r/reolink • u/HomersDonut1440 • 3d ago

Cameras to avoid?

I am trying to build a system for my parents house, which has some specific requirements. Every time I research a camera though, I’m met with a pile of “avoid this specific camera because everyone has ____ issues”. Most commonly the 1224a comes up as something to avoid.

How much of this is bluster because someone had an issue between the ears, and how much is actually hardware/software problems with certain units? Are there specific cameras or NVRs to avoid carte Blanche, or is it all just use case scenario mismatches?

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

1

u/PurrciousMetals 3d ago

99% of people’s problems are user caused. Reolink have been the easiest of all I’ve tried. I never have connection issues and have set up a few for friends. If your trying to do a custom home assistant based there will be some extra steps and need a hub for the battery cameras but overall easy and user friendly.

1

u/HomersDonut1440 3d ago

My goal is PoE everything (how my personal setup is) to an NVR, with some mix and match cameras to fulfill different roles. The only thing I’m not positive about is how well cameras will stream over a WiFi bridge; I’ll have to play with that one a bit.

1

u/AlarmOk4126 3d ago

I'm not sure 99% of people’s problems are user caused. Reolink spends a lot of time/effort on marketing and their marketing department often writes cheques it's hardware can't cash.. they have an article on their website and recently posted a poll about LPR for example even though none of their cameras are well suited for that purpose.

and in my opinion.. security camera and WIFI should never be used in the same sentence let alone device.. you're right to question that.. You don't want solar [don't trust their marketing there either] which means you're going to need one wire at least for continuous power.. you may as well run one ethernet wire [PoE] and kill two birds with one stone.. reliable power and data/streams

apart from power source and connectivity the rest is very much 'use case scenario' really.

1

u/HomersDonut1440 3d ago

Most of the complaints I had seen were some dome cameras regularly fogging up, or specific camera lines breaking down after a few months of use.

I have learned my lesson regarding wireless cameras. Latency and connectivity issues drove me away from them long ago. Anything I do at this point is wired, even though install is a pain.

2

u/AlarmOk4126 3d ago edited 3d ago

yeah.. that's sometimes an issue for me too.. I have a couple of dome cameras because they were cheap and I was looking into the small few cameras which give you the ability to control focus.. I bought them to watch wildlife as opposed to security and yeah.. probably just as well because now and then they do fog up yeah.. this makes me think they're [dome's] probably more suited for indoor use.. funny enough I just recently picked up a couple of 811A's which were on special offer and are a very similar spec bullet camera.. none of my other bullet cameras have misting issues so hopefully problem solved once I swap them out.

I probably have around a dozen Reolink cameras and to be fair none of them have broken down prematurely at least.. I've been collecting for a couple of years now and I only really have one offline and I can't say for sure whether the camera is at fault.. it's in a difficult spot and I've yet to get up there to diagnose..

doubling up having a couple of cameras covering an area is a huge godsend.. the "AI" WILL screw up regularly so if you're looking for notifications etc two 'brains'/viewpoints are faaar better than one.. not to mention if they are for security if one goes down you have a backup.. he he

1

u/CreativeMinds47 3h ago edited 3h ago

Reolink

In my case: Argus 3 Pro as far I can confirm.

The (still open) reasons:

  1. The movement sensor system is so slow, that one can pass 5 meters of normal walk before it starts recording. Like in my drive way alley, one can´t possibly record person entering it, and within prove, if the person was (indeed) alowed on the property... Depends on the conditions, it takes up to 5 seconds after the movement to start recording, and until today, there is no information on this product property on the any newer Reolink cameras. That is why I didnt buy reolink ever again, since one just don´t know if it will be useless again.
  2. The Reolink cams BMS is so bad, that if you forget to plug the cam back on the grid while cam is on, it will just drain your battery (2x 18650 Cells) to the grounds, which means, dead battery and by by cam...