Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have been doing research on wireless exterior options for some time now trying to find out what the best solution was for me. I own the Ring.Com doorbell and was really happy with it so I thought these would be a nice exterior monitoring suite to add to my already successful doorbell. From what I have seen there really aren't that many out there doing the battery option. Arlo seems to be the main competitor and from the reviews I have read the battery life on those is not great and can be a hassle (though I have not personally tested them). Stick up cam boasts a battery life cycle of a year. I'm sure this has a lot to do with how often it is activated. Not sure what metrics they are using as based on the couple months I have had them and the battery drain level, I don't see it lasting for a year. The good news is that they are offering solar panels that you can set up next to it and plug in which would eliminate the need to climb, remove and charge. Even without the solar panels the batteries seem to offer longer life than any other current competitor. Here are some of the Pro's and Con's based on my experience. The Good: 1. Long Battery Life 2. All can be controlled in one app. An all inclusive system from setup to viewing. 3. Cloud monitoring cost. If you sign up for the year service it will cost $30 (or $2.50 a month) which is the least expensive cloud service I've come across (Nest and most others is $10 a month which is considerably higher). I have seen some (Y cam) that offer 7 days free but the reviews on service outage, poor functionality and no stateside support made me go a different direction. In addition those cameras need power and are not battery based so it isn't a direct apples for apples comparison. 4. Quality & capability. It works well for what it does and the capabilities it possesses. You are not going to get 1080P resolution from a 720P camera. It seems that people expect it but it isn't realistic. 1080p wireless cameras often do not perform well as the amount of data that has to be transferred is too much when sending video and audio wirelessly. Nest does well but it has to be plugged in and doesn't offer an outdoor solution without a separate housing. For interior Nest might be great but the monitoring cost is a killer. I think 720P is a good compromise to offer a system that works well on a battery and still delivers. Depending on how and where it is mounted you will see colors fine and enough detail to be usable for most of your needs. If you are too far away no camera without a zoom feature will make out great facial detail or plates, even at 1080P. I work in law enforcement and have successfully used images from these cameras to solve crimes, it's good evidence to have. Something is better than nothing. 5. Two way audio on every camera with mic and speaker. Not an absolute need on a security camera but a nice to have. 6. Ease of install and setup. Charge, Pair to App, and Mount. After full charge you can set one up and mount it in 15-20 minutes. 7. Customer service has been very helpful and great. I use their online live chat feature and have always had good service. I didn't need any on installing as the cameras have a simple set up and just work but they have helped me a lot on ordering and for other questions. 8. It's Green. It will not cost you to run it all the time as it is battery based. Paired with the solar panel mother earth will power your unit. 9. Free theft replacement. They will replace your camera if it is stolen if a police report is filed. I don't know of any other company that offers that service. It takes away the fear that the cameras could be easily stolen because they are not tethered. If a thief got that close to take your camera you would definitely have a good image of their face for the report. Try and mount them high enough to not be a problem. They suggest 10 feet. The Bad 1. Ring boasts it has really great motion detection that monitors heat signatures but it does at times record when nothing is there. I don't mind it as I would rather have more monitoring than less, though this will likely affect battery life. You can adjust the distance and area it monitors to tweak this a bit but it could use more refinement. The pro version coming out allows for drawable zones. It would be great if this feature was added to the stick ups. 2. Live viewing. It doesn't have it. To view a live feed from the camera it needs a motion detection. The latest news release from Ring said they will be adding this feature soon. They just added it to the Ring doorbell if you have a wired install. The feature on that still isn't great and only works sometimes. I suspect they will figure this out, fix it and add it to all their stick up cams. It is a bit of their achilles heel as most cameras on the market have this feature. Overall I knew it didn't have this feature when I bought it so if it happens great but I don't really need it. I would rather it told me when something was there and recorded it than me having a live view feature. It wasn't a deal breaker for me. If it is for you I would go elsewhere or wait till the feature is added. Moderately Unattractive 1 It's not the best looking camera on the market. The new pro doorbell offers swappable cover plates and a smaller form factor but these all come in black. I suppose you could paint them but they aren't the best looking things on the planet. It's largely a ring doorbell rectangle without the push button, that hangs on the wall and acts as a surveillance camera. It's bulky, angular and not the best to look at. It likely needs more room for the battery life so It's a negative I can live with for the benefit of not plugging it in. 2. The interface. It largely records snippets of video packets and sends them to the cloud for viewing. On the app you can deal with all recordings or just recordings from a specific camera. You will spend a lot of time scrolling through the list and looking for the correct time frames to see what recorded when. It isn't a perfect system but it works, its off site and the quality seems ok. 3. Audible low tone click. When you walk in front of a stick up cam and trigger its motion sensor it makes a low tone click sound, not loud but audible. I would rather it had a more silent operation. I suppose there is a case to be made for it being a good deterrent and benefit to let the would be person of interest (that doesn't want to be on camera) realize they now on camera and should take corrective action, i.e. leave. 4. No cloud service discount for multiple devices. It would be nice if they offered a discount if you purchased multiple devices as I have. All in they are still the least expensive cloud service in town but it would be an incentive to add more devices if I felt I got a break on the monitoring cost. Summary: They are not perfect but it is a pretty good system all things considered. Based on overall price and functionality it is a hard one to beat. You can add them one at a time as you see a need to cover more zones of entry to your home. It is a nice piece of mind to have and adds an off site recording feature that allows for home surveillance without running lots of wires. With the addition of solar panels the remove and charge need goes away and you have a full time wireless system. Make sure to spring for a good router that has good distance. I have an ASUS AC router that does well. I added a 9db gain antennae to make sure it would reach the exterior of my home on all sides and it does. Good luck and happy monitoring.