I think that I need just one or two camera to cover the front and maybe side of my house. Night vision would be nice. They obviously need wifi so I can monitor things on my phone or PC. Let’s say that the use case is to catch or deter vandals. I want to record when they detect movement, especially at night. A doorbell cam won’t work because the doorbell is perpendicular to the door and points to the side of the garage.
My understanding is that Arlo, Nest and Ring are the main choices. I already have a Nest thermostat and smoke detector which is a minor reason to go with a Nest but I am not married to that.
I’m generally happy with my Blink cameras, and the app (iOS for me) works well.
BUT: my Ring doorbell spoiled me a bit, as Blink lacks some features. For example, I can’t pause triggering/recording for, say, 30 minutes while the lawn folks are here.
When I bought the deal was you got free recording storage (they would auto-delete after some time), but the offer now may be different.
I’ve been very happy with my Wyze cameras. First, they’re cheap, so it’s affordable to add more cameras to cover a broader swath. Second, for basic motion alerting and uploaded recording snippets, the online service is free. It costs if you want person detection, longer uploaded snippets or shorter cooldown times between alerts, but even with the free service, there’s continuous recording to the SD card, and after getting an activity alert, you cal pull up the live view and watch in real time.
Most of the ones I have are the original model, powered with USB cords to one of those small bricks, but they now have a battery powered model and they aren’t lying when they say that it lasts at least three months on a charge.
edit: looking at their site, it appears that I might be grandfathered in to a better free option than you get today. Nonetheless, these are still substantially cheaper and more flexible than the Ring cameras, IMO, of course.
edit to the edit: the free service appears to be the same as mine. I think the difference is that person recognition is part of the paid service.
I’ve had a couple of Arlos for the past 3 years that work well for the most part. Set-up couldn’t be more simple. The app is free and easy. Rechargeable batteries last 3+ months at a time and only take an hour or so to recharge. Night vision is good.
The intercom system on them is pretty much worthless however because of the delay and the muting while you’re speaking.
They come with magnetic mounting brackets which I just didn’t trust and got some screw on types instead for $10 off Amazon.
In sub zero temps they shut themselves down till it warms up again.
The brand names mentioned in the OP seem to get the most and best press, but there are others with good quality and easily set up/monitored cameras. A negative for me would be anything that requires a continuing subscription so you can store and download images and videos.
I’d look into Reolink, Microseven and Amcrest among others. They have generally good reviews, often less expensive models and at least one of them offers cameras with solar-rechargeable battery capability that work off Wi-FI.
I’m also interested in this topic, but have a different use case. I’d like a critter cam, to record what animals are in the yard. I saw a fisher the other days, and would love video. We may still have a fox. There might be coyotes.
I don’t want to record every time a squirrel moves, though. Or a rabbit.
Are there any cameras that could record larger animals but not smaller ones?
Trail cams (and security cams in general) typically have a means of setting sensitivity, so at the most basic level you can lessen the chance of having wind-blown foliage or squirrels triggering photos.
Some models tout their sophisticated detection algorithms, designed to trigger only when people come into view. I don’t know if there are trail cams geared to larger game only.