| Manufacturer | REOLINK |
|---|
REOLINK Smart 5MP 8CH Home Security Camera System, 4pcs Wired 5MP PoE IP Cameras Outdoor with Person Vehicle Detection, 4K 8CH NVR with 2TB HDD for 24-7 Recording, RLK8-520D4-5MP
About this item
- CAPTURE CRIME FROM DETAILS: Discover potential crime has never been so easier with superior 5MP HD. With advanced IR lights, you can see up to 100ft in the dark, helping to protect your property and loved ones even at night.
- SMART PERSON/VEHICLE DETECTION – Smart PoE IP cameras can identify people and vehicles minimizing unwanted alerts triggered by bugs or leaves. Filter true threats and get to know what happened simply by glancing at the lock screen. General Motion Dectection is also available.
- PLUG & PLAY: With everything needed, the system can be easily installed even by yourself. Just hook all the cameras up with the NVR and you can enjoy your whole new security system day and night.
- HEAR THE EVIDENCE: Watch and also hear every detail of surroundings and make sure everything is under control. With one-way audio recording by the built-in mic, you won’t miss any suspicious noise or conversation when the crisis arises with just one click to turn the function on.
- HDD Storage and Remote Playback – Including a pre-installed 2TB HDD, videos can be recorded and stored for ten days without overwriting occurring. Users can add one additional external 6TB HDD via the camera’s e-SATA port. With the free Reolink app, all videos can be played back through your smart device anywhere, anytime.
$319.99
Kyle Anwyl –
My pros for using POE
1. Wanted an always-record security system without relying on pulling out the sd-card
2. Home does not have adequate wireless coverage to ensure the best video quality at all times
3. Did not want to excessively modify my home by drilling into the walls for power
My cons of using POE
1. Need a POE network switch
2. More complicated to setup than a wireless camera
Now that I was determined to get a POE camera security system, I narrowed down my research to POE only and I ended up going with REOLink NVR system because, it met all my pros of using POE, and it got rid of all my cons of using POE.
Setup and Install:
I setup two cameras in the front, one covering the driveway/garage and the other covering the front entrance/front door. The other two camera are covering the backyard. The included 4 cameras are enough to record about 90 percent around the house, with some dead spots where I purposely avoided recording any of my neighbors. The included kit was great and all the pieces are there. I did purchase my own ethernet cables because I wanted longer cables that were easily hidden. I went with 100 feet flat cabling. Each camera ethernet cable goes up to my roof and into an attic vent then down to a hallway, into the NVR controller. This way, I only drilled a single hole from the attic to the hallway right along the wall so almost nothing is visible.
I initially used a monitor hooked up to the NVR to set it up but once the initial settings were configured, I disconnected everything except the power and ethernet and control the NVR completely from my PC. Once I figured that out, I moved the entire NVR box into the attic and only have the ethernet from the NVR come through the hole and into my router.
I would say the most difficult part of the install was going up to the roof of the house and routing all the ethernet cables, clip them in place, and hide them by snaking them along my roof tiles. That part took a few hours. Once all the ethernet wiring was done, the camera install was easy, taking only 5 to 10 minutes per camera.
Video Quality:
The 2k video quality was the best compromise for the price and picture quality. I wanted to make sure I can clearly see faces at least up to 20 feet away. The included RLC-520 does an outstanding job in the day and ok job during the night. The day quality is great, I can see faces much further than 20 feet and recorded video is clear enough to zoom pretty far. The night quality is ok, it’s about what I expected for the price. It still shows good detail just not clearly able to distinguish faces at 20 feet. I have my settings at 2560×1920@30fps with 8192 bitrate, sound on, no motion detection. With 4 cameras, I fill the 2TB hard drive in about a week and then it overwrites the oldest video, like how a dash cam works. In the future, I might try to upgrade the capacity.
Reolink App:
I use the windows client on my home PC and it’s very easy and intuitive to use. Every aspect of the system can be controlled and monitored with the client and I like how easy it is to organize all the video, taking a pic, video clipping, zooming, all very easy and intuitive. Not sure what video settings to use so I just maxed them all out. I also use the android client when not home and it works just as well and has all the configuration options like the windows client. Overall I would say the client exceeded my expectations for the price.
Reolink Support:
Amazing support! I had an issue with one camera reverting to default settings and I contacted support. They asked me a few questions and then immediately sent a replacement camera. Unfortunately, the camera was delayed because it was out of stock but I didn’t mind, the camera was still recording fine, just not at the maxed-out settings I always set it to. Reolink support was responsive and communicative and I have faith they will take care of me in the future.
