Outdoor Cameras as part of Security System?
 

Looking for feedback on if outdoor cameras are a waste of money, or if they have been useful in TV environment.

We have a security system up North without cameras. Will be buying a new system when we move to TV in a few months.

Thanks

I have Blink cameras here that are linked to other houses I own here and up north. Simple to set up, super clear and cost effective. I think they charge for cloud storage now but mine are all grandfathered in for free because I was an early user.

We had a minor surge in crime when we first moved into what was a new area (9 years ago), I did install cameras but all are inside, all are WIRED, I do not like systems that can be hacked. After the first 6 months this area has been very quiet. The other item to consider, if and when you have the house pressure washed, any electronic item not rated for 2500 PSI can be damaged, been there done that, I now do my own pressure washing.
So to answer your question, unless you have a spare $2000 to $5000 laying around, I would not go for the outdoor cameras. The Sumter county police also conduct security reviews of the houses, we did this and made several changes.

We have an outside ring camera, not any inside ones of course bc we do rent the house out.
They are a god send....we had one renter that did allot of damage to our home and had we had the camera at the time we could have seen all the "growing" supplies he was carting into the house.
But regardless of that, renters or not, it's still nice to be up north at our other home and watch for incoming storms, or if the lawn was cut or even if that neighbors free roaming dog is jumping up on our cart again at night.
So yes, well worth the money.
One other thing it's good for, when my daughter heads down for a week alone I can see that she has safely arrived.

Why would anyone share the details of their security system on the internet?

I see a trend so far. those here full time see no need and those who are part time want to watch things from afar.

I have them on the exterior (Blink cameras) and have found them useful. We will be moving there fulltime veey soon so probably wont find them as needed soon. I have found things that needed attention. Even an ambulance at our front door...I called neighborhood watch and they were at the wrong house and immediately scurried down the street to the right address.

i have 4 wired cameras, 2 outside and 2 inside. i got them at Bj's for about $400. i love them, we can see the front of house on the monitors at all times. it records on a loop for 30days. best $400 spent.

From real personal experience, I can tell you it depends on what you want to get from having cameras. If you feel better being able to see around your house at night so you can call the cops if someone is truly on your property, then yes a system would do as expected. However, if you think that it would be useful after your house has been burglarized in order to help capture the person, then you'd better think twice. If that were to happen, there is a high chance that later they or a friend would come back to your house for revenge. This happened to me and they spray-painted the entire inside of the house and broke everything in sight. I'd never go that route again myself. I'd move to another area with fewer problems. The Villages is not a real gated community. Any press of the red button and any clown is riding around inside. There are safer areas and areas that are next door to communities with drug teenage addiction problems that are only getting worse with time. No amount of cameras or neighborhood watch problems are going to stop the drug addicts from petty crime in order to fuel their out-of-control addictions.

I have a security camera system , do I feel it’s needed, no but it is fun to play with seeing deliveries ,trash pickups neighbors walking or spying on dog when not home.

You won’t need them—until you do. And if they’re not up and functioning at that time, it is too late.

We have an “Arlo” security camera system, 4 cameras total, motion activated. They don’t record unless they detect motion but then they record both video and audio. We can also talk in real time to whomever is activating the camera. Gets some pretty interesting reactions. It is an older system (came with us from Minnesota) but it functions well. The only gripe is that as it is wireless we have to charge the cameras and it takes a good three hours per camera to do that.

We have a couple of short-term rentals in our neighborhood (rumor has it Airb&bs) and now and again younger folks show up. Neighbors are fine, but with people you don’t know moving in for a few days at a time—well, better safe than sorry.

Wyze cameras work great and are inexpensive. They can be accessed remotely, be set up to record to the cloud or a Mico memory stick or both. There is a monthly charge if you want to record to the cloud for more than 12 seconds. The pan plus for the inside and outside I would use the Cam V3. They work great in the garage, Lania, and you can point them out the front window to keep them from getting wet. Wyze does make a Water rated model for outside. They are all wireless for the internet, but wired for power. It does take a 2.4Ghz connection to your router. They are easy to set up and if you watch their video, it's a snap. If you have Xfinity you will have to ask them to set your wireless router up for 5 and 2.4 Ghz. They can do it remotely. The Ring and the Blink I believe have to be 2.4 Ghz too. Just like a remote garage door opener or thermostat.

Best is a layered system. Several different technologies overlapping. Using wired cameras, wireless cameras, door/window open/closed sensors, motion detection, driveway/walkway detection of people/car, glass breakage sound detection, smoke/fire/co alarm integration, water leak sensors ... Then local storage, cloud storage, email/text alerts... UPS where possible, wired internet, and for the paranoid backup 5g cell internet.
Do not disclose what you have, where it might be positioned, or brag about only spending $50 for it all. Consider generic security system sticker (instead of a specific brand) if you feel disclosing information is useful.
Position your cameras so they have overlapping coverage. Put some up high, others low. Have some totally hidden. If you have a camera DVR put it into a metal box that is bolted down.
Be aware that wireless systems can be jammed. Cameras and DVRs can be stolen too (evidence taken with them), so consider having footage stored in the camera, on DVR, and offsite in the cloud.
Make sure the system detects the right things, but does not generate false alarms.

I set up cameras in a bedroom window at the front of the house with a view of the driveway. When I’m waiting to be picked up or waiting for a service person, I open the app and can see when someone arrives. I also have a camera in the kitchen window with a view of the back gate. I keep the gate locked but it makes me feel safer. Lastly, I have a camera in our screened porch and can see out to the yard. All the cameras were really inexpensive yet extremely helpful.

You have to remember it's TV, the most sought after market in the world..... by hackers.

