they are work cams I just dealt with the blind spot. there is a nice feeling looking at a tv full of the area around your home and knowing it's safe. My 8 year old is in love with the ease of use of the software- she's able to switch cameras and (digitally) zoom in on the cats (click and drag a box, click inside the box). I am able to watch for ups, fedex without leaving my chair. I have used the app with it some on my tablet and it works great too- allowing standard resolution or high and viewing of all the cameras or just one at a time. It looks like the app supports multiple systems too- which will be nice because we have decided to buy a second 8 camera system and install more looking our at out neighborhood so we can keep a bit of an eye on out entire surroundings. The ease of install was great too- the only thing that could be better there is having some zipties on hand and some cable wall clasps. I had both of those things and that made it simple for me. Installing the cameras is 3 holes with a drill and 3 screws to hold them in place. I took a scrap of paper- marked the 3 holes on the paper and then took the paper up the ladder with me. I taped it on the siding- drilled my holes and that made screwing the camera in a breeze. there are only 2 lines that need connected- a power cord and a camera cord. If you can plug in a cell phone to charge- you can hook up the cameras to the cord. there is no screwing it up. I did have a bit of an issue with the quality of one of the cameras- so I contacted customer service. This was the second time I contacted customer service actually- the first time was to obtain a copy of the manual for planning purposes before my system arrived- which they were quick and awesome about btw. They were also quick and awesome trouble shooting the poor cam quality- going waaaay above and beyond what I would expect for the cost of the system. bottom line- if you're thinking about buying your first system- you can not go wrong with this one. If you have a high end system- then make sure this isn't a downgrade- or go into it with reasonable expectations. (i plan to add photos and maybe a video on a day where it's not raining- the rain just gives a gloomy look)
Top critical review
31 people found this helpful
Price too good to be true
By Brandon Gates on Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2021
Cameras advertised as 1080p, 1920 TVL (1920x1080, 2 megapixels). As received, viewable/recordable is 1080N resolution (1080x960, 1 megapixels), or *half* what is advertised. Camera housings described as metal, IP66 weather-rated. I received plastic-housed cameras that might not even hold up to a spitting contest. I paid just over $200 for this system late-May, 2021 and for that price point I'd rate it a pretty good starter system with ease of setup and use and decent enough capabilities *for indoor use*, or casual outdoor applications like keeping track of where the dog is -- or in my case which part of the garden my chickens and ducks are destroying at the moment. As a system I'd depend on to protect my person from injury or death, not a chance (nor did I honestly expect it to be so given its low cost). Specifically, the plastic cameras are too flimsy to stand up to any abuse by would-be assailants, and the motion-detection features are a cruel joke outside at nighttime when you'd want it most. During the day when spiders and bugs aren't being attracted to the glowing-red IR LEDs, the motion detection works fine so long as you mask out any plants or other objects flapping around in the breeze. At night even with the sensitivity dialed to its minimum setting and most of the field of view masked out I would get alerts from a single camera at least every five minutes due to an insect flying past the lens, or that evening's itinerant spider setting up shop to collect the bounty of same. The system *did* help me locate two possums in the pitch-black. Under the system's built-in IR they were clearly visible and identifiable as such, but it was the ducks getting excited what let me know something was amiss, not the wolf-crying motion detection system. If you're looking for a system to do face-recognition or read a license plate, even at 1080p and the as-advertised performance of the included DVR/controller, this wouldn't be a good choice anyway at any price. Had its true features capabilities not been misrepresented in the marketing collateral I could have given it four stars for value as priced. Due to the false advertising I want to give it zero stars, but Amazon forces me to give it at least one. I have also reported the discrepancies to Amazon. Postscript: as I've been writing this, the DVR has begun power cycling itself about every five minutes (which is apparently not uncommon even in the more expensive Chinese brands). I had been planning to continue using it as a cheapo livestock monitor, but if the suggested easy remedies I've found online don't fix it, I'll have had enough and be sending it back.
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