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Since my area is beginning to resemble some inner city crime haven (we had three or four teenagers hanging round on the corner of our street - can you imagine the horror?!) I am thinking about getting some CCTV. Two real reasons for this are 1) If we get burgled the fuzz might actually turn up if there is some evidence to hand 2) If I am away from home and see it happening and I can shout at them they might decide to give up burgling my house and go get a shandy or something.
So, with that in mind, I want a system which will send my android phone alerts and have at least one camera with two way audio. I also want it to have on and offsite storage if possible an be super easy to set up. I can plug a cable into a socket and that about extinguishes my electrical knowledge.
Have been clicking round the interweb and the Arlo system keeps coming up but this needs batteries replacing every 6 months or so which will be a PITA if the camera isn't easy to access and i'm not totally sure I can get over watching the inevitable video of some scrote stealing the (apparently easy to remove) camera.
Any suggestions? Probably need 3 cameras in all.
Cheers.
Bi-Annual Battery changes might be easier than having a electrician hard-wire them?
Nest is constantly being promoted, any good?
Just installed a couple of these https://shop.neos.co.uk/
Not the best - obv - but send alerts to my phones (both iphone and android).
Work on the wifi, but into a plug for power.
can get waterproof cases on amazon
Seems to work well at night as well.
And dead cheap
store 14 days of 'alerted' 12 second scans on line for free. I've put an SD card in as well, so if things do really happen, I also have a better record.
My brother just put in a Ring camera that came with 2 floodlights. £190, and that's a reduced price. There doesn't appear to be much difference...
I've always thought if you're away from home and you shout at them through the doorbell or whatever, they simply know for a fact you're not in, tighten their hoodies over their baseball caps and and burgle you senseless anyway. I suppose you've still got the opportunity to call the Fuzz immediately, when you'll be put on hold then told they'll send a PCSO round a week on Thursday to give you a crime number for your insurance claim. On the other hand, maybe you shout at the hoodlums via your doorbell, and they all run off and get a McDonald's instead.
On a serious note, Nest and Hive are supposed to be good systems. Both quite dear though, although you can obviously link up your heating, lights etc to either one.
P-Jay - Subscriber
Bi-Annual Battery changes might be easier than having a electrician hard-wire them?
Nest is constantly being promoted, any good?
It's not the battery changes per say that put me off. Its just that if its low enough to not need a ladder it will be easy to pinch.
Looked at Nest but an £8 a month subscription puts me off a bit.
petec - Member
Just installed a couple of these https://shop.neos.co.uk/Not the best – obv – but send alerts to my phones (both iphone and android).
Work on the wifi, but into a plug for power.
can get waterproof cases on amazon
After external cameras really. Don't want a big brother feel to the inside of the house. If putting in waterproof cases my understanding is that night vision is often severely compromised.
Got some Blink XT from Amazon. Seem pretty good so far. I'm not expecting any potential burglars to have faces uncovered but they provide some peace if mind in that we get motion detection notifications.
georgesdad - Member
I’ve always thought if you’re away from home and you shout at them through the doorbell or whatever, they simply know for a fact you’re not in, tighten their hoodies over their baseball caps and and burgle you senseless anyway.On a serious note, Nest and Hive are supposed to be good systems. Both quite dear though, although you can obviously link up your heating, lights etc to either one.
My thinking was that the police would like a nice easy collar for the stats so would be more likely to turn up quickly and therefore the ne'er do well's would scarper if you could tell them the bobbies were on their way (whether they are or not).
Haven't looked at Hive so might give that a look.
Dunno if I'm the only person who does this, but I put our cameras at around waist level just to catch out the little scrotes who wear hoodies and look down all the time...
I'd check quality of footage before paying out on anything, particularly in relation to night vision. You'd be annoyed if you spent money on all this only to have footage that is useless.
However, as people have said, it's only a deterrent and not going to stop a determined burglar. Other crime prevention stuff might be much cheaper? You want your house to be less attractive than others to be frank. Also, statistically most burglars live very local to their targets (it's a bit obvious carrying stolen goods around, so minimising the distance is good for them) so making sure that the easy stuff is there makes a massive difference - can you and your neighbours back gardens be easily jumped / navigated for example?
That Neos kit looks like a good idea. Any idea how strong the wifi adapter is in it? I'd have one furthest away from the router and the wifi signal is non-existent on a phone and only just on a laptop...so if it is as strong as a phone's wifi is then it is a non-starter.
Certainly cheap enough to buy but I hate buying things that don't then get used...and if it didn't work then it really wouldn't get used.
Those Neos look great value. The problem with all the posh ones (Nest etc) is the ongoing storage costs are a complete rip off. I don't mind paying for a decent device, but I'm not signing up for a small fortune in rental costs.
