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Outdoor camera?
RE outdoor security camera: looking at getting a couple of them -- the installation looks really easy. And, so would dismantling it. Any tips to keep someone from taking it down? (other than they'd be recorded approaching the camera).
captain11
Captain
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5.4K Messages
2 years ago
SS does sell (or at least Best Buy does) a "theft resistant" bracket but due to the "baseball bat" factor, I would reocmmend just to save your money and take your chances
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/simplisafe-outdoor-camera-permanent-mount-black/6475660.p?skuId=6475660
. BTW, both work well and getting better with firmware upgrades.
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worthing
Advocate
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606 Messages
2 years ago
There is another opinion, also shared by many people, that they do not work well. I will concede that the firmware updates seem to have improved battery life, live viewing response times (down to only 5-8 seconds!) and night vision performance but the following is still the case for many of us:
- Fails to alert at all compared to other cameras in the same location monitoring the same area
- Alerts and records but the recording starts very late. As in, late enough to see the back side of whoever just took the thing off your porch.
If you're comfortable with, "doesn't work great but might be better one day" and the price doesn't deter you, go for it. If you think, "doesn't work great but might be better one day" isn't good enough for a $170 camera then wait and/or look at other vendors. You can find better cameras for the same or less money. You can also find cameras that perform similarly but a lot less money.
You will undoubtedly find other people replying to this comment disagreeing with me but I say judge for yourself. Buy the camera and test, test and test some more to make sure it behaves as you think it should. Test during the day, test at night. Test with motion sensitivity set to different things. Test with people walking towards and away from the camera as well as people walking perpendicular across the cameras field of view. Most importantly, test it for the scenarios that matter to you. Do all of this testing within the return period and if it doesn't meet your needs then send it back and find a camera that does. :)
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captain11
Captain
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5.4K Messages
2 years ago
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tammied13
7 Messages
5 months ago
Don't get any SimpliSafe outdoor cameras!! I have 4 & it was a complete waste of money. If you want outdoor security cameras, SimpliSafe isn't it.
Battery life sucks, but the primary problem is that even if you hardwire them or use a solar panel, their firmware has the camera in a deep sleep that takes it 15-45 seconds to wake up & record ANY motion activated activity. By that time, whatever happened to trigger it is over or GONE. All you get is people walking away (if you're lucky) or a recording of nothing happening.
SimpiSafe knows this is an issue & there's still not a fix. My cameras are now on software version 1.15.6.391 & they still take way too long to begin recording when motion activated, or they don't record at all. Same issue when someone knocks at the door & I try to go to "live view" to see who it is. By the time the camera "wakes up" the person has left.
When you call Customer Support to complain, all you get is that the problem is with YOUR internet connection (they tell you to "upgrade" with a better data plan...mine is perfectly fine by the way) or with YOUR wi-fi router. They'll convince you to buy wi-fi extenders from them to fix your problem... DON'T. It never fixed MINE.
If I had known all this before I purchased my SimpiSafe system, I would never had done it. The outdoor cameras were my PRIMARY reason for choosing them.
After 21 months of using SimpliSafe, I still have issues with outdoor cameras not waking up, not recording, & randomly disconnecting from my system...lots of "camera not responding" error messages. Everytime I call Customer service, they're very nice, maybe we get it working (temporarily) but my issues are not resolved.
>>>Purchase a system from someone else.
(edited)
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