Conclusion:
For the price I paid, I love this kit. It perfectly ticked off every checkmark I had as a requirement. Now I have peace of mind, I didn’t drill all over my house, the camera always records so I can playback, the video quality is good, and the interface is so easy to use, my kids even use it on their phone.
Mike –
I have 20 cameras now, everything from RLC-423WS, RLC-423, and C1pro PTZs, to RLC-511 zoom, to 4MP bullets, to 5MP turret cameras, multiple NVRs, blah-blah-blah. I’ve personally wired 2000ft of CAT6 PoE to most of my systems, snaking through walls, attics, soffit, and even buried a few hundred feet of conduit to get all of the cameras and NVRs as inconspicuous as possible.
That-said, here’s the pros/cons to all of the REOlink stuff together, not just this item:
REOlink CONS:
– Doesn’t play well with others
– I think their inclusion of RCA-audio, reset-button, and power-socket is STUPID for an external camera that is made to be PoE (power-over-ethernet). I have to heat-shrink-seal every single one of those connectors on outdoor cameras (that’s 54-connections I’ve had to meticulously seal)
– Doesn’t support HKvision encoding (used by virtually all of the doorbell cameras on the market)
– Technical support is hit-or-miss; 80% want you to go away, 20% want to help, 0% actually do help
– Both of my high-end recent cameras (RLC-423 and RLC-511) 4X-zoom cameras seem to have the same internal malfunction with focus… right-side is out of focus when zoomed-in and left-side is out of focus when zoomed-out
– Most of their bullet and turret cameras have great quality, but such a narrow field-of-view that its hard to find good mounting locations (they are too zoomed for 8′-12′ range use, which I argue is what most houses have indoors and outside for mounting locations)
– Their motion-detection is based on pixels changing, not true motion-detection like Ring somehow accomplishes through infrared or other cameras with PIR-detection, so it is constantly going off for shadows and vegetation
– The UUID-setup is so simple that it makes internet-security very questionable… if I can sign in from my multiple devices, other countries probably can too
– Their cameras require you to turn on the active infrared-LEDs for nighttime use. They are NOT true nightvision like a passive FLIR would be. The problem with the infrared-LEDs is humans can see your camera and bugs are attracted to the lenses
– There are plenty of cameras on the market with more optical zoom. 4X is frankly not enough for me in most cases, and most of their outdoor cameras start off with too much zoom to begin-with (no wide angle)
REOlink PROS:
– Their stuff plays well with their own equipment, better than every camera company I’ve tried
– Their Apps magically work really well, whether on the same wifi-network or cellular or Internet-remote
– UUID setup of apps is effortless
– PoE setup of cameras with NVR is effortless, so are their WiFi cameras (as long as on same network)
– Cameras have really good control of bandwidth-type adjustments (frame size, frame rate, KB/s)
– Their motion-detection is fairly-decent; detects all movement (which is a pain with sun/shadow/bushes)
– Their cameras have internal memory slots, incase you want localized non-NVR playback capability
– I think their night-vision is actually pretty spectacular, but it requires the red-IR-LEDs to be on (and visible)
– All of their stored videos have .MP4 codecs compatible with Quicktime and PC/Mac operating systems
– All of their systems (NVR, phone, computer-MAC, computer-PC) work the same way, set-up is the same
– I’ve had some cameras outside for 3+ years and they have held-up well to rain and sun
I wish their customer / technical service people were more capable. Every time I talked or emailed them, it felt like I was speaking to an intermediary… like they weren’t the company that actually designed the hardware. Frankly, I’d pay more and be more pro-REOlink if they gave a crap. Their ultimate response is basically always the same: our stuff works together and if you want to try something else, don’t call us. And basically, they’re right.
Techkie –
I own a similar Amcrest system and what I’m most surprised about the Reolink system is…
-Extremely Easy to Setup
-Cameras Have a great Picture and night vision hands down beats those of the equivalent 5MP Amcrest Cameras.
-Cameras have higher FPS then equivalent Amcrest cameras.
-Cameras are of equal construction quality, however Amcrest mounting seems more sturdy as cameras lock in.
-Cameras have build in AI and price points blow away Amcrest
-Reolink App is much more intuitive and easier to use
-Reolink NVR is more responsive, especially when playing back video
-Setup is a snap, cameras are automatically setup by the system.
-Better price points then Amcrest, especially given the Reolink Features especially on for add on cameras.