REOLINK Home Security Outdoor Indoor Cameras, 5MP IP PoE Surveillance Cameras, 100ft IR Night Vision, Motion Detection, Work with Smart Home, Up to 128GB SD Card, RLC-410-5MP (Pack of 2)

When I spent countless hours looking for higher quality cameras over my previous setup (Ring), these captured my attention the most. Overall, the installation process is fairly easy, but it can take time depending how you want to mount your cables. For me, I had to go up into the attic, which was the only cumbersome part about it.All you need is a PoE switch and some Ethernet cables. I'd recommend buying the cable that comes in roles, without the connector (R45) piece. Otherwise, you're going to be drilling 1/2'' holes in whatever you decide to put the cable through. This was my first time installing wired cameras, and they turned out amazing. The trade-off with much higher image quality pays off - even though installing is a bit more time consuming. With Wifi cameras, it's easy installation, but the headaches are far much greater with connection, resolution, and pay-based cloud storage. With these Reolinks, all you really need is an SD card & Poe Switch. The SD card allows you to erase, store, and transfer files through a computer or off your phone (FOR FREE).The only negative thing I encountered was with one camera. The little ball joint that allows you to maneuver the camera broke off a piece of the sleeve. I contacter Reolink, and they're supposed to be sending me a replacement.Main thing, do not overlook these cameras. At a 2K resolution, this is all you really need. Great night vision too!

The only reason I have not given this camera a 5 star is because I have 2 cameras with a stuck screw in the back where the micro SD card goes. I have reached out to REOlink support and am currently working with support on getting the devices RMA'd so that either they can remove the screws or send new cameras.UPDATE - Reached out to REOlink's customer service and they shipped 2 new cameras to replace the cameras that had stuck screws. They also sent a shipping label to cover the cost of shipping back to them. Revised to a 5 star. Great customer service.Pros:FREE no subscription surveillance can be backed up to SD card or server and downloaded to be savedSD card can be formatted on the camera itselfSD card will be overwritten when data hits limit (no need for housekeeping of storage)Great night image qualityGreat day time qualityGood price pointCons:The unscrewable screw in 2 of 4 cameras I boughtMultiple cameras may bog down network - be cautious on slower networksiPhone app is a bit wonky. No ability to delete video but really is not much of a con TBHOther details for the lazy or less technically inclined:micro sd card I bought - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08879MG33/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1I have a switch which is capable of providing PoE (make sure it is 802.11af compliant) and meets your camera power needs.On switch it looks like it is negotiated at 100mbps (or maybe its 10mbps) the light is orange instead of green.

After having my truck stolen right from my driveway, with zero evidence to show for it, I decided I needed an extensive surveillance system to protect my property. I did a fair bit of research and settled on Reolink, it seemed like a good turnkey system that I could build upon later. I've operated my nine camera system for over two years now and am mostly happy with the system. Here are the highlights.I have the 16 channel NVR. Although it is woefully under-powered for reviewing video, it gets the job done. I find it essential to review the video in the lowest quality. I have the default 2TB drive and also installed a 3TB drive, this offers me a couple months+ of motion alerts. In the long run, I will eventually build a Blue Iris PC for NVR purposes, but it hasn't been on my priority list.The cameras themselves are pretty good. Daylight quality is quite good, it serves the purpose of identification, which is most important. Night vision is so-so, but great when you're talking about a budget camera. The problem with all IR vision is things like license plates and specific detail are lost. There are cameras with better IR and night vision on the market, but the Reolink provides a good value between quality and price. Also, I have a mix of the older 4MP and these newer 5MP cameras. There's a difference, but it's not earth shattering, and I'm glad they are about the same price.The software ecosystem is only so-so. The Reolink application for PC leaves a lot to be desired. It gets the job done, but there are a fair number of quirks you have to deal with. Reviewing video from the NVR or cameras requires patience and you can only review 4 camera feeds at a time. Configuration of the cameras is pretty good, it's easy to find what you want to program and applying settings is easy. I wish there were a few more features, but almost all of the issues I have with the software could be solved by using a different NVR. Reolink is also pretty good about providing software updates to resolve issues, but they are not introducing major features that I would use most of the time.I have been impressed with cold performance. I live in a very cold climate and these cameras are not "officially" rated for that. The rated specification is literally 20F. That said, I've operated the cameras successfully down to -38F without incident or trouble and they have no problem lasting through the harsh, negative digit winters. I don't get serious icing or auto-focus issues, which can be an issue in cold temperatures. I suspect -40F/C would be the cutoff, most electronic equipment can't go to this temperature unless it's built with hardened electronics.Remote viewing via a phone or tablet was a big concern for me, I can't do NAT on my network at all. I am pleased that the remote viewing is not dependent on NAT to operate and it can get through a triple NAT scenario without any firewall issues whatsoever. That is impressive to me as I did need the remote viewing capability. On average, a stream will use 150-250kbps, so it's not super bandwidth intensive.In the two years I've run the system, I've had one camera fail. That failure was actually my fault, I realized I had a poor and non-weather tight connection at the RJ-45 port. My biggest problem is spider webs in the summer time and this isn't a problem with the cameras themselves.Overall, I'm pleased with the system, but here is a list of the main drawbacks I've found:* Motion sensitivity is lacking. It's a static setting based on time of day and is set different for day and night. The issue is that light levels change throughout the year and if you don't adjust this, you can inadvertently miss motion events. It would be better if the system was integrated into sunrise and sunset times so it could be more automated.* Snow (and sometimes rain or chimney smoke) will trigger countless motion events, making it difficult to find an incident in these conditions. The masking system isn't sufficient for these problems and you tend to get a lot of motion alerts. Better NVR's solve this by allowing zone monitoring to trigger actual alerts and this is missing. This actually caused me to turn off both email alerts and push events, which would be nice to have, simply because I get too many of them.* I like that Reolink has improved their cameras and made them mostly backward compatible with their NVR's. That said, I'm disappointed that the newer 4K cameras are not at all compatible with the 16 channel NVR, but are compatible with the 8 channel NVR. That's annoying, but I also don't currently have a need for 4K and this is also pretty intensive with the basic hardware.* There is not any granularity or control over alerting capabilities, as I alluded to above. They really need zone based alerting, not just motion alerts. I get so many motion alerts most of the year that it causes problems with real-time monitoring and alerting, which I really want. Reolink needs to understand the difference between motion and an incident, somehow integrating that into their software.* Support is OK, but they aren't taking up any of the recommendations I've asked them about. I opened a ticket with their support team about a few of my major concerns and issues. While they were responsive, they also haven't addressed a single concern with the system in the two years I've owned the system.Despite the above issues, I do feel like I have a heightened security level and haven't had any major security incidents since installing the system. Sometimes just having the presence of security is enough. I've caught my neighbor's dogs trespassing many times, once getting into our garbage and making a mess. It was nice to solve that mystery and I am glad I have the system to know what's going on at my property while I'm away.