I want to love this camera, it has all of the necessary qualities to make it great, but some glaring issues are too obvious to ignore.
Cons
• No waterproof lid for the ethernet port if you are using wifi. The lid it comes with is meant for when you are using an ethernet cable but if you are using wifi, there’s a big open hole. I made a small 3d print to solve this but this feels like a really weird oversight
• No rich notifications. Every camera maker on the market has this feature so it's very strange that such a well liked brand lacks this. Not only that, but only two cameras received this feature and it doesn’t sound like previous models will ever get it
• Each lens has a different brightness. I originally thought it was due to one lens facing the suns direction but even as it went down, I could clearly see one lens had a warmer tone then the other. If the app introduced a way to adjust each lens individually then I have a feeling it would solve the problem.
• Having a POE camera, and a wifi camera, separate. The fact you have to buy either or makes no sense since they could easily have the wifi model come equipped with a poe port. I would happily pay an extra $10 or so more to have this because I plan on installing networking cables in the future and really don't want to have to buy all new cameras. For the love of god, if you make POE cameras just include this on the wifi model for a few bucks more. Or make a deluxe model that has both.
Pros
• Great quality. Coming from Ring, to Nest, to this is an amazing difference. The quality is so much crisper that I cringe looking at my old videos
• Powerful wifi signal. The two antennas definitely help the signal. My feed pops up almost instantaneously on my phone which is great.
• 24/7 recording via Microsd. If I stick with this ecosystem, I will invest in the NVR system, but in the mean time, having a cheap solution is always a plus
• Amazing field of view. Granted the zoom is not that great but being able to see my entire street or back yard is a game changer.
Even with the faults, I purchased a second one of these cameras but have paused any more purchases until I decide if I want to go all in on this ecosystem or keep looking. Again, very high hopes for this brand and all the moving parts are their to make a great product, but not quite there, hopefully yet. One more thing, PLEASE FIX THE APP!!! It's horrendous and clunky

• Show all replies

This camera is not perfect, however for what it is it still deserves a five start rating. Maybe 4.5 starts but since half-stars are not an option we will round up.

This is maybe a kind of specialized use type of product, obviously its big party trick is the crazy-wide field of view that it can capture. As you can see in my photos and video, this one camera can span from out the end of my driveway through my back yard (you can also see what a mess I have going on as we clean out our garage, can't hide anything from this camera!)

You can only upload one video with a review and I debated trying to edit a few together or just post one raw clip. I ended up posting the one raw clip as-is, taken directly from the camera. Do note however that the servers will likely do some kind of re-encoding of this video for storage and display purposes so it will not likely have the same quality as the original clip I uploaded.

I also included several screenshots from the app. The app is good overall, it is easy to use and you can quickly review footage on the camera's memory card (not included) and you can easily download clips of interest, or even pieces of clips of interest. You can zoom in right from the app to see a face better or read a license plate. I took a couple screenshots with examples of those.

I am going to move the camera a little further away from the light under my eve, as it causes a brightness imbalance between the two cameras at night, you can see it in the photos. Definitely not the camera's fault there.

The camera has it's own floodlights and you can turn those on if you want via the app during live view.

Motion detection is pretty good and the app has a good amount of adjustment for that available so you can tune out most false alerts. The camera will function as a standalone system without needing a DVR, but you can use it with a DVR as well as an IP camera. To use standalone you just need to supply your own micro SD card. I think the only downside of standalone is that it seems to be dependent on the internet. We had a storm last night and our internet went out but not our power. The camera did not record anything while the internet was out, even though it had power.

I am surprised and disappointed that this wifi version of the wide angle camera does not have PoE (Power over Ethernet). I thought that was a given for any and all Reolink cameras these days. Not the end of the world but you can't avoid running two cables to this camera if you want to avoid using Wifi. Then again, they have the non-Wifi version which might be PoE so you can check into that depending on your needs. Wifi is definitely more convenient but potentially less reliable in some situations.

