Why is REOLINK JUNK?
- Thread starter Digger Dave
- Start date
I just started getting into cameras I have two Reolink 420-5MP connected to a POE switch. I need to purchase two more camera's so I'm also interested in what others with more experience have to say.
Then you did not try real hard as it was easy for me to find, IMO.
Read "Why the hate for Reolink" from last month. @fenderman states specifically the technical reasons why it is not favored.
SouthernYankee
IPCT Contributor
Why is it that this forum's members are just sarcastic assuming arrogant cvnts...?
I've used it 3 times and the same arrogant superior thinking.
Try this... GFYs. Ban me.
I've used it 3 times and the same arrogant superior thinking.
Try this... GFYs. Ban me.
I find it difficult to believe you've done it for 20 years....without evidence.
Now YOU are assuming that all of us are.
Wow. Who do you counsel.........NBA players and Hollywood elite?
To me, one negative thing against Reolink is that they don't use the better performing low-light image sensors that Dahua/Hikvision use. Maybe that's because Reolink makes for the consumer market and Dahua/Hikvison make for the professional surveillance market, but the end result is that a ton of forum members here have replaced consumer-grade camera models (Reolink, Ring, Arlo, Nest, etc) with low-light pro-grade models from Dahua/Hik specifically because the image quality can be so much better at night.
One mistake I made when first starting out was to look at night-time video from my non-low-light cameras .. when nothing in the video was moving ... and thinking that it looked OK because everything is in the video was in focus and looked to be bright enough. I didn't know that it was easy for just about any camera to capture good looking night video when nothing was moving, and that the real challenge at night is capturing video where something is moving and getting the least amount of blur on the details of the moving object (i.e. the face of someone prowling around).
Reolink also doesn't let folks adjust the iFrame interval in the camera's settings area. That's just weird. The iFrame is the only frame the camera sends that has a full picture of what the camera is looking at. The frames between the iFrame only contains parts of that picture that have moved. There are reasons why folks would need to change their iFrame intervals to other that what Reolink has them hardcoded to. See here for some more info: Reolink decided not to add iFrame interval because it'll cause issues for "some people".
On a non-technical point, some of Reolink's unique business practices have made few fans here. Follow the link at the bottom of post 4 above for a list of those.
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mat200
IPCT Contributor
- Jan 17, 2017
- 15,055
- 25,391
Hi @Digger Dave, @agent0
As others have mentioned, we have covered this topic quite a bit recently.
I do get it that people like to spend less and get what may seem like a good value. If you look closer at Reolink products and the company you will find numerous short comings.
Hi @Digger Dave
Wow.. too lazy to even fully qualify GFY
Well, that's sort of how
"Reolink is JUNK" is.
"Reolink is JUNK" = a lazy and direct way to state:
For numerous reasons many members really do not like Reolink.
honestly, we're not robots and do get fatigued repeatedly answering the basic questions which are covered in various areas such as:
the cliff notes
various threads
and even my notes linked from the "new members intro" section: Looking for some advice and direction!
If you want the facts they are easy enough to find via search here on this forum. Thus "I've been counselling for 20 years and people making random statements 'as fact' out of the blue without evidence is a normal part of my daily work" is not a factual nor correct assessment in this case ( of forum members stating: "Reolink is JUNK" ) and thus has me truly wondering if you really are able to discern if people in your daily work are actually being factual or not.
Seriously we've had numerous discussions and even examples with video captures and still images of poor performance from Reolink cameras as well as numerous statements of Reolink representatives poisoning any good will by spamming and astroturfing this forum in addition to lying about technical issues which are critical to successfully utilize Blue Iris direct to disk option ( iframe issue ).
Here's how to get started looking for Reolink on the forum:
Search results for query: reolink
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bigredfish
Known around here
Hmmm Two newbies bringing up the ReoLink Thing Again, My Gut is they are Trolls .
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,892
- 21,407
Reolink is a company selling inferior products with poor firmware and sensors. On top of that they lie to consumers and post fake ads. Why would a legitimate company need to post fake reviews? Only suckers by reolink. You are one of them. Hey, where is the iframe interval setting in your firmware if you know what that is?
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,892
- 21,407
nah, you are not going to get banned, we are just going to bash reolink and their junk cameras. The problem with folks like you is that you realize that you purchased crap without doing research and relying on fake reolink reviews. Then you have a hard time admitting to yourself that you erred.
I bought one of their cameras early on. It sucked. They sucked. Never again.
Jessie.slimer
BIT Beta Team
Coming from nest and adt cameras very recently, I can personally say that my new Dahuas are exponentially better than the consumer grade crap I had. Sounds like Reolink is no different. Sure, the nests were super easy to get up and running, but at what cost? Cant fine tune things like video settings, alerts, and motion sensing (had countless false alerts). You have to rely on paid cloud storage and hope you wont get hacked or videos deleted. Video quality was junk compared to what I have now, especially in low light, all while tanking my precious, limited internet upload bandwidth, because they are trying to stream in high def 24/7.
When I joined here I was a little sceptical too, but you must learn from people who have been doing this a lot longer than you or I.
When I joined here I was a little sceptical too, but you must learn from people who have been doing this a lot longer than you or I.
Those brands maybe setting up is easier than dahua or hikvision, but the stabability will be a big headache. If you just need a toy and play weeks, buy those can be a good choice. For security, they still have a long way to go. Dahua/hikvision has thousands engineers desinging their products, still have many problems. Those small brands, may just have 2-3 fake engineers for customer service. They just print their logo and sell on amazon with many fake 5 stars feedback. You know the 5 stars are easy to buy, but 0 stars are the real feedback for those users.
Consolidate all the Reolink threads into one giant permathread and you'll see a pattern 
Hello fenderman - I have no dog in this fight but. . .
Fake reviews is the scourge of the internet. If that is a criteria for not buying from an online company there is going to be a long line of websites to blacklist
I just assume everything you are saying about Reolink's quality and support is true - there sure seems to be plenty of users here that agree with you. It has become somewhat a losing battle to determine if a review is real or not. In fact it has become another internet business opportunity. Do a google search using "how to improve online reviews?"
fenderman
Staff member
- Mar 9, 2014
- 36,892
- 21,407
You missed the other two more important reasons, 1 - defective firmware, 2- poor image sensors that dont do well in low light.Hello fenderman - I have no dog in this fight but. . .
Fake reviews is the scourge of the internet. If that is a criteria for not buying from an online company there is going to be a long line of websites to blacklist
I just assume everything you are saying about Reolink's quality and support is true - there sure seems to be plenty of users here that agree with you. It has become somewhat a losing battle to determine if a review is real or not. In fact it has become another internet business opportunity. Do a google search using "how to improve online reviews?"
Its more than just fake online reviews on amazon (which they do), a reolink employee came to this forum, posted fake praise then the lied about it when I called them out.
The cameras are shit. There are much better options that will get you a fantastic image. Reolink is for suckers.