Seeking a reliable source for purchasing ip security cameras. Been reading posts on this site and it sounds like EBay and Aliexpress should be avoided. If so, who offers the real deal at fair pricing?
SouthernYankee
IPCT Contributor
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Use the forum store for Hikvision cameras and NVRs
For dahua cameras use Andy, he is a forum member and comes highly recommended, excellent deliver, and outstanding service. For Dahua email him if you do not see what you want
@EMPIRETECANDY
kingsecurity2014@163.com
Empire Technology Co., Ltd - Small Orders Online Store, Hot Selling and more on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group
New Amazon shop
Search the forums for reviews on most good cameras.
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My standard welcome to the forum message.
Please read the cliff notes and other items in the wiki. The wiki is in the blue bar at the top of the page.
Read How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) | IP Cam Talk in the wiki also.
Quick start
1) Use Dahua starlight cameras or Hikvision darkfighter cameras or ICPT Night eye cameras (https://store.ipcamtalk.com/) if you need good low light cameras.
2) use a VPN to access home network (openVPN)
3) Do not use wifi cameras.
4) Do not use cloud storage
5) Do Not use uPNP, P2P, QR, do not open ports,
6) More megapixel is not necessarily better.
7) Avoid chinese hacked cameras (most ebay, amazon, aliexpress cameras(not all, but most))
8) Do not use reolink, ring, nest cameras (they are junk)
9) If possible use a turret camera , bullet collect spiders, dome collect dirt and reflect light (IR)
10) Use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)
11) use a test mount to verify the camera mount location. My test rig: rev.2
12) (Looney2ns)If you want to be able to ID faces, don't mount cams higher than 8ft. You want to know who did it, not just what happened.
Cameras to look at
IPC-HDW2231R-ZS
IPC-HDW5231-ZE
IPC-T5442TM-AS
IPCT-HDW5431RE-I
DS-2CD2325FWD-I
Read,study,plan before spending money ..... plan plan plan
Test do not guess
mat200
IPCT Contributor
- Jan 17, 2017
- 15,048
- 25,380
Welcome @Westlake
Many of us prefer Andy as well as the vendor listed here on the site. They have been reliable sources for good IP cameras.
Remember to check out the cliff notes and do pay attention to the executive summary Southern Yankee provided.
If you are new to security cameras, considering buying a decent varifocal model to play with for a bit so you can learn more before making a larger purchase.
Note - sometimes I have found deals with other vendors, but you do need to note that often many of the more popular vendors do not carry the top performing / valued models for low light conditions.