Last time, I gave my review of the WhatNot app. Personally, I find it interesting and may buy from it again as long as it is something I need.
During that review, I mentioned I bought a Home Security Camera kit. Aside from the fact that it had 4 cameras, I knew little about the kit I purchased.
Before I dive into the product I purchased, you need to know a bit about Home Security Cameras.
They come in two general styles:
- Wireless
- Wired
Wireless is easier to install. Wired is more secure with a more reliable internet connection.
Within each of these, you have three flavors:
- Cameras with a local Network Video Recorder
- Cameras with a remote monitoring service
- Cameras with local storage and automatic upload to an online storage server
The costs for these vary widely, and I am not in a position to explore the pros and cons of each service. However, the general rule of thumb is that the more it costs, the more you get. Most of the time.
I suspected the 4-camera security kit I bought was very cheap. The good news for me was that I understood the actual potential cost of these cameras. I’m writing this article because not everybody knows what I learned several years ago.
Long-time readers may remember my review of Temu several years ago. During that time, I almost bought a light socket security camera. The idea is to remove the bulb from your front porch light socket and screw in this security camera with pan, tilt, and zoom. You used an app to monitor and control the camera.
What I could not find was where the recordings were stored. I eventually found it buried in the camera’s agreement. While the camera cost about $20, the service that stored your recordings was $30/month/camera. I did not buy that security camera.
I was not surprised when I opened my 4-camera kit and found they wanted you to buy the remote server service for $50/month/camera. In my case, that became $200/month. Perhaps that is why the kit was returned in the first place.
They did offer 24-hour storage of your recordings and a local storage option. After 24 hours, any recordings are automatically deleted. Each recording is only 10 seconds long. Local storage means video stored on a mini TF memory card, which is not included, inside each camera.
I chose the local storage option and bought four 256-gigabyte (the biggest allowed) TF cards off Amazon for about $36.
Am I disappointed with my purchase?
No, and here is why:
- My expectations were low. I knew it was a risk.
- My tech skills allowed me to understand and use their much cheaper local storage.
- I am more curious than concerned about my home safety. WiFi cameras can be easily defeated with a signal jammer. If I were very worried about home security, I would have bought a hardwired system rather than a wireless one.
- I like that I can view what is going on around my house. As I write this, I am on a train traveling to Florida, and I can view each camera and its recordings on my iPad.
- I get a notice when motion is detected.
- The motion detection is of low quality. It seems that people walking away from the camera trigger recordings more readily than those walking towards it.
I am a bit disappointed in number six. That is the main reason for making the purchase. I wanted to know when delivery people or others approach the house. Still, it is not a deal breaker, and I will leave the cameras in place.
Like I said in the WhatNot article, you are buying goods that are on closeout, surplus, or return. You do not know why these products ended up with a liquidation company. You need to use caution and wisdom when purchasing from WhatNot. Actually, that is true with any website or live auction.
Should you decide to improve your home security with some kind of system, make sure you know what you are buying. Personally, if I were going to do it “right,” I would have purchased a hardwired system with its own network video recorder (NVR) and managed it myself.
Services like ADT make it easier on you because they do the monitoring and will make the call to emergency responders. Their signage also acts as a deterrent to potential criminals.
If the security cameras are inexpensive—$10-$30 per camera — and no obvious NVR or service is being sold, they are likely this type of camera that wants to sell you an expensive storage service. I’m not saying the storage service itself is bad. It may be amazing, but they are not upfront about it, and for me, the cost is too high and not worth it.
Sadly, we live in a time when many people are concerned about their families’ safety and must consider purchasing such options. Whatever you choose to do for your home, do not be impulsive; consider and research what works best for you.
