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Home Security Cameras

Question for you Night owl, Lorex, SimpliSafe and Arlo operators
You're lying in bed and you hear a noise outside.
How long does it take you to bring up the live feed? Assume you have 4-8 cameras and an iPhone

If I'm home and I hear something.... I usually grab the 930 and go check it out. The system is mainly used for when I'm at work, out for the day or on vacation. It pulls up very quickly on either the phone or pad.
 
How about the iPhone option?
Assume I can't find the remote, it's on the wrong channel or I don't want to light up the room and give away my position or I don't have a tv in my room.
I assume multiple cameras will take time to scan via smartphone.
Perhaps that Ring light is a good option as it spots the area of activity.

I'm using EZVIZ software and if my phone is on standby, not powered off, it takes about 8 seconds to have a camera's video. My system has 8 cameras and is wired.
 
Question for you Night owl, Lorex, SimpliSafe and Arlo operators
You're lying in bed and you hear a noise outside.
How long does it take you to bring up the live feed? Assume you have 4-8 cameras and an iPhone

I HAD simplisafe cameras - I returned them. To answer your questions - anywhere from 10 seconds (as fast as I could unlock phone, open up app, and maybe 5 seconds to get the video), up to a minute or more of hitting refresh because I got errors about 30% of the time. Simplisafe blamed the issue on my upload speed, said the cameras need 1-2mpbs per camera. IDK enough to confirm or deny that - but it was really annoying to have to refresh over and over. They also didn't play sound most of the time. Even the camera right next to the TV wouldnt pick up the TV sound.

The deciding factor of why I got rid of them - I was paying the extra monthly fee for recording - to me thats what the camera is really for - evidence of a crime after it happens. Well, simplisafe doesn't start recording until the actual alarm goes off - not the beginning of motion or sensor being tripped. Here are the times they sent me:
"Please find the camera recording times and their associated events below.
Camera Recording Events & Times
  • App-initiated Live Record: 60 seconds
  • System Alarm Triggered: 5 minutes of recording
  • Secret Alarm Triggered: 20 seconds
  • Armed into Away Mode: 75 seconds
  • Armed into Home Mode: 20 seconds
  • Disarmed into Off Mode (from a different mode: 20 seconds
  • User Initiated Test Mode: 20 seconds
  • Duress PIN code (to disarm the system) - 20 seconds"
So, if there is a break in - you don't have recording of the first 30-60 seconds depending on your delay settings. If there is a SECRET ALARM - meaning home invasion and you hit the panic button or duress pin - they only record 20 seconds!!!! WTF! I guess the police will get 20 seconds of the end of someones life.
I asked simplisafe why it even has motion detection hardware and if they would ever use that for recording - they said they would not be using motion detection because it would record too much and take up too much memory. So, I returned it for full refund with no issues - I give them credit for that aspect.
 
I have a Uniden and it works pretty well. Have had it for a couple of years. It is wireless and can accommodate 4 cameras. I bough mine from BJ during their xmas specials. Cost me $149.00 plus tax. Mine came with 2 cameras. 1080P camers, 7" remote monitor, needs to be hooked up to a LAN cable to connect to the internet. Internet apps are easy to install. Note, Will not work with DSL internet. Comcast or ATT works fine.
 
Great info - Thank you ShooterG
My biggest frustration is the time it takes to bring up a live feed from any and all cameras.

I've been using a mix of IP and Uniden Guardian.

I don't recommend the garidian for anything more than entertainment.
It's wireless and when new it used to record to SD. But that feature crapped out long ago. Futhermore it's browser images freeze for hours giving you a false impression that nothing is happening here. I reported this to them but they wouldn't even acknowledge the issue.

The IP is an old Panasonic that cost 300 back in the day...
It pans, it detects motion, but it doesn't store anything. You need a PC up full time with special software to record. And it's a PITA to review recordings. It does let you monitor with a browser but you have to log in and select something to view live feed.

Although my gear is antiquated by today's standards I have learned enough to know what I need next.
1) must be quick to view by smartphone.
2) recording needs a lot of storage and the playback SW must be user friendly.
3) prefer wireless so I don't have to punch holes everywhere.
4) need a tv view of live feed.
5) mount the cameras where you can clean the spiderwebs. Infrared lights up the web and washes out the image.
 
I have the Arlo system (4 cameras). Wireless and battery powered. Batteries last about 4 months. I have one mounted in the yard pointed back at the house. I am happy with their performance (even the night vision).
I think Arlo sucks, want to buy my two cameras?

They miss almost everything and the app is unreliable. I'm almost up to what I spent on the cameras buying CR123's! I'm actually going to ebay my cameras and base station soon and get the NEST outdoor cam.
 
Question for you Night owl, Lorex, SimpliSafe and Arlo operators
You're lying in bed and you hear a noise outside.
How long does it take you to bring up the live feed? Assume you have 4-8 cameras and an iPhone
With the ARLO it's way easier to just wait on it to email you the clip once you get the push notification on your phone. This only applies to first gen arlo stuff, but if you try pulling up the live feed right after you get a notification it's going to time and just spin it's wheels. Horrible.



I just ordered two of the Wyze cameras. I'm going to put my arlo system on ebay. Maybe here too. I'll let yall know how the Wyzecam's are.
 
The new Amazon cloud cams they just released have been pretty nice from the past week I have spent with them. Extremely easy to setup and remotely view from my cell phone. I can tie it in with some of the Alexa devices in the future if I want. For an extra fee you can increase the time recordings are saved and some other neat features. Replaced my own Amcrest setup I was using and have felt good about the decision so far. If anyone wants 5 Amcrest cams in like new condition let me know lol. They will be getting posted sooner or later when I get a minute.
 
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