Blink Outdoor 4 – Wireless smart security camera, two-year battery, 1080p HD day and infrared night live view, two-way talk – 2 camera system

Overall, I’m very happy with the Blink camera system (and I’m not paying for the subscription). One of the reasons I decided to buy into this system was because I didn’t need a subscription for: 1) Live view option, which means, see the live video from the cameras any time I want via the app, from anywhere. 2) Save videos that were triggered by motion to a USB flash drive (memory stick) inside my house (not cloud only and not stored in the camera itself). Keep in mind, most of my comments here will be related to using the system without a subscription, but I’ll comment on the differences where possible. Also, my comments may be a little more technical than most people would like, but for anyone interested, I’m being as detailed as possible :-) These comments are relevant as of Feb 2024 (the date I wrote this review). Viewing/Storing Your Videos: During the trial subscription period when I could view my motion-triggered saved videos in the cloud, I noticed the videos load/play quicker than if you’re accessing the videos stored on the USB flash drive in the Sync Module 2. Anyway, not a big deal, but it’s a difference. You need to provide a USB flash drive to plug in to the Sync Module, but those are very cheap these days and a 128GB drive will give you TONS of storage for videos since the file size of the videos is not very big. Also, with the cloud subscription there’s a thumbnail for each video saved, which can be helpful in finding important videos if you’re trying to find one with people in it, rather than a video triggered by a dog. Without a subscription, there’s no thumbnail on the saved videos which you view in your app, and it takes several seconds for them to load/play in your app, but it’s bearable. The nice thing is, if you don’t have a subscription, the videos save to your flash drive/memory stick in the Sync Module 2 immediately after the recording is finished. If you have a subscription, the videos only download to your Sync Module’s USB flash drive once per day, at night (as I understand it). Sync Module 2 & Wireless Signals to Wi-Fi & Cameras: The Sync Module is required for the cameras, but you get one of those if you buy a package, like I did. I bought the bundle that included two Outdoor 4 cameras, one video doorbell and the Sync Module 2. It’s important to know the Sync Module and the cameras have TWO wireless signals. One that needs to connect to your home (or business) 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network and one that is only for use by the Sync Module and cameras and that signal is a ‘Low-Frequency Radio’ (LFR) signal. It does not have 5GHz, but you don’t want that anyway because the 5GHz signal is weaker than 2.4GHz signal. The Sync Module is where you connect a USB flash drive (memory stick) to save your videos if you’re not paying for a subscription (and also for once-daily backups of your videos if you ARE paying for a subscription). PLACEMENT OF THE SYNC MODULE IS IMPORTANT! Remember, it has TWO signals. It needs to be placed in an area that has a good signal to your home/business Wi-Fi AND so that it also has a good signal to all your cameras (if you have them spread out in different areas around your home or outside your home). To give you some perspective, my house is a single-story ranch style house (around 1,700 sq ft) and I have a camera outside on each wall (each wall is brick). I was able to place the Sync Module and my Wi-Fi access point in the center of my house. Even in this central location, I have one camera (the video doorbell, about 38’ away from sync module and Wi-Fi access point) that has only 2 to 3 bars (out of 4) for the Wi-Fi connection but usually 4 bars for the Sync Module connection. Long story short, make sure you place the sync module, your Wi-Fi access point and the cameras so they all connect to each other with as strong a signal as possible for best performance/reliability. It worked out well for my house, especially since I have flexibility on where I can place my sync module and home Wi-Fi access point and the technical knowledge and tools to move it wherever I needed it. Outdoor 4 Camera: The image quality/exposure for these cameras is very good. The nighttime IR (infrared) view is very good also (it will appear like black and white footage). The coverage of the IR light when it’s dark is also very good and has better coverage than I would have expected. I have motion-triggered flood lights outside my house anyway, so if my lights are triggered, the camera may not use IR because it sees enough light (at that point it will record normal video in color just like it does during daylight). I bought 25 ft long third-party USB-C cords with a power supply to use as the power source for my Outdoor 4 cameras so I never have to replace batteries and so I can view live video from the cameras as much as I want and also have the infrared light set to High without impacting battery life, because there are no batteries to worry about :-). I don’t know if it’s different WITH a subscription, but the longest period you can record when the camera is triggered by motion is 60 seconds. For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds, just