In fairness to the Reolink it is darker behind the house. So, here's a partial frame from a Dahua 4231, 2MP, no IR, obviously, and just a different angle -
Incidentally, there is no smearing of the image from the 5442 even with vehicles doing 50MPH or better, yeah we have idiots here too.
I tried a WiFi camera when I first started with cameras. It was outside, mounted in a tree. The first problem was getting power, a wire, out there. The second problem was dropouts happening all too often. In the end I ended up hand digging trenches and using conduit, with flex conduit up the trees (expanding system). No dropouts with PoE.
I know WiFi has improved since then, but bandwidth still seems to be a problem when using more than a few, plus a 15 year old with an app gotten off the internet can take down your WiFi pretty effectively. Granted the chance of that happening is small, but Murphy can be a bitch.
Its more that I don't see the need and find wifi very convenient and well performing, and it costs as little as $50 USD.
the cost and effort to do cable everything doesn't seem worth it to me, although I guess It might enable access to some higher end cameras that don't have wifi.
There's wi-fi and there's wires-free. Hikvision and others make some excellent wi-fi cams but they don't make wires-free, ie battery powered. If that's what you want or need then Reolink has something to offer, albeit their cams are a compromise. Because of the inevitable lag issues with wi-fi and the limitations of battery power prohibiting continuous feed, they aren't suitable for anything mission-critical imho but they can be good for other purposes, eg birdwatching, monitoring tradesmen, providing a doorbell for the cat, etc.
I have a wires-free Argus 2 attached to a mini solar panel 160 feet from the house and nearest wi-fi transmitter and it always delivers 1080p at 15fps without ever needing a new battery or recharge, even in winter. As a camera, it falls well short of decent CCTV kit and doesn't even afford any image settings but it's a bonus cam in a faraway spot which I would never bother to lay wires to - and since it's fixed to a stake in the ground, I can quickly redeploy it elsewhere if I have a temporary need for surveillance.
Other folk have said they are happy with Reolink IP cams in a security setup, which I wouldn't be, but each to their own. I do think Reolink does the CCTV industry a good service by enticing new customers in, many of whom will eventually upgrade to Hikvision, Dahua, etc. And they do support the Mac platform better than almost anyone else - even if their software [and firmware] is hardly ever updated. They do have a place in the chain imho.
The Reolinks have their place and I also use a similar KASA cam in one remote location. I don't use either of these in my own Blue Iris setup but they come in handy where you don't have a full DVR setup or a BI server. For instance, I have the KASA cam in my mom's garage so I can get alerts on the comings and goings and check on her whenever. And since I already use the app for Alexa home automation stuff the setup was trivial and only required the cam to be put on her wifi network. I also have a ReoLink cam in a friend's remote farm basement to monitor water intrusion when it rains heavily. These cams are cheap and perfect for those applications.
The Reolinks have their place and I also use a similar KASA cam in one remote location. I don't use either of these in my own Blue Iris setup but they come in handy where you don't have a full DVR setup or a BI server. For instance, I have the KASA cam in my mom's garage so I can get alerts on the comings and goings and check on her whenever. And since I already use the app for Alexa home automation stuff the setup was trivial and only required the cam to be put on her wifi network. I also have a ReoLink cam in a friend's remote farm basement to monitor water intrusion when it rains heavily. These cams are cheap and perfect for those applications.
Since I have Reolink wifi cameras I'm interested in something better but it seems to be a struggle.
For $63 USD I get a 4MP 2.4Ghz/5Ghz 300 Mbps camera that works quite well, but obviously doesn't compare to many wired cameras.
I was struggling to find some Hikvision wifi camera night vision examples, but for the one I did the main benefit seemed to be a less grainy night vision which is nice, but its really not that much better, anything unidentifiable with the reolink would likely be the same on this particular Hikvision.
The Hikvision I found was around $100 USD which is still reasonable, but I would be honestly concerned about the real world performance of the wifi considering its a 2.4ghz 150mbit max connection.
