Best Place to Buy HIK Vision

B

byee

Young grasshopper
Feb 3, 2015
62
3
Vancouver, BC Canada
Based on the posts in this forum, lots of people are buying the HIV Vision cameras from Aliexpress and eBay simply because of the cost savings.

Is there a way tell if they're the real thing or counterfeits?

Any suggestion for online retailers who sell the HIK Vision cameras at competitive prices?

Thank you!
 
In my view you are very safe on Aliexpress as they have a comprehensive buyer protection scheme. I think eBay is much more of a lottery.
Payment is via an escrow arrangement. The seller doesn't get any money until the buyer indicates the goods have been received and is happy with them, it's a closed-loop buying activity, within the promised delivery time.
And they have automated systems that look for suspicious seller activity - which does happen on such a huge marketplace - which when found freezes the transaction and applies a full buyer refund.
Just check out the seller sales stats and reviews. CCTV Camera China has been mentioned a lot here.
But right now is the start of the 2-week Chinese New Year, where everything stops.
Selling fakes on a marketplace is bad news for its reputation, Aliexpress are very active against this.
But Hikvision fakes - I don't think I've heard anyone on this forum say they've had one.
But what we have seen is 'grey imports', or OEM models, items that Hikvsion have tried to limit to a specific region, to protect the authorised reseller chain's profit margins, which may fall foul of firmware features that try to inhibit their use, eg 'language mismatch' etc.
But people can be very inquisitive and inventive in developing ways to deal with these small barriers.
 
As dave and alastair say, if you buy from a reputable seller you will not have any issues..note that the camera will be china region and if you update the firmware it will revert to chinese-this is true even if you buy from certain vendors on amazon..There are workarounds some temporary some permanent like the fix by member @CBX (there is a small fee)...Honestly since i use blue iris as my vms i generally leave my firmware stock and never update it...
 
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fenderman,

I've never ordered from aliexpress before, just only eBay and amazon.com. Its re-assuring to hear that members of this forum have opted to buy their HIKVISION cameras from alixepress and eBay to avoid the higher local prices. I'm getting the impression the failure rates on the HIKVISION is somewhat low otherwise everyone would be buying locally for the warranty.

Does anything change with @CBX's recent post - http://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php?2601-Hikvison-Permanent-Region-Code-Changer-*SUSPENDED*? Guess at one point, he offered his expertise to permanently change the camera firmware. Will this have an impact on the HIK vision cameras with multi-language firmware? Any impact on BI?

thoughts??
 
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byee said:
fenderman,

I've never ordered from aliexpress before, just only eBay and amazon.com. Its re-assuring to hear that members of this forum have opted to buy their HIKVISION cameras from alixepress and eBay to avoid the higher local prices. I'm getting the impression the failure rates on the HIKVISION is somewhat low otherwise everyone would be buying locally for the warranty.

Does anything change with @CBX's recent post - http://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php?2601-Hikvison-Permanent-Region-Code-Changer-*SUSPENDED*? Guess at one point, he offered his expertise to permanently change the camera firmware. Will this have an impact on the HIK vision cameras with multi-language firmware? Any impact on BI?

thoughts??
Click to expand...
Yes the failure rate is really low so you can basically insure yourself...if you are using blue iris there is generally no need to update firmware on the cams....newer is not always better..
 
very glad to hear the confirmation!

I'm still waffling between the 4mm and 2.8mm lens on the 2332. Do you know if the lens can be changed at a later date or or is it fixed?

thanks!
 
you can change it but its a huge pain...you can buy one of each and test in several locations..
 
I will be interested to get 4mm lens as all my cams are with 2.8mm.
Simply because with 2 of them, the angle is too wide.
Do you have some recommendations or links to get the right model, not too expensive, even from China.
In advance, thanks for your help here.
 
The best place to buy Hikvision is from an authorized US distributor. You get tech support and great customer service. Unfortunately they do not sell direct to the end user, but I run my own small integration company so I get the advantage. Our cost is obviously higher than AliExpress, but when we need support or replacement we can get it.
 
milkisbad said:
If you just need 1-2 cameras Ali is fine.

If you install professionally and don't know what you are doing and needs support, go locally (this is what alot of traditional installers have to do as they have very low networking knowledge, every job they do they need to call for support to help them with port forward, SADP, email alerts, password reset, but you will be paying American prices).

If you are super awesome professional and knows exactly what you need, and can afford to absorb a low defective rate and picky customers who likes to change their minds or switch cameras around or cancel their jobs, then ali might be ok but is still kind of risky for big jobs...you might end up spending more money than getting it locally.
Click to expand...

Local sourcing is crucial when you are working on big projects. I would hate to have a 30+ camera job and not be able to reach support and get a replacement the same day. Also, as far as old school installers, the majority of them are outsourcing their networking portion to other guys (like me). They don't even bother sourcing equipment either for larger projects and leave it to the integrator.
 
I can confirm that retailer NetView on Amazon sells the US edition of 2CD2332. I purchased 2 of them, reverted firmware to US, upgraded to 5.1.6 US with no issues. It was like $1 more than another vendor which sold a hacked-US one which I sent back. Prime shipping, ordered on Saturday and received on Monday.
 
Anyone had issues buying from Aliexpress while we're on the subject? I tried to purchase from CCTV 2 times and once from someone else all high reputable sellers, even told my cc company it was ok and I authorized it. Spoke to the seller and still no luck. Was really weird, unfortunately I ended up buying from eBay for a little bit more hopefully I get it within the next week or 2 lol.
 
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