I have to agree. I picked up 3 of these because some of my friends love them. I don't understand the love for them. They don't record half the time even if I'm standing 3 inches in front of them waving at it.
I have been using Blink since last year without issues, no subscription. At the time I needed a low cost system that I can install quickly and wirelessly. I use outdoor and doorbell cameras. It's true that each camera can only do one thing at a time, so you can't for example update the thumbnail or change that camera's settings during recording. I had no issues accessing the live view while it is recording (which will stop the recording if you don't have a subscription). I can use screen capture on my phone during live view if I want to record. No problem with motion detection either, except that I have to set up the options correctly depending on the environment for each camera, so that I wouldn't get too many motion notifications. Outdoor and doorbell cams use body heat signature for motion detection, unlike the mini. There is a delay during live, may be 2-4 seconds, and the same thing with motion notification. The camera click during recording is definitely noticeable, but I don't know how is it compared to other cameras. I mainly use it for outside the house and it has been useful being able to watch my place on my phone from work or when travelling, and also interact with delivery guys or neighbors if they ring the bell, record what goes on, etc. Overall, it has been a good experience for the price. In the future, I may start looking into something else for 24/7 recording.
Interesting... Usually when someone uses a phrase like: "... for the price", it means that you accept the compromise for the price you paid but you are still not completely satisfied with the product. It is evident also in the fact that you end your comments saying that you will look for another future solution to record 24/7. Wouldn't it be nice if you could do it all with the same product at a decent price? I'm OK with Blink for now but I will be saving up for a much better system in the future. The few hundred dollars that I spent on Blink could have been money invested in a better system if I had waited a little longer. I fell for the black deal Friday advertising and other nagging forces (aka. my wife "sense of security").
@@Davegbuf As long as you know what you are buying. I watched a lot of videos before I bought them and read most of the information on Blink's support website, so I knew what I was getting.
@@MrLupooo No, Blink is not designed for 24/7 recording. It is designed for minimum recording, when motion is detected. Meaning, that at least 99% of the time, it shouldn't be recording.
You turn the clicked and lights off if you wanted to hide in a bookcase or move case like I have I use mine simply to make sure roommates don’t gon my room so I’ve tested my door opening and it works every time
I have zero problems with my blink system.I did however experience the same issues once my plan ended. If you get a subscription to blink the problems disappear. Sad but true. The only real way to get a great home security system is to spend the money and have wired cameras to a central recording unit with a monitor set up in your office that is linked to your home Wi-Fi that you can access from anywhere in the world.
As someone who had been using Amazon Cloud cams for the last 3 years and was just recently forced to go to these blink cameras as Amazon killed the cloud cam service I have to say without question that this is the most accurate and comprehensive review I have seen so far on these blink cams. They're absolutely and completely worthless in case of emergency- don't even dream about capturing everything unless it happens from beginning to Total end in 30 seconds because that's as far as you're going to be recording and whatever happens during the entire 10-second cool down. Before it starts recording again it's just lost.. The quirky they don't allow you to log in if it's recording so basically if you happen to log into a camera and you're seeing live action and you know for a fact you are not capturing it if you try to capture it it'll tell you that you can't capture during live extended views so that becomes worthless and this is with a paid Cloud cam service. I can't imagine how bad it must be without having the thumbnails to be able to go back and review things. I'm blown away at the massive massive downgrade these blink cams are when you come from Amazon Cloud cam service. These are absolutely worthless. And the only reason I have them is because I had 10 of the Amazon cameras so I'm kind of stuck with them until I could get up another couple of grand to replace them all with something that works even remotely close to them. Amazon really screwed a lot of people.
They are not made for that! I got just one cam to see if my landlord is coming in when I am not here so I can confront him about it. It WILL let me know! There's no way to get past it and he's no hacker! lol! Nobody knows I own it! That is piece of mind! The camera always catches me coming in the door. It is also nice just being able to check my living room when I'm gone. Just don't ever tell people you have cameras. These blend in pretty well, at least for me it does.
mams1701 same boat here. These cams are junk for anything other than viewing a live feed. they are not worth the price i paid "free exchange for the cloud cams i had." So disappointing!
i love this review. it save me money, but most importantly time and frustration. only a person with seasoned experience can truly tell you the value of a product. you are the reason that i do not watch "unboxing" reviews...because the experience is too fresh. i literally just watch some young college kid give a glowing review of this camera. so glad ii didn't purchase this for amazon prime.
Purchased Blink outdoor camera last year around Thanksgiving. The main reason was local storage and no need for subscription. It worked fine for couple of months but then I started noticing that the camera was failing to detect motion lot of times. When it would detect motion, it will not record clip for 60 seconds which is what I had set in the app. Sometimes it will record for 1 second, sometimes for 5-10 seconds, sometimes 20 seconds. Totally unreliable. Opened a ticket with support twice. There only answer was: it is problem with your ISP. How would ISP come into picture with local record? Blink has extremely goofy architecture with sync module. The sync module has a second low frequency radio. The camera is in a sleep mode till it detects motion. Then it wakes up and connect to WiFi. From here, it will either send video to Blink cloud (if you have cloud subscription) or it will send the video to sync module. The entire architecture is dumb. After lot of fighting, they sent me a replacement sync module and then the camera stopped recording at all. I would get motion notification, but no recording. I was ready to throw the camera out, but then decided to delete camera and factory reset (hard reset) it. After factory reset of camera, it started working perfectly!!! All motion events were detected and video clips were exactly 1 minute. However, the happiness was short lived. Today, the camera stopped recording again. It is a total piece of junk. Whatever is said in this review is 100% correct and I have experienced all these issues. Hard resetting the camera every few days is not an option. So, tonight, Blink gets thrown in trash and replaced with a Wyze cam V3.
I have an iPhone. I also pay for the monthly subscription for blink. I personally haven’t had most of the problems he’s brought up. But I mostly only use them to check on my cats so🤷🏽♀️ it’s a cheap camera and I went into it knowing that. It’s not bad for the price in my opinion!
I paid $5 for the camera and its not worth that because it doesnt do what it says it does. I have plently of $200 cameras so not fooled there by performance. Its a matter of working vs not working.
These cameras are designed for cloud storage. They’re also very sensitive to Wi-Fi signal. Depending on your Wi-Fi setup and your bandwidth limit you’ll have great experience or poor experience. My blinks work really well and I love the idea of a snapshot aka thumbnail just to quickly check in rather than loading up live video. I would suggest a mesh network to help increase Wi-Fi coverage. They’re absolutely the best way to fix any lag when it comes to security cameras.
Valid points. I have a 6 router mesh network and 30 security cameras of various brands and all are on the Wi-Fi. Many are 2K or 4K resolution so much higher bandwidth needs than these Mini's. Mini's are my only problem cams though.
You shouldn't need to create a mesh network to get an IP Camera working.. this has been around for 10-15 years now, and works just fine, even with cheap chinese ones. This one is intentionally cheap and just bad. Even worse than the random Chinese one I bought.
Also... No, they are not designed for cloud storage, and it doesn't say that anywhere in the description. It's described as a live camera that you can view instantly, and even "Talk to your family!" - This is not that.. this is a low quality chinese crap
@@ZeranZeran A camera without a built in SD card slot is considered a camera more designed for cloud storage. Mesh routers fill in the weak areas which helps these cameras get better signal. These cameras aren't made with good antennas so any loss of signal will hurt it's proformance.
The problem with everything right now is they try to centralise all devices even though they don't need it. If you buy the sync 2 and amazon switch off the servers it won't record to the USB because it goes through them first before going to the sync 2. It's pointless centralisation.
I'm quite happy with mine as well. The Pan/Tilt Mini is great. I'm so impressed with the first one that I bought two more to replace the minis. $29 for the pan/tilt stand w/cam on Amazon right now (50% off) is hard to beat for what it does. I'm not thrilled about the retrigger time and that only one cam per sync module can record at a time. That said, I'm not having any issues with motion sensing, errors, delays or any of that. My Blink set up has save my ass a few times now, including catching a porch pirate (neighbor's kid on a dare... the footage shown to his dad squared things away nicely and my unopened package was returned). For the money, I think they're excellent. I'm running on fiber optic internet (around 100gb/sec) and use their cloud storage, so perhaps that makes a difference.
I have Blink and so does my daughter, and we have no problems, and I am just about to purchase another one for my workshop, so before you bin them find your problem they are very good.
My Neighbours Have the blink system and Love it, I'm installing mine tonight and really I just want to set 2 up in my home to watch my pet and one on the outside for fun.
Same issues here as an iPhone user. Switched to Eufy on Black Friday last year. Local storage, no fees, high res, night vision, save clips right to phone, recognition spot on, geofencing, always works
So what about battery life I heard eufy battery life is horrible only last two or three months.. When you have high quality cameras it uses more battery blink tried to have the best of both worlds Good enough but also a long battery life.
@@NaterTater well that doesn't make any sense at all. I only went to blink cameras because I was coming from a POE power over Ethernet one wire hardwired system.. All going to a server with hard drives. More expensive they work for about 6 years And then the server broke. To buy a new server probably cost about $400 or $500. I wanted to buy two more cameras to have a total of four that's another $200 or more For these type of cameras. They recorded constantly but the motion part was much more difficult to set up and never worked really well. This is why I switched to BLINK!! ONLY BECAUSE THEY ARE WIRELESS IF I WAS GOING TO STICK WITH WIRED I WOULD NOT BUY EITHER OF THOSE CAMERAS. I WOULD BUY REAL HARDWIRED CAMERAS THAT DID NOT EAT BATTERIES!! If you're not going to use the wireless system on these type of cameras then you're wasting your money.. You might as well set up a wired system It just doesn't make any sense. If I have to wire these blink cameras or buy solar panels. It's going to make the price go up considerably AND YOU STILL DON'T GET THE BENEFIT OF REAL HARDWIRE SYSTEMS OF CONSTANT RECORDING. So when it comes time for me to switch back if I want to I will not be using the wireless system it'll all be wired. These are not the right type of cameras if you're going to wire them. Battery powered cameras have limitations even if you wired them.. I don't understand why you want to settle for those limitations if you're wiring them anyways just get wired cameras set it up it's easy look on TH-cam.
