Home security cameras question...

[Pickle_Rick]

Hi guys. I been puzzling on this for a while but theres just too much information for me to sort through. My mom, who is 83, has a home security system on her doors. And it's been fine for 15 years. But the neighborhoods has gone downhill a lot, and the alarm has gone off about 10 times this year, scaring her witless.

I was looking into those doorbell cameras, but she has a sunroom that is all windows, with a lot of shadows someone could hide in. I'm a handyman, and can install anything she needs, but I don't know what camera offers the best deal since she's on a fixed income. So I'd thought I'd ask the experts.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[wildcatdonf]

Add to what she already has. Put a camera on the front door and back door. Program it to your phone. Inexpensive.

 

[anthonys735]

There are tons of wireless options out there these days. Ring, Nest, and Arlo are the main brands I researched when I was looking. I see systems pop up on kinji deals all the time. We ended up going wired with alarm.com app but we've used the Kasa wireless ones as nanny cams and they're clear as day.

 

[argubs2]

Arlo is great for wireless outdoor use. We also use Wyze cams for indoor areas, they're cheap and work just as well as Nest / a more expensive setup. Just know you might have a Chinese programmer watching the feed from somewhere in the slums of Shanghai, so use with this in mind.

Also - SimpliSafe has been phenomenal in my experience. I'd recommend that to anyone. They have options for sensors for door / window entry, motion, smoke, carbon monoxide, water, glass break. All wireless and easy.

She's also going to need to have a decent internet setup for that stuff, just FYI.

 

[CatOfDaVille]

I got a Ring wireless camera on Prime day this summer. It has a motion detector with a spotlight that works like a champ. Whenever motion is detected I get a notification on my phone that I can click and view the camera feed real time. Works well and took about 15 mins to setup. I would recommend getting a couple of those.

Cost is around $200 for one camera and if you want the app to record motion events and save them in the cloud, it's $3/mo per camera. Drop in the bucket.

 

[cole854]

I have ADT and added a camera on our front porch. Watch it live anytime or the clips when it goes off and sends a text message to your phone that it was activated. Each clip is stored on the ADT app for a certain amount of time.

 

[wildcatdonf]

Another thing your Mom might like is landscape lights. QB put them on all 4 sides of our place. Thieves do not like lights. Highly recommend. Not expensive.

 

[KyCatFan_rivals45723]

You can get the Arlo Pro wireless system with 4 cameras for about $400. They are only 720p but the video quality is still good. I installed it for my mom a few weeks back and it works very well. You just need good wireless internet for it. You can get 1080p video by getting the Pro 2 but it costs $550. You also can pay for a monthly fee for more storage with that system.

You get 7 free days of storage online before losing the videos. You can also add an SD Card to the system if you choose to. They can last for quite a while between charges (couple months I think) and are easy to take down with them being held up to the mount by a really strong magnet.

If you want to use them to talk to people at the front door you can add a doorbell for I think $70 if you already have a doorbell installed or $120 if you need to add a chime in your house. The cameras record audio and you can talk to people with them but it doesn't work well unless you yell so the doorbell is a must if you want that feature. It doesn't use a camera in the doorbell but you won't need it with the cameras you already will have.

Hope this helps.

By the way you can monitor the system with an app for your phone or tablet or you can use your computer to do it but I haven't tried that yet.