Home Security Options, Your Experience/Suggestions? Burned by Xiaomi Smart IP Cam

As the title suggests, I've tried the Xiaomi Smart IP camera, throwing caution to the wind with my own privacy (Chinese servers storing information) for the sake of peace of mind. 3 of the same camera's later through ozbargain deals I've had 2 not able to connect and 1 that took a week to get around connection issues via the mihome app/modem.

I'd love to hear your thoughts as to what works for you that isn't a piece of sh*t.

My current needs are that I have a meth head living above me in one unit, a lovely family who decide it's a great idea to use the washing machine 3am and make noises all sorts of odd hours consistently in another, also my own unit has had atleast 2 break in attempts while I've been there that I know of.

In a few months I'll be moving out of there but this experience has put me on the more cautious side regardless of where I'll be living.

*** skip to hear if you don't want to read the 'why's'.

What alarm system are you using and what are your experiences?
Ideally what would work for me is self install, something like the Adobe Security Kit potentially that is wireless and has an alarm as well as sends alerts to your phone.

Many thanks.

Comments

  • +3

    If you are going to be moving then consider the arlo pro. You can take it with you when moving and the base station comes with a siren so it doubles as an alarm. It send alerts and you can live stream via their phone app when you want to check on anything and your phone or device becomes your keypad. The only drawback is that you cant place them in an open area (e.g. out in corridor) as they cannot be permanently secured since you need to change/charge their battery every so often.

    • Thanks for the suggestion Fiximol.
      I can see a variety of mounting options as 3rd party purchases, seems to work with a ball and socket or camera connection.

      A camera won't prevent a burglary, have read extensively the pro's and con's for a security camera on these forums and elsewhere but am leaning towards a cost effective solution that meets the above requirements, the $550ish the pro model starts at with one camera is something to work toward, I do like the siren and features, if anyone else has any suggestions or you feel this is pretty much the best value for money, let me know, cheers.

    • Put a lot of thought into it and I agree. The arlo pro will suit my needs best. Thanks again. ☺️. Cheers all for the other suggestions.

      • +1

        Hope it works well for you!

      • Did you find a deal on the arlo pro anywhere?

        • Not yet mate, The Arlo Pro base works with the original Arlo Cameras with the advantage of having an alarm, that's the thought process so far but in the meantime I've managed to get the Xiaomi Camera's working. Hopefully a good out there soon for the Arlo Pro.

  • That is a shame about the Xiaomi, waiting for mine to arrive and hoping it will be a nice little camera for the price.

    • There are options to flash away from the firmware via fanghacks that might work well for you if you have an existing RTSP as a back up. Some people love them, some have issues. Hope yours is ok.

  • I use a raspberry pi 3 running zoneminder and two low res webcams. Zonemider sends an email (via gmail) about 1 minute after detecting motion with a still image and video attached. I also use IFTTT to turn on and off the camera's when I leave the house.
    Pros: cheap and works well
    Cons: You need to have some fairly good IT skills to set it up or be willing to read a fair bit of documentation.

    I've been meaning to hook up a UPS to the Pi and router so that if an intruder turns off the power at the fuse box the camera will still work for a few hours.

    • Same here except I'm using Pi Zero W's and Motion, notification is sent using MMS.

      Can I ask - are you storing images on the device or recording to a remote location?

      • I use to use Motion but found zoneminder had more features (but more false positives as well).

        I store data on the device with video clips attached in the email. Motion has an extension called MotionNotify that allows you to send emails.

        • Awesome, thanks for the top on MotionNotify - I was just going to use the inbuilt event trigger to call another script that would take care of the notification but this sounds worth a look.

  • Are you using Xiaomi's XiaoFang camera?

    I'll be happy to take over your units if the price is right. ;)

    • I'm not one to sell potentially broken units, will keep fiddling and when I upgrade i'll keep you in mind first as long as I can confirm they work for me, no problem.

      • No worries! I'm just looking at XiaoFangs myself so let me know if you are interested in offloading them at anytime.

  • I can recommend hikvision cameras. I've been using one of those without issue for almost 2 years.
    The setup is a bit tricky though. However all the notifications by default runs directly from the cam. No need any cloud service, apart from DDNS service if you have dynamic ip allocation

  • +1

    Logitech 720p cameras are pretty decent

  • I'm interested in this thread as well. Just researching which camera's (which don't cost a small fortune) to add to a Foscam FN3104H a colleague gave me:
    https://www.mwave.com.au/product/foscam-fn3104h-4-channel-hd…

    It can handle 4 camera's. Here are the Foscam camera's/prices:
    http://www.foscamaustralia.com.au/All-Foscam-IP-Cameras/All-…

    I also need to buy a powered over ethernet switch. Like this:
    https://www.ple.com.au/Products/606530/TP-LINK-SF1008P-8-Por…

    If anyone has suggestions on a 1TB or 2TB HDD to install, the best value camera's (external though they would be out of the rain/sun so I could put an interior camera's outside), and a decent value POE Ethernet switch…..

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