Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

**Updates: A year later in the South Carolina weather, the outside camera is working great, as are all cameras. I discovered that if I set the channel on my home wifi router to a static channel (1, 6, or 11), the cameras are much more reliable when trying to connect. I am adding an additional camera to an upstairs window, so that I can have a clear view of my front yard, the mailbox, and the traffic on the street. Lastly, Yi has released a PC app for viewing your cameras in a grid arrangement without a smartphone. Original review: After seeing recent reports of car break-ins and garage thefts in my area, I decided to look into developing a camera system for the house. Knowing that a quality/professional security camera & recording system can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, the emerging market of inexpensive, wireless, Internet-capable products available will suit my needs perfectly. After a lot of reviews, research, planning, and budgeting, I came up with two different options for our home and I’m going to share the details with you, in case you have been thinking about the same thing. Here were my requirements: • Cameras for the front and rear of the home, and interior as needed. • Day and Night Video Capability (Infrared, or IR, Illumination) • $200 total budget • Wide Angle Lens • Recording Feature • Motion Detection, with Customizeable Zones & Alerts • Wi-Fi • Remote Live Streaming • Fully wireless or close enough to a power socket That’s a tall order, right? Enter the Yi Home Camera The Yi Home Camera is a relatively new product, released late 2015. It is a Chinese brand, known for a popular, competitively priced action camera. This camera is quite similar to NestCam and DropCam products, although at a much lower price. At first glance, it can be difficult to differentiate the Yi from Nest. The cameras are well built have good reviews. Although the Yi is one of the few products to forego a PC or Web interface, I find the required iOS/Android app to be well featured, reliable, and frequently improved. Instead of recording to the “cloud” or another device in the home, each Yi camera has a built-in MicroSD slot, which can hold over an entire week’s worth of HD video. The cameras have a wide 111° view, which makes them great for security, and their USB connectors make installation and extending cables very simple. I bought three cameras for, plus three 20’ gold plated USB cables, and three MicroSD cards from Amazon, for a total cost of $200. I’m fortunate to have a nice view of my driveway and garage from my front window, so I mounted the first camera up high inside the window. Here, I can see anyone walking up the driveway, over to our car, into the garage, etc. My garage exterior LED lights are quite bright so I don’t have to enable the IR illuminator, which doesn’t work through windows. I invested in an electronic timer to ensure that the garage lights are always on when I need them to be. I mounted one camera on the back patio. I realize that these cameras are not made specifically for outdoor use, but I mounted it high, well out of the effects of rain. Out here, I can enable the IR illumination to capture people or animals approaching our back door or windows at night. I wouldn’t be the first to mount a Yi outdoors successfully, and I figure that if I lose a camera to environmental factors, it’s inexpensive enough to replace. I could either put one in an enclosure, which is risky due to high temperatures, or put one in the back window and install an exterior IR illumination source. Lastly, I put one inside the house, with a wide view of the livingroom and kitchen. Heaven forbid I would need video of an intruder, but it could be nice to check in on the home while we are away on a date or vacation. IR Illumination means the entire area is visible in the dark. To further customize my cameras, I adjusted the motion zones and alerts, which are pushed directly to the Yi Home app. A short clip is included in the alert, but additional video must be retrieved from the camera or transferred to your PC via MicroSD card (or copied to your phone’s camera roll). Alerts can be configured to 3 specific schedules, but video will always be captured upon movement. I disabled the front status lights to draw as little attention as possible. I easily added the cameras to my wife’s phone and disabled her alerts, since she is not interested in the frequent notifications. Thus far, alerts have been mostly triggered by flying bugs, birds, heavy wind, although I am learning how to easily differentiate the useful alerts. I tucked away the cords as best as could, to keep a somewhat professional looking installation. Overall, I am quite satisfied with this system and look forward to testing the cameras’ durability. Pros: Wide Angle (111 degrees) IR Nightvision Recording (Accessible through smartphone app) Best Value Customizable Motion Detection and Alerts HD Video (720p) Simple Setup Two-Way Audio Fully Independent Cameras Cons: Video storage is only as secure as the camera itself App-Only: No PC or Web Interfaces Limited Customization Non-US Company Limited Reliability Information