so you know. Regarding the power, I drilled a hole in the bricks of my house (in the mortar actually) to feed power to my Outdoor 4 cameras. One camera is directly under a soffit, so there’s no danger of rain getting in there where the power cord connects (but the cord I bought is weather sealed anyway, not a normal USB-C cord). The other camera is mounted under a third-party security camera cover to keep the sun from beating down on it all summer (it’s on a south wall) and to keep rain off it, just in case…because again, I decided to power this one by a cord that plugs into the back of the camera instead of using the batteries). The included mount is very nice and flexible. If you mount an Outdoor 4 camera under a white security camera cover like I did, you may need to paint the underside of that cover with flat black paint because at night (in my case) the infrared light reflected off the underside of the cover/shield I’m using over my outdoor 4 camera and that made the video made difficult to see clearly. Daylight videos were unaffected, it was just at night in low light when the IR light was active for video recording that was a problem with that aftermarket cover I bought. Doorbell Camera: For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds. Why, I don’t know. Technical limitations? The Outdoor 4 cameras can record 60 seconds of motion triggered video. The wireless signals for the doorbell camera seem to be a little weaker than the outdoor 4 cameras. One big disappointment is that the video doorbell camera can NOT be powered by your existing doorbell power wire. My old Skybell brand video doorbell CAN be powered by the doorbell wires, so it’s a bummer that Blink can’t do the same. You can connect your existing doorbell wires to trigger your indoor doorbell, so that’s good…but like I said, you can’t use that wire to power the video doorbell. I confirmed this with Blink tech support. I hope they have a new version in the future that is able to be powered solely by the doorbell power wires, but for now, I have to keep batteries in it. The video doorbell device has a weaker infrared (IR) light than the Outdoor 4 cameras and lesser quality video than the Outdoor 4 cameras, but overall, it’s good (especially during daylight hours). The included mount is very nice and easy to install. Motion Triggering of Videos + Privacy: The settings/customization for when motion triggers video recording is very good. You have the option to block out as much of the scene as you need to to prevent unwanted triggering of video recordings, such an area of the scene where tree limbs often blow around or something like that. For privacy, you have the option to block out 2 custom size areas in the scene you select for privacy reasons so that area in the video is grayed out. The selected privacy area does not trigger when motion happens in that privacy section and also, when other sections in the scene that you allow to be seen trigger video, the video that's recorded has a gray box in the privacy section (all you see is a gray box). That's pretty powerful and useful, if you need it. Regarding motion triggered video recording in general, I've noticed the cameras can accidentally trigger (record) when it's really misty/foggy outside. If there's a lot of mist in the air floating by the motion sensor, it can trigger a recording. Just something to keep in mind because you may need to adjust the motion sensitivity and/or 'disarm' the cameras for a while until the mist clears because you may be getting lots of unwanted/accidental recordings. I have mine adjusted to the point where the cameras almost never accidentally record unless it's very misty outside, which isn't too often where I am. Audio Quality: The microphones on the Outdoor 4 and video doorbell camera pick up sound very well. I can clearly hear anyone speaking. The closer they are, the better of course, but it's very good. The speaker volume for the cameras is very good as well. It's plenty loud and if anyone is nearby when you activate the camera and start speaking, they'll hear it clearly :-) Blink App for Phone: The app you can download on your phone for managing the cameras/sync module is very nice and has plenty of options to configure/customize the cameras (motion settings, video quality, audio settings, check status, etc). The app is where you view your videos, but of course if you’re storing videos on the flash drive connected to the sync module, you can remove that flash drive and plug it in to your computer to see the video files there or make copies of the files for long-term storage…but of course you can also use the app to save a video file to your phone if you want to keep a copy of share it with someone, like the cops :-). I wish they had an app for Windows so I could view the cameras live and see saved videos on the sync module’s flash drive right from my computer, but at this point there’s no PC app. I think there used to be one?...but if there was, there isn’t one now (Feb 2024). Price: I compared the price of this system and what it can do with other systems like Ring, Nest and Skybell and at this time, the price difference is significant, in my opinion. The Blink system (and what it offers even without a subscription) is better than the other systems I checked out.

