This is kind of broad, and my path so far has been seeing some Reolink deals on Newegg, getting the idea maybe I want a small surveillance system, googling Reolink, reading some overly positive reviews w/o sample pics/video and then eventually signing up on this forum.
So my folks are no longer in their home and it's going to be at least 2-3 months before this thing goes on the market. It's in a low-crime area and in the past the house has sat vacant for entire summers while they flee the heat and go north. That's happened for at least 25 years and there's never been a break-in or a sign of any attempts. There are hurricane shutters in place as well, but someone determined could certainly get those open, especially in the back of the home. There's an old minivan, but it's garaged, so I'm not concerned about watching a car in the driveway (stealing cars or stealing things out of cars seems to be the most common theft where I live).
That sort of has me wondering if doing much of anything for a home that only has a handful of valuables that are accessible is even worth it, and if so, do I go all-in with a great system or just toss a cheap 8 channel NVR w/4 cameras or so in there and use it as more of a deterrent and a way to check up when work is supposed to be done on the house (was thinking of adding some indoor cams if we opt to do some remodeling before selling)?
I work with wifi in my day job, so I'm already turned off by any wifi solutions - I don't feel like the reliability is there and if I have to power them, I don't really save any work on installing them. I also don't see value in any system that's not continuously recording, and the battery-powered wifi stuff seems to get decent battery life by just doing motion detect on the camera, which seems like a great way to miss action.
Perhaps the better option here is to just have ADT or someone drop in an alarm system, as that seems far more effective for protecting what's inside the house... although that might also scare off buyers who don't see security systems on comps in the neighborhood...
So in my place, with a small budget and a temporary install (literally I'm not even drilling for the cat5, I'm using any trickery I can to avoid going into a florida attic, aesthetics for a temp setup are not a priority), what might you do? Again, noting the history of no burglaries when this place is vacant... My gut says not to spend more than $600 and get a kind of cheap NVR w/built-in POE and just work on getting good illumination and not doing anything incredibly dumb with camera placement.
Pics from above and in front in case anyone wants to see the layout. The large oaks on either side of the home in these pics are all now gone. Facing the house there's an LED streetlight just out of frame to the right of the driveway.
So my folks are no longer in their home and it's going to be at least 2-3 months before this thing goes on the market. It's in a low-crime area and in the past the house has sat vacant for entire summers while they flee the heat and go north. That's happened for at least 25 years and there's never been a break-in or a sign of any attempts. There are hurricane shutters in place as well, but someone determined could certainly get those open, especially in the back of the home. There's an old minivan, but it's garaged, so I'm not concerned about watching a car in the driveway (stealing cars or stealing things out of cars seems to be the most common theft where I live).
That sort of has me wondering if doing much of anything for a home that only has a handful of valuables that are accessible is even worth it, and if so, do I go all-in with a great system or just toss a cheap 8 channel NVR w/4 cameras or so in there and use it as more of a deterrent and a way to check up when work is supposed to be done on the house (was thinking of adding some indoor cams if we opt to do some remodeling before selling)?
I work with wifi in my day job, so I'm already turned off by any wifi solutions - I don't feel like the reliability is there and if I have to power them, I don't really save any work on installing them. I also don't see value in any system that's not continuously recording, and the battery-powered wifi stuff seems to get decent battery life by just doing motion detect on the camera, which seems like a great way to miss action.
Perhaps the better option here is to just have ADT or someone drop in an alarm system, as that seems far more effective for protecting what's inside the house... although that might also scare off buyers who don't see security systems on comps in the neighborhood...
So in my place, with a small budget and a temporary install (literally I'm not even drilling for the cat5, I'm using any trickery I can to avoid going into a florida attic, aesthetics for a temp setup are not a priority), what might you do? Again, noting the history of no burglaries when this place is vacant... My gut says not to spend more than $600 and get a kind of cheap NVR w/built-in POE and just work on getting good illumination and not doing anything incredibly dumb with camera placement.
Pics from above and in front in case anyone wants to see the layout. The large oaks on either side of the home in these pics are all now gone. Facing the house there's an LED streetlight just out of frame to the right of the driveway.
