REOLINK Smart 5MP 8CH Home Security Camera System, 4pcs Wired PoE IP Cameras Outdoor with Person/Pet/Vehicle Detection, 4K 8CH NVR with 2TB HDD for 24-7 Recording, RLK8-520D4-5MP

I've had REOlink equipment for 3+ years now, and have waited until now to review after buying this latest system. Don't get me wrong, REOlink NVRs and computer/phone apps don't play well with other camera manufacturers and has caused me much grief over the years. But when using REOlink-ONLY equipment, their stuff is pretty bullet-proof. My latest system (NVR+8 cams) worked perfectly on the very first power-up. I have 20 cameras now, everything from RLC-423WS, RLC-423, and C1pro PTZs, to RLC-511 zoom, to 4MP bullets, to 5MP turret cameras, multiple NVRs, blah-blah-blah. I've personally wired 2000ft of CAT6 PoE to most of my systems, snaking through walls, attics, soffit, and even buried a few hundred feet of conduit to get all of the cameras and NVRs as inconspicuous as possible. That-said, here's the pros/cons to all of the REOlink stuff together, not just this item: REOlink CONS: - Doesn't play well with others - I think their inclusion of RCA-audio, reset-button, and power-socket is STUPID for an external camera that is made to be PoE (power-over-ethernet). I have to heat-shrink-seal every single one of those connectors on outdoor cameras (that's 54-connections I've had to meticulously seal) - Doesn't support HKvision encoding (used by virtually all of the doorbell cameras on the market) - Technical support is hit-or-miss; 80% want you to go away, 20% want to help, 0% actually do help - Both of my high-end recent cameras (RLC-423 and RLC-511) 4X-zoom cameras seem to have the same internal malfunction with focus... right-side is out of focus when zoomed-in and left-side is out of focus when zoomed-out - Most of their bullet and turret cameras have great quality, but such a narrow field-of-view that its hard to find good mounting locations (they are too zoomed for 8'-12' range use, which I argue is what most houses have indoors and outside for mounting locations) - Their motion-detection is based on pixels changing, not true motion-detection like Ring somehow accomplishes through infrared or other cameras with PIR-detection, so it is constantly going off for shadows and vegetation - The UUID-setup is so simple that it makes internet-security very questionable... if I can sign in from my multiple devices, other countries probably can too - Their cameras require you to turn on the active infrared-LEDs for nighttime use. They are NOT true nightvision like a passive FLIR would be. The problem with the infrared-LEDs is humans can see your camera and bugs are attracted to the lenses - There are plenty of cameras on the market with more optical zoom. 4X is frankly not enough for me in most cases, and most of their outdoor cameras start off with too much zoom to begin-with (no wide angle) REOlink PROS: - Their stuff plays well with their own equipment, better than every camera company I've tried - Their Apps magically work really well, whether on the same wifi-network or cellular or Internet-remote - UUID setup of apps is effortless - PoE setup of cameras with NVR is effortless, so are their WiFi cameras (as long as on same network) - Cameras have really good control of bandwidth-type adjustments (frame size, frame rate, KB/s) - Their motion-detection is fairly-decent; detects all movement (which is a pain with sun/shadow/bushes) - Their cameras have internal memory slots, incase you want localized non-NVR playback capability - I think their night-vision is actually pretty spectacular, but it requires the red-IR-LEDs to be on (and visible) - All of their stored videos have .MP4 codecs compatible with Quicktime and PC/Mac operating systems - All of their systems (NVR, phone, computer-MAC, computer-PC) work the same way, set-up is the same - I've had some cameras outside for 3+ years and they have held-up well to rain and sun I wish their customer / technical service people were more capable. Every time I talked or emailed them, it felt like I was speaking to an intermediary... like they weren't the company that actually designed the hardware. Frankly, I'd pay more and be more pro-REOlink if they gave a crap. Their ultimate response is basically always the same: our stuff works together and if you want to try something else, don't call us. And basically, they're right.

I bought this system to put in my moms house that was going to be unoccupied. She needed to move due to medical issues but we weren't ready to sell the house. I live in another state and couldn't be checking in on the house regularly and I was worried about it sitting there with no one in it so I bought this system and set it up so I could keep an eye on things from my house. It has been fantastic, everything is still working perfectly several months later and I haven't had to tweak or reboot or mess with ANYTHING in that time. That is exactly what I wanted in a system and after researching many options I chose this Reolink system and I am glad I did. PROS: 1) RELIABLE. Like I said, this was my top priority. There is no one physically at the property to be rebooting cameras or messing with settings. I needed something I could set up and then it would just work and this system has achieved that goal. 2) Local storage, so no monthly cloud subscription required. This was also a huge priority for me. I don't want to be paying $10 or whatever per month and having all of the video sitting on the cloud. I wanted it stored locally, and have the ability to pull up and review the video remotely on my phone or computer. Again, this system meets all of those needs. 3) Good picture quality, in day and night. 4) Easy setup. Instructions were clear, and everything I needed was included. I did buy a couple of extra 100 ft ethernet cables because I knew I was going to be placing a couple of cameras pretty far from the NVR box. I placed two outside at the front and back door, and then two inside. 5) Playback is easy, I check in on my phone regularly and its easy to locate the moments when there is someone at the door, etc. It can identify pets vs day/night transitions vs people and puts a little icon in that spot on the timeline so you can go right to it and see what it was. CONS: 1) The cameras are POE only, so you have to run an ethernet to each camera (can't be wi-fi only) but at least that one ethernet cable provides the data and the power connection. However, if you are going to be installing cameras outside or somewhere else where it is going to be challenging to get an ethernet cable to keep that in mind. There is no option to connect the camera to the NVR using wi-fi only. I will say though, that having the cameras be POE adds to the reliability. It means there are no concerns about the wifi signal being weak or your wifi router doing something screwy and the camera dropping connection. 2) The adapter cable where you plug the ethernet cable into the camera is unnecessarily bulky. It's already hard enough to get a really "clean look" on these cameras since they are wired, unless you're willing to drill a lot of holes and run the cables behind your walls. Having a bulky connector on top of that just makes it look more unsightly. Luckily for my use case, I didn't care too much about the appearance since no one is even living in the house. I just needed it to work. BOTTOM LINE: If you want a camera system that can be hands off, and allows you to remotely view the recorded video, and doesn't require a monthly cloud based storage subscription... this is probably the best system you can currently buy for your money and it comes with everything you need.