I love these cameras. It came with two. Set up was easy, and it connected to wifi very easily. I did purchase the subscription, you don't need to tho to get the basic functions. It records nice and live feed is clear and bright. Great security cameras as it alarms every time should you choose to have that function on. Would buy more.

It is very easy to install and functions as it should, the quality is high and the detection is accurate.

I needed these to see who was at my front door, even if they were just leaving a package. Nice small size so they're less conspicuous and are easy to install, although the mounting bracket where it attaches to the camera needed a bit of a fist bump to finally "catch" on the camera. The piece that you use as a "screwdriver" to open the back of the camera can also be used as part of the mounting bracket to get a different mounted camera angle, however, the camera is a bit more wobbly if you use it. Not usually an issue unless you're in a high-wind area. The more activity the camera catches/films, the more the batteries get used. The night IR uses more power as well. I turned off the camera's blue "on" indicator to further save battery juice. The set comes with lithium batteries for each camera. On one camera, the batteries lasted less than a month, which was super surprising given they are Energizer Lithium. I wasn't even getting that much activity on that camera. I think it must have just been an older set of batteries with reduced charge. The other camera gets a lot more activity and the original Energizer lithiums are still working. Blink recommends Lithium batteries which last longer and are much less susceptible to cold weather power drains than alkaline and NiMH. Also Lithium batteries have a consistent power output till they are almost 100% drained vs. alkaline & NiMH which decline in output as it drains. That being said, I replaced the dead lithiums with new Duracell alkaline batteries to save some $$$ and also b/c it's summer and I didn't need the lithium battery cold weather benefits (yet). It's also to see how long the camera will run on alkaline's and at what battery level they will quit working. BTW, when the lithium batteries died, the live video on the app just froze. I didn't get a warning that the battery was low or dead. Online troubleshooting said it might be the batteries but to check the internet connection first, then reboot your router, then reboot the camera, then reboot the sync module, then if none of that worked, change the batteries. I did all that but it was the dead batteries. I'm also looking at rechargeable lithium batteries. So far, I haven't found any that have the same mAh (milliampere-hour; measures the electrical charge a battery can hold) and mWh (milliwatt-hour; measures the total amount of energy a battery can deliver) power as the Energizer non-rechargeable lithium batteries, although many of the reviews say they work well with Blink cameras. I'm finding that not all rechargeable lithium batteries are made the same. Some hold a charge much better than others. Some falsely advertise a much higher mAh and mWh than the batteries actually have (ie. they don't charge up to the advertised capacity) as indicated by a lithium/NiMH battery capacity tester I have. A regular battery tester won't work on lithium batteries since they have a consistent power output till they are almost 100% drained, so will show 100% battery power till almost 0% (so if the lithium battery is at a 20% charge, a regular tester will still show it as 100%). Although they're weatherproof, I mounted the cameras under awnings and a porch roof to further protect them from the elements. The other thing I like about the Blink Outdoor 4's is that there are a ton of aftermarket accessories for them. I haven't decided on the 4-hour external battery pack yet, although I may get them for the winter as battery changing would be problematic with the severe cold and snow we get. Regarding the video resolution, you can set 3 different qualities (Saver: 480p, Standard: 720p, Best: 1080p). The higher the quality, the better the network connection has to be in order to be able to transfer the video from the camera to the sync module and thus more battery drain. Each camera defaults to the mid "Standard" resolution (720p). I tried the higher "Best" resolution (1080p) and found that it's only slightly better than "Standard". It doesn't look like true 1080p. "Best" does make it a bit easier to identify facial features, but only by about 10-20%. The actual difference between 720p and 1080p is supposed to be 50%, which it's not. I gave a 4/5 star rating b/c of the wobbly camera mount mentioned above, the "Best" video resolution seeming to not being true 1080p and the bad Lithium batteries that were included. Otherwise, I would recommend these cameras.

