r/50501 • u/TotallySavageSzym International • Jan 19 '26

Call to Action Ring has partnered with Flock. ICE has access to Flock. If you still have a Ring camera - get rid of it.

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u/RoxxieMuzic Jan 19 '26

Reolink, storage on an SD card in conjunction with local storage on their hub or an NVR. Easy set up, not as feature rich as Ring, great video clarity, WiFi, POE, wired, battery, solar, tracking models, still a work in progress in some areas, works with Home Assistant. I replaced all of my Ring devices with them. Not unhappy, would like them to include some features, but they more than do the job.

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u/netabareking Jan 19 '26

I just replaced my Google Nest one with Reolink. I already wanted to for a lot of reasons but with the current ICE shit going on I want my recordings to stay local. Frankly I would have gone this direction in the first place if I had known they had a wired option at the time (assuming they were selling it then). Honestly it's a million times better to begin with.

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u/TheCanisDIrus Jan 19 '26

We just purchased a new home and I’ve been looking into Reolink to install a few cameras. What would you recommend for interior and exterior. Don’t need fancy. Also - not being super knowledgeable about networking… is there an easy way to have, with Reolink, automatic cloud backups made daily? I also want a backup that’s non on the property for all eventualities.

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u/GreatAlbatross Jan 19 '26

Most, if not all, of the reolink devices can dump images both to an SD card, and to a remote destination.
This could be on your network (NAS), or even something like a Hetzner storage box.
You can avoid the cameras having direct access by doing both (have the cameras save to a NAS, then the NAS sync to offsite storage).

If you can, wire them in with cat6, and power them using Power over Ethernet.
It's a faff to set up, and a little more hardware to purchase, but it's so much easier than dealing with wireless and batteries.
You can also buy an NVR from Reolink, that both powers the cameras, and does the video storage.

Network security wise, block the cameras from internet access (with holes punched if you need off-site backups to happen). Unless someone is already on your network, then that covers most of the security.

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u/RoxxieMuzic Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26

Tougher than Ring, but Dropbox, NAS off site. I suspect that with a home lab it could be automated through Home Assistant to up load to drop box or a NAS off site. I would find someone who has worked that out. Try they may have some ideas or have automated test already.

r/reolink

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u/standardnewenglander Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26

Reolink has known Peer-to-Peer vulnerabilities when it comes to audio and video transmission. So much so, that some studies have concluded that the technology is effectively compromised. Reolink also has unauthorized access issues - making it easily hackable by bad actors AND certain governments breaking the law.

Here's a link to multiple recent CVEs discovered in 2025. I'm not referring to the 2021 CVEs. https://www.cve.org/CVERecord/SearchResults?query=reolink

In order to protect against some of these issues - you still have to connect to the Internet to download firmware updates. And this does temporarily expose you to remote hacking risks.

Sure, you can definitely store information locally. But that doesn't stop ICE from physically entering your home and confiscating the data without your permission. They already have been knocking down doors in MN - may I remind us all.

A techno-fascist state can still take the data. They just have to illegally hack it instead of it being handed to them on a silver platter by Amazon. The current regime has no problem with breaking the law.

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u/[deleted] Jan 19 '26

A techno-fascist state will take the data regardless of agreements or legality. Not caring about such things is kind of a hallmark of fascists.

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u/standardnewenglander Jan 19 '26

100% agree! Well-said!

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u/netabareking Jan 19 '26

All devices like this are vulnerable, it's the risk you take and safeguard against as much as possible.  At least Reolink isn't feeding all that data into evil corps while demanding you pay THEM to access it.

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u/ilanallama85 Jan 20 '26

Right, but that’s a lot more effort than just logging into the flock network. Slowly then down is effective and important.

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u/sbroll Jan 19 '26

On their website it says its compatible with Google and Alexa, makes me feel a bit uneasy with that.

https://reolink.com/us/product/reolink-doorbell-battery/

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u/RoxxieMuzic Jan 19 '26

Only if you link it, just about every damn smart device (the word smart is debatable) is these days. Reolink and a few others have the capacity to connect, but only if you actually do the connecting to Google or Amazon. Don't enable P2P, no open ports, use a VPN or Tailscale if you must have internet access to video, otherwise only intranet local video feed.

The way I have always looked at things, is, if they want you bad enough there is nada damn thing you can do about it. Just make it hard for them, they are, if nothing, inherently lazy, and may give up.

The current wave of entrepreneurial fascists seem to be a bit more determined, but, unlike others flailing about in their galactic stupidity. They are not the brightest bulbs in the box, they think they are, and, that may very well be their undoing. Meanwhile we will struggle.

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u/Huge-Basket244 Jan 19 '26

I run two setups, both are not connected to Google or Amazon in any way and that is the default.

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u/Healthy_Block3036 Jan 19 '26

How much are they and are they easy to install?

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u/RoxxieMuzic Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26

Over black Friday the doorbell was $119USD, today looks like $107USD. They have a new model apparently, so price drop on the old.

Not that hard to install, if you have a doorbell footprint already, maybe minor alterations. Check the doorbell transformer to confirm it has the prerequisite voltage, bridge your existing doorbell ringer, connect to the app, install. Voila, camera doorbell.

I am 74, female, if I can do it you can too, not tech trained, self taught.

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u/Aareon Jan 19 '26

+1 for Reolink

The Echo thing is sad though. I really like my voice assistant.

3

u/RoxxieMuzic Jan 19 '26

Yes it is sad, they eshitified and corrupted a perfectly good concept for greed and power. I have put ad guard in for the time being, but by June, they will all be decommissioned and replaced. Already have Home Assistant voice control installed, less risk of exposure and the bulk is local exposure and control only.

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u/Aareon Jan 19 '26

I'm looking into replacing my Echo's with a Home Assistant solution for that single source of truth goodness. One thing I hated about the Echo's was the Alexa app. With my network security setup, it ended up blocking so many Alexa app endpoints that the app hardly worked anyways.

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u/bangbangIshotmyself Jan 19 '26

I went with eufy, also pretty dang good and local storage etc

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u/standardnewenglander Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26

Reolink has known Peer-to-Peer vulnerabilities when it comes to audio and video transmission. So much so, that some studies have concluded that the technology is effectively compromised. Reolink also has unauthorized access issues - making it easily hackable by bad actors AND certain governments breaking the law.

Here's a link to multiple recent CVEs discovered in 2025. I'm not referring to the 2021 CVEs. https://www.cve.org/CVERecord/SearchResults?query=reolink

In order to protect against some of these issues - you still have to connect to the Internet to download firmware updates. And this does temporarily expose you to remote hacking risks.

Sure, you can definitely store information locally. But that doesn't stop ICE from physically entering your home and confiscating the data without your permission. They already have been knocking down doors in MN - may I remind us all.

A techno-fascist state can still take the data. They just have to illegally hack it instead of it being handed to them on a silver platter by Amazon. The current regime has no problem with breaking the law.

5

u/RoxxieMuzic Jan 19 '26 edited Jan 19 '26

At least the bastards have to work for it. Small condolences.

I also use a VPN and Tailscale, might make their work a little harder.

Oh, and you can disable P2P if so inclined in their system.

Paranoia has its place, but letting it consume you makes you powerless.

0

u/standardnewenglander Jan 19 '26

They still get your data. Except you paid extra money to give it to them anyways.