REOLINK 4MP 8CH PoE Security Camera System, 4pcs Wired 1440P Security IP Camera for Indoor and Outdoor, 4K 8CH NVR with 2TB HDD for 24-7 Recording RLK8-420D4

BIG and important Update: 04/07/2022The bad:Every single D400 camera was bricked after the firmware updates. Pretty annoying. HOWEVER. Reolink support stepped up and was ready to replace them. Don’t expect their support team to respond to you more than once per day as I assume they are China based. I had to email back and forth with a troubleshooting rep which was pointless and wasted some time and then got transferred via email to their returns department. This process could definitely be better, but their support is great overall! Really happy with them.-They STILL don’t have rich text push notifications (pictures in push notification) and the Reolink Admin has responded on Reddit indicating that they will NOT be adding that functionality. Maaaaaajor flaw, but there is a workaround!****Create a stand-alone iCloud email address. >>>>>Turn on Email Alerts and use your new iCloud email>>>>>>Configure the native Mail app in iOS to automatically push notifications to the phone immediately>>>>>DONE! You will now receive the notifications in your iCloud email and best of all, the notifications show the picture preview!!!!!!!! It took a lot of time and testing of different email apps to figure this one out. This works perfectly and honestly, I wouldn’t change it even if they updated their app to allow the picture/gif notifications…..which I STILL PRAY THEY DO because I would use it.The GOOD:After quite a bit of tinkering, I have actually decided to switch back exclusively to Reolink at both of my properties. HOWEVER, there are some things you should know! Your setup and configuration are VERY important. Reolink’s Reddit is incredibly helpful for this.1. If you buy any cameras with cool functionality (Timelapse/two way talk/floodlight/etc) YOU CANT USE THE FEATURES IF CONNECTED TO REOLINK NVR. Stupid, I know. Here’s your workaround:[CAMERAS >>>>POE SWITCH>>>>>ROUTER][NVR>>>>>>>ROUTER]This setup allows the best of both worlds.*24/7 recording on the NVR*Event based detection on the sd cardThis does however mean you’ll have two sets of the cameras in your Reolink app, but this doesn’t bother me at all because the two sets can be easily identified. This setup allows quick motion identification and also a more in depth view of the 24/7 recordings if needed.ALSO, this configuration allows customizable motion email alerts for each individual camera! When using only the NVR without switch, you can only have ONE email alert setting. It applies that setting to all cameras which is totally stupid. This is a great workaround for that.1. Timelapse: I’ve rebooted the cameras and changed micro sd cards. Timelapse now WORKS, but the caching time still sucks. Very slow even on wifi.2. Motion identification: the email alert discussed above - make sure to enable picture WITH TEXT and not just picture. The text provides the exact time and date. This makes it easy to go back to locate the event in the history.3. There’s still not any way to scrub through all video for the day. I’m stuck with reviewing all of the alerts within my email which is not a terrible option.4. There IS a live view for all cams. It’s a weird button in the top right corner once you’ve selected any cams. It allows 4, 8, or 16 view. Just wish live view was accessible from the Home Screen.I’ve changed my tune a bit…..Reolink is now back to my FAVORITE security camera system. They’re the best bang for the bug and they are heavily feature packed. More so than any other brand. Easy to use. Give it some time and learn the system. It’ll pay off for you.Old review:Important Update:I am sad to say that I have since removed all of my Reolink cams and moved over to Lorex. Unfortunately, (at the moment) Reolink is just not practical.1. They DO NOT HAVE picture push/clip notifications. (Which is now the industry standard)2. The Timelapse feature is very buggy. I still have not been able to use it successfully. (Caching)3. It’s difficult to locate your motion event inside the 5 minute video.4. There’s no way to effectively scrub through your video. (In a timely manner)Sadly, these are not for normal every day use if you want to monitor your homes/businesses without wasting a ton of your time. I just do not have the time to try to sift through slow loading 5 minute videos to track down my event and I’m assuming that neither do you.If Reolink fixes all of this and updates these features, I would switch back. For now, I’ll be returning to Amazon.OLD REVIEW:Reolink is a only a few features away from being a completely unmatched security camera manufacturer!!!! They COULD be the BEST…BUT……The OBVIOUS flaws:1. RICH PUSH NOTIFICATIONS (IOS&Android) - Come on, Reolink! This is industry standard now. How do you guys NOT have pictures or gif video event clips in your push notifications yet to IOS and Android!? Please give this to us!!! We are desperately waiting.Not having this is a MASSIVE flaw. I have to keep another system like Nest, Ring or Arlo installed now which totally defeats the purpose of me having the Reolink system.2. PLAYBACK - The playback function is absolutely RIDICULOUS. Why are we sifting through entire 5 minute clips to get to our events?! It’s near impossible for us to quickly and easily identify motion/person/vehicle events. This is pointless! It’s 10 minutes after the event by the time I’m able to locate the clip and see what actually happened. Say goodbye to any kind of crime/activity prevention.3. TIMELAPSE- Why is this not enabled on NVRs?! People pay quite a bit more shelling out for the full NVR system. The least you could do is allow Timelapse across your entire service.Functionality of Timelapse: It is fairly difficult to organize/sift through/delete Timelapse videos individually and schedule a daily Timelapse for a review at the end of each day.4. LIVE VIEW HOME SCREEN- You can only see snapshots of the last time you opened each individual camera. PLEASE allow us to switch to a full time live view for all cameras on the Home Screen (Devices).OKAY, now that I’m done complaining…..Reolink is HANDS DOWN the BEST bang for buck system your money can buy.-SO MANY DEVICE OPTIONS.-Great Quality Equipment.-User friendly and sensible mobile app.-Budget friendly-24/7 recording NO FEESReolink, your team has some work to do! I’ll have to keep my other systems in place for now, but I am excited for the day you make these updates/changes so that I can run Reolink systems on all of my properties and my family’s!

