security cameras: late 2019 edition

December 21, 2019 1:54 PM

Low-tech, impatient person wants technological solution re aspiring burglars and porch pirates, please tell me about the current state of the art.

Can you help me figure out a security camera setup? I want, in descending order of importance

1. be able to be notified in real time if there is activity at my door or elsewhere around the house, to see it, and to be able to speak through a mic to whoever's there, remotely, at times when nobody is home.
2: to see, after the fact, if someone has come up to my porch and stolen delivered boxes. This should ideally include a camera good enough to see the license plate of a car that pulls up outside the house.
3. to see, after the fact, anyone breaking into my front or back doors/windows.

I currently have a Simplisafe home alarm system with entry and glass break sensors, a Costco membership, and an iPhone. I need a solution that a luddite can understand and install.

What's my best move? Thanks!!

posted by fingersandtoes to Technology (2 answers total)

Best answer: I can't recommend a particular product, but I can tell you that I've been pretty disappointed with the Ring Video Doorbell that I bought. When I get a notification on my phone that someone is at the door, I open the Ring app, tap on the still image, tap on the resulting image ("Tap to go live"), and then wait a significant amount of time while looking at a message that says "Activating device". By the time the live image actually comes up, the person is usually gone already. It's quite disappointing. And then when I go to view the recorded sequence, I have to wait again while the system finishes processing the clip. It's all sluggish as hell, and I regret having bought the thing.
posted by alex1965 at 8:23 PM on December 21, 2019

Best answer: We have Blink cameras and they do all the things you wish. The speaker isn't all that great tbh but they were easy to install and not too expensive.
posted by bink at 9:27 AM on December 24, 2019