You won't find a better or nicer camera vendor than Andy. Period.
Question about Empire Technology Co.
- Thread starter Slice
- Start date
I have bought from Andy via AliExpress, Amazon, and Direct. Amazon makes it easy to use a company credit card from one of the large corporate companies,
AlliExpress has cheap prices, but I have done my last orders direct from Andy and use PayPal to pay.
Email him with your requests and give him your email for pay pal. Once you both decide what to order, he will send you an invoice from his company, and
you go into pay pal and pay it. Simple as that. You get an update from pay pal, and from Andy. Then Andy will send a way bill number for you to track.
As far as Andy's English, I would say it is SOOO much better then my Chinese, that there is no way that would work!
He bends over backwards to help with problems. Most of the time this board will give you the answers before he wakes up, but if not, he will jump in and help you.
I am 100% sold on Andy.
AlliExpress has cheap prices, but I have done my last orders direct from Andy and use PayPal to pay.
Email him with your requests and give him your email for pay pal. Once you both decide what to order, he will send you an invoice from his company, and
you go into pay pal and pay it. Simple as that. You get an update from pay pal, and from Andy. Then Andy will send a way bill number for you to track.
As far as Andy's English, I would say it is SOOO much better then my Chinese, that there is no way that would work!
He bends over backwards to help with problems. Most of the time this board will give you the answers before he wakes up, but if not, he will jump in and help you.
I am 100% sold on Andy.
Andy indeed sounds like the real deal. I hope my first experience goes well 
In the US, an official Dahua camera can cost 2 to 5 times or more than what we can purchase them for from Andy because the official US distributors want you to go through their professional installers or want you to buy in quantity, so we pay a premium markup. Neither of which most of us here want to do. Maybe some pockets of the US folks can get a good deal from an authorized Dahua dealer in the US, but most of us don't.
Further, any issues would have to go through the distributor and Dahua US will not talk to us. And for the few cameras we would be purchasing from a distributor, I doubt the customer service would be very good.
Warranty & RMA
How many people here in the US are saying they are getting great deals on Dahua cameras purchasing from authorized Dahua US dealers here?
How many with official US Dahua cameras are running firmware more recent than what Andy gets for us?
In my experience with electronics, they poop out immediately or within a year. Andy's warranty takes care of that and he showed it with a recent member here that was over the warranty period and he sent back a camera and Andy sent him a new one not some refurbished unit.
In a rare instance a camera poops out after one year, the initial savings I have from purchasing from Andy can buy me a newer camera and I still come out ahead...
The few times I have had a longer warranty on an electronic, it was a painful process and long and drawn out and then they send you a clearly refurbished product. For warranty, I want either my unit fixed or a brand new unit and not someone elses that broke and they fixed.
If I can get a 5 year warranty on anything, but it cost me 5 times as much to purchase that product than it does to go with an OEM that is 1/5 the cost, I will take my chances. If I get 3 years out of it, I am still better off. If I get 5 years, even better. Only after purchasing the 6th replacement in 5 years do I lose in that scenario.
Loryta and Empiretech are Dahua OEM sold by Andy. Some of my cameras I have bought from Andy from his Amazon store come as Dahua cams in Dahua boxes with Dahua logos, and some are not logo'd - I think it depends on how many cameras Andy buys if he gets them with the Dahua Logo or not. But regardless, they are Dahua cams. If you get a camera that has Dahua on it, then the camera GUI will say Dahua; otherwise it will simply say IP Camera but looks identical except without the logo.
You can update the firmware on Andy's cameras from the Dahua website, thus proving they are real Dahua. But you will find that the firmware we get from him is actually better because many members here provide feedback to Andy and then Dahua makes modifications to the firmware and sends back to him and then he sends out to his customers. These have been great improvements that Dahua doesn't even update their firmware and add to their website. So many of us are running a newer firmware than those that purchase Dahua cameras through professional installers. Smart IR on the 5442 series is one such improvement. Autotracking on the 49225 PTZ is another. We got the next version of AI SMD 3.0 prior to anyone else as well.
Look at the threads here where members are actually testing firmware and improving it for Dahua - find a US Dahua dealer with that type of relationship that Andy has with Dahua - I don't think you will find it.
Andy has great customer service as well.