Since I have Reolink wifi cameras I'm interested in something better but it seems to be a struggle.
For $63 USD I get a 4MP 2.4Ghz/5Ghz 300 Mbps camera that works quite well, but obviously doesn't compare to many wired cameras.
I was struggling to find some Hikvision wifi camera night vision examples, but for the one I did the main benefit seemed to be a less grainy night vision which is nice, but its really not that much better, anything unidentifiable with the reolink would likely be the same on this particular Hikvision.
The Hikvision I found was around $100 USD which is still reasonable, but I would be honestly concerned about the real world performance of the wifi considering its a 2.4ghz 150mbit max connection.
Find the best low light wired camera and use a Wi-Fi bridge. Or better yet have somebody run cable for you. I guarantee the Wi-Fi will let you down when you need it most. You cannot shop cameras by brand every model is different there are crappy hike visions and there are good ones you need to look for the reviews on the sensors
Find the best low light wired camera and use a Wi-Fi bridge. Or better yet have somebody run cable for you. I guarantee the Wi-Fi will let you down when you need it most. You cannot shop cameras by brand every model is different there are crappy hike visions and there are good ones you need to look for the reviews on the sensors
Thats a good idea but disappointing, I didn't think it was that hard to add a wifi module to a camera, I wish they would do it on the cameras with high end sensors. Even my cheap dashcam has a great night sensor, and it even has wifi!
I've run cameras on wifi for a long time and its never let me down, I think the main downside I have is that my wifi router is on a UPS, but my cameras are not, if I had PoE wired cameras then they would also run during a power outage, but I'm not expecting anyone to be smart enough to cut power.
Thats a good idea but disappointing, I didn't think it was that hard to add a wifi module to a camera, I wish they would do it on the cameras with high end sensors. Even my cheap dashcam has a great night sensor, and it even has wifi!
I've run cameras on wifi for a long time and its never let me down, I think the main downside I have is that my wifi router is on a UPS, but my cameras are not, if I had PoE wired cameras then they would also run during a power outage, but I'm not expecting anyone to be smart enough to cut power.
The dont do it on higher end cameras because higher end users dont use unreliable wifi cameras!
You dont know that it has not let you down as you have not checker all the footage. Wifi is simply not reliable. Spend 100 bux to run a cable.
I know this is an older thread, and who knows if anyone will read to the end to see this anyway, but I want to put my experience with REOLINK in here and why I agree with all the negative reviews of REOLINK.
I have used 3 REOLINK cameras. 2 RLC-520, 5MP and a RLC-822A 8MP (3x optical zoom)
Firstly. There is virtually no difference in quality between the 5MP and 8MP cameras. This indicates poor quality sensors, or fake advertising. Only difference I saw was the 8MP was 16:9 and the 5MP was 4:3.
Secondly. I have ultimate proof REOLINK are LYING to everyone of their customers. Forget the iFrame controversy that has already been aired.
Today, 19 April 2021, I went to their Website to download "latest firmware" They advertise the firmware on the website as being a V3.x.x version released on 4 April 2021.
The downloaded file on ALL camera's that have this advertised firmware version and date (not just my one) is actually version 1.0.266 from 11 December 2020. They renamed the file to try and fool us, but the date stamp on the file creation still shows 11/12/2020. Who actually knows if this is even the right date for the firmware, it just happens to be the timestamp on the file....
Sure, REOLINK Support responds quickly, but they fact that EVERY firmware version on their download site is a lie is enough to make you not trust this company.
Add to this that the night vision is unusable and no adjustable iFrame interval and you can see why people on this forum have a dislike of REOLINK.
I gave them the benefit of good reviews on other sites and have regretted it. Sure, day time with bright light works well, but who is going to do something illegal in the middle of the day when there is bright light everywhere.........
Just my opinion but maybe it will help someone who may be slightly on the fence