After initially writing them off, I have decided to have a punt on the Neos. Brought a outdoor mount so will see what that does to the night vision. Will report back. Thanks petec.
Those Neos look great value. The problem with all the posh ones (Nest etc) is the ongoing storage costs are a complete rip off. I don’t mind paying for a decent device, but I’m not signing up for a small fortune in rental costs.
The basic Arlo plan is free and all you need really. Not saying the system's flawless by any means, but you don't have to pay a monthly sub. unless you want extra features, most of which you don't really need. The Arlo Pro version uses rechargeable batteries that last about a month before needing recharging at which point you nip up a ladder, unscrew it and plug it into the USM charger supplied for an hour or two. Because they're wireless, they're also easy to move around and there are plenty of mounting options. Not cheap, but work pretty well.
I’ve got a few of the Neos ones. Same hardware is used by a few companies (Wyze in the US), you can get outside mount/cases that keep the rain off, although ours is mostly covered anyway.
Great video quality for the price. Motion detection is difficult to get right, probably only makes sense for internal ones that don’t have to deal with wind, leaves or the headlights of a passing car.
Watching this discussion and looking at cameras I have just seen Amazon has the Blink XT camera set up for £49 or 2 for £90, must be the upcoming launch of the XT2 causing the drop in price.
external cameras really
Our Neos are under the eaves of the garage, and still in one of those cases. They've not got wet in the torrential downpours we had a couple of weeks ago. The motion sensor is fine - I turn the motion to the second lowest setting, but i do turn the sound sensor off, otherwise every single bird will fire it.
The only slight downside I can see is the fact they're all armed, or all not. There's no zoning, but I think it's in the pipeline.
i have been banned them actually in the house, which is a shame as it would help greatly on finding out which child eats all the biscuits.
but i do turn the sound sensor off, otherwise every single bird will fire it.
EDIT: Seen how to do this now. Was being an idiot.
Also having some issues with not being able to view the live feed. Have messaged them for help and received prompt message saying that they are aware of this as a wider problem and are on it. We will see...
I’d get something like the Hikvision and use 4mp ip cameras and use the inbuilt POE and feed the cameras with Ethernet cables.
https://www.icctvuk.co.uk/BRANDS/HIWATCH/HIWATCH%20Recorders/HIWATCH%20(NVR)/104-A-4P
I recently bought a Synology NAS drive for backing up data and did not realise how powerful they are. They have loads of inbuilt apps including a CCTV surveillance one that is pretty good (can also be accessed remotely).
I have bought a POE ethernet switch and some of these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07F3CH6QQ/ref=pe_3187911_189395841_TE_dp_1
Single ethernet cable to the camera is all you need. Quality is very good and you set up the sensitivity, capture zone etc from the app. I have mine to record for 30 days before overwriting.
I’ve got Arlis 2 of which I’ve used some cheap adaptors to plug in and work absolutely fine. The Geofencing works quite well with multiple devices and even the battery powered cameras aren’t bad on juice and you have plenty of time to change them.
live feed
Oh really? - my live feed is working fine. Can see the daisies moving gently in the wind at the moment.
Did they say if it was widespread? - just wondering if an update is coming that's going to kill mine!
I’ve got a single nest camera watching my garage, really impressed with the quality of the footage, especially the night vision.
I think the subscription is £40 a year which is annoying after forking out for the camera and a Wifi extender to get it to reach but it’s less than a pound a week.
I went for the nest camera over the Arlo system because it is hard wired.
I have had to turn off the notifications though as even though it’s advertised as having state of the art technology that can detect people from other objects it can’t and I was getting bombarded with notifications.
Did they say if it was widespread?
Sounds like it. Said it is a something critical that they might have to replace a software component to fix. Which kinda makes it sound dramatic but might just be a /* they need to move... Said they are struggling a bit to find the root cause though. At least they appear to be actively trying to fix it.
Just ordered a pair of Neos to play with...
Got a couple of these.
£50 each and simple to set up
Those Neo Cams are pretty amazing for the money, took a few mins to get working and now get alerts from the workshop...
Got a bit confused by a cloud moving too fast, but generally ok..
I'm interested in a Neo cam for the mancave - how are they powered?
Powered by USB, they come with a long USB lead. Stonking value for money performance wise.
Just ordered two more...
USB into a mains plug?
The app does eat data running in the background.
But neos seems good although pointing it out the window it gets triggered by every bird.
They say they're working on an outdoor one.
USB into a mains plug?
Comes with a mains USB adaptor plug.
As for eating data, you don't need to leave the app running. Just open it up when you receive an alert.