My Eufy indoor cameras right now are giving me issues. They do not detect motion at night with their IR activated. I can literally put my face up to the cameras and they do not detect my presence. I’ve toggled with every possible settings with no improvement. They work fine during the day but, I would have to leave at light on at night for them to detect motion. This should not be if IR has been turned on. I’ve had them for over 2 years now and they were my favorite security cameras to use indoors without a subscription. The best feature I like about them are the fast notifications you get when a detection is made. I heard that maybe the IR lights may not be saturating my areas much and that may be the problem.
Thanks for making the video. It was nicely done. Currently, I have 3 Blink Minis and an Outdoor 4. I subscribed to the service for $10/month. I have the Android app on my Google phone. The two problems I have EVERY DAY are about half the time if I try to disarm the system or turn off (or on) motion detection on one camera, I get a message that says it CAN'T CONNECT TO THE BLINK SERVER. CHECK YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION. But it's NEVER my internet connection. Their servers are probably maxed out. The other issue: sometimes the videos where motion was detected are either BLACK for the first 8 or 10 seconds or VERY DIM. Not EVERY time, of course, but about once every 8 or 10 videos. Neither problem is a deal breaker for me, but it's irritating. I haven't had too many issues with the cameras missing motion detection situations, but I get a few false positives. Off subject: when I bought the Blinks a couple of months ago, I also got an Alexa Echo Show 8 and an Echo Show 5. I'm VERY SORRY I bought them. Alexa is brain dead most of the time (compared to, "Hey Google"), and the devices are basically marketing tools. And I'm getting more and more sponsored stuff. Plus, the 'Drop In' feature doesn't work right about half the time. Both devices will eventually end up in a closet somewhere. Or I'll give them to somebody I don't like. LOL!
Had for over 2 years and have had no issues .customer support is only a phone call away.i have 4 separate sync modules and large area to cover .if i ever had a problem which has beèn few .he shows several without using the cloud
I hope I don't get that tip of problems with my Blinks cameras because I don't have cloud service, but if I get those problems I'm switching to Eufy. I only have a few days of cloud service left. I heard the same story about the Blink cameras they're lousy especially if you don't have cloud service. Thanks for the tip is good to know. Have a blessed day. Take care
I'm using Blink cameras and couldn't agree more with this video, you are completely accurate and I have been experiencing the same problems you talked about and showed. Luckily I'm early user so I don't have to pay for Cloud storage, that's why I kept these cameras as minimum security, while I have other PoE cameras as well.
I have a single mini set up in the garage (came with a kit) ...using an old F0scam for additional IR illumination. I can stand three feet in front of it, move around and motion won't trip in window provided daylight (IR off). The only motion alerts I get from this camera is when a bug flies in front of the IR illuminator at night. Irritating! The other bl|nk outdoor cameras (battery) seem to work pretty well. All of mine trip and I even have to back off of the sensitivity to reduce unwanted alarms.
My mini has never worked well from day one either. A recent update added a new feature where you can have your mini ring like a additional doorbell chime whenever someone presses the doorbell button. I don't understand why the company doesn't focus more energy in fixing the reliability of the product's core features first before introducing new ones. How interested or satisfied will I be as a customer with a new feature when the camera as a whole works poorly?
I'm quite impressed with mine as well. I use their cloud service and have fiber optic internet at nearly 100 GB/sec most times of the day, so that might play a factor? Don't really know.
I had pretty good luck with mine, all are battery except recently ,I bought a twin pack of the mini cameras. What brought me to this video was a search I did on why the red light turns on while recording. Also that awful loud click. The outdoor cams work OK, they alert me if someone is there, and there are no lights that turn on. I have layered security, and dont just rely on the cams alone. So don't listen to the Blink commercials when they say this is all you need. I would send my two minis back to Amazon, but I got them cheap on black Friday, so probably will keep them. I don't like the red light or that click noise on the mini.
You can turn off the recording indicator when recording at the bottom of the settings page but the red lights around the aperture are the IR lights for dark recording.
I have the door bell cameras and they are total garbage, if someone rings the bell by the time it loads the Video they have given up and left. During the free trial it worked ok but once I started using the local storage it became junk, it's just a trap to get you past the return period as when I called the extended the free trial twice and replaced one of the cameras to see if that would help but it didn't. (cam replacement extended the trial too) so over 3 months of free trail time total. They claimed that the only difference between the paid subscription and local storage was that it would be a little slower to load recordings but that's a lie. Just as your Video shows it's almost impossible to use or view recordings or figure out which file is the correct one. I even paid for the blink usb to make sure that it wasn't the issue.
Blink system is kind of a scam, except the clear image rest is poor quality, the worse is when I changed the wifi it wouldn’t connect at all I called customer service they I told me they have to send technician and they would charge me around $160, for something that any one can do
Constantly have to force stop the app to do anything. It is so frustrating. It's honestly one of the few pieces of tech that I have actually hated. Mostly because I bought a whole system all at once so I am kind of stuck with it. I just keep hoping there is some kind of software updates that will make the blink system tolerable... some day.
I just walked back from the dumpster. Where I threw away the trash. Blink has made a simple camera system way too complicated for its own good. Settings change without me doing a thing. It kept taking still pictures I didn't ask for and then trying to remove the still picture using Blinks directions put the final nail in the ......dumpster. This thing just wasn't worth the trouble or the constant hassle of resetting cameras I haven't touched. I just threw them in the trash.
I also have been grandfathered for the cloud storage. I haven't any problems over the 4 years. I have 4 battery outside and 2 indoor minis. I really think Amazon cloud is the way to go, that being free. Also I have a 2000 square foot house and the 2 mini's are in my garage and detached shop. I really like your videos, I subscribed to you when you you started the T-mobile home internet videos. I loved my T-Mobile 5G home internet but every gateway (5) I got didn't last 2 months before they shit the bed. Had to wait for 4 or 5 days to get a new one. I had to bite the bullet and go back to Spectrum internet for $50 a month. Thanks and keep up the great videos!
Though I do appreciate the overall security and being able to monitor my house while I'm away, some inside and outside cameras, the frustrating points you made are valid. They can be quite a headache at times. Also, I had a a really annoying time trying to reset the wifi on my cameras the other day when I got new internet. I tried so many times and nearly deleted the sync module and all that, but ended up trying to uninstall and reinstall the app, because it would not pull up any available wifi. None. Though the app was up to date when I tried originally, it still wouldn't until I deleted and reinstalled the app. Even then, I had several annoyances with some cameras syncing and others not (the wired blink mini's can work without connection to the sync module for the wifi setting on the sync module, so I had some working and others not). Finally when I reset my Blink Mini's on their own separate reset buttons and set wifi on them individually, I have all up and running. But yeah, motion and not being able to see what the camera is picking up until it's done recording, and some unresponsiveness and some motion detection with no motion showing in the videos sometimes, it's a frustrating overall experience at times. Also, batteries for the wireless ones...my goodness, you'll run through a lot. Just get the newer 1.5v rechargeable lithium batteries, so you don't have to keep buying the expensive throw away ones.
thanks, Nater, interesting info,. I downsides a bunch and am thinking of adding cameras to my TV. Eagerly waiting for your review. never apologize when speaking about your experience. thanx again for your insight. Tater~tot
These are the best cameras I’ve used. Actually giving you the option to not need a subscription is unheard of. I have the battery powered outdoor cameras and doorbell and they have worked flawlessly for about 2 years and haven’t even had to change the batteries yet.
Doubtful. I had to change the batteries in the outdoor camera twice within the first couple weeks. The included batteries drained within the first 3 days after install, so I tossed those and bought fresh batteries. Those lasted about 4 days. I finally gave up and hardwired the camera --- especially since it's seated on top of the garage door and is difficult to access. If you're getting the promised 2 years batteries life, then good on ya'. Because the rest of us aren't.
@@cecilr7986 you think I’m lying? You need me to post a video or picture to show you? I’ve not had to replace the batteries since I got them. My parents have an issue with their doorbell, but it was user error, where the video was constantly streaming. May be user error on your end. Did you read the manual?
Please add a link to this video in your review of the the Blink cameras from a year ago!! I literally just picked some Blink cameras up during black friday sales after watching your videos, now after setup realizing they are trash haha. (Not blaming you, but definitely update those old videos!!) The biggest issue I'm seeing is that the detection seems to get screwed up on transition from dark to light. It often doesn't want to detect until I manually view the camera from the app, then exit again. After that seems decent... not sure what's going on, but it's useless for a dark room where lights will be turned on.
Hay Nate! Sorry to hear your issues with Blink. I've had Blink since they first came out and I'm grandfathered into there saving on free online version of saving clips. Almost all my cameras are battery operated. I expanded to outside when Blink offered the XP versions . All have worked flawlessly and that's including the original first generation indoor ones. One issue I have is with the only mini camera I own. When I'm away all battery cameras work great. The mini camera plug in however comes on then goes offline and keeps sending me notifications it's offline. So I'm thinking it's the mini cams that have issues and not the battery operated ones. Looking forward to you testing a new camera. Thanks again for interesting videos!
With the iPhone App the performance has been great. The cameras are limited in that they are not expensive security cameras and won't provide real time security which you accurately pointed out. For high security real time I would rely on a closed circuit system only. I use the outdoor cameras which are even more limited than the indoor minis and they've been great. Alerts very quickly but not going to provide real time security since they are limited. These cameras aren't going to provide real time security since they are so inexpensive. For situations not requiring real time security these are a good compromise for the price. Sorry you had such a bad experience. I'm wondering if the Android app isn't as good as the iphone app.
@@NaterTater The mini's are awesome! You just need a good access point like a Cisco Business 140AC Wi-Fi Access Point and a fast internet connection like Spectrum with at least 300Mbits and a reasonable smartphone. I wouldn't go any lower than 300Mbits because lag might cause poor performance. If you meet all those requirements, this camera WILL catch anyone coming into your house with a lit living room or a dark living room! It is always saving it to the Amazon cloud so they cannot take off with the evidence! LOL! Best EVER!!!!
