Household Security Discussion

[Athos65]

Honestly, it's all about good locks and not doing anything silly. I grew up with old people and they had better street smarts than my parents. I have the b.s. detector of someone from the 1910s.

The rolling pin helps, of course.

 

[HoveringWombats]

I got my first cameras about 15 years ago, and I've been through most of the major consumer brands since then (though I have not tried Blink). In the past several years, I've had a mix of Nest, Ring, Wyze, Logitech Circle, and Ubiquiti. Some others before that. Honestly, they all have their pros and cons. One consideration that I think people don't always give enough thought to is the variety of types of cameras and mounts that the brand has.

For example, because of some limitations of our house, I really want to be able to have a camera mounted in the window by the front door. I also want to have a camera integrated with some flood lights we have. Neither of those types of cameras are available in all brands (I think you could find a way to mount a camera of almost any brand in the window, but some are easier than others, and it's more than just sticking it in the window because you need a way to keep it flush and block out the light from behind to avoid reflections from inside).

Right now I mostly have Wyze, which to be honest are pretty terrible and I probably don't recommend them (I doubt I'd buy them again if I started clean). The things they had going for them is that they had all of the camera and mounting types I wanted, they were cheap, they have memory card slots so I could do both cloud and local storage, and the cloud subscription had a single subscription that covered all of the cameras. I have a lot of cameras, so the plans that require you to pay per-camera get expensive quickly. But I don't really trust Wyze as a company, the software is bad, the image quality is mediocre, the "AI" alerts are laughable, and basically it's a clear case of you get what you pay for.

I also have a couple of the Ubiquiti UniFi cameras. Those are great, but it's really an entirely different product category, and is aimed at a different audience. It's not a plug-and-play consumer device like Nest or Ring. But I think I will gradually transition most of my cameras to that system and away from Wyze. Still not sure how I will deal with the flood light in that setup, though.

Big disclaimer here, so calibrate my thoughts vs. you own stance accordingly: I am not a very paranoid person. Either about home security or about "privacy" in the sense of having video stored in the cloud. I don't feel like I need a bulletproof fortress of security, and I don't care if my video is stored in cloud servers (though it helps that none of my cameras are actually inside my house). If you feel strongly about these things in a different way, you'll probably make very different choices than I have. Though the Ubiquiti stuff is actually pretty decent in that it can be hard-wired, and store only locally in your house if that's what you want.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

 

[COSCitizen]

I live in a quiet, relatively prosperous neighborhood which has a nicely diverse demographic, including retired people and people with kids of all ages. There are lots of ex-military here as well and just about everyone has at least one dog.

So this discussion is making me realize that what I want is a camera so I can observe our dog in the side yard, and a front door camera where I can view someone at the front door without them knowing that I am home. I don't mind answering the door to neighbors, but I really abominate solicitors, especially since these days, they are mainly scammers as far as I am concerned. I have signs up, but they either can't read, or think that pushing boundaries is acceptable.

 

[Athos65]

I got my first cameras about 15 years ago, and I've been through most of the major consumer brands since then (though I have not tried Blink). In the past several years, I've had a mix of Nest, Ring, Wyze, Logitech Circle, and Ubiquiti. Some others before that. Honestly, they all have their pros and cons. One consideration that I think people don't always give enough thought to is the variety of types of cameras and mounts that the brand has.

For example, because of some limitations of our house, I really want to be able to have a camera mounted in the window by the front door. I also want to have a camera integrated with some flood lights we have. Neither of those types of cameras are available in all brands (I think you could find a way to mount a camera of almost any brand in the window, but some are easier than others, and it's more than just sticking it in the window because you need a way to keep it flush and block out the light from behind to avoid reflections from inside).

Right now I mostly have Wyze, which to be honest are pretty terrible and I probably don't recommend them (I doubt I'd buy them again if I started clean). The things they had going for them is that they had all of the camera and mounting types I wanted, they were cheap, they have memory card slots so I could do both cloud and local storage, and the cloud subscription had a single subscription that covered all of the cameras. I have a lot of cameras, so the plans that require you to pay per-camera get expensive quickly. But I don't really trust Wyze as a company, the software is bad, the image quality is mediocre, the "AI" alerts are laughable, and basically it's a clear case of you get what you pay for.

I also have a couple of the Ubiquiti UniFi cameras. Those are great, but it's really an entirely different product category, and is aimed at a different audience. It's not a plug-and-play consumer device like Nest or Ring. But I think I will gradually transition most of my cameras to that system and away from Wyze. Still not sure how I will deal with the flood light in that setup, though.

Big disclaimer here, so calibrate my thoughts vs. you own stance accordingly: I am not a very paranoid person. Either about home security or about "privacy" in the sense of having video stored in the cloud. I don't feel like I need a bulletproof fortress of security, and I don't care if my video is stored in cloud servers (though it helps that none of my cameras are actually inside my house). If you feel strongly about these things in a different way, you'll probably make very different choices than I have. Though the Ubiquiti stuff is actually pretty decent in that it can be hard-wired, and store only locally in your house if that's what you want.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

When you say "window by the front door" is it a separate window, or is it that glass panel American houses have on each side?

 

[HoveringWombats]

When you say "window by the front door" is it a separate window, or is it that glass panel American houses have on each side?

Glass panel windows (multiple panes) on each side of the door. Not part of the door itself, but visually part of the door assembly. It's an old house, so it's not a whole modern door assembly with sidelights like you might see in a newer house, but same general concept. For me this basically replaces the function of a smart doorbell, at least in the sense of being able to see who is at the door.

(And yes, since this is the household security topic, I acknowledge the risks that sidelights pose.)

 

[Athos65]

Glass panel windows (multiple panes) on each side of the door. Not part of the door itself, but visually part of the door assembly. It's an old house, so it's not a whole modern door assembly with sidelights like you might see in a newer house, but same general concept. For me this basically replaces the function of a smart doorbell, at least in the sense of being able to see who is at the door.

(And yes, since this is the household security topic, I acknowledge the risks that sidelights pose.)

I have NEVER understood those glass panes. We have them, and I despise them, but the HOA doesn't let you change the door set up because of "aesthetic unity", or some such claptrap.

Such doors are not something that I grew up with because back home people believe in solid doors and, when possible, "rejas" or metal bars on doors and windows. They're meant for security, but we make them look pretty.

Of course, I changed all the locks because on top of a glass pane at lock level, the locks that are usually installed are the sort you just flip with your thumb and index finger. Someone wants to break into our house, I'm making them work for it... And today, if my back and hips cooperate, we are installing another camera across the front porch pointing at the doorway. If we don't get a face walking one way, we'll get it the other.