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Home Security Cameras

jjk454ss

jjk454ss

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jul 10, 2008
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I have a nest cam, but I’m thinking of upgrading to more cameras, including an outdoor camera. The nest outdoor camera is wired, I see several that are battery powered. Nest charges a yearly subscription, others are free. Does anyone use any of the battery powered cameras? The Blink seems nice, also the Ring.

Any recommendations? I can do wired if I need to but it would be a pain, so battery would be nice. And if I can avoid a subscription and still get some cloud storage would be great.

I read through a couple posts but the only ones I found were from 2018 or older.
 
I use the Netgear Arlo system. The batteries last around 6 months (depending on how much motion its capturing) but the system itself has always worked perfect.
I chose this system as it was reviewed as one of the most secure cloud based camera systems available.
The system is subscription based, but I have the previous version which came with 30 days free cloud storage, which is plenty enough for me, so I wont be upgrading to the newest version where you get no free storage! Otherwise its great!
 
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Any advantages to these over Nest? Besides Nest is wired for power?
 
I didn't really look into the Nest system TBH - I tried to use them for the thermostat and found their support to be terrible, hence I dropped all their products. Now I have a mix - Hive for heating, Ring Pro for the Doorbell, and Arlo covering the lower floor of the house.
Im just waiting for the Ring Alarm to be available in the UK now!!

Here's my Arlo system:

 
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Ifti said:
I didn't really look into the Nest system TBH - I tried to use them for the thermostat and found their support to be terrible, hence I dropped all their products. Now I have a mix - Hive for heating, Ring Pro for the Doorbell, and Arlo covering the lower floor of the house.
Im just waiting for the Ring Alarm to be available in the UK now!!

Here's my Arlo system:

Click to expand...

Nice video/review. Thank you

Do you happen to know, since it uses its own Wi-Fi, does it have a shorter, the same, or longer range then something like the Nest that connects directly to your Wi-Fi?
 
I cant comment on the range of the Nest cameras as I do not own them, but the Arlo cameras connect directly to the base station, which is wired to your network. So they use their own built in wireless. Ive found the range to be just as good as any standard router - ie they reach just as far as the Apple Time Capsule I used to use could reach.

I had to replace the TC with the Netgear Orbi mesh system when I moved house so I wish the Arlo cameras would use the Orbi system better for wider coverage, but I have some of my cameras several rooms away, obviously with several walls in between, and they work fine. 3 of my 4 cameras are actually on another floor for the main hub.

Touch wood, the Arlo cameras are one system Ive never had to mess with once installed. It just works.
 
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Ifti said:
I cant comment on the range of the Nest cameras as I do not own them, but the Arlo cameras connect directly to the base station, which is wired to your network. So they use their own built in wireless. Ive found the range to be just as good as any standard router - ie they reach just as far as the Apple Time Capsule I used to use could reach.

I had to replace the TC with the Netgear Orbi mesh system when I moved house so I wish the Arlo cameras would use the Orbi system better for wider coverage, but I have some of my cameras several rooms away, obviously with several walls in between, and they work fine. 3 of my 4 cameras are actually on another floor for the main hub.

Touch wood, the Arlo cameras are one system Ive never had to mess with once installed. It just works.
Click to expand...

Thanks again. I think I’m picking up the Arlo 2 camera kit tonight
 
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I have the Blink XT have had it for only a month now so far I really like it. Free cloud storage get alerts for motion has live feed if you want to view also sound.
 
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shooter45acp said:
I have the Blink XT have had it for only a month now so far I really like it. Free cloud storage get alerts for motion has live feed if you want to view also sound.
Click to expand...

I liked most of what I saw about the Blink Cameras, but for some reason I just wasn’t sure about them.

I got the Arlo setup today, hoping for the best.
 
Ifti said:
I didn't really look into the Nest system TBH - I tried to use them for the thermostat and found their support to be terrible, hence I dropped all their products. Now I have a mix - Hive for heating, Ring Pro for the Doorbell, and Arlo covering the lower floor of the house.
Im just waiting for the Ring Alarm to be available in the UK now!!

Here's my Arlo system:

Click to expand...

Do you know if I can set alerts on for one camera but off for the other? I dont see the option. Also, do you pay for the plan and find it worthwhile? It says you get enhanced alerts or something like that?
 
jjk454ss said:
Do you know if I can set alerts on for one camera but off for the other? I dont see the option. Also, do you pay for the plan and find it worthwhile? It says you get enhanced alerts or something like that?
Click to expand...


You certainly can. You do it when you’re setting up your modes, as you progress through the steps it’ll ask you if you want notifications and/or email alerts. If you don’t want any, just uncheck both boxes. I find the setup easiest with the iPhone app.

