Which to buy and why

Meanie

Young grasshopper
Joined
Jan 5, 2015
Messages
64
Reaction score
19
With the array of WiFi cameras on the market, I'm having a bit of difficulty deciding which brand to purchase. I have an old Foscam system and one Amcrest but think I want to go the route of one of the Smart Cams. Arlo is too expensive, Ring is too invasive, so I'm leaning towards Eufy, Blink, Wyze as front runners with Eufy being tops but the only concern was their security issues awhile back. But they have a nice line up of cameras. Anywho, looking for input on what I listed or another which I did not. I'm drawn to the 2k or 4k resolutions, will consider PTZ or fixed wide angle and even thinking more towards the fixed if capable of zoom, obviously need audio and able to speak, motion activation, area zone setting is nice but not mandatory and good night vision, as a start. Thank you.
 
Last edited:

mat200

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
13,962
Reaction score
23,269
With the array of WiFi cameras on the market, I'm having a bit of difficulty deciding which brand to purchase. I have an old Foscam system and one Amcrest but think I want to go the route of one of the Smart Cams. Arlo is too expensive, Ring is too invasive, so I'm leaning towards Eufy, Blink, Wyze as front runners with Eufy being tops but the only concern was their security issues awhile back. But they have a nice line up of cameras. Anywho, looking for input on what I listed or another which I did not. I'm drawn to the 2k or 4k resolutions, will consider PTZ or fixed wide angle and even thinking more towards the fixed if capable of zoom, obviously need audio and able to speak, motion activation, area zone setting is nice but not mandatory and good night vision, as a start. Thank you.
HI @Meanie ..

WiFi cameras : Do Not buy them

Cloud dependent cameras : Do Not buy them

WiFi cameras, get IP PoE wired for both data and power instead, more reliable and better images.

That stated, I think a core wired IP PoE system + a couple of wifi cloud dependent cameras covering the front of the house ( driveway, front door ) is useful .. granted, looks like a lot more cameras than one at first think they need . but hey, you want results right ?
 

Sybertiger

Known around here
Joined
Jun 30, 2018
Messages
4,692
Reaction score
13,537
Location
Orlando
With the array of WiFi cameras on the market, I'm having a bit of difficulty deciding which brand to purchase. I have an old Foscam system and one Amcrest but think I want to go the route of one of the Smart Cams. Arlo is too expensive, Ring is too invasive, so I'm leaning towards Eufy, Blink, Wyze as front runners with Eufy being tops but the only concern was their security issues awhile back. But they have a nice line up of cameras. Anywho, looking for input on what I listed or another which I did not. I'm drawn to the 2k or 4k resolutions, will consider PTZ or fixed wide angle and even thinking more towards the fixed if capable of zoom, obviously need audio and able to speak, motion activation, area zone setting is nice but not mandatory and good night vision, as a start. Thank you.
WiFi cams will be a waste of money. They might be better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick if money is no object. But, if that's the case then why not do it "right". A better way to look at this is to state what your goals are...what specific features you want versus the ones you really need. Speaking of money....what is your max budget. If you can answer those questions you'll likely get some very good help from the fellas on this forum.
 

tangent

IPCT Contributor
Joined
May 12, 2016
Messages
4,426
Reaction score
3,666
If you must buy a wifi camera, only consider models that have a microsd card slot for local recording.

I got one of those blink mini cams for $5 when amazon had a sale. I had low expectations for it, but I must say I drastically underestimated what a piece of garbage it was. Today it's my mouse and rat trap camera, a job it's barely able to perform.
 

wittaj

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Apr 28, 2019
Messages
25,028
Reaction score
48,794
Location
USA
We have a thread full of mostly wifi cams showing how poor they are for surveillance.

Wifi is ok for pet and kid watching, forgetting for a moment the security risks associated with giving them internet access.

Here a few eufy gems from that thread:



1675610040484.png




1675610122319.png




1675610183361.png


Camera too high and resolution too poor as the wifi cannot keep up. You know it is bad when their eufy security looks horrible.


1672974295333.png


Doorbell cam not much better


1672974423904.png


 

wittaj

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Apr 28, 2019
Messages
25,028
Reaction score
48,794
Location
USA
Wifi and cameras do not go together.

There are always ways if you don't want to run an ethernet cable.

You need power anyway, so go with a powerline adapter to run the date over your electric lines or use a nano-station.

Maybe you are fine now one day with wifi cams, but one day something will happen. A new device, neighbors microwave, etc.

Cameras connected to Wifi routers (whether wifi or not) are problematic for surveillance cameras because they are always streaming and passing data. And the data demands go up with motion and then you lose signal. A lost packet and it has to resend. It can bring the whole network down if trying to send cameras through a wifi router. At the very least it can slow down your entire system.

Unlike Netflix and other streaming services that buffer a movie, these cameras do not buffer up part of the video, so drop outs are frequent, especially once you start adding distance. You would be amazed how much streaming services buffer - don't believe me, start watching something and unplug your router and watch how much longer you can watch NetFlix before it freezes - mine goes 45 seconds. Now do the same with a camera connected to a router and it is fairly instantaneous (within the latency of the stream itself)...

The same issue applies even with the hard-wired cameras trying to send all this non-buffer video stream through a router. Most consumer grade wifi routers are not designed to pass the constant video stream data of cameras, and since they do not buffer, you get these issues. The consumer routers are just not designed for this kind of traffic, even a GB speed router.

So the more cameras you add, the bigger the potential for issues.

