Looking at camera options for daughter and roommates rental house for college the next couple years.

We have ring stuff at our house. Honestly I am less than thrilled with the resolution of the cameras for the price that they sell at.

Are their better resolution options at the same or a lower price point. Would prefer that they just work through an app and the WiFi. Need a couple camera floods.

I have Reolink cameras. They're great. Record to sd card so no monthly fees.

+1 for Reolink

What's the storage capacity of the cards? Do they overwrite themselves or do you have to replace or erase manually?

redline248 said:

---

What's the storage capacity of the cards? Do they overwrite themselves or do you have to replace or erase manually?

---

Per the specs, they can take up to 256gb cards. I haven't tried any larger cards to see if they work. My floodlight camera with 256gb sd card can hold about 2 weeks of continuous recording. When it fills up, it just dumps the oldest recordings. You don't have to change/wipe the card.

My only issue with the Reolink floodlight cam is that it's a pretty ugly piece of technology, i don't really mind too much though.



But i see that Reolink is coming out with a new floodlight cam that looks WAY better.
https://reolink.com/product/elite-floodlight-wifi/

The other day at Walmart, I happened to notice that Roku had a new line of products (new to me, at least), including a video doorbell, floodlight cam, etc.
https://www.roku.com/products/smart-home/cameras

I have a Google Nest video doorbell, but it quit ringing the indoor chime about 6-9 months ago. I did all the debugging/reset/etc then gave up and bought a new one. Haven't had time to replace it.

The broken one has some flaky video too (could be related to the no-ringing failure though):
* Live-streaming doorbell video ceases when somebody presses the doorbell button. May or may not resume after some time (seconds, minutes).
* Watching video clips is pretty l****, especially when I'm not at home.
* The video clips are only associated with events that it detects. My memory is that it was always recording and simply identified events to assist with what I wanted to see. Maybe I'm misremembering that.
* Not sure if the subscription is worth it. I don't recall that cost, maybe something like $100/year.

I'll probably swap the camera when it gets cooler. Prob at my next house I'll go with a different brand/model.

Caesar4 said:

---

I'll probably swap the camera when it gets cooler. Prob at my next house I'll go with a different brand/model.

---

I'm really happy with my Reolink doorbell cam too. Just throwing that out there.

Caesar4 said:

---

I have a Google Nest video doorbell, but it quit ringing the indoor chime about 6-9 months ago. I did all the debugging/reset/etc then gave up and bought a new one. Haven't had time to replace it.

The broken one has some flaky video too (could be related to the no-ringing failure though):
* Live-streaming doorbell video ceases when somebody presses the doorbell button. May or may not resume after some time (seconds, minutes).
* Watching video clips is pretty l****, especially when I'm not at home.
* The video clips are only associated with events that it detects. My memory is that it was always recording and simply identified events to assist with what I wanted to see. Maybe I'm misremembering that.
* Not sure if the subscription is worth it. I don't recall that cost, maybe something like $100/year.

I'll probably swap the camera when it gets cooler. Prob at my next house I'll go with a different brand/model.

---

That's a common issue across all video doorbells that uses the normal doorbell wiring. The issue is that the built in battery dies because of weather (usually cold) and there is no way to replace the battery. So without the battery when someone presses the button it closes the circuit to ring the doorbell and kills power to the video doorbell. So no video until the doorbell fully reboots when power is restored because there is no more battery power.

It doesn't matter who makes it or what model it is, until they do replaceable batteries it'll just keep on happening (and I don't think they will fix that because...money). The more pro/business grade versions have switched over to a power over ethernet model to get around the problem (but it won't use the physical chime that is installed with homes without a lot of "customization").

So long story long, expect video doorbells that use standard doorbell wiring to die between 1 to 3 years, depending on the weather it faces, no matter the brand or model.

Wait, my Nest doorbell camera *is* wired. Are you saying it also has an internal battery and the battery has failed and is not replaceable?

My original Ring doorbell is 5 years old, is hard wired to a 24 VAC power supply with resistor to simulate the doorbell and it still works.

Perhaps he is saying if it ACTUALLY rings the doorbell (ding dong wall mount old school doorbell), the power is diverted from the Ring to the Old school doorbell and that is when it dies. I am not sure about that.

I don't have an actual old school doorbell, so not sure about that part.

They definitely last more than 2 or 3 years wired (without the old school doorbell)

boy09 said:

---

redline248 said:

---

What's the storage capacity of the cards? Do they overwrite themselves or do you have to replace or erase manually?

---

Per the specs, they can take up to 256gb cards. I haven't tried any larger cards to see if they work. My floodlight camera with 256gb sd card can hold about 2 weeks of continuous recording. When it fills up, it just dumps the oldest recordings. You don't have to change/wipe the card.

My only issue with the Reolink floodlight cam is that it's a pretty ugly piece of technology, i don't really mind too much though.



But i see that Reolink is coming out with a new floodlight cam that looks WAY better.
https://reolink.com/product/elite-floodlight-wifi/

---

Couldn't an intruder take the card? Is it protected somehow?

redeyeone said:

---

Couldn't an intruder take the card? Is it protected somehow?

---

It takes a screwdriver to get into it. You'd have to know what you're doing.

Reolink also has an NVR if you're not comfortable with the sd card setup

Reolink NVR

IrishAg said:

---

Caesar4 said:

---

I have a Google Nest video doorbell, but it quit ringing the indoor chime about 6-9 months ago. I did all the debugging/reset/etc then gave up and bought a new one. Haven't had time to replace it.

