This particular product was purchased after thorough research, as it was meant to replace another camera that ultimately did not meet our needs. It has been functioning for several months now, so impressions have already been formed.
The previous model was the "IP Surveillance Camera Wi-Fi 3MP Full HD+ Waterproof Battery," which is produced by multiple companies. Yes, it is wireless, and yes, the battery never runs out, but its notifications are its weak point. It has three sensitivity settings, many false positives, and a significant delay.
Now, regarding the Reolink, I will try to mention some aspects that are not included on the official website or require further research:
+ Sturdy construction. The circular part with the logo is made of metal, while the rest is made of good quality plastic.
+ The rotation mechanism is relatively quiet and does not interfere with the recordings. I mention this because there are some models where the sound of the camera's movement can overpower the ambient sound.
+ The WiFi antennas work fine. The signal strength is slightly weaker than that of a mobile phone in the same location, but I did not experience any disconnections. It can connect to both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks.
+ The two lenses work great together. The wide-angle lens provides the classic wide image, while the second lens offers suitable zoom for details.
+ The image quality it provides is fantastic and crystal clear, with many resolution and fps settings. The same applies to night vision, whether using infrared or the built-in LED lights.
+ Now, the strongest aspect is its software, which is incredible whether used on desktop or mobile. It offers extensive customization options, which can be seen in the manual if downloaded. Here are some examples:
- It has Privacy Mask, where you can define the area the camera will not monitor for targets.
- It has separate Motion Detection settings for Humans, Vehicles, and Animals. You can adjust the sensitivity for each from 1 to 100, and also set the target size that triggers recording.
- You can set whether the recording starts before the target is detected and stops 10, 30, or 60 seconds after the target is lost.
- You can schedule specific days and times for recording and monitoring.
- Recordings are saved on an SD card, which is not included in the package, and it supports Email Alert and FTP.
- It supports UPnP, DDNS, RTMP, HTTP, HTTPS, RTSP, and ONVIF. There are also instructions available online on how to integrate it with Home Assistant.
Overall, the camera is excellent, and false positives are minimal. If properly configured, you won't miss any targets, and it can notify you with minimal delay for any detected activity. You can set up two profiles from the application: one for Home and one for OutOfHome, where the camera will notify you almost instantly for any triggering event.
The only negatives I can mention are three, hence the four-star rating:
- There is a 3 to 4-second delay when giving the camera a command to move in any of the four directions.
- During movement, there is a loss of image clarity. However, this can be improved by adjusting the movement speed to the lowest possible setting.
- While the Auto Tracking feature that follows targets works very well, it does have some weaknesses. There are a few specific scenarios which, for security reasons, I will not mention here.