@@NaterTater Now, as for the outdoor cams, definitely going to get a couple of those. One for between the houses(where nobody should be going) and the other for my back yard! :)
I was one of the suckers that bought early on into the XT1 and XT2 cameras (when they cost more than the more advanced models now), however... unbeknownst to me at the time, that would "grandfather" me into to free cloud service for life, up to 10 sync modules with 10 camera each (enough for 100 cameras!). Though all those cameras would have to share the 7,200 second allotment limit, so the few cameras the better. I've replaced some of the older XT1 outdoor cams with the newest gen and a couple of the indoor cameras with the pan/tilt models (that as of this post are selling 50% off on Amazon for $29 each). I've had very few issues with mine. The "walkie-talkie" type of 2-way communication is one. If the person you're talking to speaks while you are pressing the speak icon, you'll not hear it. When I first set up my system, there was a very annoying delay using the 2-way communication, but vanished for the most part after upgrading to AT&T fiber optics. The communication delay is now about half a second if even that, hardly noticeable. Before, it was something atrocious, like 3 seconds... making communication awkward to impossible. Another is that only one camera records at a time. Meaning if someone trips one camera and moves off screen before the set record duration is up, any overlap camera that the subject may have tripped by entering its field, you will miss part of that video as the original one is still recording. I don't know if this is the case if one has multiple sync modules as I only have the one. Perhaps two will allow two cameras to record so long as they are assigned to two different modules? I honestly don't know but it makes sense. As for the "failed thumbnail" update prompts, I believe your assessment is spot on; the motion activation caused the camera to record, preventing thumbnail. However, the successive failures was for the same reason, the motion sensing was still on and as you were moving during the demonstration, it continued to record, preventing thumbnail updates. You'd have to turn off the motion sensing option in a field of movement in order to get that thumbnail to update. I also don't get any of those lags and errors that you experienced, that could be due to the usage of the cloud storage, don't really know. Those are the only issues and set up was stupid simple. Perhaps the free cloud storage is clouding my judgement, but I don't see myself replacing these anytime soon.
Last November Black Friday sale ... I got 3 new outdoor cams, a mini, and two doorbells with the sync 2 module. They all worked fine until my subscription ran out. Since then I have been having nothing but problems. Almost every day, I hear motion alerts frequently but if I check my video clips I will run into an error that "the manifest is stale. Please re-request." I have researched everywhere and can't find a way to fix it. All I can do is unplug the sync module 2 for a few minutes and reconnect it. It's just a temporary fix and eventually it will happen again. After reconnecting, I might see a couple clips on the list from the day before but not a single clip for the many motion alerts that I heard for the rest of the day. I also get all of the other errors people have mentioned including: failed to save clip, failed to save backup, terrible lag, etc. I tried two different brand name quality USB flash drives Again, none of this was an issue while I had the initial 30 day subscription. My problems began once I let it expire. Getting a subscription defeats the purpose of why I purchased the system. I as well as many others were lured in because Blink advertises no subscription needed as an option. It is clearly a bait and switch scam. I currently don't know what to do because I already spent a lot of money and effort for my camera set and I can't see myself making another big investment in a replacement system.
@@nestornieves9822Let's be clear. It's 3 bucks per month per camera including doorbell cameras. I have many cameras. Considering all the services and subscriptions we pay for today, it all adds up.
@@NaterTater Nater, I just wanted to follow up on recent developments... As I had mentioned before, I got the cameras because Blink advertised that you could use them without a subscription. My Blink cameras stopped working reliably or would not work at all without restarting the sync module after my original trial subscription ran out. Blink keeps pushing their subscription plans through emails or the app, so I signed up for another 30 day trial. No surprise... My cameras magically began working again as well as the day I first installed them. I didn't need to touch a single camera or reconfigure anything. Everything was fixed instantly the moment I accepted the trial subscription. This further confirms that there is nothing wrong with the equipment. If the system works with a subscription, then it should also work just as well without a subscription while excluding only the few "premium features" reserved only for paying subscription members. We are just being forced into paying for a subscription that Blink falsely advertises as an optional feature. I have compared notes with other people I know that have Blink and learned that those who do not have any issues either have a subscription or have some old Blink cameras where they have been grandfathered in with some free cloud storage (which is basically the feature that makes the subscription model work). Those with the newer cameras like me have had issues and been forced into getting a subscription if they wanted the cameras to work reliably. Again, my cameras have been working fine but I only have 4 days left in my subscription. I suspect it will all break again once my subscription runs out. One other point, a couple of my cameras are not easily accessible to replace batteries and it's not something I would want to do in our cold winters. With that said, I don't think I will want to invest much more in this system. I'll probably keep it as is for the next year or two, but long-term, I will be saving up to replace it with a better system. Unlike Blink, I would like very little or no battery power usage, better and faster detection with live view and recording to my own local storage, and good AI that can accurately detect and ignore movement that does not trigger false alerts. So I guess, Blink will not be on that list of future choices.
@@NaterTater The subscription is a waste of money too. "It is so funny that I get notified that I deleted my sinc module, I can receive live videos, notifications, photo captures everything but my motion videos clips to my phone" It is not coming back from the cloud. Blink had me run an app and it said my router was old. So I bought a new one, it worked getting motion videos for about 2 weeks and just stopped. My neighbor had the same one I replaced and she had 5 ring camera's, her hvac thermostat, her alarm system and had no problems. Now it goes off for about a week then comes back for a vi=few days then stops again
Wish I'd found this video two days ago when I bought the Blink Outdoor 4, 5-cam system. They are all on, motion detection on and armed but they aren't recording any motion events at all. I go.out and stand right in front of them, do a little dance, nothing! I cranked the sensitivity to max. Again, nothing. I'm getting the feeling it's my connection being too weak. Hoping if I put USB drives in them they'll start recording abd storing locally. If that doesn't work I'm out some cash. Should have known better being an Amazon product but the easy install was too tempting. I used to use the free Alfred security app to monitor my place with an old phone and it worked great but no local storage so you're dependent on the wifi working. I wish Blink had a local network system with cloud optional. But like another commenter said they want to use this tech to control you, and keep charging you again and again.
Yeag i agree .. i just got one to watch over my house.. literally every time I try to check live, it wont connect . The motion detection is terrible and its beyond frustrating.
I have an iPhone and the app looks different for me and I am not a subscriber either. I've always had thumbnails in clips and it does save to the cloud up to 2 hours of video. I've not used it with the local storage, might that be the cause of all your issues? I have the xt2 cameras, is there a difference with cloud support with the newer cams? I can watch the videos as many times as i like, they don't delete unless it hits 2 hours of videos. I don't have the issues with missed motion detection, I've actually had the opposite experience of needing to reduce it. Could that be an android or local storage issue? For example maybe it's the storage part that is failing, not the motion detection?
Don't get Blink Camera's if you are away allot or using for a vacation home. If you lose power you can NOT reset them. I have gone 2 months without the cameras'. They are useless. Know one talks about this. They do NOT reset when the power comes back.
Nater, to me the cloud service is a scam. Your right these cameras r not that great. Thanks for the video n tips. They come in handy to know, Have a nice day
I agree Blink cameras are trouble. My indoor 3rd gen worked for a while. The Blink app constantly tries to sell me a subscription service but the camera no longer works. My network hasn't changed but the camera won't load up, "camera is busy" is what I get now.
I had no issues with my Blink doorbell camera so far I have it working with a asus router which is very good.I only went with blink because I didn't want to run cable wires all outside of my house to all my cameras than I have to drill the cable through the window frame to connect it to a recorder.But thanks for the video.
@@NaterTater My only experience with amazon cameras is my echo show’s camera, it’s really delayed and simply not good. Yet I have used wyze cams before and they are really good for a camera, just can’t get it to work with alexa at all.
I believe a lot of the problems are due to the fact that Blink Cameras/Sync module use Wireless G, a standard from 20 years ago (2003). Most other cameras use Wireless N (2008) which is around 6 times faster. Therefore, home internet/wifi speeds won't make much difference if the client is using Wireless G. I have a 1000mbps connection and I have a lot of the same issues with blink. Unfortunately, a hardware limitation to save cost.
I have 3 of the original xt cameras, the first 6 months they were great now I have constant issues like you! My system just updated again and now 1 of the 3 cameras no longer has motion detection. I'm fed up too...
I had the worst experience with my Eufy Video Doorbell 2K (Battery-Powered). It never worked right. 9 times out of 10 it would miss my mailman even though the doorbell was positioned three inches from my mailbox. I figured it out when I had mail in my mailbox but almost never a detection from the Eufy camera. I tried all kinds of detection settings but it never worked right. My Wyze v3 cam that I have high above the porch had I greater success rate with detection. Unfortunately, just like your Blink Mini demo, Wyze also suffers from terrible lag, especially the first 6 months after its initial release. To Wyze credit, their firmware updates have improve it significantly. But it buffers terribly or not work at all with my Google Hub Displays. (I noticed you have one on your desk like mine) I manage to score a good deal on a Google Hello Doorbell (1st gen) shortly after their 2nd gen came out. Night and day difference. I get a clear face shot of EVERYONE that comes to my porch. It can even tell when its me and not someone else when I check my mailbox using its AI facial recognition. I moved the Eufy 2K to my backdoor when I replaced it with the Google Hello on the front door. I do pay for Google's cloud service. Unfortunately Google's other cams are too expensive otherwise I would have been tempted to replace all of my Wyze v3 (4 cams). I think most of these smart wireless cams are at their best for detecting UPS deliveries. Not really for home security. For real home security I would recommend a wired system that connects to a DVR. Funny thing is I helped a friend pick out an 8 camera DVR system before I began my rabbit hole journey into smart cams. His system is rock solid reliable and records all 8 cams 24x7 to that DVR box it came with it. It also a smart DVR so it sends notifications to his and his wife's phone. The downside to that kind of system is the wiring. But if you need reliability, nothing really beats a good wired/DVR system. Best of all, you don't have to worry about someone hacking into them because they don't rely on WIFI. Still records even if the internet goes down.
All good points! Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm intrigued as these eufy cams now have 24/7 recording (local SD or NAS/DVR) options that I might play with. Still rely on wifi but a good compromise/solution.
I'm waiting for someone that can just make a camera with the tools needed to keep footage locally on your own network or personal cloud. I'm tired of companies trying to control our affairs.
That's why you want to keep all pertinent cameras motion activated. Using their cloud service, you're only allotted 7,200 seconds (two hours) of video before the storage is full and the videos begin recording over the oldest clips. As for using USB storage (which I've never done, I just use their cloud service), I'd imagine you'd be able to record a heck of a lot more than 2 hours, especially at those resolutions.
That, for me, is the biggest of all the problems I've encountered, along with the retrigger delay of 10 seconds and the push-to-speak 2-way communications. That said, I've never really experienced any significant problems with this, they're just annoying. I have caught many a strange thing on my Blink, including a porch pirate (a neighbor's kid, sorted out swiftly due to the excellent footage) and most importantly what appeared to be a rabid raccoon (staggering, standing to bite/grab at the air above it) in my back yard where I let my dogs go out to do their business. I think they're decent for the initial investment costs if one knows of the limitations.
