Reolink - good & bad

I got ya.

I've heard some complaints about their customer service. Fortunately I have not had to deal with them. I buy through amazon and the only issue I had was a Foscam PTZ I bought for a client arrived with a zoom issue (motor clicks, no zoom) but amazon took back and the client was annoyed enough with the delay to spend more (like I asked at the start) and he wound up with a Dahua.

FWIW, so many of the amazon reviews on IP cams, Ubiquiti radios, etc. are so ridiculous...there are so many people out there that, as my euphemism-blessed grandpa would say "couldn't pour pee out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel". It's not a crime or a sin to not be an absolute network guru but when you give a 1 star rating because you bought a POE device and it did not come with a POE switch or injector and the description clearly states that it does NOT, then I'm sorry....you are most likely out of your league. It's going to be an uphill battle for you to configure and set up a working Layer 2 Transparent Bridge. Many of them think it's a plug 'n play setup....not sure where they got that idea.

My fav? A specially priced Keurig coffee maker, pictured as RED, no drop-downs for any other colors, description clearly states RED, has this 1-star review:
"It's a nice unit but it was red and I wanted black".

Help me, sweet Jesus.
 
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And a pet peeve of mine with Amazon reviews is that Amazon often groups various models of an item class together in one listing, with, as you point out, a menu to select between them. That's fine, but:

Then they group all of the reviews together so you can't tell which reviews apply to what item, and this makes the review ranking worthless for any given option.

It wouldn't be that hard for them to group the reviews separately for each option within a group. Not for colors or irrelevant options, but for devices where the items are completely different designs, etc. Different sizes or speeds of hard drives, or different models of power supplies, etc.

And then there are all of the fake reviews that so many items receive.

If in doubt, I like to use Fakespot to analyze reviews on Amazon. Very revealing! But Amazon could cure all of this and make their reviews a lot better if only they actually wanted to do so.
 
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TonyR said:
Not sure what you mean...all 3 of those cams, the 941, the 841 and the 721, have an alarm feature with alarm in/out on back panel.
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I meant simple alarm/siren inside to activate through app. But you mean hooking it up to an alarm?
 
I too have had very good luck with the 5 Foscam and 7 Amcrest cameras that I've purchased over the years. Many different models as time & technologies have progressed. I've used indoor cameras outdoors for years (no direct rain) and the only issue is plastic starts to get sticky but from an electronics standpoint, they are solid.

I jumped on the board today to see if I should deviate from Amcrest and get one of the Dahua cameras from Andy (IPC-HDW2231R-ZS 2MP Starlight IR Eyeball Network Camera) or just stick with my tried & trusted Amcrest. Seems from above, that I've probably been buying Dahua all this time, lol.
 
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Hi TonyR

Where you referring to the Starlight model or the Amcrest? The Starlight is approximately twice the price and I'm curious if I'll see twice the improvement in image quality.

Thanks,
Eric Q.
 
Eric Quarnstrom said:
Hi TonyR

Where you referring to the Starlight model or the Amcrest? The Starlight is approximately twice the price and I'm curious if I'll see twice the improvement in image quality.

Thanks,
Eric Q.
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The Dahua Starlight....it's worth every penny if you want great low light performance...it's so good many times it will remain in color mode when non-Starlight models have to go into B & W.
 
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It's always interesting to join in on a long running post. I was looking for Reolink experience as I recently purchased a simple WiFi E1-Pro to help my aging parents remotely. This wasn't for external security and I was looking for a quick way to get video in the kitchen to monitor my dementia Dad and help my slightly cognitive impaired mom. Both homes have 50 Mbps or better FIOS connections and my 4G/LTE IOS smartphone also has sufficient bandwidth for the connections.

So far, the Pros outweigh the cons and I've been pleased with the quick setup and remote monitoring. For less than $100 total, I've got two E1-Pro cameras, an App for the phone, and a client for my PCs. My first problem was changing the WiFi setup when I moved the first camera to my parent's home. I had set it up at my house and then moved it without thinking about the connection (guess that's not Reolink's issue, eh?). The manual was not clear on how to access the reset button which is hidden at most camera positions and I was hesitant to manually push on the camera movable lens. Obviously couldn't use the remote camera controls since it wasn't connected. Eventually found out that it was safe to manually rotate the lens to access the reset and successfully reset the camera.

The software has met all my current needs. The motion detection can be scheduled (when to apply) and the sensitivity adjusted (from low enough to never activate to reasonable motion activation for an inside application). The PC client connection was straight forward using the UID (camera id via Reolink) and allowed me to quickly setup. I understand this is not the best network security and will work to setup differently or use BI in the future. However, my immediate concerns were physical safety (monitoring my Dad during the nighttime) and support for my mom to support their decision to live at home.

