REOLINK 2K Security Camera Wireless Outdoor, 3MP Solar/Battery Powered Cameras for Home Security, Infrared Night Vision, 2.4GHz WiFi, Local Storage, AI Detection, No Subscription, Argus Eco-Black

Updated 11 May 2024 - Ordered another one of these and told a neighbor about my mixed experience. He wanted to try one so I took the new one over and went through the setup with him. Everything went without flaw. He was so impressed with it, I left it there. So we are back to the 5 rating and I am ordering another for the one I needed. I am still not sure what caused my problem but if my new one does not connect, I plan to delete the app I have been using and reload it in case an update got corrupted or something similar.Original review----To be fair, the camera is pretty good but the problem I had was getting it set up and working. I have been using several models of Reolink cameras for years and never had a problem until now. Since I already use the app, I should have been able to just add the camera. No matter what I would do, the camera would not connect to my network(that already had several working cameras). I boxed it up thinking it must be defective with something wifi. I decided to take one of my working cameras and reset it to make sure it would reconnect. It didn't, now my frustration doubled. I was using the latest android app on a Samsung A71 5G phone so decided to try and connect with a PC(windows). The old camera connected fine so unboxed and tried the new camera and it connected. Then tried the phone app using LAN connection and it did recognize the cameras and added to the app. The low rating is only because the camera shouldn't be that hard to connect. To the software engineer that decided to change something, "If it ain't broke, DON'T fix it." It may not make sense, but I would still recommend this camera now that I know I can get them to work. From the reviews, this doesn't look like a common problem.

I have a couple of these on my house and glad I do. They connect to my phone easy through wifi, the picture looks great, I have them connected to solar panels so they're always charged, easy to install, and they aren't big like most other outdoor cameras

So for $47 (sale price) I decided to give this camera a shot. After using it for several weeks I think it's almost the perfect camera.First the pros:• No cloud based subscription needed! I'm not sold on cloud based storage and wanted a camera system where my footage was at home. These cameras store to a local micro SD card (not included). There is a cloud option available and fairly priced (at this time) vs other camera systems. Included is 1 week of free cloud storage for 1 camera. I may or may not use it.• No base-station needed! I have a large house (3600 sq/ft) that is long and skinny. To get WIFI to the front and back of the house I use the Netgear Orbi system which has been fantastic! However, most of the battery powered cameras phone home to a base-station using their own WIFI network. A centrally located base-station would not work for me so I wanted a camera that could leverage my existing mesh network. This camera attaches easily to my network using 2.4GHz without problems.• Good video quality. Both day and night video qualities is very good; I have no complaints.• Fast alerts. When detecting motion I get alerts on the phone/tablet within 30 seconds if not sooner.• Fast easy setup. This was by far the easiest camera I setup. Using the app I was able to get the camera up and running in less than 30 minutes. Most of that time was just looking around the UI to see what I could change/configure. Additional cameras would take less than 5 minutes once you know the app and process.• Battery life is reasonable (at least for me). I fully charge the camera and putting it in a high traffic area was able to get 3 weeks of testing without issue. After the 3 weeks the camera still had 35% charge left so I figure I might have to charge it once a month give or take.• Ability to add a solar panel (that is also reasonably priced).• A strap type mount is included in the kit to allow you to attach the camera to a pole/tree/etc. That’s what I used during the evaluation period. It was quick and easy to setup.The few Cons:• By far my biggest issue is the mounting system. It only uses a screw-on type mount (included). Also, it’s not the standard ¼ inch camera mount so no using other types of mounts you might have lying around. The camera has an antenna on the back so depending on how you have it positioned; it might interfere with the mounting stalk. Also with you having to screw the camera on/off to re-charge the camera. I don’t want to mount them way up high vs if the mount was a magnetic mount which would be easier to get on and off. Maybe not an issue if you opt for the solar panel.• Batteries are not removable so you have to fiddle with the mount to take the camera down to recharge. Again this isn’t an issue if you’re adding the solar panel. I don’t want to draw any more attention to the cameras and a solar panel near it would be an eye-sore/dead giveaway where the cameras are located.Overall I’ve been very happy with this camera and have decided to buy two more to cover the back door and pool area of the house. If they had a magnetic mount available and or a removable battery for recharging then this would be my perfect camera system.