I tried connecting the camera to my Amazon Alexa setup and like many others did not have any luck. The Reolink Alexa integration is rated pretty low so apparently they have some work to do there, not the end of the world to me though.

Overall it's pretty incredible how much this one camera can take in and it's pretty easy to setup and use standalone. Much easier way to cover large areas than placing multiple cameras. Definitely can read license plates of cars in our driveway (once you zoom in). I like it.
Customer imageCustomer imageCustomer imageCustomer imageCustomer imageCustomer imageCustomer image

• Show all replies

First impressions:
+ Nicely packed camera. The black and white design of the camera is quite nice.
+ Strong antennas.
+ Finally, a microSD card port is placed in a good spot.
- After connecting to the outlet I think it's generating a lot of heat. Donno how it's gonna make it through summer. Maybe there is some safety circuit that will prevent damaging the camera from overheating?
- The mounting system could have a hole in it for cables. So they could look more managed.
Setup:
+ Setting up the camera is easy. Assembly antennas and plug into power. Plug an Ethernet cable into the router, connect via the app and use of QR code. Configure Wifi and you are all set up.
- Camera cant remember two wifis. When one wifi unavailable it will not switch to the other one. Maybe because of security reasons. Just be aware.
Mounting camera:
- I had some difficulties mounting the camera to the wall. It was a normal brick wall but I was not able to securely screw it to the place with the screws that were in the box. Had to improvise and used some of my screws and placed it finally into the hardwood.
Video:
Good enough to see faces and cars. It has a nice 4k video, but it's 180 so it would need for a really crisp video maybe 8k but 4k is still enough.
App:
+ Nice
- While you can connect to the camera even when not on the same network, you cant share the camera, even tho the other device is logged in to your account. So you have to go to the site and connect to it with the other device... Don't know why it's not synced...
Final thoughts:
Nice camera that will easily do the job of two. The video quality is so good. The design is excellent. Ai recognition is on point. 90 hours of recording to the 256 GB sd card is nice especially when not using nvr.
Why use wifi instead of Poe?
+ Easy to set up.
+ You can easily connect an ethernet cable if there are some connection issues.
+ If you don't want to run ethernet cables it's better.
+ It just needs a power outlet.
+ Can catch a mobile hotspot network from a big distance and through walls. Imagine the distance with a good router.
+ Cheaper in a long run, does not need switches, poes or nvr.
When to choose Poe?
- When having an area that ain't covered with wifi.
- When you like to have little to no latency. With a wifi camera, there is 2-10 sec latency.
- When wanting a reliable and stable connection while having just one RJ45 cable.
Get inspired by my setup :)
Old phone with a hotspot turned on, Raspberry pi 4 with bridging for my other camera-enabled and FTP service running(4TB - 30 days of recording from both cameras), Wifi camera 7 meters away(2 brick walls).

• Show all replies

This camera has a limited height and must have a certain height to see clearly, the clarity is good, and it can see far away. Zooming in is still a bit blurry. A premium quality waterproof sunscreen for all types of inclement weather. Installation is not difficult. The hard part is how to hide the good lines. It is not removable and must be repeatedly adjusted to the optimum position during installation. The motion detection function is very useful, and it is suitable for the main entrance and exit of the house.

• Show all replies

Camera works well with software. Great wide view and at 4k zoom is very clear. Notifications are decent speed, nothing special. The first one I bought zero problems. The second one seems to be a little spotting at viewing. It takes a couple of times to views live view. Could be two 4k cameras are too much for my mesh router, not sure. I lowered the second one to fluent and works better. You probably need fast internet to handle the 4k cameras if your have more than one at the same time. The. Second camera is actually 15 feet closer to the router than the one that is outside that works better. The second camera is indoors that covers my entire bottom floor. Also I do not get a real difference in the picture quality when the two views are sliced together by the software and the color is just about the same. For the prices they are selling at this is a great value so far. Long term is unknown at this point.

• Show all replies

Great quality with 180 view. You'll know what I'm saying when you get it

• Show all replies