Ring Cameras vs Other options

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Ring Cameras vs Other options

Dulouz

887 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 384

#311597 30-Jan-2024 10:00

I'm fitting out a small business premises and looking at outdoor camera options. To date, I use Ring cameras in my house and other office (doorbell). I'm used to Ring and like the app and smart notifications. Can a similar experience be developed using Uniview Cameras?

Amanon

1 | 2

1025 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 675

Trusted

#3188305 30-Jan-2024 10:19

I use Ring's at the Office (Doorbell, indoor POE camera's and outdoor spotlight/cameras) and Arlo at home. Doing it again I would stick to the high end Ring devices. The Arlo's have excellent picture quality but the reliability has left a lot to be desired in comparison

boosacnoodle

1269 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 855

#3188318 30-Jan-2024 11:23

I would go local for cameras. Ring, Arlo & Eufy all go out of their way to make local storage as difficult as possible, whether by requiring extra hardware or imposing additional cost. Get something with RTSP, wired (if possible).

michaelmurfy

meow
13579 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10910

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3188319 30-Jan-2024 11:30

@boosacnoodle Always found Eufy to be good and local storage works well too. IMHO, if I were to pick a simple solution it would be Eufy over Ring or anything else.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: Quic Broadband (use R122101E7CV7Q for free setup)

Are you happy with what you get from Geekzone? Please consider supporting us by subscribing.
Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

noroad

1025 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 675

Trusted

#3188320 30-Jan-2024 11:38

For $150/year all the Ring devices in my office have unlimited cloud storage and devices, this is a bargan IMHO. I have local storage on my Arlo's at home and don't see any significant advantage to it. I do however have fully redundant internet at both places.

Dulouz

887 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 384

#3188321 30-Jan-2024 11:45

noroad:

For $150/year all the Ring devices in my office have unlimited cloud storage and devices, this is a bargan IMHO. I have local storage on my Arlo's at home and don't see any significant advantage to it. I do however have fully redundant internet at both places.

I have to say I feel the same - Ring just seems really easy. I just wanted to know if there was something I was missing. I know people seem to have issues with cloud storage but as it's all external it really doesn't bother me that much.

Amanon

michaelmurfy

meow
13579 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10910

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3188323 30-Jan-2024 11:49

I use Ring at home and agree, $150/yr for unlimited cloud storage is great but I have to admit the video quality of competitors like Eufy is rubbish. There have been robberies lately where the crooks cut the fibre to a property first rendering Ring cameras useless so it is important to have a backup connection. With Eufy, the base station can be hidden (and connect via WiFi) so at-least you've got local storage still but with the advantage of having cloud too.

Geekzone support

Support Geekzone with one-off or recurring donations Donate via PressPatron.

prevaljo

177 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 36

#3188340 30-Jan-2024 12:41

I use a Reolink POE door cam and an outdoor cam. They both have local storage and you can opt for cloud storage but it's not necessary. Both camera have RTSP and can be seen on the internal network and Internet.

boosacnoodle

1269 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 855

#3188341 30-Jan-2024 12:45

michaelmurfy:

@boosacnoodle Always found Eufy to be good and local storage works well too. IMHO, if I were to pick a simple solution it would be Eufy over Ring or anything else.

Can you access the cameras without using their app and going through their cloud? Have you tried powering off your internet or power and seeing if they still work?

michaelmurfy

meow
13579 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10910

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3188348 30-Jan-2024 12:54

boosacnoodle: Can you access the cameras without using their app and going through their cloud? Have you tried powering off your internet or power and seeing if they still work?

Without their app = yes - https://support.eufy.com/s/article/Using-NAS-Storage-Step-by-Step (note this is their wired cameras only).
Local only = yes. The base station has built in storage.

Remember this is a consumer grade, simple product akin to Ring. I get where you're going but they also have battery products that go into a deep power save mode when no motion is detected and are simple to put up. They are good as they do have the local storage element unlike Ring. I get they're not as good as a full wired product but anyone can install Eufy or Ring cameras and that is the point here.

MikeAqua

8024 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3817

#3188420 30-Jan-2024 13:53

Personally, I wouldn't get any sort of cloud-based system, or anything where the manufacturer can access recordings, or live camera footage.

A number of these organisations have accessed images at the request of law enforcement agencies, without warrants. If it's that easy, then a bad actor within one of those organisations could access images at any time for some nefarious purpose.

Mike

LookingUp

439 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 88

#3188469 30-Jan-2024 16:03

prevaljo:

I use a Reolink POE door cam and an outdoor cam. They both have local storage and you can opt for cloud storage but it's not necessary. Both camera have RTSP and can be seen on the internal network and Internet.

We also have a couple of Reolinks - one on WiFi and the other POE. They have great local storage, and I've got mine configured to FTP video to a local NAS. I'm a bit paranoid about exposing them to the outside world, so I only enable that if we're heading away for a few days, as being able to connect in remotely is nice. One of the cameras has intelligent person/vehicle/pet detection, which works REALLY well.

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

Dyson

Shop now for Dyson appliances (affiliate link).

Earbanean

1110 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 377

#3188489 30-Jan-2024 16:57

Apologies if this is veering too far off topic. We have a Ring doorbell and have thought about adding some cameras (Ring, or similar). However, I'm not totally clear on the use case scenario. e.g. if someone with their face totally covered breaks into your house and burgles it, then how do the cameras help? Alternatively, if you catch someone on camera casing your property, what do you do then?

nitro

757 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 335

#3188649 30-Jan-2024 20:53

Earbanean:

Apologies if this is veering too far off topic. We have a Ring doorbell and have thought about adding some cameras (Ring, or similar). However, I'm not totally clear on the use case scenario. e.g. if someone with their face totally covered breaks into your house and burgles it, then how do the cameras help? Alternatively, if you catch someone on camera casing your property, what do you do then?

sometimes surprising what can be gathered - a specific tattoo, a unique article of clothing or something that makes that clothing unique, e.g. a tear, splash of paint, etc.

so as not to veer too far off topic, i have a bunch of nest cameras. was attracted by the in-built battery that addresses some of the things that have been raised - power outage, internet connectivity being cut. while they do the job, there are limitations that i've come to realise like not having timestamps on downloaded clips.

Handsomedan

7769 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 7402

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#3188728 31-Jan-2024 08:58

Earbanean:

Apologies if this is veering too far off topic. We have a Ring doorbell and have thought about adding some cameras (Ring, or similar). However, I'm not totally clear on the use case scenario. e.g. if someone with their face totally covered breaks into your house and burgles it, then how do the cameras help? Alternatively, if you catch someone on camera casing your property, what do you do then?

Some neighbours have very high quality footage of thieves stealing from their property - police have done nothing due to a lack of actionable evidence (or words to that effect). They have started posting regularly on the local FB pages and putting printouts clearly showing their faces, with "Have you seen these thieves?" on the bus stops and in the window at the dairy.

They're a deterrent mainly. The foootage is often a secondary piece of evidence, if there are other forms, such as being caught with possessions, fingerprints etc. But it's unlikely that the camera footage alone will be of much use.

Anyway - back on topic. I use Eufy cameras and find the image quality and local storage to be excellent, but as I don't have a base station, I can't use them without internet or power as they are hardwired and wifi-dependent.

Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

*Gladly accepting donations...

maveric

40 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 3

#3199850 25-Feb-2024 14:18

I’m still using Ring doorbell, floodlight cameras despite so many competing products like eufy and google. I’ve been used to the Ring app which is more polished than others.

One Life. Live it.

1 | 2