We have the Ring system with the Ring camera door bell, and several outdoor cameras to keep tabs of our entryways and garage. They work well and integrate easily with Amazon Alexa. The wireless camera with a small solar panel is great if you do not have A/C power in certain spots.

On the question are cameras, a waste of money. If you ever need one, you would be glad they’re there.

Hi Larry, I have Alexa.... what does the Ring system do with Alexa?

I have a Ring solar power camera outside my rental in The Villages I have it mainly to have some eyes on the place to see what's going on since I'm in upstate NY. Also to make sure the tenants are honest so I know that if I'm renting for 2 people that 6 aren't living there. Any future cameras I am going to want local storage I don't like the idea to pay for cloud storage for video that I mostly keep for a few days anyways. Also with local storage it will still record if you have a solar powered camera because if you lose power or internet you won't have cloud recording. I feel theses camera & security companies over hype the sense of protection. Yes you will be able to see someone breaking in on the camera but in most cases the smart thieves will be wearing mask so you can't tell who it is and they will be in and out of your place before the cops show up

I also have Wyze cameras on both my TV house and house up North. I have added other Wyze equipment too like solar panel to charge wireless cameras, wireless door lock that can be opened and closed from anywhere. I also installed a Wyze garage door system that lets me open and close the door from anywhere. System also alerts when door is opened or closed.

Unless you want to see who's dog is pooping in your yard, investing hundreds or thousands of dollars in a security camera for a home in the villages is money not well spent. My $.02:mornincoffee:

We have Wyze cameras as well. Excellent!

I use a ring doorbell camera. Located inside my glasses in lanai. It shows me a wide view in the front entry area of my home. I can keep an eye on things. I get motion alerts and a video of anyone who approaches the area. Cost is about $36. Per year plus internet connection is necessary . I really like this convenience.

In the immortal words of sports caster Warner Wolf, let’s go to the video tape. We always have Oudoor Cameras, always because you can’t argue a point if you’ve got someone stone cold doing something wrong on your property! You can’t see them unless you have a highly trained eye. I don’t advertise with a protected by sign either. I feel extremely safe in The Villages compared to where we came from.
Our last Villages home was blasted by a dog and instead of being a worm I asked the suspected perp if he was guilty. I got a response that he was insulted that I would make an accusation like that.
Fast forward about two weeks, I repositioned the camera in the Palm Tree and presented a week of evidence to The Bad Guy! I included the evidence with the video footage! He didn’t know whether to Beep or go Blind! He was a speechless little bit(+. Cameras are the start of setting all scores. Do it and get the best you can afford! Colombo, over and out!

WYZE camera’s
 

I use WYZE camera’s here with 4 installed to monitor the front, back and inside the house. They plug into an outlet, no batteries to worry about and can be placed indoors or outside with all the features of more expensive. They’re about $30 each connect to your phone , iPad have play back, zoom etc , I mounted all of mine inside with good viewing of front and back yards. They have option of SIM cards for play back instead of monthly/ yearly service charges. You can find them on the internet.

I put a regular SimplySafe alarm system in my home, so adding a camera was relatively cheap...

Arlo
 

Arlo solar charging, they work fantastic & have used them for a few years, replaced 1 of 3 chargers in 3 or 4 years. Still have to charge inside unit every few weeks

Get a solar panel

Or how about catching that person breaking into your property?
Stealing your package from your front door?
Or, Someone peeking into your window?
Ect, etc.. but you want to bring up Dog-Poo! :rolleyes:

Very inexpensive, integrated, records, notifies, two-way communicates and lighting available.

Don't have to spend $1,000.

:ho:

Love my Blink cameras. Can see every time I get a delivery, someone stopping by or what's creeping around at night, etc.

So far the only benefit to outdoor cameras for us is periodically catching service people claiming they provided the service when they didn't Caught the pool guy sitting in his truck (which has gps) in front of the house for 30 minutes never leaving their truck but claiming the service work was done. Once we put camera warning stickers on the lanai the service has been superb.

Great advice. That’s what I did. Unfortunately the thieves wore masks, worked fast and made off with all my equipment. My two Doberman Pincher attack dogs were too busy eating the treats they left

You buy a security camera to watch around your home, but do not buy it and think you will be stopping someone from stealing. Might aid police or others by having a picture of the person. That helps once in a while. You can look at WYZE they have an SD card for storage, made for outside (not for pressure washers) and you can buy the cloud if you want but do not have to. About $30 and home depot has them. Or look for others that have SD card for storage so you don't pay for cloud storage.

My outdoor cameras were $800 with a base station. Those prices sound like they were bought from Galaxy.

Just because it's a camera that says outdoors doesn't mean it's waterproof. Make sure...

Right now for just around $30.00 you can get a lightbulb camera. They just screw in on any outside socket. Easy to install and they work great. Just make sure it is waterproof.

Ring works seamlessly with Alexa. I have a Alexa Show in my kitchen and if someone comes to my front door, Alexa will alert and display the doorbell camera live view so I can see who is there. I can also have the Show display live views of the my outdoor cameras. It works great and I don't have to use my Ring app on my phone all the time.

I have 6 cameras installed around the exterior of my home. I would never have a place without them. I use all UniFi equipment.

We have a Google Nest outdoor camera, somewhat out of sight, and it took the renter about 2-3 weeks before he noticed it. . . i wired the power from an outlet, and the camera is wireless and stores motion activated video in the cloud. .

Bought it at Home Depot / Lowes. . . i can't remember. . but only a couple of 100 bucks at the most. . . like $5 a month for cloud storage. . .

Have one at my moms house as well, captures great wildlife around the house, foxes, deer, bears, coyotes, skunks, o'possums. . . but missed the septic tank back hoe as it backed into the driveway and across the yard. . . :undecided: