Cheap security cameras, any good?

knightstyle

Looking to cover the side entrance of our house and see reviews of cameras all seem to be about expensive ones. There are plenty of under £30 ones for sale but are they any good?  This   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333914835947?hash=item4dbee00beb:g:G74AAOSw7qhgRxUB   is £10 for example. 
If no good what should I be looking for?

rob7475

It depends what features you want I suppose. Most of the cheap ones will have poor image quality in the dark for example.

I have a blink camera and also an Arlo one. The Arlo camera is a few years older than the blink but was 3 times the price. It's still more reliable and provides a better picture with less stuttering though.

There's always going to be compromises on the components in a camera at the lower end of the market.

FaceHead

The primary purpose of a CCTV camera is deterrence. A cheap one achieves this, so I'd say anything more than a cheap one is not worth it.

My c.£35 camera does just fine in terms of picture too.

Bendy_House

Other factors to consider are, where will the video be stored, and how much memory space will you therefore need?

This one mentions storage on the 'cloud'. Which cloud is this, and will it cost anything? If stored on your phone, a 128GB card will last - what? - a week max?

Worth asking these sorts of Qs first, and - if happy with the answers - you can go for it, try it out, and return it if it isn't as described.

If it's just for 'live viewing' - ie, no recording, but just "who's at the door?", then it'll very likely be just fine.

canaldumidi

Do want a built in card to store footage? Motion activate?

Do you want to store footage on a DVD/similar? Linked how? Wire or wireless?

Or send footage to store in the 'cloud'? Where? Cost?

Or do you just want to see footage in real timeon your TV/phone and not store it?

Daytime or night time? Or both?

Range?

Clarity? Facial recognition quality? Car reg plate recognition?

Once you've answered those and similar Qs in your own mind you can start comparing cameras......

knightstyle

OK what I was looking for was a outside simple camera with a motion detector and night time capability to record onto a card and send an alarm and live pics to my mobile phone. 
I know the Arlo and Blink will do this but feel the £50 to £100 they will cost is too much.

bob_a_builder

knightstyle said:

Looking to cover the side entrance of our house and see reviews of cameras all seem to be about expensive ones. There are plenty of under £30 ones for sale but are they any good?  This   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333914835947?hash=item4dbee00beb:g:G74AAOSw7qhgRxUB   is £10 for example. 
If no good what should I be looking for?

Is it really £10 though - looks like the normal Ebay Bait and Switch play
Strangely that camera is 'not available' - and when it is I doubt price will be 9.99
Given the prices of the other cameras on that page are more than that for less features

That same camera image shows  up elsewhere on EBay for £40 ish

A single Blink outdoor camera is £49 on Amazon at the moment - get 2 for £40 each

I have a number of the Wyze V3 which is (was) about the cheapest decent one you could get - unfortunately since I bought them, the cost shipping to the UK increase has pushed the price to us in the UK up significantly 

https://www.amazon.com/Vision-Indoor-Outdoor-Camera-Assistant/dp/B08R59YH7W

knightstyle

Thanks, yes but that one says wired so is that just for power?  How does it connect to my phone?

bob_a_builder

Wyze uses Wi-Fi for data. but does need USB for power, and it can do continuous record to SD card but card is held in camera, also 12 sec clips are sent to cloud store for free for 14 days

Given that the Wyzes are getting more difficult to get hold of , I've just ordered a couple of Blink Outdoors to try out but also getting the Sync 2 module which allows them to record to an SD in house - so no subscription - but Blinks can only record motion triggered clips

SirMSE

bob_a_builder said:

I have a number of the Wyze V3 which is (was) about the cheapest decent one you could get - unfortunately since I bought them, the cost shipping to the UK increase has pushed the price to us in the UK up significantly 

https://www.amazon.com/Vision-Indoor-Outdoor-Camera-Assistant/dp/B08R59YH7W

Thanks, I am also looking at the Wyze v3, support will not give me any advice on what power cable I need to purchase, what did you do? Were you able to get it to work? Did you have any issues? Are you still using them? Are you using them outdoors? Thanks.

(US o/s power adaptor is: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PZDXPHD?postId=301a9bb5-10e6-4941-9d90-8f58d841a1a2 )

SirMSE

This is interesting: https://www.amazon.com/Outdoor-Starter-Bundle-Station-Wireless/dp/B09Y11FWZ9