Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

These are surprisingly good for the price. The round thing that you mount onto the wall and the main post are all metal. The camera itself is plastic, but it looks fairly convincing, particularly if you mount it high up where it is impossible to get a really close look at it. The stability of the bracket is pretty decent once it is in place. Do I think they will last forever? No. I imagine the weather will not be kind to them. If you can, I'd put them in a protected area, out of the way of both the sun and the rain. I did not even try to put the batteries in them. Real security cameras don't have flashing red lights these days, so you are probably better off leaving the batteries out. Besides, if you mount it up high with a ladder, are you really going to get up and change the batteries every few months anyway? Most of home security is just about making your house a slightly less attractive target than the house down the block. Maybe the cameras are real, maybe they are fake, but why risk it? Just go on to the next one. A real camera system is an utter pain to put in. You have to fish wires through your walls, and most likely you will not get a clear picture of the bad guy anyway. These provide probably 90% of the deterrence value of a real camera system at a fraction of the price. More importantly, you can install each camera in about 5 minutes if you have a drill. Installation tip: Get some electrical tape and tape the little wire where it goes into the hole in the mounting pipe. It helps stabilize the camera to keep it from moving and insures the wire won't ever pop out and reveal the camera as a fake.