Most of us here know that the Dahua and Hikvisions of the world do not cater to the "consumer" market - their target audience is professional installers, so we are considered "prosumer" and we are fortunate to get our hands on these types of cameras and NVRs instead of consumer grade junk and not having to go thru professional installers to get quality gear. Now the downside is we get them at a discount and without manuals and support and thus are on our own to figure it out. And we are just fine with that! That is what Google search and this forum is for!
We are fortunate a forum like this exists to help with that. We do not exist in their world and that is their business model and they made the business decision to not compete with the Rings and Nests and Reolinks of the world and as such to do offer these cameras at box stores for consumers to purchase directly. Dahua and Hik cater to the professional installers...and would tell you to contact the vendor you got them from if you have questions or need support...
Contrast that with consumer grade units. You can call a Night Owl or Arlo or Reolink or Lorex or Amcrest or DLink or Google Nest or Ring and speak to a representative (now whether they can help you or not is another story) and for most novice callers they provide good customer service, but they will not tell you to talk to Best Buy where you purchased it...and several of these cost the same or more as Dahua or Hikvision...
Personally I will take better quality cameras and no support and forums like this than crap cameras with customer support that I end up knowing more than the call center person I am calling...
But many of us can attest to the customer support Andy provides.
Further, any issues would have to go through the distributor and Dahua US will not talk to us. And for the few cameras we would be purchasing from a distributor, I doubt the customer service would be very good.
Warranty & RMA
How many people here in the US are saying they are getting great deals on Dahua cameras purchasing from authorized Dahua US dealers here?
How many with official US Dahua cameras are running firmware more recent than what Andy gets for us?
In my experience with electronics, they poop out immediately or within a year. Andy's warranty takes care of that and he showed it with a recent member here that was over the warranty period and he sent back a camera and Andy sent him a new one not some refurbished unit.
In a rare instance a camera poops out after one year, the initial savings I have from purchasing from Andy can buy me a newer camera and I still come out ahead...
The few times I have had a longer warranty on an electronic, it was a painful process and long and drawn out and then they send you a clearly refurbished product. For warranty, I want either my unit fixed or a brand new unit and not someone elses that broke and they fixed.
If I can get a 5 year warranty on anything, but it cost me 5 times as much to purchase that product than it does to go with an OEM that is 1/5 the cost, I will take my chances. If I get 3 years out of it, I am still better off. If I get 5 years, even better. Only after purchasing the 6th replacement in 5 years do I lose in that scenario.
Loryta and Empiretech are Dahua OEM sold by Andy. Some of my cameras I have bought from Andy from his Amazon store come as Dahua cams in Dahua boxes with Dahua logos, and some are not logo'd - I think it depends on how many cameras Andy buys if he gets them with the Dahua Logo or not. But regardless, they are Dahua cams. If you get a camera that has Dahua on it, then the camera GUI will say Dahua; otherwise it will simply say IP Camera but looks identical except without the logo.
You can update the firmware on Andy's cameras from the Dahua website, thus proving they are real Dahua. But you will find that the firmware we get from him is actually better because many members here provide feedback to Andy and then Dahua makes modifications to the firmware and sends back to him and then he sends out to his customers. These have been great improvements that Dahua doesn't even update their firmware and add to their website. So many of us are running a newer firmware than those that purchase Dahua cameras through professional installers. Smart IR on the 5442 series is one such improvement. Autotracking on the 49225 PTZ is another. We got the next version of AI SMD 3.0 prior to anyone else as well.
Look at the threads here where members are actually testing firmware and improving it for Dahua - find a US Dahua dealer with that type of relationship that Andy has with Dahua - I don't think you will find it.
Andy has great customer service as well.
Most of us here know that the Dahua and Hikvisions of the world do not cater to the "consumer" market - their target audience is professional installers, so we are considered "prosumer" and we are fortunate to get our hands on these types of cameras and NVRs instead of consumer grade junk and not having to go thru professional installers to get quality gear. Now the downside is we get them at a discount and without manuals and support and thus are on our own to figure it out. And we are just fine with that! That is what Google search and this forum is for!
We are fortunate a forum like this exists to help with that. We do not exist in their world and that is their business model and they made the business decision to not compete with the Rings and Nests and Reolinks of the world and as such to do offer these cameras at box stores for consumers to purchase directly. Dahua and Hik cater to the professional installers...and would tell you to contact the vendor you got them from if you have questions or need support...
