Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am writing this review because I read many reviews of others on many security systems before deciding on this one. The reviews were instructive and very helpful so I wanted to take the time to submit my own review. As a general overview, in my opinion a POE system is the only way to go. From what I have read the wireless cameras do not have the picture quality of a hard wired camera (and picture quality is paramount in my mind if you are investing the time and expense to install a security system in the first place); and as it is difficult enough to run cables to each desirable location for a camera, with POE you run one Cat5 cable and you are done. No separate power cable to run as with the coaxial signal cable type. I ordered this security system five weeks ago and have had it running since. After living in the same location for 25 years with no issues we unfortunately had some school kids vandalizing our decorative lights at the edge of our property next to the sidewalk as apparently they did not have anything better to do on their way home. Once they had already broken the glass out they were stealing the light bulbs and since their activities continued (yes, they were dumb enough to keep coming back) I had time to order the system, wait for delivery and set up two cameras behind the windows to catch them in the act. After providing the video evidence to the police of the two I had on video stealing the light bulbs, these two also confessed to the vandalism to the lights before I had the system for video evidence and rolled on a third party to the damage as well. The restitution payments I received from the three sets of parents for the damages to include labor to replace the lights helped offset the cost of my Reolink system. Word is out to the troublemakers that my house has surveillance cameras. Upon delivery I connected a VGA monitor, went through the intuitive setup process and tested each camera before installation. Yes, it is cumbersome to click in your password with the mouse on the virtual keyboard that pops up but as this is the only area where an actual keyboard would be helpful it’s not a big deal. I was very impressed with the initial setup process, in particular with linking it to my phone. I thought I was going to be up half the night with technical issues entering router IP addresses to make it all work but this was not the case at all. I am using an Android phone. I did have to download a barcode scanner first, then I scanned the barcode on the Quick Start guide and it installed the Reolink app on the phone with no issues. Next I scanned the barcode on my Reolink system box and up popped the video from my cameras instantly. I was pleasantly surprised with a plug and play that worked. I could not believe it was that easy. From the app I tested the replay feature and tested the ability to take a still picture of someone walking by. It worked perfectly and in about an hour and a half I was ready to catch my unsuspecting culprits. I spent considerable time in planning where to install the cameras and running the cables through my attic to a centrally located closet in my house. This took some effort in my two story house but I am happy with my end result. I went to Lowe’s and bought 500 feet of Cat5 cable and some Cat5 ends to make my own cables. I purchased the crimp tool as well. Note that this is where I had some video loss connection issues that were not the fault of the Reolink system. I bought solid (as opposed to stranded) wire that specifically requires solid wire style connectors. This may sound like a no brainer but after much frustration troubleshooting the issue, I realized that the Cat5 connectors I bought at Lowe’s did not specify whether or not they were for solid or stranded wire. After a trip to a local electronics store where they sold Cat5 connectors specifically labeled for use with solid wire (and connectors specifically labeled for stranded wire) I bought solid wire connectors, connected them to my cables and the video loss problem was solved. I am glad I chose a system that is upgradable with eight channels as once everything was installed I decided I needed one additional camera so I ordered and installed a Reolink RLC411 4X zoom camera. While I have read that some have the opinion that the zoom camera is not beneficial unless you are sitting at the monitor operating it this was not the case for me. I mounted this camera high under the second story eve and because of the wide angle of the standard cameras I was able to choose a zoom rate for this camera that covered my property without covering half way down the street. The other criticism I read about the zoom cameras is that they do not have microphones. While this is true, the standard camera on my porch has sound and as such is plenty sufficient (note that the sound is a feature that you must enable by checking the box in the firmware to enable each camera individually if you want it active). I have sound enabled for one camera in the front and one camera on the side of my house. I live on a corner so I have sound for each street. To hear the sound I swapped out the VGA monitor I initially used for an older TV with HDMI that I was not using. There is a sound out port but using an HDMI TV is easier and works well. My record time before the system overwrites the oldest data is approximately 5 ½ days. I believe I read where some were getting about a week and a half but this is with my fifth camera added. I’m sure enabling sound adds to the data usage as well, which is one reason I only enabled two cameras for sound recording. As with anything, one upgrade will typically require something else. The system has the SATA port whereby a SATA drive with up to six terabytes can be added. I have not added this upgrade as I would not need it unless I was going to be gone for a week or more plus you can check the cameras from anywhere at any time from your phone. There is a PC app that I did not install so I cannot provide any feedback here. I read one review with concerns about cybersecurity - where does the data (video) go (who has access to it on the interweb). I do not have and will not have any interior cameras so while his point could be a valid issue for some, with external cameras only showing what anyone driving or walking by can see, this is not a concern for me. I can report excellent response from the Reolink support team. I sent in a message as I was having difficulty renumbering the cameras (I wanted Channel 1 to be Camera 1, etc. and the numbers changed when I added a fifth camera; and when I tried the “Check for Latest Version” option I received a “Failure to update” message. Support responded in less than a day, on a Saturday, with clear instructions to assist my task for renumbering; and notified me that the error was because this is actually for a planned feature to be added at a later time. Ease of use, easy setup, excellent video quality (not to mention catching the vandals that was the whole point) equals 5 stars from me.