topic Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home in Community Chat

Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

SeaMaiden — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 19:10:11 GMT

Seems to be the "going thing" these days. Do you have this type of surveillance system at your home with cameras etc? What kind do you have and are you happy with it?

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

Annabellethecat66 — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 19:21:27 GMT

I bought 2 of the ring things but haven't put them up yet.

I do have cameras (Nest) in my house but they only come on when I leave the house.

I also have (and have had for years) ADT. My ADT has everything covered except cameras, I draw the line there. We had a house fire several years ago and I told my husband the fact that everyone and his brother has been in and out of my house (repairing, etc) and he was traveling a lot, I wanted security. So, we have alarms everywhere, I seldom set them, but we have them.

I really like the Nest. My son-in-law set them up before I had my knees replaced. I knew I'd be in rehab and wanted to watch my cats. When I'm out I get notices on my phone and I can touch the picture and it shows me (in real time) everything. I can even talk back and forth with the person. He put it in his parent's house because they cruise like 24/7. Their's isn't as elaborate as mine though.

I bought and still have the one HSN sells but never did anything with it. I'll probably give those away. I also just bought the one's QVC was selling and they're probably in a box here somewhere (I'll have to look now that I'm thinking about it)...

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

Sooner — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 19:31:32 GMT

@Annabellethecat66 I LOVE IT! Watch the cat!!!! I always wondered what one of our cats was up to during the day. You'd come homw and see things he had done, and wonder how the heck did he do that, and WHY did he do it!

A neighbor put in a cat door and came home to find about 6 cats lounging on the living rom furniture one day. She said the cats just looke up at her when she came in! Cat parties! LOL!!!

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

SilleeMee — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 19:34:45 GMT

I have some fake cameras mounted on the outside of my house in obvious places. They look like the real deal and so much so that the police have knocked on my door asking for video footage I might have of a possible crime...lol!

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

deepwaterdotter — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 19:36:26 GMT

We have one that my husband set up a few years ago. I don't know the brand name, but it includes multiple exterior cameras that feed into a divided-screen picture on the interior monitor. I like knowing who is at my entryways and parked in the driveway.

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

Annabellethecat66 — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 19:52:42 GMT

@Sooner My problem though (with catching the cats) is they walk down the steps just out of sight of the camera yet enough to set them off (they are motion sensored). Then when I look to see what they're up to....I might catch a fluffy tale flutter by!

It was funny when I was in rehabl and the dufus one (Katie, that cat is strange) would come down to the foyer and sit and stare at the front door....just stare there...

Another mystery was solved....every since I've had them (for a few years now) someone was throwing (really throwing) the litter out of the boxes (2 of them) where I keep them. That stuff would be everywhere (over and over). Never one little poop though would be thrown out, just the litter (thank goodness).

Then I discovered it was Bill...yepper, that booger went bonkers with the litter. So the other day (finally) I found a box that has 3 sides wide. So far I've haven't seen where he's been throwing it...I know, he's just making me THINK I've fixed the problem....Ha!

Just recently I had the kid next door take out my trash and when he came down the stairs I said hello to him....he jumped so high, even though he knows about the cameras, I guess he just forgot.

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

phoenixbrd — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 20:23:52 GMT

We just bought ARLO Pros (completely wireless) and sounds a lot like @Annabellethecat66"s Nest. We can view rooms in real time and talk to anyone in the room, They are activated when we leave the house and are alerted for movement in the rooms on our phones, also have one at the front door, We also recently purchased Alexa Echo and love it! Lights turn on and off in rooms, records shopping lists, gives us the weather, time, current news, turn the TV off/on, control the thermostat etc.....all with a simple command. We are becoming bluetooth central at our home! We are finding so many uses and conveniences with Alexa. (I can see that If there is anyone disabled, or elderly with a limited range of motion, I would highly recommend considering these systems.)

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

StraytoStay — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 20:31:05 GMT

@Sooner wrote:
@Annabellethecat66 I LOVE IT! Watch the cat!!!! I always wondered what one of our cats was up to during the day. You'd come homw and see things he had done, and wonder how the heck did he do that, and WHY did he do it!

A neighbor put in a cat door and came home to find about 6 cats lounging on the living rom furniture one day. She said the cats just looke up at her when she came in! Cat parties! LOL!!!

That's cute! We got a stray that way, before we had dogs. A cat started to come in our cat door while we were on vacation to eat & stayed. He was a really nice cat. How I picked my nickname, strays that stay. 😻

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

Moonchilde — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 20:36:12 GMT

@deepwaterdotter wrote:
We have one that my husband set up a few years ago. I don't know the brand name, but it includes multiple exterior cameras that feed into a divided-screen picture on the interior monitor. I like knowing who is at my entryways and parked in the driveway.

