Dahua - Where to buy
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mat200
IPCT Contributor
- Jan 17, 2017
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SouthernYankee
IPCT Contributor
The best price is not the issue. It is the quality of the product and the support. There are a large number of chinese dahua cameras that are hacked to english, Some are not upgradable. If you base your decision on price you will get what you asked for. Unsupportable crap.
Please read the cliff notes in the wiki. The wiki is in the blue bar at the top of the page.
Read,study,plan before spending money
vendors are listed on the main page IP Cam Talk
Please read the cliff notes in the wiki. The wiki is in the blue bar at the top of the page.
Read,study,plan before spending money
vendors are listed on the main page IP Cam Talk
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Priced at bhphoto and compared with the imported ones. If everything works and nothing needs to be returned for warranty I can save a good amount of money. If it falls and I have to pay return shipping and back from Asia, not much savings and lots of hastle.
Still haven't decided what I will do, it's a gamble. I may piece it out. Don't know what the failure rates are with Dahua products.
Still haven't decided what I will do, it's a gamble. I may piece it out. Don't know what the failure rates are with Dahua products.
Q™
IPCT Contributor
The best place to buy Dahua is Andy @EMPIRETECANDY who provides the best customer service available.
I've been in contact with him and if all goes well, I can save money. If it comes in DOA or breaks, that defeats the purpose. But he does seem to have a lot of happy customers. Even considered buying the NVR here, and importing the rest.
Thanks for the replies. It will help in my decision.
Thanks for the replies. It will help in my decision.
Q™
IPCT Contributor
I purchased a IPC-HDW5231R-Z varifocal camera from Hard Working Andy. It sat in my office in a box for 3+ months. I finally got around to installing it but it Qrapped out after running for 10+ hours. Andy replaced that camera with an open-box lightly used IPC-HDW5231RP-ZE which, arguably, is a better camera. In fact I once saw Andy repair a camera for a guy who had bought the broken camera from someone else.
In addition, let me point out that Mr. Hard Working Andy-- with 2,165 posts and 3,959 likes -- has a LPR of nearly +200%...no one else with that number of posts comes close to a 200% LPR (I'm trying to reach +100% but I'm running out of bad jokes, Qontest swag, and Cat Bullshit
)(Likes To Post Ratio©)
BTW, I put a lot into this post and I could use a Like, eh?
Q™
IPCT Contributor
looney2ns
IPCT Contributor
I've placed an order with Andy.
NVR5216-16P-4KS2E
16 ch, epoe
IPC-HDW4831-EM-ASE
8 mp turret
SD1A203-T-GN
2mp, IR,mini-dome
LR1002 adapter to use existing coax for one location
And the morning brackets for cameras.
Will get it up and running and re-evauate before expanding further.
Thanks for the advice and opinions.
NVR5216-16P-4KS2E
16 ch, epoe
IPC-HDW4831-EM-ASE
8 mp turret
SD1A203-T-GN
2mp, IR,mini-dome
LR1002 adapter to use existing coax for one location
And the morning brackets for cameras.
Will get it up and running and re-evauate before expanding further.
Thanks for the advice and opinions.
It's a calculated risk for sure but I went with Dahua cameras out of China Aliexpress. Yes they have hacked firmware which must not be updated, too far/expensive to send back and any backup may be difficult.
I worked out it costs about 40% the price of the camera to post it back so I figure on writing them off should they go bad. Cheaper to buy another more or less.
So far so good but then my oldest Dahua is only 7months. I paid less than half of any local Dahua and I get free shipping out of China.
Crazy cheap but there's issues as mentioned.
Do not, repeat do not update firmware.
I worked out it costs about 40% the price of the camera to post it back so I figure on writing them off should they go bad. Cheaper to buy another more or less.
So far so good but then my oldest Dahua is only 7months. I paid less than half of any local Dahua and I get free shipping out of China.
Crazy cheap but there's issues as mentioned.
Do not, repeat do not update firmware.
SouthernYankee
IPCT Contributor
The hacked firmware depend on the model and who you purchase it from.
Hacked means illegal firmware, not supported by Dahua.
Keys to look for,
The part number is not in the dahua web site
The camera is not upgradable for the dahua web site
The part number has a C-A in it.
There are a number of dahua cameras on amazon and ebay that are hacked.
Buy from andy empiretech on Aliexpress, there has never been any problems with invalid firmware. Support form andy is outstanding.
Hacked means illegal firmware, not supported by Dahua.
Keys to look for,
The part number is not in the dahua web site
The camera is not upgradable for the dahua web site
The part number has a C-A in it.
There are a number of dahua cameras on amazon and ebay that are hacked.
Buy from andy empiretech on Aliexpress, there has never been any problems with invalid firmware. Support form andy is outstanding.