Here’s a screenshot of one of mine, you can see at the bottom what to change if you don’t want alerts.


0DDB61F2-C3FF-4EA3-9D5B-4063E0A3CAAD.png
 
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jjk454ss said:
Do you know if I can set alerts on for one camera but off for the other? I dont see the option. Also, do you pay for the plan and find it worthwhile? It says you get enhanced alerts or something like that?
Click to expand...

Answered above, but yes you can set each camera to react differently depending upon what you want.
So I have a rule set whereas all cameras will record when sensing motion, but the two cameras on the ground floor will sound the alarm when sensing motion too. It's really quite flexible.
 
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TrueBlou said:
You certainly can. You do it when you’re setting up your modes, as you progress through the steps it’ll ask you if you want notifications and/or email alerts. If you don’t want any, just uncheck both boxes. I find the setup easiest with the iPhone app.

Here’s a screenshot of one of mine, you can see at the bottom what to change if you don’t want alerts.


View attachment 842266
Click to expand...

Thanks

As a quick update, I returned the Arlo and picked up the Nest Outdoor Cam. It was becoming obvious I needed to pay to get what I wanted anyway. So with Nest I felt like I was getting a better solution.

1) No base station. This allowed better range with my Mesh WiFi setup.

2) Notifications were better. I wasn’t getting a screenshot with the notifications from Arlo. I like that with Nest. Could have been a setting or part of the paid version though.

3) also with notifications I was getting 100+ a day from Arlo. Even with sensitivity as low as it could go. Nest I rarely get a false alert.

4) Due to the extra alerts, and me playing around with it, there was no way I was getting close to the battery life they stated. I was able to run power for the Nest and not worry about charging anything.
 
jjk454ss said:
Thanks

As a quick update, I returned the Arlo and picked up the Nest Outdoor Cam. It was becoming obvious I needed to pay to get what I wanted anyway. So with Nest I felt like I was getting a better solution.

1) No base station. This allowed better range with my Mesh WiFi setup.

2) Notifications were better. I wasn’t getting a screenshot with the notifications from Arlo. I like that with Nest. Could have been a setting or part of the paid version though.

3) also with notifications I was getting 100+ a day from Arlo. Even with sensitivity as low as it could go. Nest I rarely get a false alert.

4) Due to the extra alerts, and me playing around with it, there was no way I was getting close to the battery life they stated. I was able to run power for the Nest and not worry about charging anything.
Click to expand...


Hopefully you’re happy with it, it sounds as if you are so far.

The Arlo system does take a bit of tweaking, but I’ve been happy with mine. Been using them for years, even expanded to their doorbell system. I’ll grant you though, I’ve given up on batteries for my main cameras and instead use a Micro-USB cable and a 3D printed battery door replacement to power mine now, much better.
 
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TrueBlou said:
Hopefully you’re happy with it, it sounds as if you are so far.

The Arlo system does take a bit of tweaking, but I’ve been happy with mine. Been using them for years, even expanded to their doorbell system. I’ll grant you though, I’ve given up on batteries for my main cameras and instead use a Micro-USB cable and a 3D printed battery door replacement to power mine now, much better.
Click to expand...

There was things I liked about both, but since I decided I needed power anyway and I already have indoor Nest cameras, I decided to stick with them. The biggest selling point for me was the batteries on the Arlo
 
jjk454ss said:
There was things I liked about both, but since I decided I needed power anyway and I already have indoor Nest cameras, I decided to stick with them. The biggest selling point for me was the batteries on the Arlo
Click to expand...

The battery concept is a great idea and, using good batteries, I have had a few months out of them. But having recently decided to up their detection sensitivity and length of time recorded, for when we're not at home. I had seen as little as two weeks use from them, which is pretty awful.

But I like the Arlo system and not wanting to upgrade to any of the Pro(2) cameras yet, until I see what they do with HomeKit, the Micro-USB mod has been a godsend. Well, I say mod, it's no more than removing a rubber bung inside the battery compartment. I just decided to do 3D printed battery covers because it's nicer than drilling holes in the originals.
 
I am looking to install security cameras around my home the problem is that I know nothing about them and there seems to be a plethora of brands and models, prices are similar. I do not want to go through a buyers remorse phase especially that the setup can cost between $250 and $500. I want a camera that plays fluid picture not something that is like stop-motion.
 
Do you want to access just live feeds, or do you want a cloud recording service? Do you want it to be part of a home automation system or standalone? For example Simplisafe is a self contained security system. It is well reviewed, inexpensive compared to other services, and in most cases you can just install it yourself:

https://simplisafe.com/simplicam-security-camera


Will these be battery powered or wired? Constantly recording or just when movement is sensed? Do you have concerns about bad actors gaining access to the cameras?
 
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