Any Opinions On Ubiquiti Protect/Cloudkey?

[CarlAnthony]

Hi Everyone,

I have experience with Hikvision NVR systems and with some of the lower end consumer grade stuff. I'm installing a new system and am really thinking about giving Ubiquiti a shot. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience/thoughts/opinions.

Lots of pro's with Ubiquiti:
1) Their Cloudkey Gen 2 functions as the NVR and comes with 1TB (Upgrade-able to 5 TB) for $200.
2) Super modular system.
3) Looks like nice web and mobile access. I haven't been impressed with Hik's interface and the VMS-4200 desktop software.

Some cons too:
1) Only one 4K camera and they are quite proud of it. $450. The 1080p cameras seem to be a little more reasonably priced. Especially the $80 G3 Flex.
2) I don't think their equipment plays well with other brands, so I'll be stuck with a 100% Ubiquiti-only system.
2) Young company. I really like their networking products, and am hoping the video products would be as nice as the networking ones.

Does anyone have thoughts? Reviews seem to be pretty good.

TIA.

Carl

 

[Nicholas Odorizzi]

I have used Ubiquity network products for ages with great success. I am not familiar with their cloudkey or nvr but am familiar with the brand and have had good luck with everything I have used.

 

[aristobrat]

I’ve got a smart closet at home full of their network gear. For *my* needs, it’s the best class networking gear for the price. I don’t feel the same way about their video stuff, though.

Most folks here are after the best low-light cameras. Dahua’s Starlight line of low-light cameras has been super popular here since late 2016 and has grown to a bunch of different models: bullets, turrets, domes, mini-domes, PTZs, etc. There’s a great low-light model for just about every use case IMO, with a lot under $200.

Unifi’s first low-light camera came out last year, I think. To me, that was late to the game. It also costs about 2x more than a similar Dahua or Hik low-light model. As you pointed out, they now have a low’sh-light 4K model. Again, costs 2x+ more than a similar Dahua or Hik model.

UBNT folks will mention that the price includes the free NVR software and US-based support and warranty. My NVR software (Blue Iris) cost $59, the forum here has been able to answer all of my camera support questions, and with ~10 Dahua/Hik cameras, I have yet to need warranty support (although I have zero concerns about Andy <great Dahua vendor that folks here use> not helping me if I ever do>). So the idea of paying 100% more per UBNT for that stuff doesn’t make sense to me. For others, it may.

IMO, it’s like they went out of their way to make their cameras only work with their NVR (and vice-versa). To me, camera tech changes frequently and locking into one vendor isn’t some I want to do . Just today someone was looking for a discreet low-light camera for their porch. They wanted a Dahua mini-dome with a 6mm lens, which is hard to find. Turns out Hikvision makes one that’s easy to find. This person uses Blue Iris (which is pretty camera-brand agnostic) for their NVR. So adding a Hik camera to a BI system that’s primarily Dahua cameras isn’t an issue. I don’t think you can mix and match brands like that with Unifi’s NVR (which would drive me crazy based on how few camera models they offer). And if you wanted to add a UniFi camera to a different brand NVR, they only offer the barest of support... a RTSP video feed. Most other pro-grade brands cameras offer ONVIF support, which integrates the camera much more when used with a NVR/VMS of a different brand.

For folks looking for a complete system-in-a-box and don’t care too much about price or ever expanding the system with great cameras from other manufacturers, UniFi may not be bad.

For folks that want to build/maintain their system with the best affordable camera tech, I wouldn’t recommend getting locked into UniFi. For those folks, running Blue Iris on an inexpensive PC (that can be headless after setup) and then buying the best IP cam for the location you’re looking to cover, whether that be Dahua, Hikvision, or another brand, is probably a better choice.

 

[CarlAnthony]

Excellent write-up. Thanks aristobrat. All good points.

 

[Xenon54]

I agree 100% with aristobrat. I have a Unifi network and it's great, especially for setting up a dedicated vlan for your cameras and then powering them with PoE, but in my opinion (and from what I've read elsewhere) you'll get a better quality more capable/flexible system using Blue Iris and dahua/hik cameras.