Blink Video Doorbell

[clonehenge]

Anyone have a Blink doorbell? What do you think of it?

Thinking of getting one because they're on sale for Prime Day.

Either that or a Ring but the Blinks are cheaper and you can get 2 or 3 outdoor cameras with it.

 

[TitanClone]

Don't have the doorbell (have a Ring) but do have 2 outdoor blink cameras. They're simple and reliable. Battery life, picture and sound quality are good for the price.

 

[huntt26]

Nothing to add for the Blink, but I do have a Ring. It's probably 5-ish years old now. I never liked it. The app sucks, it doesn't integrate with google home and the delay from doorbell ring to notification on my phone is so long that the person at the door is already in their car and gone before I get the notification on my phone.

 

[isufbcurt]

I think I might be the only person in the US that doesn't have (or want) a doorbell cam.

 

[1100011CS]

I have two doorbells and several cameras. The hardware is good, all work well. Their software is crap. Well, the administrative part. You can have only one login per system and login to only one system per device. So, if you want someone else to be able to access your cameras you have to give them your login. And if you have another system you want to access, it has to be on the same login. So, we have a system at our house and a system at my in-laws' lake house. In order for me to access both system I'd have to put them both on my login which mean everyone else in my wife's family would have access (and get notifications) to my system. If you just have one system or multiple but all for the same person, then it's great.
Oh, and there's no browser interface. App only.

 

[clonehenge]

I think I might be the only person in the US that doesn't have (or want) a doorbell cam.

Yeah, I don't know that I need one but my current doorbell crapped out and thought it might be nice to replace it with a video one.

Plus I got to thinking that my neighbor across the street got his truck stolen a few winters back while he was warming it up in the morning and if I had a video doorbell then maybe that would've helped catch the b@stards.

 

[1100011CS]

Yeah, I don't know that I need one but my current doorbell crapped out and thought it might be nice to replace it with a video one.

Plus I got to thinking that my neighbor across the street got his truck stolen a few winters back while he was warming it up in the morning and if I had a video doorbell then maybe that would've helped catch the b@stards.

This is basically why we have ours. People are ******.

 

[clonehenge]

This is basically why we have ours. People are ******.

Yeah, and I now have an AirBnB next door to me so having a couple of those outdoor cameras would be nice.

Yes, I don't trust people...they suck.

 

[CYdTracked]

I have both Blink Doorbell and a wireless camera. I started with just the wireless camera I mounted above my garage door after we found out we had slept through a big bust by the sheriff that happened in our driveway 1 night so that was the event that finally pushed me to try one. It's OK, for the price and not having to pay for a subscription its a good value. We eventually added a wired doorbell a couple months later so we had camera views that covered the entire front our home. There are some good YouTube review videos out there if you look that will give you an overview how it works.

Pros:
Less expensive than other brands like Ring or Google
No subscription required, you can set it up to save to a USB drive instead of a cloud subscription
Camera quality is good, easy to set up
I would recommend turning off the night vision and just leaving your outdoor lights on as you will get much better recordings with good lighting than you will with the night vision feature

Cons:
It is slower to play clips from USB drive than the cloud - you get 1 free month of cloud when you setup and you will notice the difference once you let it expire
App can be a bit slow at times, for instance if someone rings your doorbell by the time you get the alert if you are not home it is enough where the person may be gone. No big deal for the most part but the alerts aren't exactly real time and if your camera is recording sometimes the app will time tell you the system is busy
Battery life on the wireless cam to me is OK but not great. If you set the zones or sensitivity so it doesn't trigger motion for everything that drives by your house then it will not record as often. On the flip side though I have my zones set not to trigger motion recording for anything from the sidewalk on out and most of my clips don't seem to start recording until a car is literally stopped in from of the camera and even with my clips set to record for 60 seconds many of them stop even with motion still going on. Always seem to be adjusting it as either it is too sensitive and records too much or it doesn't trigger as soon as I would like it to.

For the price if you just want something simple that will capture packages being delivered or trigger motion recording if something is near your home Blink is a good economical option. I really only got it just so if we ever had a porch pirate or someone snooping around at night (my neighbors have sent me clips when someone was snooping around their place) we have it recorded. I know people who have more high tech setups with constant recording but the half year we have had of the Blink camera I haven't seen anything I would want continuous recording for yet. I do get some clips of critters or bugs that trigger the cameras at night or randomly. For awhile this winter we had a fox that would walk across our driveway pretty regularly between 2-3am for awhile that was interesting to see.

 

[CyCrazy]

I think I might be the only person in the US that doesn't have (or want) a doorbell cam.

Same, pointless. No intruder would get past my 110 lb American Bulldog anyway. You would rather be shot than take a bite from Bella.

 

[Gorm]

I went Reolink POE for all my cameras. - I love them. I would highly suggest them to anyone, although I know running Cat5 to every camera can be a chore in a lot of setups.

 

[isufbcurt]

Same, pointless. No intruder would get past my 110 lb American Bulldog anyway. You would rather be shot than take a bite from Bella.

If I'm not home what are you going to steal? My couch? my Tv? food from my frig? It's not like I keep millions in cash in my house.

 

[Linusvanp3lt]

Well yes, the Google and amazon product don't integrate. So to OP, pick a brand and stick with it. If want Alarm + Cam, Ring is better than Blink, as the latter doesn't have an alarm system to my knowledge. Do you already have Google or Amazon Echo smart speakers?

We have Ring cameras, doorbell, alarm, door sensors, siren, smoke alarms, myq garage door, door keypads all integrated with Alexa. It has been convenient for us, and was far cheaper than ADT.

Also Prime Day starts tomorrow. I wouldn't buy anything today unless it's already on early Prime Day discount.

 

[Ms3r4ISU]

I think I might be the only person in the US that doesn't have (or want) a doorbell cam.

I want one because the neighbor across the street has one. If they can watch me, I can watch them.

 

[Tailg8er]

Same, pointless. No intruder would get past my 110 lb American Bulldog anyway. You would rather be shot than take a bite from Bella.

I don't think many people get these cameras to prevent break ins, more so to identify people who try to steal things like packages, bikes, other stuff that might be in your yard. Then you have the added benefit of catching various funny things on them, too.

 

[Clonefan94]

I think I might be the only person in the US that doesn't have (or want) a doorbell cam.

I didn't want one, but my wife did. We've had it for less than a year and it has already saved me a couple times on deliveries that I had to sign for. Seems our Fed Ex delivery time is always the exact same time I have to pick up my daughter at school. I was able to tell them through the doorbell I was 2 minutes away and they said they would wait both times.

 

[bozclone]

My son bought me a Logitech Doorbell Camera and an Apple HomePod for Christmas. I like them both.

 

[clonehenge]

I want one because the neighbor across the street has one. If they can watch me, I can watch them.

Funny you say that, my neighbors on the other side of me from the AirBnB have a camera way up high overlooking their pool and it looks over pretty much my entire backyard (our houses are perpendicular to each other). So part of me is wanting to do the same thing to them.

I'm also half tempted to start mowing my lawn in nothing but a Speedo.

 

[Cy Hard]

Funny you say that, my neighbors on the other side of me from the AirBnB have a camera way up high overlooking their pool and it looks over pretty much my entire backyard (our houses are perpendicular to each other). So part of me is wanting to do the same thing to them.

I'm also half tempted to start mowing my lawn in nothing but a Speedo.

You need to hammock up and do it!

 

[TitanClone]

I think I might be the only person in the US that doesn't have (or want) a doorbell cam.

They're so useful. Not a doorbell cam but my Ring Spotlight cam caught some random dude snooping around last year, I hit the alarm and he was gone.