I share your frustration, I am experiencing all the same problems, is this the price Amazon inflict on us for not paying for their cloud subscription? I didn't have any problems with them until Blink informed me that I was now out of my free trial cloud period, since then nothing but problems.
Just got the doorbell camera and the small one. Been using it for 2weeks and I actually get too many alerts with the motion detector. It’s so sensitive that even when my stand up fan rotates it picks up the movement. One thing that I DID NOTICE was that on my android phone the app is very finicky and has so many glitches. And for some reason it doesn’t do any of this on my iPhone or iPad….🤷🏽♂️
I don’t like my blink outdoor cameras at all. Had them 2 months ago. Don’t record , don’t notify. Very inconsistent. I have to keep rebooting my wifi modem. I’m just going to buy a doorbell cam now. What do you recommend? I’m fed up.
Check out Eufy doorbell and cams. I have discount codes in the video descriptions or first comment. Eufy Security Cameras and Smart Locks: th-cam.com/play/PL8d9FovK2dNRGapzkZR3B5ewZqiURQ8w_.html
I am sorry you have issues with that I have had mine for months and I do have the subscription, there is a difference from when I did not have it, I did have issues at first renaming the areas, I am wondering if maybe the units you have might be deflective, at 8 08 yes there are thumbnails and location named maybe that is with the subscription, but having it directly connected to my echo show it alerts immediately and shows live view and can have live view continuously, I did try another company to for the backyard but I did not have a lot of the features with no subscription, great review though very thorough, I would like to ask what you use to have your phone screen up on the video please...thanks
Hey Val, yes Blink has some more features with the subscription including thumbnail previews. For the phone I use android's built in screen recording feature to record and then overlay that video on top of my main video with editing software.
4:40 no, iphone is not better. I am, too, phasing out all Blinks from my house. Wireless is definitely advantage but that's about it, I am switching with Littlelfs/Litokam. Power wiring is bit hassle but once setup, it is fast to connect so i can still catch person in motion when alerted. Works and records fine without subscription, also i can leave the camera full time continuously like baby monitor. cheaper too. much more ....
How many cameras do you have on a single sync module? I have 11 cameras installed on 5 separate sync modules and I have no more than a 3 second delay on live view.
I got a blink video doorbell almost two months ago. It was catching all motion perfectly up to a week ago. Now when I leave the house itwillcapture the video but when I return it doesn't record the video. I don't have a subscription either. I don't have problems like you do though. Videos always play back. Just like shown he4e the video takes ages to load as shown 8n this video if you don't have a subscription and I have no doubt its to incentives you to pay for a subscription. I'm using a 64GB usb 3.0 pen drive and it has a lot of videos on it but there is only 1% storage used.
mmmm! Mine drive me crazy detecting all... but I cants stand the quality, trying to connect to it when you get a notification sucks... Now they don't work with Fiber Optics internet. They are locked on 2G
I've had the same camera for a year now. I do have a subscription tho. I must say I love it BUT 1 ISSUE It keeps disarming at night & I have to just put it back on. It's annoying & if I forget to check it it's off for hours. I haven't scheduled this so I'm lost on how to undo this.
In the blink app, click the gear icon for settings and then system settings and under your home/system there is a schedule. Maybe you have a schedule setup accidently?
I am so sorry to hear you are experiencing issues with your Blink cameras, mine work beautifully but I can appreciate your frustration with the performance issues. I do hope you are able to purchase cameras that support your current needs. Great video.
@@dawnr6577 I had the same p4oblem for the last few days. I fixed it by going into the app and click safely remove storage. I waited one minute then inserted the pen drive again. It started recording motion again after that.
I don't like the idea that a sync-module can only record one camera at a time... What I don't know is if you have a system with two sync-modules can you record a camera to either units at the same time?
I bought one last year and I’m barely opening it today and connecting it, it connected just fine but when I click on the app to view my living room it makes a high pitched noise
I regrettably learned too late that these are only "good" if my expectations were for it to basically perform like a useless toy gadget. The constant annoying errors and sync module 2 malfunctions notwithstanding there was a much bigger issue for me. The fact my Outoor cameras required them to connect to the sync module which in turn is also required to be connected to the internet otherwise they are plastic paperweights. The cherry top is the fact the "reasoning" for this requirement is because they require to be connected to the Blink servers to recieve commands(as told by Blink support). Regardless of the sync module 2 being capable of local storage, and regardless if you don't have a cloud storage subscription, they will not function at all unless they are connected to Blink servers via internet access. I can't recall ever learning of a home monitoring/security camera system that was unable to operate within a closed LAN and requiring to be connected to servers that determine how and whether or not your system will operate.
I can’t get my cameras to record onto the usb stick local storage………. It’s a new 2024 sync module 2 and it’s obviously been made so I have to have a subscription plan and the cloud.
Not having a subscription isn't making them bad. What's making them bad is the fact that they're just bad. I always tell my husband that I'll be dead before I ever get Blink to load up so I can see if someone is outside. Intruders could come in my home, unalive me and be halfway down the road before one of my Blink cams shows me anything. And then the unreal 10 second delay between recordings is just uncalled for. A LOT can happen in those ten seconds that it's NOT recording. People, don't get a Blink system! Just don't do it. You WILL regret it! Unfortunately :/
What brand of camara are you using or Recommended? we just fixed blink outdoor 4 for a month, it has all the promlems you mentioned, and it wasn't recorded my car when I drove out, and recorded when I back. it happens like that a lot.
my problem with the blink system is how long it takes to open the camera. most of the time the delivery guy has already left. it makes blink stuff useless.
Maybe a wifi issue? My front door cam will trip and record in about 2 seconds after first detection of movement. Unless someone does a drive-by package toss onto my doorstep, I WILL capture that footage (caught my first, and hopefully last, porch pirate thanks to this... in retrospect it was comical). In fact, mine works annoyingly well and I've had to go into settings to alter the field of movement detection as well as set the sensitivity to near the lowest setting. It works about perfect now, though it only really became this way after switching to fiber optic internet (circa 100gb/sec). It might also help to point out I use their cloud data storage. My biggest gripe is that when a camera is recording, it is the ONLY camera recording, even though one or possibly two other outside cameras are overlapping the area and might have a better view/angle. It's a shame so many people are having issues. I'm guess I'm fortunate that I'm not one of them.
I have 18 Blink cameras and my hoise getting broken into constantly by a disgruntled ex. I've changed passwords, phones, phone numbers, modems.......I just can't seem to keep him out. And yes, I've changed locks many times. It doesn't help that You Tube tells you how to pick locks and even where to buy the tools to do it with.
Nate, did you only have the Blink Minis? I'm looking into the current line of Blink Cameras they sell at Costco. The black square cameras... Maybe another viewer cant tell me if you don't, but Im curious if your issues apply to the newer current lineup of Blink cameras or if its just the Minis? I know they still use the same Sync Module 2.
I swapped out all Blink and Ring cameras for Eufy. Happy with them. Blink lost their way after Amazon acquired them. My main cameras are wired 4k IP into a 24/7 NVR. Great videos!
They are trash. They only record some things. I have a swing in the front yard and my 2 daughters were out there They said a lady approached them as I went to the store. The camera only captured the kids walking to the swing sitting down and nothing else smh I told my husband they've got to go. Turns out she was with the Home Owners Association
Yup my two outdoor modules and the mini do not back up clips to my synch 2 module. K am ripping them off my house and smashing them with a hammer and mailing them back to the Blink Corporate offices. I'm tired of crappy products.
@Musicality TV they use a few hundred kbps for their compressed 1080p stream so bandwidth is far from the issue. I have 4k cams of other brands that work fine.
Never had any problems with mine. I think your review is fair considering all the troubles you've had... I mean you can't even see the thumbnails. I can!
If you see the thumbnails that means you have the subscription. It seems the subscription plan "fixes" a lot of issues. Doubt thats a coincidence! But severely hurts the no subscription benefit.
I cover a lot of my cameras in this playlist. My favorites are probably Eufy and Reolink Security Camera Reviews: th-cam.com/play/PL8d9FovK2dNTiRc3a9Vn5bjYNZuaqcVNh.html
I bought a chinese camera on Amazon like.. 8 years ago (The brand is Yi) and it came with 720p, and a way better microphone. $40. I can still see it in my purchase history. This is such a low quality product. Every "Amazon Select!" or "Amazon Basic" is awful.
Hmm I've had Blink since they came out. Had all the versions of the outdoor cams and the door bell. I don't have any of the issues you are encountering. I actually have three systems reporting back to the same app. Something doesn't sound right.
@@JMSynthetics My boss has the XT2 cameras also connected to his sync 2 module and has no problems either; however, the XT2 cameras are previous generation which included some free cloud storage. People who have them are grandfathered in. That means you have a free subscription with limited cloud storage (about 2 hours I think). All newer generation cameras do not include the free storage and require a subscription plan instead after the 30 day trial. My boss's brother got the newer cameras as I did and they worked well as mine did also while we had the 30 day trial subscription. As soon as the 30 days ran out, he had all the same problems I still do today. By the way, I have a Blink mini that looses connectivity a little while after connecting it to USB power. I need to keep plugging and unplugging it for it to work but it worked fine while I had a subscription. That is no longer the case. The cameras are practically useless unless you give in to paying for the subscription. It is false advertising in my opinion. Blink might argue that it is not because they work without a subscription but in reality, if the product does not function problem-free as advertised and as a consumer would reasonably expect, then in essence it is false advertising. I'm surprised there isn't a class action lawsuit already (that I'm aware of).
Blink is pure GARBAGE 🗑️ I can't get the sync 2 modules to connect to do anything. If I do get halfway through setup it says my wifi password is wrong. I'm so frustrated.
@@NaterTater crazy. Faulty sync module? Based on your review, this is completely faulty. There's not much delay for me.. I'm sure Amazon would send you a new set if you ask, based on this video. Blink people would absolutely find this unacceptable. This can't be the norm.
@@snagboi sync module isn't even needed with the mini cam so it's not related to the sync module (meaning it does it without the sync module powered on). Do you have blink mini cams? Many others report these delays and no motion detects too with the mini cam.
