Sorta Disney Related - Security Cameras

You are all so helpful with tips and solving my WDW planning woes, I thought I would ask here…

With the convenience of Amazon Prime and mail ordering, package thief and break-ins have risen exponentially.

Since many of you vacation often at WDW or other magical places, you may have security cameras installed on your home. I was wondering if any of you can provide pros and cons on different security cameras. Specifically, we are looking at Arlo Pro 2 or Ring Stick Up Cam. Reliable security cameras would help us relax and enjoy our 16 days at WDW this Christmas season so much more.

I bought Eufy from amazon. I watched a bunch of video reviews between arlo and eufy. I thought eufy had better sound. I also like local storage, no recurring costs. Great battery life. I have 4 cameras and home base with a 256gb memory card. System says up to 128gb but 256gb worked for me.

Overall good cameras. Obviously you will need to adjust sensitivity and such. False positives do occur because trees/bushes can move ALOT at times. I pick up the cats, foxes, and deer at night.

Overall, any camera system will be good. I just preferred how eufy was priced.

I have a Blink system. The video is pretty good. I like the convenience of the wireless setup. Unfortunately the wireless also has its own problems as you have to have good connectivity between your WiFi, the Blink module and the camera(s). Its also very … what is a good word… temperamental. I have had to return 3 cameras due to them not re-connecting to our WiFi after working fine for a week or two. Luckily I purchased from Best Buy and had their warranty. Dealing with the support/help desk operators was VERY frustrating and language can be a barrier. I am sticking with the system for now, as it is paid for (and still under Best Buy’s warranty) but I’m not sure I would recommend it. When it works - its great. When it doesn’t - its very frustrating. Video storage is free, but limited to space and will start deleting clips over a certain age and - as I understand it - the user has no say so in that regard.

I set up Arlo wireless cameras at our primary residence and a vacation home. Have to change batteries but no hard-wiring. Often on sale at Costco. Use C123 batteries, very cheap on line. All sorts of Arlo stuff now.

The eufys have really good battery life. recharage-able too. FWIW: I would recommend them. Got my father to buy some as well. easy set -up. good push notifications and scheduling

Thank you! We’ll look it up and may come back and ask more questions.

How often do you change the battery?

Love the convince of wireless but flakiness is maddening. That’s why we are leaning towards wired.

Not what you are really looking for … but you mentioned package thief

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Re: batteries. Seem to last 4-6 months. I use Duracell or Energizer from Battery Junction. And I put cameras where I can easily get to them using a ladder

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Ok. I recommend ip cameras only. No analog or other formats. Use only ip. Watch what the ir range is for night protection.

I also recommend running cat5 cabeling. I would not want to rely on batteries

We have used a couple of brands. And not installed many systems, but have liked Hik Vision. I know it is more expensive but we have generally been happy with the quality.

Also from experience fixed lenses are better at inital focusing and keeping the focal range. Unless you wish to use a mini ptz camera.

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We are a Nest family, we have the thermostat, doorbell, camera over the garage and the smoke/carbon monoxide detectors. My husband loves the cameras. I love the smoke detectors, when I burned bacon the other day, I had a 30 second warning with a nice lady’s voice informing me “there is smoke in the kitchen” and I could disable before the ear-piercing sounds of the alarm. Also, you get an alert on your phone when there is smoke detected, so if you are out of town, you can tell what room has smoke, and call the fire department to your house.

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