Terribly disappointed so far. Unbelievably disappointed. Cameras were easy to set up I bought an extra sync module so that I could 2 networks, 1 for my house, 1 for a vacant family home My wi-fi systems are 300mbps, or better 6 month old routers Sync module positioned about 10’ from my routers at most. system 1 cameras are both within 30’ of the sync module System 2 cameras are max 10’ from the sync module System 1 installed at my house and operates normally for 3 days. There are 3 wireless outdoor cameras and 1 mini camera on this system. All seems okay, except 1 camera will not reliably display live video and will not update thumbnail images, but detects motion and records. Then I go on vacation OVERSEAS, and a second camera at the front door goes offline. Fantastic. Instructions say I just need to cycle power. But I cannot remove and reinstall the batteries here in the USA when I’m in Germany. So this system has 4 cameras: 1 doesn’t open live video feed or update thumbnails, and a second drops offline 1 day after starting a vacation. I install the second system at in-laws house a few days in advance of leaving. This system has only 2 cameras, wireless outdoor gen 4 cameras, and as a precaution I buy and install new batteries. The system is performing normally for a couple days, but when I return home to the USA, camera 2 drops offline. A half-day later it returns online. On day 4, both cameras drop offline. They do not reappear online. During all failures, the sync modules appeared to be connected with a full strength signal. And when the cameras all showed that their batteries were full, and all showed a full strength connection to the sync modules. When I returned home, I was able to remove and replace the batteries in the offline camera, and it has been working normally, so far. The camera with the live video issue was also power cycled, and still not functioning properly. It will be 2 months before I can power cycle the cameras on Germany. At this time, I have no faith in this system. They have dropped connectivity at random, and there is no easy option to troubleshoot remotely. A lot of folks seem to have good systems, and I was impressed at first, setup was easy, settings were pretty good, day and night video was good, motion detection was good. But if they don’t stay connected reliably then they are not good. And mine have not been good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 23 Dec 2023 - Improving my review from 1 Star to 2 Stars Trying to organize this so it's easy to follow. Home Cameras - Camera 1 - This camera (Outdoor 4) still not reliably responding to Live Video or Thumbnail Update requests, but detecting motion okay, and sending alerts okay, when the system is armed - Camera 2 - This camera (Outdoor 4) fell offline after its 1st 3 days of service, and stayed offline while on vacation. I cycled power when I returned, and it has stayed online for 9 days now. It is sometimes slow to show Live Video or Thumbnails, but has generally responded. - Camera 3 - This camera (Outdoor 4) has worked 100% good, without issue. - Camera 4 - This camera (Mini) has worked 100% good, without issue. In-Law's Cameras (Overseas) Camera 1 went offline and came back online a day later. Then Camera 2 went offline, then both cameras went offline. I tried to "jiggle the handle" on this system, by removing the cameras and reinstalling them remotely (I know the camera serial numbers) - Camera 1 - This camera got disassociated from the Sync Module, and it's gone until I can return Overseas and cycle the power again. - Camera 2 - I removed and reinstalled remotely, and this camera has remained online without issue. Don't know why. Some cameras have been good all the time, some have been unreliable. On a good note, Blink Customer Service reached out to me based on my initial review, and has so far been very responsive. Based on the Customer Service guy's help, I am improving this review to 2 stars. The cameras still need to be better than this, but Blink seems to be trying, and I appreciate that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 17 Mar 2024 - Reducing my review to 1 Star again DO NOT TRUST THE OUTDOOR WIRELESS CAMERAS TO STAY CONNECTED RELIABLY. 5 DAYS INTO A MONTH LONG TRIP AND ONE OF MY CAMERAS GOES OFFLINE. IT HAS DROPPED OFFLINE 2 TIMES IN JANUARY, BUT HAS BEEN OKAY, UNTIL I NEED IT. A SECOND OUTDOOR CAMERA ON MY NETWORK DROPPED OFFLINE AT LEAST 3 TIMES IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, BUT IS CURRENTLY FUNCTIONING. I NOW HAVE 2 BLINK MINI CAMERAS AND THEY HAVE BEEN 100% GOOD THESE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE GREAT WHEN THEY WORK, WHICH IS 95% OF THE TIME, AND THEY WORK AGAIN AS SOON AS I REMOVE AND REINSTALL THE BATTERIES, BUT YA CAN’T JUST RETURN HOME FROM VACATION, RIGHT?!? BECAUSE OF THIS,THE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE FRUSTRATING AND MISERABLE. IT’S TIME FOR BLINK TO REPLACE THESE.