Same here. We are rural, and a system like this doesn't hurt. We also have 3-4 cameras that came with the set and the split screen viewing, though we usually have it set to the driveway.

I believe it was purchased from Lowe's or Harbor Freight and I don't think it was super-expensive. I know that the set sold at Costco is popular too.

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

Group 5 minus 1 — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 21:28:50 GMT

We have a driveway alarm and dogs.

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

QueenDanceALot — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 21:38:23 GMT

@Sooner wrote:
@Annabellethecat66 I LOVE IT! Watch the cat!!!! I always wondered what one of our cats was up to during the day. You'd come homw and see things he had done, and wonder how the heck did he do that, and WHY did he do it!

A neighbor put in a cat door and came home to find about 6 cats lounging on the living rom furniture one day. She said the cats just looke up at her when she came in! Cat parties! LOL!!!

Reminded me of an apartment I lived in years ago. The guy downstairs (this was a 4-plex) had a cat that made his own door by clawing out part of the kitchen window screen and my neighbor just left it that way. One day he told me that he'd often come home to Wild Kingdom, all kinds of critters in his apartment (most of them having met their demise).

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

Sooner — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 22:02:46 GMT

LOL!!! I guess we DO need kitty cams from the stories I'm hearing. Those cats, they plot things to do to frustrate you! They're laughing on the inside!

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

Bibione — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 05:29:04 GMT

I have Canary and Samsung from Hsn.When I am visiting family in Italy I can check on our house in the States.

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

ID2 — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 10:44:23 GMT

Yup we have several. We had them wired throughout and installed when we built this place 3 years ago. We didn't live here full time yet and wanted to keep track of goings-on. We now live here and our kids now keep track of us! Lol. When we go out of town I bring one in so I can watch my cats to make sure they are okay (mostly sleeping).

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

Fressa — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 15:21:51 GMT

I have flood lights at each corner of the house and garage. Recently I replaced all the blulbs with LED bulbs. WOW!!!! I must be savings 20% (min) on my electric bill in addition to being able to run them all night long. (It was just too expensive previously).

My best security system are our two German Shelpherds......

I still would like to have a night vision motion activated camera system to focus on the wooded areas aound our home. I haven't found a system that was afforadable.

I havd to admit that I also have some flameless candles on timers to light some of the darker areas of the house.

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

BornToShop — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 15:37:55 GMT

My dilemma regarding these systems is figuring out if the Ring, Blink or Nest are any advantage over full security systems that contact the police/fire dept. We were burglarized a few years ago & immediately acquired Front Point Security Systems. They are highly rated. We moved & have not yet decided whether to go back to Front Point or invest in Nest, Blink or The Ring.

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

Pearlee — Sun, 13 Aug 2017 15:41:02 GMT

@phoenixbrd wrote:
We just bought ARLO Pros (completely wireless) and sounds a lot like @Annabellethecat66"s Nest. We can view rooms in real time and talk to anyone in the room, They are activated when we leave the house and are alerted for movement in the rooms on our phones, also have one at the front door, We also recently purchased Alexa Echo and love it! Lights turn on and off in rooms, records shopping lists, gives us the weather, time, current news, turn the TV off/on, control the thermostat etc.....all with a simple command. We are becoming bluetooth central at our home! We are finding so many uses and conveniences with Alexa. (I can see that If there is anyone disabled, or elderly with a limited range of motion, I would highly recommend considering these systems.)

@phoenixbrd Wow -- you are super high tech!

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

Lipstickdiva — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 16:16:54 GMT

We had a company install a whole house alarm and it also includes outdoor cameras. We recently upgraded the outside cameras because the old ones weren't that good in the dark. Our new ones are infrared.

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

icezeus — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 16:25:58 GMT

@Sooner

That is hilarious. I can just imagine coming home and the cats just hanging out like everyone loves me don't you.

Re: Outdoor surveillance systems/cameras outside your home

RedTop — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 16:56:20 GMT

I recently called the company that installed our alarm system to get a price for adding security cameras, and learned it would cost around $1400.

A cheaper alternative was to buy cameras from Sams Club for around $400, and get someone to install them for us.

We used to have a hunter cam in the woods behind us, but it stopped working. If you choose to use a hunter cam around your house as a security camera, be sure to buy one with LED lights, instead of red lights, which are easily noticeable, and are a dead giveaway.