@@snagboi haha. No, the sync module was on and connected for this review. No magic or drama here on the Nater Tater channel... this is after many years with many different camera systems including these blink mini cams. To clarify do you have these blink mini?
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I have to agree. I picked up 3 of these because some of my friends love them. I don't understand the love for them. They don't record half the time even if I'm standing 3 inches in front of them waving at it.
I agree
I have been using Blink since last year without issues, no subscription. At the time I needed a low cost system that I can install quickly and wirelessly. I use outdoor and doorbell cameras.
It's true that each camera can only do one thing at a time, so you can't for example update the thumbnail or change that camera's settings during recording.
I had no issues accessing the live view while it is recording (which will stop the recording if you don't have a subscription). I can use screen capture on my phone during live view if I want to record.
No problem with motion detection either, except that I have to set up the options correctly depending on the environment for each camera, so that I wouldn't get too many motion notifications. Outdoor and doorbell cams use body heat signature for motion detection, unlike the mini.
There is a delay during live, may be 2-4 seconds, and the same thing with motion notification.
The camera click during recording is definitely noticeable, but I don't know how is it compared to other cameras.
I mainly use it for outside the house and it has been useful being able to watch my place on my phone from work or when travelling, and also interact with delivery guys or neighbors if they ring the bell, record what goes on, etc.
Overall, it has been a good experience for the price. In the future, I may start looking into something else for 24/7 recording.
Interesting... Usually when someone uses a phrase like: "... for the price", it means that you accept the compromise for the price you paid but you are still not completely satisfied with the product. It is evident also in the fact that you end your comments saying that you will look for another future solution to record 24/7.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could do it all with the same product at a decent price? I'm OK with Blink for now but I will be saving up for a much better system in the future. The few hundred dollars that I spent on Blink could have been money invested in a better system if I had waited a little longer. I fell for the black deal Friday advertising and other nagging forces (aka. my wife "sense of security").
@@Davegbuf
As long as you know what you are buying. I watched a lot of videos before I bought them and read most of the information on Blink's support website, so I knew what I was getting.
So you can't record 24/7.?
Or only when u have Premium
@@MrLupooo
No, Blink is not designed for 24/7 recording. It is designed for minimum recording, when motion is detected. Meaning, that at least 99% of the time, it shouldn't be recording.
You turn the clicked and lights off if you wanted to hide in a bookcase or move case like I have I use mine simply to make sure roommates don’t gon my room so I’ve tested my door opening and it works every time
I love my Blink mini. It watches over my apartment when I'm away.
@@Sumatra123 I'm in an apartment, I can't get my blink minis to connect to my wifi 😭
I have zero problems with my blink system.I did however experience the same issues once my plan ended. If you get a subscription to blink the problems disappear. Sad but true. The only real way to get a great home security system is to spend the money and have wired cameras to a central recording unit with a monitor set up in your office that is linked to your home Wi-Fi that you can access from anywhere in the world.
As someone who had been using Amazon Cloud cams for the last 3 years and was just recently forced to go to these blink cameras as Amazon killed the cloud cam service I have to say without question that this is the most accurate and comprehensive review I have seen so far on these blink cams.
They're absolutely and completely worthless in case of emergency- don't even dream about capturing everything unless it happens from beginning to Total end in 30 seconds because that's as far as you're going to be recording and whatever happens during the entire 10-second cool down. Before it starts recording again it's just lost.. The quirky they don't allow you to log in if it's recording so basically if you happen to log into a camera and you're seeing live action and you know for a fact you are not capturing it if you try to capture it it'll tell you that you can't capture during live extended views so that becomes worthless and this is with a paid Cloud cam service. I can't imagine how bad it must be without having the thumbnails to be able to go back and review things. I'm blown away at the massive massive downgrade these blink cams are when you come from Amazon Cloud cam service. These are absolutely worthless. And the only reason I have them is because I had 10 of the Amazon cameras so I'm kind of stuck with them until I could get up another couple of grand to replace them all with something that works even remotely close to them. Amazon really screwed a lot of people.
They are not made for that! I got just one cam to see if my landlord is coming in when I am not here so I can confront him about it. It WILL let me know! There's no way to get past it and he's no hacker! lol! Nobody knows I own it! That is piece of mind! The camera always catches me coming in the door. It is also nice just being able to check my living room when I'm gone. Just don't ever tell people you have cameras. These blend in pretty well, at least for me it does.
mams1701 same boat here. These cams are junk for anything other than viewing a live feed. they are not worth the price i paid "free exchange for the cloud cams i had." So disappointing!
i love this review. it save me money, but most importantly time and frustration. only a person with seasoned experience can truly tell you the value of a product. you are the reason that i do not watch "unboxing" reviews...because the experience is too fresh. i literally just watch some young college kid give a glowing review of this camera. so glad ii didn't purchase this for amazon prime.
Purchased Blink outdoor camera last year around Thanksgiving. The main reason was local storage and no need for subscription. It worked fine for couple of months but then I started noticing that the camera was failing to detect motion lot of times. When it would detect motion, it will not record clip for 60 seconds which is what I had set in the app. Sometimes it will record for 1 second, sometimes for 5-10 seconds, sometimes 20 seconds. Totally unreliable. Opened a ticket with support twice. There only answer was: it is problem with your ISP. How would ISP come into picture with local record? Blink has extremely goofy architecture with sync module. The sync module has a second low frequency radio. The camera is in a sleep mode till it detects motion. Then it wakes up and connect to WiFi. From here, it will either send video to Blink cloud (if you have cloud subscription) or it will send the video to sync module. The entire architecture is dumb. After lot of fighting, they sent me a replacement sync module and then the camera stopped recording at all. I would get motion notification, but no recording. I was ready to throw the camera out, but then decided to delete camera and factory reset (hard reset) it. After factory reset of camera, it started working perfectly!!! All motion events were detected and video clips were exactly 1 minute. However, the happiness was short lived. Today, the camera stopped recording again. It is a total piece of junk. Whatever is said in this review is 100% correct and I have experienced all these issues. Hard resetting the camera every few days is not an option. So, tonight, Blink gets thrown in trash and replaced with a Wyze cam V3.
I have an iPhone. I also pay for the monthly subscription for blink. I personally haven’t had most of the problems he’s brought up. But I mostly only use them to check on my cats so🤷🏽♀️ it’s a cheap camera and I went into it knowing that. It’s not bad for the price in my opinion!
Exactly. People buy a $30 camera expecting it to work like a $60 camera and wonder why its not doing everything in the world
I paid $5 for the camera and its not worth that because it doesnt do what it says it does. I have plently of $200 cameras so not fooled there by performance. Its a matter of working vs not working.
These cameras are designed for cloud storage. They’re also very sensitive to Wi-Fi signal. Depending on your Wi-Fi setup and your bandwidth limit you’ll have great experience or poor experience. My blinks work really well and I love the idea of a snapshot aka thumbnail just to quickly check in rather than loading up live video. I would suggest a mesh network to help increase Wi-Fi coverage. They’re absolutely the best way to fix any lag when it comes to security cameras.
Valid points. I have a 6 router mesh network and 30 security cameras of various brands and all are on the Wi-Fi. Many are 2K or 4K resolution so much higher bandwidth needs than these Mini's. Mini's are my only problem cams though.
You shouldn't need to create a mesh network to get an IP Camera working.. this has been around for 10-15 years now, and works just fine, even with cheap chinese ones.
This one is intentionally cheap and just bad. Even worse than the random Chinese one I bought.
Also... No, they are not designed for cloud storage, and it doesn't say that anywhere in the description. It's described as a live camera that you can view instantly, and even "Talk to your family!" - This is not that.. this is a low quality chinese crap
@@ZeranZeran A camera without a built in SD card slot is considered a camera more designed for cloud storage. Mesh routers fill in the weak areas which helps these cameras get better signal. These cameras aren't made with good antennas so any loss of signal will hurt it's proformance.
Haven't had any problems with my camera's, I actually like blink
The problem with everything right now is they try to centralise all devices even though they don't need it. If you buy the sync 2 and amazon switch off the servers it won't record to the USB because it goes through them first before going to the sync 2. It's pointless centralisation.
Thanks mate. I was going to buy this but the plan has changed after watching this video. You save me the money and headache. Really appreciate it.
I had one in my cart, then decided to check around a bit more...5 minutes here saved me a few $$$. thx
can't blame ya!
I have 5 of them & they all work great even the blink doorbell is good
I'm quite happy with mine as well. The Pan/Tilt Mini is great. I'm so impressed with the first one that I bought two more to replace the minis. $29 for the pan/tilt stand w/cam on Amazon right now (50% off) is hard to beat for what it does.
I'm not thrilled about the retrigger time and that only one cam per sync module can record at a time. That said, I'm not having any issues with motion sensing, errors, delays or any of that. My Blink set up has save my ass a few times now, including catching a porch pirate (neighbor's kid on a dare... the footage shown to his dad squared things away nicely and my unopened package was returned). For the money, I think they're excellent. I'm running on fiber optic internet (around 100gb/sec) and use their cloud storage, so perhaps that makes a difference.
I have Blink and so does my daughter, and we have no problems, and I am just about to purchase another one for my workshop, so before you bin them find your problem they are very good.
My Neighbours Have the blink system and Love it, I'm installing mine tonight and really I just want to set 2 up in my home to watch my pet and one on the outside for fun.
Same issues here as an iPhone user. Switched to Eufy on Black Friday last year. Local storage, no fees, high res, night vision, save clips right to phone, recognition spot on, geofencing, always works
wait, you do have the same issues as me or you're saying none of them with your iphone?
So what about battery life I heard eufy battery life is horrible only last two or three months..
When you have high quality cameras it uses more battery blink tried to have the best of both worlds Good enough but also a long battery life.
@@muzikmon2267 these are all hardwired as are my eufy cams
@@NaterTater well that doesn't make any sense at all.
I only went to blink cameras because I was coming from a POE power over Ethernet one wire hardwired system.. All going to a server with hard drives.
More expensive they work for about 6 years And then the server broke. To buy a new server probably cost about $400 or $500.
I wanted to buy two more cameras to have a total of four that's another $200 or more For these type of cameras.
They recorded constantly but the motion part was much more difficult to set up and never worked really well.
This is why I switched to BLINK!! ONLY BECAUSE THEY ARE WIRELESS IF I WAS GOING TO STICK WITH WIRED I WOULD NOT BUY EITHER OF THOSE CAMERAS. I WOULD BUY REAL HARDWIRED CAMERAS THAT DID NOT EAT BATTERIES!!