Hardware has worked fine with no interruptions (except when I accidentally set the 'alarm' function and my Mom rightfully unplugged it!). The phone app has also been pretty solid.

I believe the E1-Pro is a newer camera.

My experience is only a few weeks old so I may find other problems going forward. Most likely will add cameras and use PoE setups as I prefer hardwired equipment. This was my first foray into remote monitoring and have been ok with the Reolink hardware/software learning curve.
 
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FWIW, I have been impressed by the new Reolink Lumus 2MP wi-fi cam with integral spotlight. It's not as good a camera as Hikvision or Dahua of course and being wi-fi, I wouldn't recommend it for critical security applications; but for a lot of home owners it will prove very useful indeed - especially as it's very cheap [60 bills]. I use mine to monitor my cat at the door so that I know when to jump to attention and let her in - and for this application I don't think there's a better or cheaper package out there.
 
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ipOsX said:
FWIW, I have been impressed by the new Reolink Lumus 2MP wi-fi cam with integral spotlight. It's not as good a camera as Hikvision or Dahua of course and being wi-fi, I wouldn't recommend it for critical security applications; but for a lot of home owners it will prove very useful indeed - especially as it's very cheap [60 bills]. I use mine to monitor my cat at the door so that I know when to jump to attention and let her in - and for this application I don't think there's a better or cheaper package out there.
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Does it support Onvif for BlueIris?

Dan
 
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ipOsX said:
FWIW, I have been impressed by the new Reolink Lumus 2MP wi-fi cam with integral spotlight. It's not as good a camera as Hikvision or Dahua of course and being wi-fi, I wouldn't recommend it for critical security applications; but for a lot of home owners it will prove very useful indeed - especially as it's very cheap [60 bills]. I use mine to monitor my cat at the door so that I know when to jump to attention and let her in - and for this application I don't think there's a better or cheaper package out there.


Reolink is a lying scamming company and should be avoided at all costs. If you are watching your cat you can use a 20 dollar Ali cam.
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fenderman said:
No reolink camera work properly with blue iris because the iframe interval cannot be set. Reolink is a lying spamming company. You can make any camera WiFi.
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Im sure you have answered this before but what is the iframe interval for and whats the consequences of it not being set? I have two Reolink cameras and cant say I can see anything obviouse?

Dan
 
Daniel Ripley said:
Im sure you have answered this before but what is the iframe interval for and whats the consequences of it not being set? I have two Reolink cameras and cant say I can see anything obviouse?

Dan
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The iframe is a full frame as opposed to a pframe that consists of only the changes in the image. When using triggered recording, blue iris requires an iframe to begin the recording. If your I frame is 10 times your frame rate, you will miss 10 seconds of the recording unless you set your pretrigger to more than 10 seconds. The problem with reolink is you have no idea what the iframe inteval is because you cannot set it and im guessing its dynamic like with smart codecs. Long iframe will also cause video tearing in BI. BI also requires you to set iframe intervals to match your fps for other functions like email mp4 notifications. The help file calls this Key Frames.
Most importantly, reolink sells cameras with shitty sensors and form factors. You might as well buy from any other company who doesnt lie on forums or to its end users.
 
ipOsX said:
FWIW, I have been impressed by the new Reolink Lumus 2MP wi-fi cam with integral spotlight. It's not as good a camera as Hikvision or Dahua of course and being wi-fi, I wouldn't recommend it for critical security applications; but for a lot of home owners it will prove very useful indeed - especially as it's very cheap [60 bills]. I use mine to monitor my cat at the door so that I know when to jump to attention and let her in - and for this application I don't think there's a better or cheaper package out there.
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My mom used to always tell us IN or OUT, stop opening that door letting all my cold air out. LOL You should have raised me, i could have gone in and out with out inpunity and i would have started my security camera hobby at an earlier age.
 
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fenderman said:
Reolink is a lying scamming company and should be avoided at all costs. If you are watching your cat you can use a 20 dollar Ali cam.
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There are plenty of cheap cameras around and most deliver an adequate image quality for my needs. But I don't know of any other which includes an integral spotlight, 2-way audio, continuous 24/7 recording, alarms/notifications, decent support/warranty and software which runs properly on a Mac.
 
ipOsX said:
There are plenty of cheap cameras around and most deliver an adequate image quality for my needs. But I don't know of any other which includes an integral spotlight, 2-way audio, continuous 24/7 recording, alarms/notifications, decent support/warranty and software which runs properly on a Mac.
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Reolink should be avoided at all costs. How can you trust a company who actively lies? They are scum. To top it off the use shitty sensors and have defective firmware.
 
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