Blink Outdoor HD security camera (4-Camera System), Works with Alexa + All-new Echo Show 5 (3rd generation) | Charcoal - Smart Home Starter Kit

Sync Module 2 makes set up a breeze - though it's a little disappointing that if you wanted an indoor and outdoor "network" for your cameras if you wanted to have your indoor only turned on via "arm" setting in the app, whereas the outdoor to come on automatically (also able to be set on by the app on demand) via a schedule every night. The cameras are easy to position and adjust, and work as I'd expect.The reality is that these systems are best described as a modern version of the old fashioned security lights. They're not going to prevent crime (as they're not likely to be aware its there if it doesn't have a flood light!); they're unlikely to help solve it either in the majority of cases (again, at night, it's unlikely to be amazing evidence for the police unless something was close to it). As the Police have pointed out - people expect that having one of these means crime can be solved easily, or will never happen. Neither are true statements. However, peace of mind is valuable, and this can definitely provide that.So what it will do is ping you alerts when motion triggers it. Whereas the old fashioned security lights would just illuminate the area and you'd happily sleep through it, these actually alert you, and better yet, let you see *what* it was that alerted it. That's really useful.First thing to note is that even at high setting, the detection of movement is good to about 6 or 7m. Beyond about 7m it didn't even alert/record myself and the police officer walking up the yard to the house in midday daylight. So it'd have never caught the thieves who stole the vehicle at a range of 20m from the house (and it absolutely wouldn't have provided any means to identify them either at that range anyway). So, temper expectations.The night vision works *fine* in the limited range, as long as you're not expecting to identify the type of earring people are wearing. No, it's not going to be as clear as day, obviously, as night "vision" requires *some* light to work anyway - and as the range increases, the illumination from the led is less effective. Again, it's more about motion detection with an alert and ability to examine, than post-crime evidence. Use floodlight option as well, but I'd recommend having a power connection.If buying for the purpose described above, it's great. Really, it *is* great. The cat can wake me at 2am when it wants in. It will give peace of mind if you really think people are rambling through your property overnight (they aren't). Just remember that the "night vision" still requires light to work... just very low levels of it, and you'll likely need to replace batteries frequently. The "2 years" is in the case that it's up and not triggered at *all* for 2 years remember.The battery *may* die fast if you intend to have it armed/on all the time, or checking lots of "live" views to check in and so on. You can (in the app) set zones to ignore and so on to try and improve motion trigger issues - and think where you place it (e.g. central heating exhaust + wind means it can trigger with white clouds coming across it's view). My recommendation is set schedules or turn on when you leave, that way it will be on when you *need* it to be and the batteries last. The rest of the time is pointless.The indoor camera is excellent as not many indoor ranges are great, but I only ever have that working when leaving the house (as a means to alert to entry). I hope it never gets triggered :)So, overall, after buying in a sale, its worth it as long as you buy being fully aware of how it works and not expecting incredible 4k footage and daylight conditions in the dead of night. Expect what it is - a glorified motion detection system that gives you peace of mind, and *may* be useful in the event you were an unfortunate victim of crime.Also, you can just use the app to shout at people via the speaker if you're so inclined...

My Blink set-up includes three outdoor cameras and a doorbell, across two sync modules that are on the same wifi network. I needed two sync modules, because thecameras at the back of the house were slightly out if range to the sync for the doorbell. Using the two gives me full coverage of my inside and outside space. It's my first smart doorbell and cameras, so I wasn't sure ehqt to expect, but these have been brilliant over the last month or so. I stopped the cloud storage option and use a USB in each sync module. The difference to me is loading recordings takes a few seconds longer, there's thumbnail view of the clip, clips need to be deleted one by one, and you can't manually record something in live view. So there are some. Small compromises when using the USB storage. I ammjust letting the clips build up and once the USBs are full, will plug them in the laptop, wipe them and reuse them. You can still download and share clips from the App whe. Using the USB, so you can make a quick copy of anything important.Set up is literally unbox, insert batteries, plug in sync modul, download App and follow instructions. Each device has its own QR code that makes it was to connect to.The work great with my fire sticks, so I can answer the door bell from any TV in the house, or I can also check the cameras too.They also worm great woth Alexa, and i can give arm/disarm commands quickly so I don't getting setting the motion detection off when at home.On motion detection, being able to set areas not to detect, and set the sensitivity is also brilliant. The motion detection is not PIR based like a classic motion detector might be, it's done by assessing changes in pixels, so occasional 'false' recording is unavoidable, but you can more or less prevent but getting the settings right.Using the Alexa app, I've been able to set some routines that turn on my hue lights in certain parts of the garden/porch/drive etc. when the cameras detect motion. There's a few seconds delay, but it's more than acceptable and is a nice touch when getting home late or for security purposes. It also avoided me buying hue outdoor sensors at £45 a pop!Overall, this is a brilliant system. It's user friendly, has decent connectivity and features without a monthly fee (if USB used) and I love it!

I found the system really easy to set up. The picture quality is pretty good but there’s a slightly delay with the live stream - just a second or two lag - not enough to be a problem.I don’t plan on getting a subscription so I bought a USB drive for the sync module, which works great at recording motion clips.UPDATE: I encountered a few problems during the first couple of weeks - cameras randomly not connecting to live view and not recording any clips, just a spinning blue wheel.I was able temporarily resolve this by rebooting my Wi-Fi or sync module, removing and reinserting the batteries in the cameras. Kind of annoying as I couldn’t understand why I was having problems. I live in a small flat where everything is within a few metres of each other, the Wi-Fi signal is always full, the firmware is up to date the batteries are full.I contacted customer services but they told me to do the things I’d already tried… what eventually worked for me was moving the sync module right next to my router and moving the most problematic camera to another wall just a metre away. In the last month I’ve only had to reboot everything once - which is a huge improvement on doing it almost every day.When it works as it should it’s actually a really good system, I’ve even added more cameras to watch the squirrels and hedgehogs, so I guess overall I’m happy now …but I recommend waiting until they’re on special offer. I wouldn’t be as happy if I’d paid full price.