So I'm dumping my Wyze equipment (waste of money) and looking for a doorbell replacement. I've found some opinions online. How's the compatibility with Ring without using their subscription model? Also considering Nest.
#Doorbell Camera (and Reolink questions as well)
wary herald
dense hamlet
I wouldn't go with either of those as they are both cloud. My vote is for the Reolink Doorbell (either WiFi or PoE). It's local, has local storage (via SD Card) and has a really good picture.
wary herald
Without cloud, how do you connect to your doorbell from outside the home while away?
dense hamlet
Through home assistant. Plus, Reolink has an app that you can use, I just choose not to.
wary herald
Good to know. Thanks!
I was looking at the HA integration for Reo and WOW the sensors it has is pretty amazing!
dense hamlet
Yup. The integration dev is a freaking genius.
simple pewter
I've been pretty happy with the Eufy doorbell, it's local. If I had to replace it again I would likely go with the Ubiquiti UniFi, it has pretty good reviews.
rose crystal
Reolink doorbell no problems using with Frigate
marble meteor
i use my unifi doorbell, i record to my udmp , and access from homekit or ui.com or homeassistant
wary herald
Thanks all. After doing a lot of YouTube university searches I am very impressed with the HA integration with Reolink. I'll be getting one this weekend and installing it. Can't wait.
somber grotto
Cab you send your experience after you install the Reolink?
oblique tiger
I'm curious too. The UniFi is both out of stock and very expensive, so Reolink is the most interesting to me at the moment
dense hamlet
What do you guys want to know?
wary herald
I'd be happy to share it. I'm new to HA as well. I've got several other switches coming in this weekend and hope to get them all setup.
wary herald
Well I just finished installing the doorbell. I don't have HA fully configured yet, but so far I am already absolutely FLOORRED at how much better this thing is!
wary herald
I did. I'm in the process of setting up sensitivities and alerts. Once I figure those out I'll see how they fair with the HA components.
dense hamlet
I set mine pretty low because it was catching people walking by on the road lol. The sensitivity is crazy on it.
Hard to see in the snap, but there's a good 50 feet from the camera to the road and it was still catching people walking on the other side of the road. I had to set motion to like 10% and AI person to 40% to stop the false alerts.
wary herald
I set an exclusion area. Ya it was detecting bugs fly across the field of view at 3am. Good thing I had it set not to tell me!!
simple pewter
Is that the Reolink or the UniFi?
dense hamlet
Reolink
simple pewter
Reolink totally local too huh? And you really like it? The Uni seems like a great device but your picture is quite good too. I'm happy with my Eufy but the integration with HA relies on a HACS integration
Although I do like the dual cameras and pacakge detection, you get wide angle side to side but also up and down, I've not seen any other camera with that much visibility
icy gust
yes it is all local. you can look at this video, the unifi actually has worse video when it comes to the rtsp stream because it does not use the full resolution of its sensor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XCu6L0xn4Y&pp=ygUTdGhlaG9va3R1cCBkb29yYmVsbA%3D%3D
dense hamlet
Reolink totally local too huh? And you really like it? The Uni seems like a gr...
All my Reolink cameras are local-only, each with their own dedicated SD-card storage. The picture quality during the daytime hours is fantastic. Nighttime leaves a bit to be desired but there's lots of tutorials out there to make it better. The HA integration is TOP NOTCH. I have automations that turn off recording/monitoring when I'm at home and then sets everything up to record when I leave or at night.
The only downside is the RTSP stream into HA is kinda meh, but honestly, I don't use it on my dashboards as I have it saving snaps/vids when events happen and the cameras themselves write to my NAS automatically on events as well.
This is from one of my E1 Pro PTZ cameras.
Doorbell Camera (and Reolink questions as well)
rose crystal
I set an exclusion area. Ya it was detecting bugs fly across the field of view a...
IR attracts bugs. Get a separate IR illuminator and position it away from the camera and disable the one in the camera that will cut down on bug motion. Bonus, a larger more powerful IR illuminator will light up more area. At night I use IR and if there is person detection I automatically turn on the outdoor lights. I use Frigate and integrate with Home Assistant fro notification and automation. Works great
simple pewter
That's something I had not considered before, getting a separate IR emitter for cameras to provide better light and keep bugs off the domes/lenses. Nice suggestion, now to find a light for it... 🙂
dense hamlet
I have thought about it for a couple of my cameras that are in darker areas. Reolinks are notorious for not having the best of the best IR.
simple pewter
The only Reolink's I've ever installed wre for my father in-law, two years ago I put up a dozen in and around the property - they were pretty good cameras but the NVR is the hokiest piece of crap I've ever had to set up because their cloud service was horrible
dense hamlet
Oh yeah, I don't bother with the NVR at all. I had one a few years back and ended up gifting it to my neighbor. All mine are PoE direct to my switch with SD cards installed and then recording/snapshotting events through HA to my NAS.
What rocks is the HA integration though. Seriously top-notch in terms of integrations.
simple pewter
I needed the NVR, the point of the cameras was a security issue and if they can just walk away with the footage then.....
dense hamlet
Yup. But, the cameras do support FTP as well, which is really nice if you don't want to do onboard storage.
simple pewter
I've got a mixed bag, but I do like my Sunba's, they are built to be in constant motion and are seriously heavy duty and have amazing IR
dense hamlet
Not sure why you're looking at fly butts... but I'm not gonna shame your kinks... 🤣
simple pewter
Yes, don't fly-butt-kink-shame me mofo
But buy their cameras if you are serious about security, they are really quite good
somber grotto
is it this one? https://reolink.com/product/reolink-video-doorbell/?srsltid=AfmBOooDAYDRzqGBnnM6owUsqAJLJNgtNjPR8xbZ4RyLVAoMZviw5KQJ
simple pewter
I still have a brand new, never opened Eufy in the box if my Eufy dies, anyone want to buy it? I don't think I'll really ever need it.
dense hamlet
is it this one? https://reolink.com/product/reolink-video-doorbell/?srsltid=AfmB...
Yes
ionic bolt
Depending on your porch light setup you don't even need to use the IR lights on the reolink doorbell or even have it switch to night mode at all.