DOES ANYONE have experience with that BLINK camera system?

[NW GUY]

THOUGHTS on it?

Good or bad experience?

worth it or not?

Doesn't seem too difficult to set up.

thanks

[wldwsel]

Haven't read much on that one, but there was a story on Fox last week about several people who had their Ring camera system hacked and had unknown people on line just start talking to them out of the blue. Apparently the Ring system hooks to your wifi and is then transmitted to your smart phone. If you don't have sufficient encryption every step of the way, the signal can be hacked.

I don't even want Alexa or Siri to work at my house and I cover all cameras unless I'm using on. VPNs, firewalls and encryption set up and that's as secure as I can get at this point.

JMO

WW

shoot straight - stay safe

[charliemeyer007]

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/F...EaAnRUEALw_wcB

Even the farcebook minion puts black tape over the camera on stuff he isn't actively using.

If I was to have camera's working, then I'd want fire, breaking glass, freeze, water and motion detection also. I'm considering simply safe.

A lot of hacking is because people don't change the factory password or use easy to guess ones like 123456789.

[NCalHippie]

Following; sounds like an affordable option for real time monitoring.

[wldwsel]

Charley - We have Simply Safe with the sensors you spoke of. Only issue we have ever had was that we had to move the motion sensors because the cat likes to sit on top of the sofa back and she would set it off occasionally. We set them to medium sense and moved them higher and to different locations that still "saw" the area. Solved the issue.

We like the system a lot and have set it off 2 or 3 times ourselves, and our cleaning lady has set it off once. SS cals within a minute or two and you better have the passcode or they call the Sherriff, who gets here within minutes - and we live 13 miles from nowhere.

Good system - easy to install, and easy to expand and we have multiple alarms. We don't use the cameras because the rest of the stuff works well.

WW

shoot straight - stay safe

[johnmcd]

I've been using several Blink cameras for about 3 years now to complement my home-grown security system and they've worked flawlessly. I will point out that since they use WiFi you need to make sure you have decent coverage where you're going to put them. In terms of security make sure you use a good strong password for your account, and make sure you have your home network locked down tight.

[NW GUY]

I HAVE a wireless WIFI system.
My one full time neighbor has a wireless WIFI system.

We are so far apart neither ever reads the other system.
Anyone trying to tap in would have to be sitting in the driveway in view of either or both houses.

I can't even get my own WIFI in any of my out buildings.

[BusyB]

I have a single blink camera pointing at the front of my garage. It was easy to set up and has been reliable, the app even let's me know when the battery in the camera is getting low. Mine isn't quite the newest version, so it doesn't have the two way audio, I wouldn't use that function anyway. I get a few months per set of batteries, which is less than advertised, but I'm not using the default settings either. Use the recommended Energizer lithium batteries, I tried alkaline one time and only got a couple of weeks out of them. Next time I notice a good sale, I will likely add a camera or two.

The one improvement that I wish it had is some kind of on site video storage, it doesn't seem like it would be that difficult for Blink(Amazon) to engineer a sd card slot into the receiver thingamajig that could hold a couple of days of events in addition to their cloud storage.

[Camelfilter]

Another +1 for simply safe, happy with them. Easy setup, does everything we want, smoke detectors are a great feature.

Extended power failure run time, further extended by plugging the base thru a UPS system.

[DMG]

I have a system at my home and at my auto repair shop. They work great. It is really handy being able to see real-time video of whatever is going on in my parking lot.

I do not trust big companies or our government enough to put them inside my house so they are all outside.

[gorn5150]

I have had 3 blink cameras set up for over a year. They work like they should. The only problem is there is about a 10-15 second delay from when it triggers to when you can see the clip. I also have some of the Waze cams. They are $20 and work just as well as the blink. Both brands are good easy to set up options.

[amcic1994]

Originally Posted by johnmcd

I've been using several Blink cameras for about 3 years now to complement my home-grown security system and they've worked flawlessly. I will point out that since they use WiFi you need to make sure you have decent coverage where you're going to put them. In terms of security make sure you use a good strong password for your account, and make sure you have your home network locked down tight.

I don't even want Alexa or Siri to work at my house and I cover all cameras unless I'm using on. VPNs, firewalls and encryption set up and that's as secure as I can get at this point.

[pakrat13]

We have been using a Blink system for about 2 year now, and really like it. We currently have 3 cameras: one in the front yard that you have to walk by to get to the front door; once that covers the driveway/side gate; and one that covers the back door. We have plans for maybe 2 or 3 more in the coming months.

Pros:
Ease of installation - being battery powered you can put them anywhere
Cost - I did some research when we purchased, and they are on the lower end of the cost scale when compared to similar systems
Picture Quality - the resolution is pretty good, even in low or no light conditions
Settings - these are easily adjustable in terms of sensitivity and how long they record once triggered
Expandable System - it is easy to expand/add units.

Cons:
Battery Life - in a high usage setting be prepared to change the batteries every 2-3 months, significantly more often if you use cheapo batteries
Settings - although easily adjusted (see above) be prepared to "play" with the settings for each camera a bit, unless you want every bee, neighborhood cat and possum on film - and you simply love changing batteries
Accessibility - You can only monitor on your phone or tablet through an app, not directly on your PC. Which means if there is footage you want/need to keep, you will have to send the file to yourself.
Memory - Although I know you can buy more space, the "free" storage that comes with the system is a little limited. It isn't a problem if your check (and delete) files regularly though.

Taking everything into account, I would defintely purchase them again.

[Grumble69]

It works for what I want it to do, have an extra set of quick eyes. When you hear a bump that's most likely the house creaking or the ice maker, it's very comforting to say "Alexa, show camera two" and just have visual confirmation that no one is coming inside. The pros are that it's battery operated. You can play around and move them where you like. And if you want a more permanently powered route, you can do that. The digital night vision works well too.

I don't use mine for security while I'm away, so I can't comment on the motion detection or storage. I have read though that the recording time is kind of short when it picks up motion.