Amcrest Wireless Video Surveillance System
When we bought our house back in 1985 we thought we hit the jackpot! Such a cute little house in a great neighborhood with fantastic neighbors. Our house is only blocks away from the grade school and the high school. Since 1985 our home has gone through a lot of changes. The kids all grew up and moved into their own homes. Our house went from wallpaper to paint. From carpet to tile. Old bathrooms to updated bathrooms. Room addition to house so my Mom could be close. Many, many great changes!! One change we haven’t been happy with is the neighborhood. MAN oh MAN has the neighborhood changed. NOT for the best either. We live on the corner, which means our very long fence has been tagged several times in the past years. When we get tagged, they go all out! They tag the entire fence which takes us hours to paint over. We can’t even leave our garden hose out front over night because it’s gone by morning! We keep Home Depot in the hose business! A couple of years ago we had to have a full alarm system put in; which is great for inside, outside not so much because now we have packages disappearing from our front porch; NOT a good thing for a product reviewer to have to deal with!! Like I said; our house has seen a lot of changes!
About a year ago I signed up for this site called CrimeMapping.com I put in parameters of a one mile radius of my house. WOW! I had no idea there was SO much crime so close to home. It does NOT give me a warm toasty feeling!!
So trust me when I say I was excited to be offered the chance to review the Amcrest WLD895US 720P 4CH 7-Inch Wireless Video Surveillance System, Bullet IP66 Camera. This is one slick little security camera system!!
The camera took a little bit of work for us; ONLY because of where we wanted it mounted. The Husband had to crawl up into the attic to install this camera. We wanted it hard-wired above our front door. Once the drilling and wire feeding was done the mounting was easy; you can watch on the monitor where camera is positioned so it’s easy to make your adjustments. There are only three screws needed to securely mount the camera.
There is so much to love about this system from the fact that this system is expandable! I can add a camera to the side of the house, the back and even one inside if I want!! The system is expandable up to 4 cameras.
The camera itself is housed in solid metal and weather resistant so it can get cold and wet while you can stay safe and warm. There is a cord attached to the camera that is approximately 20 feet long. Like I said before; The Husband had to crawl into the overhead to install the camera because it does need to be plugged in. The camera uses 20 Infrared LED lights; a type of light that is invisible to us and can give the camera night vision. The camera also has a PIR motion detector. A passive infrared sensor (PIR sensor) is an electronic sensor that measures infrared (IR) light radiating from objects in its field of view. They are most often used inPIR-based motion detectors. The camera is good for up to 32 feet!! With REAL day and night vision! As in REALLY crystal clear vision!! The camera is stationary; there is no panning or zooming so mount it for the best view for the area you want monitored.
MORE TO LOVE is the fact that the camera comes with its own 7-Inch HD Full Color LCD Display is a Touch Screen Monitor which allows for clear 720p quality and Audio Streaming from camera, and Real Time Quad View for 4 cameras monitoring simultaneously. The audio quality is amazing!! We heard what we thought was someone chopping wood? In Southern California? Not likely, so outside I went; the sound was actually the mailman closing the mailboxes for the apartment complex ACROSS THE STREET!! I also want to mention that while you can hear what is going on outside (if you want too) people outside can’t hear you. It’s not a two-way microphone.
The Amcrest camera is truly a high-definition camera. The picture is crystal clear on the monitor or on my phone or iPad. Yes, on MY phone or iPad!! By installing the app Amcrest Sight I can monitor my camera while I’m away! What’s more is the fact that I can record what the camera sees as well, just add a 32 GB Micro SD card to the display monitor!! (The Micro SD card is not included).
On to the touch screen; the 7″ base unit is a touch screen that is super easy to use. The picture quality is excellent. I can clearly see who is at the door. The touch screen is truly a plug and play; the unit powers up quickly. The touch screen runs either on rechargeable internal battery or can be plugged into the wall. If you want remote access you will need to plug into an Ethernet port.
The touch screen has a built in stand so it easily stands up by itself. There are also two antenna to give you even more range; you can easily take your monitor with you from room to room.
On the touch screen you can update all your settings including motion sensitivity, image quality (VGA or 720P), sound alerts. It took The Husband and I two days to realize that the flag out front was causing the camera to beep in its motion activated option. You can opt to disarm the beep. THANK HEAVENS!!!
EVEN MORE TO LOVE The system allows you to program a specific time to record motion. For instance when you know that a delivery will be made. OR if you have set this camera up inside the house and you want to monitor the kids when they are home? How brilliant is that?! My kids should be so very thankful I didn’t have this when they were growing up!! It wouldn’t have taken me 20 years to find out about some of their shenanigans!!
WHINES
I do wish the camera itself could rotate or swivel left and right; up and down using the touch screen so I could see more or different areas. But, that’s a minor wish and not really a whine. This system could not be easier to use!! Straight from the box; plug-in the camera and the touch screen monitor and you have instant sound and picture. Everything is included from weatherproof camera to the touch high-resolution screen monitor! Along with the easy-to-follow instruction booklet and the screws to mount the camera. Absolutely perfect for work or home! Inside or outside! We couldn’t be more thrilled!!
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