If you're not going to use the wireless system on these type of cameras then you're wasting your money.. You might as well set up a wired system It just doesn't make any sense.
If I have to wire these blink cameras or buy solar panels. It's going to make the price go up considerably AND YOU STILL DON'T GET THE BENEFIT OF REAL HARDWIRE SYSTEMS OF CONSTANT RECORDING.
So when it comes time for me to switch back if I want to I will not be using the wireless system it'll all be wired.
These are not the right type of cameras if you're going to wire them.
Battery powered cameras have limitations even if you wired them..
I don't understand why you want to settle for those limitations if you're wiring them anyways just get wired cameras set it up it's easy look on TH-cam.
@@muzikmon2267 sorry my wording was confusing. I mean hardwired to power. Wireless for data. Not battery powered is my point.
My first blink worked so well that I decided to buy 5 more. Now they work 50% of the time & I feel ripped off
My Eufy indoor cameras right now are giving me issues. They do not detect motion at night with their IR activated. I can literally put my face up to the cameras and they do not detect my presence. I’ve toggled with every possible settings with no improvement. They work fine during the day but, I would have to leave at light on at night for them to detect motion. This should not be if IR has been turned on. I’ve had them for over 2 years now and they were my favorite security cameras to use indoors without a subscription. The best feature I like about them are the fast notifications you get when a detection is made. I heard that maybe the IR lights may not be saturating my areas much and that may be the problem.
Thanks for making the video. It was nicely done.
Currently, I have 3 Blink Minis and an Outdoor 4. I subscribed to the service for $10/month. I have the Android app on my Google phone. The two problems I have EVERY DAY are about half the time if I try to disarm the system or turn off (or on) motion detection on one camera, I get a message that says it CAN'T CONNECT TO THE BLINK SERVER. CHECK YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION. But it's NEVER my internet connection. Their servers are probably maxed out. The other issue: sometimes the videos where motion was detected are either BLACK for the first 8 or 10 seconds or VERY DIM. Not EVERY time, of course, but about once every 8 or 10 videos.
Neither problem is a deal breaker for me, but it's irritating. I haven't had too many issues with the cameras missing motion detection situations, but I get a few false positives.
Off subject: when I bought the Blinks a couple of months ago, I also got an Alexa Echo Show 8 and an Echo Show 5. I'm VERY SORRY I bought them. Alexa is brain dead most of the time (compared to, "Hey Google"), and the devices are basically marketing tools. And I'm getting more and more sponsored stuff. Plus, the 'Drop In' feature doesn't work right about half the time. Both devices will eventually end up in a closet somewhere. Or I'll give them to somebody I don't like. LOL!
Thanks for watching and sharing your experience!
Had for over 2 years and have had no issues .customer support is only a phone call away.i have 4 separate sync modules and large area to cover .if i ever had a problem which has beèn few .he shows several without using the cloud
I hope I don't get that tip of problems with my Blinks cameras because I don't have cloud service, but if I get those problems I'm switching to Eufy. I only have a few days of cloud service left. I heard the same story about the Blink cameras they're lousy especially if you don't have cloud service. Thanks for the tip is good to know. Have a blessed day. Take care
I'm using Blink cameras and couldn't agree more with this video, you are completely accurate and I have been experiencing the same problems you talked about and showed. Luckily I'm early user so I don't have to pay for Cloud storage, that's why I kept these cameras as minimum security, while I have other PoE cameras as well.
I have a single mini set up in the garage (came with a kit) ...using an old F0scam for additional IR illumination. I can stand three feet in front of it, move around and motion won't trip in window provided daylight (IR off). The only motion alerts I get from this camera is when a bug flies in front of the IR illuminator at night. Irritating! The other bl|nk outdoor cameras (battery) seem to work pretty well. All of mine trip and I even have to back off of the sensitivity to reduce unwanted alarms.
My mini has never worked well from day one either. A recent update added a new feature where you can have your mini ring like a additional doorbell chime whenever someone presses the doorbell button. I don't understand why the company doesn't focus more energy in fixing the reliability of the product's core features first before introducing new ones. How interested or satisfied will I be as a customer with a new feature when the camera as a whole works poorly?
Make sure you’re using the right SD card for video recording
Work really well for us, considering the price i think they're great. App is cool and easy to use too 🖖
I'm quite impressed with mine as well. I use their cloud service and have fiber optic internet at nearly 100 GB/sec most times of the day, so that might play a factor? Don't really know.
I had pretty good luck with mine, all are battery except recently ,I bought a twin pack of the mini cameras. What brought me to this video was a search I did on why the red light turns on while recording. Also that awful loud click. The outdoor cams work OK, they alert me if someone is there, and there are no lights that turn on. I have layered security, and dont just rely on the cams alone. So don't listen to the Blink commercials when they say this is all you need. I would send my two minis back to Amazon, but I got them cheap on black Friday, so probably will keep them. I don't like the red light or that click noise on the mini.
You can turn off the recording indicator when recording at the bottom of the settings page but the red lights around the aperture are the IR lights for dark recording.
I have the door bell cameras and they are total garbage, if someone rings the bell by the time it loads the Video they have given up and left. During the free trial it worked ok but once I started using the local storage it became junk, it's just a trap to get you past the return period as when I called the extended the free trial twice and replaced one of the cameras to see if that would help but it didn't. (cam replacement extended the trial too) so over 3 months of free trail time total. They claimed that the only difference between the paid subscription and local storage was that it would be a little slower to load recordings but that's a lie. Just as your Video shows it's almost impossible to use or view recordings or figure out which file is the correct one. I even paid for the blink usb to make sure that it wasn't the issue.
Blink system is kind of a scam, except the clear image rest is poor quality, the worse is when I changed the wifi it wouldn’t connect at all I called customer service they I told me they have to send technician and they would charge me around $160, for something that any one can do
I have 3 of these cameras and I have the exact same experience. I was really surprised how terrible these cameras are.
Constantly have to force stop the app to do anything. It is so frustrating. It's honestly one of the few pieces of tech that I have actually hated. Mostly because I bought a whole system all at once so I am kind of stuck with it. I just keep hoping there is some kind of software updates that will make the blink system tolerable... some day.
I hear ya
I agree with 95% of what he is saying. They seemed like they would work when we got them but they have continued to disappoint.
I just walked back from the dumpster. Where I threw away the trash. Blink has made a simple camera system way too complicated for its own good. Settings change without me doing a thing. It kept taking still pictures I didn't ask for and then trying to remove the still picture using Blinks directions put the final nail in the ......dumpster. This thing just wasn't worth the trouble or the constant hassle of resetting cameras I haven't touched. I just threw them in the trash.
I'm having the exact same issues with my blink cameras. Looking for a better option rn
I also have been grandfathered for the cloud storage. I haven't any problems over the 4 years. I have 4 battery outside and 2 indoor minis. I really think Amazon cloud is the way to go, that being free. Also I have a 2000 square foot house and the 2 mini's are in my garage and detached shop. I really like your videos, I subscribed to you when you you started the T-mobile home internet videos. I loved my T-Mobile 5G home internet but every gateway (5) I got didn't last 2 months before they shit the bed. Had to wait for 4 or 5 days to get a new one. I had to bite the bullet and go back to Spectrum internet for $50 a month. Thanks and keep up the great videos!
Thanks John!
Yours work because you have cloud storage. Switch to USB and see how quickly they stop working
Though I do appreciate the overall security and being able to monitor my house while I'm away, some inside and outside cameras, the frustrating points you made are valid. They can be quite a headache at times.
Also, I had a a really annoying time trying to reset the wifi on my cameras the other day when I got new internet. I tried so many times and nearly deleted the sync module and all that, but ended up trying to uninstall and reinstall the app, because it would not pull up any available wifi. None. Though the app was up to date when I tried originally, it still wouldn't until I deleted and reinstalled the app. Even then, I had several annoyances with some cameras syncing and others not (the wired blink mini's can work without connection to the sync module for the wifi setting on the sync module, so I had some working and others not). Finally when I reset my Blink Mini's on their own separate reset buttons and set wifi on them individually, I have all up and running.
But yeah, motion and not being able to see what the camera is picking up until it's done recording, and some unresponsiveness and some motion detection with no motion showing in the videos sometimes, it's a frustrating overall experience at times. Also, batteries for the wireless ones...my goodness, you'll run through a lot. Just get the newer 1.5v rechargeable lithium batteries, so you don't have to keep buying the expensive throw away ones.
thanks, Nater, interesting info,. I downsides a bunch and am thinking of adding cameras to my TV. Eagerly waiting for your review. never apologize when speaking about your experience. thanx again for your insight. Tater~tot
Thanks Charlie. Just got some eufy indoor cams in today to start testing!
OMG! I just read what I wrote that's what I get for writing without my glasses ( downsized*, RV*)
@@NaterTater Right on! I am eagerly awaiting your review. Tater~tot
These are the best cameras I’ve used. Actually giving you the option to not need a subscription is unheard of. I have the battery powered outdoor cameras and doorbell and they have worked flawlessly for about 2 years and haven’t even had to change the batteries yet.
Doubtful. I had to change the batteries in the outdoor camera twice within the first couple weeks. The included batteries drained within the first 3 days after install, so I tossed those and bought fresh batteries. Those lasted about 4 days. I finally gave up and hardwired the camera --- especially since it's seated on top of the garage door and is difficult to access. If you're getting the promised 2 years batteries life, then good on ya'. Because the rest of us aren't.
@@cecilr7986 you think I’m lying? You need me to post a video or picture to show you? I’ve not had to replace the batteries since I got them. My parents have an issue with their doorbell, but it was user error, where the video was constantly streaming. May be user error on your end. Did you read the manual?
Please add a link to this video in your review of the the Blink cameras from a year ago!! I literally just picked some Blink cameras up during black friday sales after watching your videos, now after setup realizing they are trash haha. (Not blaming you, but definitely update those old videos!!)
The biggest issue I'm seeing is that the detection seems to get screwed up on transition from dark to light. It often doesn't want to detect until I manually view the camera from the app, then exit again. After that seems decent... not sure what's going on, but it's useless for a dark room where lights will be turned on.
Hay Nate! Sorry to hear your issues with Blink. I've had Blink since they first came out and I'm grandfathered into there saving on free online version of saving clips.
