Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It was very easy to setup and deploy. Hardest part was dropping the Cat6 through the wall (you, of course, don't have to do this, but I like my installations tidy). Went through the startup of the NVR without a hitch and the cameras came on line without any hesitation, and the picture is great. A couple notes - - Update the firmware for the NVR as soon as you get it. It should be the first thing you do. - Update the firmware for the cameras immediately after you update the NVR firmware, preferably before installation (just in case :-) ) - Remember NOT to send the ethernet to the cameras from the NVR through a router. That will not work. POE needs a direct path. - You'll need minor networking skills if you need to access the NVR from the outside world - i.e. directly accessing the system. This will require port forwarding of your router (assuming you have some firewall in place) - Using the UID system (rather than port forwarding) requires the NVR to be able to talk with Amazon's servers. This is where my concern is. There is nothing from Reolink regarding the security of the data. Since all of my cameras are external, I'm marginally troubled by this. If I had indoor cameras, I couldn't fathom using the UID system. I have no confidence that my data is secure or who gets to see it. - To that end, I've tried using my private VPN to my internal network from the outside (routed so that the requests to the NVR come from a local IP rather than VPN IP), and the app does not like it. To that end, the app doesn't really like anything other than UID access. I'm hoping this will be fixed so I can layer my own security the way I want it and not have my data out of my control. Overall, Installation - 5 stars - way too easy Setup - 5 stars - very easy even if you modestly technical Picture - 5 stars - pretty awesome Night picture - 4.5 stars - mostly my issue with latent light around and minor blockage of IR LEDs - still pretty good Ease of use - 4.5 stars - again, modestly technical people will find it easy to navigate and use Cybersecurity - 3 stars - this one is the hard one if you have inside cameras...who gets to see what you've got on the cameras? Good value, I think - at least for me.