Many people unfortunately think wifi cameras are the answer and they are not. People will say what about Ring and Nest - well that is another whole host of issues that we will not discuss here LOL, but they are not streaming 24/7, only when you pull up the app. And then we see all the people come here after that system failed them because their wifi couldn't keep up when the perp came by. For streaming 24/7 to something like an NVR or Blue Iris, forget about it if you want reliability.


This was a great test that SouthernYankee tried and posted about it here:

I did a WIFI test a while back with multiple 2MP cameras each camera was set to VBR, 15 FPS, 15 Iframe, 3072kbs, h.264. Using a WIFI analyzer I selected the least busy channel (1,6,11) on the 2.4 GHZ band and set up a separate access point. With 3 cameras in direct line of sight of the AP about 25 feet away I was able to maintain a reasonable stable network with only intermittent signal drops from the cameras. Added a 4th camera and the network became totally unstable. Also add a lot of motion to the 3 cameras caused some more network instability. More data more instability.
The cameras are nearly continuously transmitting. So any lost packet causes a retry, which cause more traffic, which causes more lost packets.
WIFI does not have a flow control, or a token to transmit. So your devices transmit any time they want, more devices more collisions.
As a side note, it is very easy to jam a WIFI network. WIFI is fine for watching the bird feed but not for home surveillance and security.
The problem is like standing in a room, with multiple people talking to you at the same time about different subjects. You need to answer each person or they repeat the question.

Test do not guess.

For a 802.11G 2.4 GHZ WIFI network the Theoretical Speed is 54Mbps (6.7MBs) real word speed is nearer to 10-29Mbps (1.25-3.6 MBs) for a single channel


And TonyR recommends this (which is the preferred way IF you want to do wifi)

The only way I'd have wireless cams is the way I have them now: a dedicated 802.11n, 2.4GHz Access Point for 3 cams, nothing else uses that AP. Its assigned channel is at the max separation from another 2.4GHz channel in the house. There is no other house near me for about 300 yards and we're separated by dense foliage and trees.

Those 3 cams are indoor, non-critical pet cams (Amcrest IP2M-841's) streaming to Blue Iris and are adequately reliable for their jobs. They take their turns losing signal/reconnecting usually about every 12 hours or so for about 20 seconds which I would not tolerate for an outdoor surveillance cam pointed at my house and/or property.

But for me, this works in my situation: dedicated AP, non-critical application and periodic, short-term video loss.... if any one of those 3 conditions can't be achieved or tolerated, then I also do not recommend using wireless cams. :cool:
 

Meanie

Young grasshopper
Joined
Jan 5, 2015
Messages
64
Reaction score
19
Thank you all for the info. I wanted to avoid POE cams for obvious reasons of trying to run cable throughout the house. I don't want them seen on the walls nor feel like drilling holes, running through walls, etc and it's not in the budget for pro install, then again, I do everything myself anyway. It's also not a high budget for a complete POE system or even WiFI. I just plan to add on if needed as it fits the finances. My current WiFI cams are inside with two facing outside through the window. I would consider POE for outdoor surveillance but the indoor cams were Initially installed to discover what cat was peeing outside the box (had 7 at one time years ago) but are now mainly for kid watching (no more cats) and general observation while I'm away from the home but useful incase of mishaps, burglary, etc.
 
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
7,429
Reaction score
26,042
Location
Spring, Texas
If you must buy a wifi camera, only consider models that have a microsd card slot for local recording.
Realize that some of these WIFI cams that have SD cards are not necessarily what you think. If you do not pay for the cloud monthly packages, trying to access the SD card from the app can be very painful up to impossible. Some only allow for a single snapshot of some part of the motion and they do not typically store the video. If it does store the video then it can be only a few seconds long and impossible to cue up on the app. They also do not have much in the way of controlling the exposure controls.
 

justthefacts

Young grasshopper
Joined
Dec 18, 2023
Messages
37
Reaction score
21
Location
Arizona
With the array of WiFi cameras on the market, I'm having a bit of difficulty deciding which brand to purchase. I have an old Foscam system and one Amcrest but think I want to go the route of one of the Smart Cams. Arlo is too expensive, Ring is too invasive, so I'm leaning towards Eufy, Blink, Wyze as front runners with Eufy being tops but the only concern was their security issues awhile back. But they have a nice line up of cameras. Anywho, looking for input on what I listed or another which I did not. I'm drawn to the 2k or 4k resolutions, will consider PTZ or fixed wide angle and even thinking more towards the fixed if capable of zoom, obviously need audio and able to speak, motion activation, area zone setting is nice but not mandatory and good night vision, as a start. Thank you.
I like Tapo wifi camera's,they are Onvif compliant and you can monitor them and record video with many nvr's and blue iris ! I'm not a fan of Eufy,ring,blink,wyze !The Tapo 325wb has great night vision and is 2k ,I have 3 of them !
 

Yorke_yk

n3wb
Joined
Feb 28, 2024
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Location
Malaysia
Choose which to buy always base on the usage environment and the cost-effective.
For indoor use I like to recommend the dual-lens wifi camera, saving money for set multiple cameras by different angle to ensure no blind spot, and cameras features are really similar in market now, resolution cannot always equal with clarity, so the multiple functional seems more important now. Of course, the cloud saving charge is a big cost in long time view which should be considered before the buy.

 

mat200

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
13,962
Reaction score
23,269
Choose which to buy always base on the usage environment and the cost-effective.
For indoor use I like to recommend the dual-lens wifi camera, saving money for set multiple cameras by different angle to ensure no blind spot, and cameras features are really similar in market now, resolution cannot always equal with clarity, so the multiple functional seems more important now. Of course, the cloud saving charge is a big cost in long time view which should be considered before the buy.

Hi @Yorke_yk

Do you work for that company ?
 
Top