Almost all my cameras are battery operated. I expanded to outside when Blink offered the XP versions . All have worked flawlessly and that's including the original first generation indoor ones. One issue I have is with the only mini camera I own. When I'm away all battery cameras work great. The mini camera plug in however comes on then goes offline and keeps sending me notifications it's offline. So I'm thinking it's the mini cams that have issues and not the battery operated ones. Looking forward to you testing a new camera. Thanks again for interesting videos!
Great data point! Makes sense. I know some people really like their blink setup but it's never really worked as needed for me with the mini cams
With the iPhone App the performance has been great. The cameras are limited in that they are not expensive security cameras and won't provide real time security which you accurately pointed out. For high security real time I would rely on a closed circuit system only. I use the outdoor cameras which are even more limited than the indoor minis and they've been great. Alerts very quickly but not going to provide real time security since they are limited. These cameras aren't going to provide real time security since they are so inexpensive. For situations not requiring real time security these are a good compromise for the price. Sorry you had such a bad experience. I'm wondering if the Android app isn't as good as the iphone app.
The outdoor cams are better than the mini's. This video is mainly about the mini's.
@@NaterTater The mini's are awesome! You just need a good access point like a Cisco Business 140AC Wi-Fi Access Point and a fast internet connection like Spectrum with at least 300Mbits and a reasonable smartphone. I wouldn't go any lower than 300Mbits because lag might cause poor performance. If you meet all those requirements, this camera WILL catch anyone coming into your house with a lit living room or a dark living room! It is always saving it to the Amazon cloud so they cannot take off with the evidence! LOL! Best EVER!!!!
@@NaterTater Now, as for the outdoor cams, definitely going to get a couple of those. One for between the houses(where nobody should be going) and the other for my back yard! :)
@judaspreistvlct the cameras consume a 1-2 Mbps/ea at most, using the cloud solves some of these issues.
I was one of the suckers that bought early on into the XT1 and XT2 cameras (when they cost more than the more advanced models now), however... unbeknownst to me at the time, that would "grandfather" me into to free cloud service for life, up to 10 sync modules with 10 camera each (enough for 100 cameras!). Though all those cameras would have to share the 7,200 second allotment limit, so the few cameras the better.
I've replaced some of the older XT1 outdoor cams with the newest gen and a couple of the indoor cameras with the pan/tilt models (that as of this post are selling 50% off on Amazon for $29 each).
I've had very few issues with mine. The "walkie-talkie" type of 2-way communication is one. If the person you're talking to speaks while you are pressing the speak icon, you'll not hear it. When I first set up my system, there was a very annoying delay using the 2-way communication, but vanished for the most part after upgrading to AT&T fiber optics. The communication delay is now about half a second if even that, hardly noticeable. Before, it was something atrocious, like 3 seconds... making communication awkward to impossible.
Another is that only one camera records at a time. Meaning if someone trips one camera and moves off screen before the set record duration is up, any overlap camera that the subject may have tripped by entering its field, you will miss part of that video as the original one is still recording. I don't know if this is the case if one has multiple sync modules as I only have the one. Perhaps two will allow two cameras to record so long as they are assigned to two different modules? I honestly don't know but it makes sense.
As for the "failed thumbnail" update prompts, I believe your assessment is spot on; the motion activation caused the camera to record, preventing thumbnail. However, the successive failures was for the same reason, the motion sensing was still on and as you were moving during the demonstration, it continued to record, preventing thumbnail updates. You'd have to turn off the motion sensing option in a field of movement in order to get that thumbnail to update.
I also don't get any of those lags and errors that you experienced, that could be due to the usage of the cloud storage, don't really know.
Those are the only issues and set up was stupid simple. Perhaps the free cloud storage is clouding my judgement, but I don't see myself replacing these anytime soon.
Good points
Thank you, was going to buy it but no ..... your not the only one who have this problem when you not paying a cloud storage,, ,
Last November Black Friday sale ... I got 3 new outdoor cams, a mini, and two doorbells with the sync 2 module. They all worked fine until my subscription ran out. Since then I have been having nothing but problems. Almost every day, I hear motion alerts frequently but if I check my video clips I will run into an error that "the manifest is stale. Please re-request." I have researched everywhere and can't find a way to fix it. All I can do is unplug the sync module 2 for a few minutes and reconnect it. It's just a temporary fix and eventually it will happen again. After reconnecting, I might see a couple clips on the list from the day before but not a single clip for the many motion alerts that I heard for the rest of the day. I also get all of the other errors people have mentioned including: failed to save clip, failed to save backup, terrible lag, etc. I tried two different brand name quality USB flash drives Again, none of this was an issue while I had the initial 30 day subscription. My problems began once I let it expire. Getting a subscription defeats the purpose of why I purchased the system. I as well as many others were lured in because Blink advertises no subscription needed as an option. It is clearly a bait and switch scam.
I currently don't know what to do because I already spent a lot of money and effort for my camera set and I can't see myself making another big investment in a replacement system.
I understand that frustration
Bro it’s 3 bucks a month. Chill.
@@nestornieves9822Let's be clear. It's 3 bucks per month per camera including doorbell cameras. I have many cameras. Considering all the services and subscriptions we pay for today, it all adds up.
@@NaterTater Nater, I just wanted to follow up on recent developments... As I had mentioned before, I got the cameras because Blink advertised that you could use them without a subscription.
My Blink cameras stopped working reliably or would not work at all without restarting the sync module after my original trial subscription ran out.
Blink keeps pushing their subscription plans through emails or the app, so I signed up for another 30 day trial. No surprise... My cameras magically began working again as well as the day I first installed them. I didn't need to touch a single camera or reconfigure anything. Everything was fixed instantly the moment I accepted the trial subscription. This further confirms that there is nothing wrong with the equipment. If the system works with a subscription, then it should also work just as well without a subscription while excluding only the few "premium features" reserved only for paying subscription members.
We are just being forced into paying for a subscription that Blink falsely advertises as an optional feature. I have compared notes with other people I know that have Blink and learned that those who do not have any issues either have a subscription or have some old Blink cameras where they have been grandfathered in with some free cloud storage (which is basically the feature that makes the subscription model work). Those with the newer cameras like me have had issues and been forced into getting a subscription if they wanted the cameras to work reliably.
Again, my cameras have been working fine but I only have 4 days left in my subscription. I suspect it will all break again once my subscription runs out.
One other point, a couple of my cameras are not easily accessible to replace batteries and it's not something I would want to do in our cold winters. With that said, I don't think I will want to invest much more in this system. I'll probably keep it as is for the next year or two, but long-term, I will be saving up to replace it with a better system. Unlike Blink, I would like very little or no battery power usage, better and faster detection with live view and recording to my own local storage, and good AI that can accurately detect and ignore movement that does not trigger false alerts. So I guess, Blink will not be on that list of future choices.
@@NaterTater The subscription is a waste of money too. "It is so funny that I get notified that I deleted my sinc module, I can receive live videos, notifications, photo captures everything but my motion videos clips to my phone" It is not coming back from the cloud. Blink had me run an app and it said my router was old. So I bought a new one, it worked getting motion videos for about 2 weeks and just stopped. My neighbor had the same one I replaced and she had 5 ring camera's, her hvac thermostat, her alarm system and had no problems. Now it goes off for about a week then comes back for a vi=few days then stops again
Wish I'd found this video two days ago when I bought the Blink Outdoor 4, 5-cam system. They are all on, motion detection on and armed but they aren't recording any motion events at all. I go.out and stand right in front of them, do a little dance, nothing! I cranked the sensitivity to max. Again, nothing. I'm getting the feeling it's my connection being too weak. Hoping if I put USB drives in them they'll start recording abd storing locally. If that doesn't work I'm out some cash. Should have known better being an Amazon product but the easy install was too tempting. I used to use the free Alfred security app to monitor my place with an old phone and it worked great but no local storage so you're dependent on the wifi working. I wish Blink had a local network system with cloud optional. But like another commenter said they want to use this tech to control you, and keep charging you again and again.
Yeag i agree .. i just got one to watch over my house.. literally every time I try to check live, it wont connect . The motion detection is terrible and its beyond frustrating.
@@Tomtoms-tomtoms yep
Nate "Tool Man" Tater, you mean to tell me that Rome WAS build in a day ;) lol
haha, that's Ring!
@@NaterTater you have so many I lose count lol 🤣
I have an iPhone and the app looks different for me and I am not a subscriber either. I've always had thumbnails in clips and it does save to the cloud up to 2 hours of video. I've not used it with the local storage, might that be the cause of all your issues? I have the xt2 cameras, is there a difference with cloud support with the newer cams? I can watch the videos as many times as i like, they don't delete unless it hits 2 hours of videos. I don't have the issues with missed motion detection, I've actually had the opposite experience of needing to reduce it. Could that be an android or local storage issue? For example maybe it's the storage part that is failing, not the motion detection?
Don't get Blink Camera's if you are away allot or using for a vacation home. If you lose power you can NOT reset them. I have gone 2 months without the cameras'. They are useless. Know one talks about this. They do NOT reset when the power comes back.
Nater, to me the cloud service is a scam. Your right these cameras r not that great. Thanks for the video n tips. They come in handy to know, Have a nice day
I agree Blink cameras are trouble. My indoor 3rd gen worked for a while. The Blink app constantly tries to sell me a subscription service but the camera no longer works. My network hasn't changed but the camera won't load up, "camera is busy" is what I get now.
What about 'Nest' camera's? I have 6 Nest cams and 6 Blinks. I like, and dislike certain features of [both].
Thank you so much. All I needed before to buy it.
I had no issues with my Blink doorbell camera so far I have it working with a asus router which is very good.I only went with blink because I didn't want to run cable wires all outside of my house to all my cameras than I have to drill the cable through the window frame to connect it to a recorder.But thanks for the video.
Try the Wyze v3 camera, awesome color night vision. Add a memory card in it, you get motion detection for free. Minimum lag
Yes Wyze is on my list to try. Siding with Eufy at the moment but can switch if needed in the future!
@@NaterTater My only experience with amazon cameras is my echo show’s camera, it’s really delayed and simply not good. Yet I have used wyze cams before and they are really good for a camera, just can’t get it to work with alexa at all.