These are great cameras - very clear and cover lots of area. Only problem we have had - batteries are 2 year batteries and we have had the cameras for appx 1 month and we have already had to replace the batteries in two of the cameras. Very disappointed with that.

We have been using the Blink Outdoor 3 on the outside of our garage for a few years now. Our driveway faces a different street than our front door and I hated not being able to see out that way when kids were outside playing or during bus pickup and drop off during the school year. The system as a whole has its issues. It will only work as good as your internet, for one. That corner of our house is almost like a dead zone for electronics. It’s impossible to get WiFi in the garage and the laundry room on that side is notorious for dropping Bluetooth. But that’s not something I can change other than maybe getting a mesh system and I don’t really care enough to try. Because of this (and that I use it for live view a lot for bus pickup in the mornings), our outdoor camera has been the most loathed. You can only live view for 5 minutes at the most. After that, the camera will disconnect and try to reconnect for an ungodly amount of time—usually when the kids are getting on the bus—and by the time I get it back, the kids (and bus) are gone. Then I get endless warning messages about high usage on my device (I change batteries every 2-3 months because of how we use that particular camera), which is super annoying. I live in Minnesota and it gets pretty darn cold in the winter. The cameras will not work in subzero temperatures. I believe that has to do more with the lithium batteries than the camera, but be advised that if it gets cold enough, you’re out-of-luck and will likely have to change all your batteries out after. I bought the 3 outdoor camera deal (plus a Blink Mini) during Oct’s Prime Day so we could replace the one on the garage and add an additional two on the back and other side of the house. It actually came with a Sync Module 2, which I wasn’t aware of and was a pleasant surprise. My first Blink system was purchased before Amazon bought the company, so we have been using the original Sync Module. Because of that reason, we are grandfathered in and never have to pay a monthly fee for storage. For what it’s worth, this is the ONLY reason we stick with Blink despite wanting to potentially try other camera brands. All that said, the Outdoor 4 is a vast improvement. The camera angle is wider and clearer and I appreciate the durable coating on the outside. I still have it attached in outdoor plastic housing, but it’s good to know I wouldn’t have to. It is quite a bit thicker than the 3, so if you have that gen and bought plastic housing before the 4 was offered, you’ll have to upgrade it. Most housing offered now will work with both 3 and 4, but anything made specifically for the 3 will be too thin for the 4 (if that makes sense). We all LOVE the fact that we get person warnings instead of just a general notification (i.e. “a person is at your garage”). I have no idea if that’s a camera upgrade, a Sync Module 2 upgrade, or a software upgrade, but it helps a TON. With 3 outdoor cameras and a doorbell, it’s nice to not have to check the recording right away if it’s not a person that sets it off. I am looking forward to the new Sync Module being released as it improves WiFi range for the Outdoor 4 and comes with scheduling capabilities. Right now, you can only add a schedule for your system as a whole. It would be nice to be able to add a schedule for each camera independently.

2 of my 5 cameras will only work for about five days, even with new batteries. There's obviously something wrong with them because despite setting them up properly and in areas where they are never triggered by movement they're not functioning beautifully like the others that are in high traffic areas and are triggered daily. Those caneras have been working for months on the same batteries. I've tried to return them but have been only given the option to contact Blink by email for customer support. I'll see how that goes. I imagine that I'll be told to change the settings but they have already been changed for the maximum battery saving. Blink just sent me two new cameras, which was wonderful and very much appreciated!!