REOLINK 4K PTZ Outdoor Camera, PoE IP Home Security Surveillance, 5X Optical Zoom Auto Tracking, Spotlights Color Night Vision, Two Way Talk, Up to 256GB microSD Card (Not Included), RLC-823A

I've had my eye on this specific PTZ camera since it was announced, and used it to replace a stationary 822A I had at the front of my house. It went on sale for $200 for cyber Monday so I got one. I don't think I could justify buying another unless it was even cheaper than that though.I can easily see a full 180 degrees from the front of my garage down either side of the street now, and directly below the camera. This camera is significantly larger than the 822 and 820 dome cameras. Mounting was a bit difficult as I could not get a screwdriver or impact bit on the 4 mounting screws as the dome gets in the way. I used a ratchet and hex bit adapter to do it though. Having a 90 degree bit driver or ratchet like I used is a must to mount this. Overall I'm pleased with it so far. There's not much documentation on how to use the functions (such as patrol, what guard point is, and what "auto" does for the PTZ function other than twirl around in a circle nonstop). I did setup preset points and tried to setup a patrol from left, center, right, then back to left, but it would spin completely around each time rather than pan between the setpoints. I've left this off for now. Auto tracking also works, but seems to be a bit too touchy and needs fine tuning with the sensitivity. The IR lights on this are MUCH more powerful than the 820/822 dome ones and go out much further. I can see the IR reflection on my neighbors windows across the street now where before I couldn't. These also are much more visible at night and it looks like 4 'Terminator Eyes" are watching you.Good if you have the space and an ability to use the full range of this camera. A note also, that is will spin 360 degrees infinitely. There is no stop that prevents it from going all the way around like some cheaper $30 PTZ cameras do. Very solid build quality. I did notice if you have presets set, and physically turn the camera portion, there doesn't seem to be anything to let the camera know the camera portion moved. If you move it with the PTZ controls, then go back to your preset, it will go back to where you physically moved it thinking that's correct. If you power off/replug in, that fixes the issue though. Not a major thing, but just worth noting if something bumps the camera and you have presets.

Although it took me a while to figure out this camera, it’s well worth it. I am still learning what this camera can do. I debated for a couple months not sure if I wanted to get this system and this camera. I had more than a few security cameras, so it took forever figuring out which one to get this time. I had a Swanns, LOREX , GW but so far, this REOLINk is superior but to be fair, when I had the last system, PoE (power over Ethernet) wasn’t an optiion. When you run the Cat5 Ethernet cable, if you have to pull it through walls, cement blocks, ceiling and floor joist, you better order the Cat7 cables now. Because it’s so easy to break one or more of the 7 small wires in the Cat5 cable. What’s really bad is you might not even know it’s broke because most the camera will still work.when my Cat5 Ethernet cable was damaged, the night vision in that camera went out and I thought it was the system that was bad. Good thing I kept working with it to figure out what happened. The Cat7 is heavy duty and a little more expensive it well worth the cost. Makes the reception better also.Now, back to the real ink RLC-823A camera, the camera can be programmed to turn in circles if needed or any way you want it. Since I put mine on the corner of the house I can view 270 degrees with one camera. I also programmed for the camera to patrol and follow if it sees anything moving , it will follow until the object moves out of the screen, then it will return to patrolling until something else moves. I can set the area to be watched. I have the inside of my fence constantly watched so if anything moves inside the fence, it will send me a picture of who or what it is. The camera also has sound with a speaker if I wanted to talk .the camera also has a spot light to add color to your night vision. . I honestly don’t use the light. The two things that I believe is a waste is that spot light and the poor ass sounding alarm.

This camera is more than I expected. I like the ability to choose what to track, people, vehicles and pets. The tracking works well 90 percent of the time. Sometimes when it is tracking if it comes across a parked car it will stop on the car but other than that it works great.The return to home position timer being adjustable is a wonderful feature.THE SPOTLIGHT! The spotlight is bright enough to light up and identify a person in pitch black conditions at 75 feet.I like the ability to select which type of motion when searching through recorded content and the ability to set the sensitivity of each type of motion (any motion, person, pet or vehicle).The notifications work quickly and allows you to view the live feed within 2 to 3 seconds which allows you to activate the sound to communicate with the person or pet or to activate the siren which is loud enough, similar to a car alarm but only sounds for approximately 3 seconds to 5 seconds each press.I use the camera with my wifi controlled garage door to let deliveries drop off packages in my garage.The only gripes I have that the company could fix with a software update is when reviewing saved footage it defaults to 12am. I think it would be better to default to the last motion alert.The other gripe is to be able to toggle alerts on and off quickly like for when my neighbor is working on his car I would like to silence the alerts without going into my app settings or the camera settings to turn off the alerts completely.I installed a 128gb sd card and it holds 12 days of high amount of motion recording for me.I would highly recommend this camera