Contrast that with consumer grade units. You can call a Night Owl or Arlo or Reolink or Lorex or Amcrest or DLink or Google Nest or Ring and speak to a representative (now whether they can help you or not is another story) and for most novice callers they provide good customer service, but they will not tell you to talk to Best Buy where you purchased it...and several of these cost the same or more as Dahua or Hikvision...
Personally I will take better quality cameras and no support and forums like this than crap cameras with customer support that I end up knowing more than the call center person I am calling...
But many of us can attest to the customer support Andy provides.
IAmATeaf
Known around here
Something else to add is that Andy sells cameras which certainly here in the UK aren’t freely available as they are not the popular choice that resellers or installers use.
Watch on the Prime day Discount, the last time BIG discount before Black Friday in Nov.
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Mark_M
Known around here
Bought from Andy in December last year.
I went through AliExpress so the only communication I got was a 'thankyou' in private messages when I messaged about it arriving.
Camera has worked flawlessly.
Highly recommend.
I went through AliExpress so the only communication I got was a 'thankyou' in private messages when I messaged about it arriving.
Camera has worked flawlessly.
Highly recommend.
I will echo the comments so far. I have purchased at least 6 cams from Andy and never had any issues. I find it easiest to just message him here on this forum
But - I won't forget that when the Pandemic first hit and there was an extreme shortage of masks in the U.S., Andy was kind enough to ship me a box of them at no charge. (Thanks again Andy)
But - I won't forget that when the Pandemic first hit and there was an extreme shortage of masks in the U.S., Andy was kind enough to ship me a box of them at no charge. (Thanks again Andy)
If only Andy sold health insurance plans 
I have...24'ish? Dahua cameras all purchased thru Andy via email (not on Amazon) cause he responds faster in such a way. You figure...24 x $150 (avg camera $) + a SD4 PTZ? That is alot of money to sink into 1 vendor. For something like that to happen, I guess I would have to really trust that vendor! Knowing full well, he (I assume it is a he... Andy could be female?) supports the cameras that he sends out to me, us, whoever....when, in actuallity, he doesn't really need to but wants to. All my Dahua cameras are 100% functional, except one of my 3 VTH intercom units. It's well over the warranty period but the issue happened right at the beginning of the pandemic when China was all shut down. He said he will cover me when things settle. I'm sure he will come through.
I have...24'ish? Dahua cameras all purchased thru Andy via email (not on Amazon) cause he responds faster in such a way. You figure...24 x $150 (avg camera $) + a SD4 PTZ? That is alot of money to sink into 1 vendor. For something like that to happen, I guess I would have to really trust that vendor! Knowing full well, he (I assume it is a he... Andy could be female?) supports the cameras that he sends out to me, us, whoever....when, in actuallity, he doesn't really need to but wants to. All my Dahua cameras are 100% functional, except one of my 3 VTH intercom units. It's well over the warranty period but the issue happened right at the beginning of the pandemic when China was all shut down. He said he will cover me when things settle. I'm sure he will come through.
If only Andy sold health insurance plans
He padded cameras free of charge with some extra material (face masks) purchased at the beginning of the pandemic, does that count!
So yeah, my camera arrived from Andy earlier this week.
I'm really impressed by the fast delivery and service from Andy. The camera quality is also impressive.
Thanks for all the feedback guys!
I'm really impressed by the fast delivery and service from Andy. The camera quality is also impressive.
Thanks for all the feedback guys!
user8963
Known around here
i think this is the most important part of all...
normally if you have a problem which is clearly a firmware bug the 1st level support will claim that you are the problem and something is wrong with your setup. after that they will replace the item several times if its under warranty. you will never see any 2nd level support or even can talk to someone who have contact to the firmware development guys..... it takes a really long time until a firmware bug is resolved.
actual i have this problem with a hikvision intercom system. i want to add a dahua camera to it... it claims that it can use onvif cams ... BUT you cant change the path of the stream url. the monitor is just trying to connect to rtsp:/user.password@ip.port/ .... i provide them everything ... pictures ... logs which i made from with a ttl-usb adapter... everything is there and the problem is clearly in the logs ! but they dont understand ... the support cannot understand what the problem is. its just one little change in one variable... but the 1st /2nd level support not even know who they can contact... it is really frustating ... they just can replace it... again and again
also annoying with hikvision is there distribution / support policy... you only get support if you bought the item from an authorized seller. even if you have, you cannot contact main china support directly... you have to contact your regional support which can be better than others, if you are in the better region...