Post #3776476
2026-07-13 02:56 UTC
Replies (1)
-
@beep@infosec.exchange 2026-07-13 03:34
@geerlingguy@mastodon.social They seem to change somewhat often. The "local-friendly" doesn't seem to be something they're super focused on and it's hit or miss depending on the product. Is it battery or is it poe? Is it nvr or is it home hub or whatever it's called? I've had great luck with their poe/nvr cameras in the past. Currently have battery/solar/home hub and don't love it as much but we moved and didn't want to run cable. Long term will probably either move back to poe and/or switch brands but the solar and home hub route fit the need at the time. I've found I don't love the solar cameras because I like 24/7 recording and the included solar panels don't give enough juice to keep them topped off with 24/7 enabled. But it's just a usb-c connection from the solar so should be easy to swap in the future if I need maybe? The user aspect is one of several complaints I have with reolink, most of which are based on the desktop app. I can't even create users with the home hub, I can only generate authorization codes. Firmware update control is only available when you add the cameras individually and not through the home hub/nvr? There's no copy/paste of settings between cameras? Hitting the local IP of the home hub in a browser you have zero access to settings? In playback mode when you go to select a shortened clip to download, it jumps to a seemingly random time that isn't where the play head is? Without 24/7 recording, relying on motion has been hit or miss and if I check for a delivery time it may or may not have been recorded as motion. Reolink isn't perfect but I don't know if there's something better. I love that these specific cameras don't require me to have IR enabled at night so they're not getting covered in spiderwebs I have to clean off every few days (major problem with the prior poe cameras). I love how easily they've integrated into home assistant, no matter whether it's poe/solar/nvr/home hub. I love that the app isn't constantly trying to upsell me on things I don't want. I love that they're not ridiculously expensive. They aren't perfect and I certainly have my frustrations with them but they were the best option when I bought them and I haven't seen any other options that have given me buyers remorse so far.