The broken one has some flaky video too (could be related to the no-ringing failure though):
* Live-streaming doorbell video ceases when somebody presses the doorbell button. May or may not resume after some time (seconds, minutes).
* Watching video clips is pretty l****, especially when I'm not at home.
* The video clips are only associated with events that it detects. My memory is that it was always recording and simply identified events to assist with what I wanted to see. Maybe I'm misremembering that.
* Not sure if the subscription is worth it. I don't recall that cost, maybe something like $100/year.

I'll probably swap the camera when it gets cooler. Prob at my next house I'll go with a different brand/model.

---

That's a common issue across all video doorbells that uses the normal doorbell wiring. The issue is that the built in battery dies because of weather (usually cold) and there is no way to replace the battery. So without the battery when someone presses the button it closes the circuit to ring the doorbell and kills power to the video doorbell. So no video until the doorbell fully reboots when power is restored because there is no more battery power.

It doesn't matter who makes it or what model it is, until they do replaceable batteries it'll just keep on happening (and I don't think they will fix that because...money). The more pro/business grade versions have switched over to a power over ethernet model to get around the problem (but it won't use the physical chime that is installed with homes without a lot of "customization").

So long story long, expect video doorbells that use standard doorbell wiring to die between 1 to 3 years, depending on the weather it faces, no matter the brand or model.

---

Thanks for the info. Looks like you're spot-on, from what I've read today, and indeed it applies to many/most/(all?) "smart" doorbells.

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Cameras-and-Doorbells/No-alert-when-someone-rings-the-nest-door-bell-not-on-my-phone-or-Google/m-p/376090#M65616

This happened to my Nest doorbell as well (reboot when button is pressed). I just disabled the mechanical chime in the settings and used the nest hub we were already using as a digital chime.

I prefer it that way anyway. Real doorbell causes 15 seconds of chaos with the dog!

We use Aqara (G4 I think) doorbell cam, and Eufy pan and tilts in the kids rooms. All of them going through HomeKit. We have the doorbell hooked up to sound on specific HomePods when the button is pressed.

The only issues I've had (with both brands) is that I changed my WiFi encryption to WPA2/WPA3 and they started randomly disconnecting. Changed it back to WPA/WPA2 and hasn't been a problem. I would think they could fix this with a firmware update, but who knows if or when.

FWIW the button on my Ring completely cracked recently, apparently a common occurrence for doorbells that get a lot of direct sun (we're west facing). It was outside the 2 year warranty so nothing to do but replace it.

ADP offered us a free Nest doorbell for extending our contract so just had that installed, we'll see how long it lasts.

RoyVal said:

---

I'm a big fan of Eufy cams.

---

Same. Use wired and solar cams. Outstanding. No cloud. Use their S380 HomeBase for storage.

Also use U-Bolt Pro for door lock.

tunefx said:

---

RoyVal said:

---

I'm a big fan of Eufy cams.

---

Same. Use wired and solar cams. Outstanding. No cloud. Use their S380 HomeBase for storage.

Also use U-Bolt Pro for door lock.

---

same here..no cloud, no monthly cost. I have a few of the 4k solar cameras in my main home and just recently added the PTZ solar camera to my small town home. great picture clarity and being able to have the camera automatically follow motion is awesome!

Caesar4 said:

---

IrishAg said:

---

Caesar4 said:

---

I have a Google Nest video doorbell, but it quit ringing the indoor chime about 6-9 months ago. I did all the debugging/reset/etc then gave up and bought a new one. Haven't had time to replace it.

The broken one has some flaky video too (could be related to the no-ringing failure though):
* Live-streaming doorbell video ceases when somebody presses the doorbell button. May or may not resume after some time (seconds, minutes).
* Watching video clips is pretty l****, especially when I'm not at home.
* The video clips are only associated with events that it detects. My memory is that it was always recording and simply identified events to assist with what I wanted to see. Maybe I'm misremembering that.
* Not sure if the subscription is worth it. I don't recall that cost, maybe something like $100/year.

I'll probably swap the camera when it gets cooler. Prob at my next house I'll go with a different brand/model.

---

That's a common issue across all video doorbells that uses the normal doorbell wiring. The issue is that the built in battery dies because of weather (usually cold) and there is no way to replace the battery. So without the battery when someone presses the button it closes the circuit to ring the doorbell and kills power to the video doorbell. So no video until the doorbell fully reboots when power is restored because there is no more battery power.

It doesn't matter who makes it or what model it is, until they do replaceable batteries it'll just keep on happening (and I don't think they will fix that because...money). The more pro/business grade versions have switched over to a power over ethernet model to get around the problem (but it won't use the physical chime that is installed with homes without a lot of "customization").

So long story long, expect video doorbells that use standard doorbell wiring to die between 1 to 3 years, depending on the weather it faces, no matter the brand or model.

---

Thanks for the info. Looks like you're spot-on, from what I've read today, and indeed it applies to many/most/(all?) "smart" doorbells.

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Cameras-and-Doorbells/No-alert-when-someone-rings-the-nest-door-bell-not-on-my-phone-or-Google/m-p/376090#M65616

---

Yeah, it was a big surprise from me especially since no company even directly addresses that there is an issue, let alone a remedy for it since it's going to be a fundamental failing for every "smart" video doorbell like this. I've been trying to figure out a solution, including just going back to a regular doorbell and setup an IP camera near the door somehow.