So far I have found the setup and menu navigation easy and able to set up and use without resorting to a manual. The picture quality is good. If you up the resolution your on-screen menu decreases in size and becomes more difficult to read. I moved around through the different resolutions and could not see any real difference from the default. The Cams may be a higher resolution than what is really recorded, it seems, but the picture is still very clear and the zoom feature is great -- did not have that on my 1080P Swann. There is, however, a delay in actual movement and video, and the same with the sound, another nice feature, these cameras do pick up sound and you can turn on and off per camera, and you do not need a separate speaker for this audio feature to work, it plays back right over your TV if you are using your home viewing TV as your monitor, that is. Still, it is weird to see action or someone speaking and then a full second to 2 seconds later it is reproduced on the screen -- I believe they call this, poor latency -- 1-3 seconds may not seem like much but in viewing a video or listening to the audio it is a lot and very noticeable, in fact, you cannot ignore it. This really stumps me, being a Cat5, directly wired system. This might be expected from a WiFi wireless system, but a hard-wired system? One other thing, I purchased the package deal, getting the two extra Camera, and the presentation on Amazon shows a 3TB harddrive on this package, but that is not what came to me, it is the 2TB, not the 3TB they show in the ad picture. This is all front room testing so far. I am on the fence about the poor latency and the smaller Hard drive when I was expecting the 3TB. Yes, the Cameras are real quality and all-metal and nice resolution, but then in today's market, they are not the only brand to deliver a quality product at a reasonable price. I will update If I decide to keep and do a full install.UPDATE: Okay, I decided to keep this Reolink. Hands down the easiest to set up. After years of struggling with Swann, this is like a breath of fresh air. My Test? Install everything without using a manual -- something my wife just does not understand (smiling). After this install and working my way through the software everything went fine. Then I went to upload the App from Reolink and having experienced so many problems with other systems, like Swann, and some test/trial systems, I was expecting some problems. BUT, no problems, a quick and error-free connection on my Cell Phone. Simple App, but just what you need and all you need. I a still waiting for something to fail, but so far nothing. And it is fast, it is almost fun to use. So, then, I uploaded the Reolink software for the Pc/Laptop. After a little juggling to get my password in it came to life and works really, really well. Super satisfied. I started off with the 4 camera, then added on 2 more, and now I am ordering two more. This is as close to plug and play as I have ever seen. YES, I do have one Con: These Cameras have audio, and it works perfectly on the Cell phone and the Pc/Laptop, no problem, but when it comes to audio coming over the TV I am using to monitor the cams the sound comes out like Mickey Mouse voices. One more con: I contacted Reolink Support about this, Chat, and Email, and that was over 5 days ago, and have heard absolutely nothing from them. Yes, they send you to a FAQ and they apparently have a vast database for solutions, but I found nothing about this problem. Strange for the audio feed, playing great over the laptop speakers and great over the Cell phone speaker but the TV? I tried this on two different home TV, both LG Smart TV 55", and they have great program sound and speakers but when playback form the Reolink NVR the Mickey Mouse voice audio is strange. Maybe someone who is reading this may have the answer? Other than that, I give this a solid four Star rating, and leaning toward a great 5 star. Quality is top of the line as well. My advice to Reolink as an improvement for a near-perfect system would be to replace that funky wired mouse with a wifi mouse, a long-range mouse would be the best.

Got these on a great deal. Fairly easy to install yourself if you’re capable. I installed the system with 6 cameras in about half a day. The app is great for viewing/reviewing and saving clips. You can also add more cameras. I added a wireless camera a year later and it was seamless

Not much to say. Easy to install the cameras, weather proof, decent but not great user interfaces on the NVR, PC or APP, though which I knocked a star off for. I will eventually install a much larger TB drive to save more video.If a company rep reads this, it would be great to have cloud storage for PoE systems and not just wireless (junk!) cameras.