@bozoreefer thanks for sharing the experience, @wittaj can help share some settings on BI, but different place use different light situation in the night.
Here just as an example by looney's settings, he is at a very dark night light place.
Yesterday I upgraded my two T5442-ZE cameras to the T54IR-ZE-S3. The new T54IR-ZE-S3 is in a different league, especially at night. During the day I see little improvement.
For this comparison I have the new and old cam's at the same settings: Smart IR on, Shutterspeed 8.3ms, Gain 50.