Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Two break-ins and one failed break-in were the motivator to get a home camera system. Many of the home camera systems are from names I've never heard of, Reolink was one of those. Over the course of several days I searched Amazon for all of the different options out there. Cloud based, NVR based, Resolution, Form Factor, Camera Viewing Angle, PoE, etc. Ultimately I settled on this kit from Reolink with 4 of the RLC-420-5MP cameras in the box. I also added 4 RLC-410-5MP cameras to get the other angles around the home that are important to me. The NVR is a really well thought out device. It has an integrated PoE switch. The cost savings alone from not having to buy injectors or a PoE switch just for the cameras was significant. I knew I wanted to run physical Ethernet to the cameras because I didn't want to deal with solar or batteries. Plus, the NVR is on a UPS (which is a must in Florida) so the cameras and NVR will continue to run in a power outage scenario for about an hour. The NVR itself was simple to set up. All I enabled in the UI was UPnP and then with my mobile device, used the Reolink app to scan the QR code on the NVR. Within seconds the app was connected and instantly worked inside on WiFi and everywhere I've taken my phone. It was SO simple, I was shocked. My expectations were to spend hours configuring remote access, but Reolink has done all the hard work. It has been VERY reliable. The quality of the cameras is outstanding. Even though these cameras I chose weren't a "convenient" 16:9 ratio (I think it's closer to 5:4) - what's important is the level of detail the 410 and 420 cameras capture. They have a very wide angle and even at distances of 70-100 feet, I can zoom in live or recorded and objects are clear. This was important to me. We all have watched the 11 o'clock news and saw video footage of robberies and all you could really see was some perp in BlurryCam detail. But not with Reolink. They're great. I couldn't be happier with it. Night vision also has no problem illuminating a very wide area like my backyard or a small area like my utility room - as if a bright incandescent light was shining on the area. I also love the dynamic brightness option on the cameras - it does a phenominal job at night making dark objects bright and bright objects dark enough to see details that would otherwise end up too dark or too bright. I like the ability on the NVR to set motion schedules - the ability to set different motion sensitivity levels at 4 different times of the day. Also, you can mask out high motion objects like trees so it doesn't trip the motion sensor as often. Other details that made me happy include the camera name & day/time customization - you can set it on different parts of the screen per camera. Also, I like the ability to record sound with the video. The only real substantive changes I'd make to the NVR is to support hard drives larger than 4TB. Also, I'd like to integrate the NVR with home automation. For example, when I arm my home alarm, I'd like to be able to tell the NVR to enable certain alerts/push notifications, and turn them off when I disarm the Alarm. Originally I viewed this as a risky purchase with only a few Amazon reviews to base a choice upon. However, I was so happy to set that skepticism aside as I started using it and setting everything up.