Do you have a link for that I want to check it out
The Wyze V3? amzn.to/3VvdoNp
I believe a lot of the problems are due to the fact that Blink Cameras/Sync module use Wireless G, a standard from 20 years ago (2003). Most other cameras use Wireless N (2008) which is around 6 times faster. Therefore, home internet/wifi speeds won't make much difference if the client is using Wireless G. I have a 1000mbps connection and I have a lot of the same issues with blink. Unfortunately, a hardware limitation to save cost.
I agree. Honest review. Thanks. One question though... just how many cameras do you have adorning your house???
25 or so. A few different brands/systems.
My free trial subscription just ended and I can’t seem to get any recordings onto my usb/sync2? Any thoughts?
I have 3 of the original xt cameras, the first 6 months they were great now I have constant issues like you! My system just updated again and now 1 of the 3 cameras no longer has motion detection. I'm fed up too...
Sorry to hear but glad its not just me! Lol
I had the worst experience with my Eufy Video Doorbell 2K (Battery-Powered). It never worked right. 9 times out of 10 it would miss my mailman even though the doorbell was positioned three inches from my mailbox. I figured it out when I had mail in my mailbox but almost never a detection from the Eufy camera. I tried all kinds of detection settings but it never worked right. My Wyze v3 cam that I have high above the porch had I greater success rate with detection. Unfortunately, just like your Blink Mini demo, Wyze also suffers from terrible lag, especially the first 6 months after its initial release. To Wyze credit, their firmware updates have improve it significantly. But it buffers terribly or not work at all with my Google Hub Displays. (I noticed you have one on your desk like mine)
I manage to score a good deal on a Google Hello Doorbell (1st gen) shortly after their 2nd gen came out. Night and day difference. I get a clear face shot of EVERYONE that comes to my porch. It can even tell when its me and not someone else when I check my mailbox using its AI facial recognition. I moved the Eufy 2K to my backdoor when I replaced it with the Google Hello on the front door. I do pay for Google's cloud service. Unfortunately Google's other cams are too expensive otherwise I would have been tempted to replace all of my Wyze v3 (4 cams).
I think most of these smart wireless cams are at their best for detecting UPS deliveries. Not really for home security. For real home security I would recommend a wired system that connects to a DVR. Funny thing is I helped a friend pick out an 8 camera DVR system before I began my rabbit hole journey into smart cams. His system is rock solid reliable and records all 8 cams 24x7 to that DVR box it came with it. It also a smart DVR so it sends notifications to his and his wife's phone. The downside to that kind of system is the wiring. But if you need reliability, nothing really beats a good wired/DVR system. Best of all, you don't have to worry about someone hacking into them because they don't rely on WIFI. Still records even if the internet goes down.
All good points! Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm intrigued as these eufy cams now have 24/7 recording (local SD or NAS/DVR) options that I might play with. Still rely on wifi but a good compromise/solution.
ALFRED works better than Blink cameras and app. Not even kidding!
I'm waiting for someone that can just make a camera with the tools needed to keep footage locally on your own network or personal cloud. I'm tired of companies trying to control our affairs.
I just got a Blink mini and it records for only 2 minutes.I thought it would record the whole day.
nope they do 2min max segments. pretty common actually for these types of cameras.
That's why you want to keep all pertinent cameras motion activated. Using their cloud service, you're only allotted 7,200 seconds (two hours) of video before the storage is full and the videos begin recording over the oldest clips. As for using USB storage (which I've never done, I just use their cloud service), I'd imagine you'd be able to record a heck of a lot more than 2 hours, especially at those resolutions.
Blink system can only record one camera at a time. This is a well known limitation.
That, for me, is the biggest of all the problems I've encountered, along with the retrigger delay of 10 seconds and the push-to-speak 2-way communications. That said, I've never really experienced any significant problems with this, they're just annoying. I have caught many a strange thing on my Blink, including a porch pirate (a neighbor's kid, sorted out swiftly due to the excellent footage) and most importantly what appeared to be a rabid raccoon (staggering, standing to bite/grab at the air above it) in my back yard where I let my dogs go out to do their business.
I think they're decent for the initial investment costs if one knows of the limitations.
I share your frustration, I am experiencing all the same problems, is this the price Amazon inflict on us for not paying for their cloud subscription? I didn't have any problems with them until Blink informed me that I was now out of my free trial cloud period, since then nothing but problems.
Just got the doorbell camera and the small one. Been using it for 2weeks and I actually get too many alerts with the motion detector. It’s so sensitive that even when my stand up fan rotates it picks up the movement.
One thing that I DID NOTICE was that on my android phone the app is very finicky and has so many glitches. And for some reason it doesn’t do any of this on my iPhone or iPad….🤷🏽♂️
I don’t like my blink outdoor cameras at all. Had them 2 months ago. Don’t record , don’t notify. Very inconsistent. I have to keep rebooting my wifi modem. I’m just going to buy a doorbell cam now. What do you recommend? I’m fed up.
Check out Eufy doorbell and cams. I have discount codes in the video descriptions or first comment. Eufy Security Cameras and Smart Locks: th-cam.com/play/PL8d9FovK2dNRGapzkZR3B5ewZqiURQ8w_.html
I am sorry you have issues with that I have had mine for months and I do have the subscription, there is a difference from when I did not have it, I did have issues at first renaming the areas, I am wondering if maybe the units you have might be deflective, at 8 08 yes there are thumbnails and location named maybe that is with the subscription, but having it directly connected to my echo show it alerts immediately and shows live view and can have live view continuously, I did try another company to for the backyard but I did not have a lot of the features with no subscription, great review though very thorough, I would like to ask what you use to have your phone screen up on the video please...thanks
Hey Val, yes Blink has some more features with the subscription including thumbnail previews. For the phone I use android's built in screen recording feature to record and then overlay that video on top of my main video with editing software.
4:40 no, iphone is not better. I am, too, phasing out all Blinks from my house. Wireless is definitely advantage but that's about it, I am switching with Littlelfs/Litokam. Power wiring is bit hassle but once setup, it is fast to connect so i can still catch person in motion when alerted. Works and records fine without subscription, also i can leave the camera full time continuously like baby monitor. cheaper too. much more ....
Thanks for sharing
How many cameras do you have on a single sync module? I have 11 cameras installed on 5 separate sync modules and I have no more than a 3 second delay on live view.
8, they advertise 10 per module allowed.
I got a blink video doorbell almost two months ago. It was catching all motion perfectly up to a week ago. Now when I leave the house itwillcapture the video but when I return it doesn't record the video. I don't have a subscription either. I don't have problems like you do though. Videos always play back. Just like shown he4e the video takes ages to load as shown 8n this video if you don't have a subscription and I have no doubt its to incentives you to pay for a subscription. I'm using a 64GB usb 3.0 pen drive and it has a lot of videos on it but there is only 1% storage used.
mmmm! Mine drive me crazy detecting all... but I cants stand the quality, trying to connect to it when you get a notification sucks... Now they don't work with Fiber Optics internet.
They are locked on 2G
I've had the same camera for a year now. I do have a subscription tho. I must say I love it BUT 1 ISSUE It keeps disarming at night & I have to just put it back on. It's annoying & if I forget to check it it's off for hours. I haven't scheduled this so I'm lost on how to undo this.
In the blink app, click the gear icon for settings and then system settings and under your home/system there is a schedule. Maybe you have a schedule setup accidently?
I am so sorry to hear you are experiencing issues with your Blink cameras, mine work beautifully but I can appreciate your frustration with the performance issues. I do hope you are able to purchase cameras that support your current needs. Great video.
Mine did too for 9 months. Now, it won't record motion and there's no fix.
@@dawnr6577 I had the same p4oblem for the last few days. I fixed it by going into the app and click safely remove storage. I waited one minute then inserted the pen drive again. It started recording motion again after that.
Are the more expensive indoor and outdoor cameras better than the mini cam?
Yes but i still dont recommend Blink to people.
I don't like the idea that a sync-module can only record one camera at a time... What I don't know is if you have a system with two sync-modules can you record a camera to either units at the same time?
I dont know. I thought you could only link one sync module per camera.
I bought one last year and I’m barely opening it today and connecting it, it connected just fine but when I click on the app to view my living room it makes a high pitched noise
@adelopez27 interesting. Are you close to the camera when that happens? If so it could be an odd audio feedback loop.
Does the camera save stuff to local module if internet doesn't work ? I'm now reconsidering it. Thank you !
It does not.
I regrettably learned too late that these are only "good" if my expectations were for it to basically perform like a useless toy gadget.
The constant annoying errors and sync module 2 malfunctions notwithstanding there was a much bigger issue for me.
The fact my Outoor cameras required them to connect to the sync module which in turn is also required to be connected to the internet otherwise they are plastic paperweights. The cherry top is the fact the "reasoning" for this requirement is because they require to be connected to the Blink servers to recieve commands(as told by Blink support). Regardless of the sync module 2 being capable of local storage, and regardless if you don't have a cloud storage subscription, they will not function at all unless they are connected to Blink servers via internet access. I can't recall ever learning of a home monitoring/security camera system that was unable to operate within a closed LAN and requiring to be connected to servers that determine how and whether or not your system will operate.
I can’t get my cameras to record onto the usb stick local storage………. It’s a new 2024 sync module 2 and it’s obviously been made so I have to have a subscription plan and the cloud.
@@radiogramgramophonetoons5802 th-cam.com/video/gSq201B6J6k/w-d-xo.html
I can't add a new sync module or a camera. I called their customer service and they aren't any help. Very upset. I have the XT, XT2 and the Mini.
Not having a subscription isn't making them bad. What's making them bad is the fact that they're just bad. I always tell my husband that I'll be dead before I ever get Blink to load up so I can see if someone is outside. Intruders could come in my home, unalive me and be halfway down the road before one of my Blink cams shows me anything. And then the unreal 10 second delay between recordings is just uncalled for. A LOT can happen in those ten seconds that it's NOT recording.
People, don't get a Blink system! Just don't do it. You WILL regret it! Unfortunately :/
What brand of camara are you using or Recommended? we just fixed blink outdoor 4 for a month, it has all the promlems you mentioned, and it wasn't recorded my car when I drove out, and recorded when I back. it happens like that a lot.
@yshcordaro5254 my fav so far is Eufy but here's a bunch. Security Camera Reviews: th-cam.com/play/PL8d9FovK2dNTiRc3a9Vn5bjYNZuaqcVNh.html
@@NaterTater Thank you very much!
my problem with the blink system is how long it takes to open the camera. most of the time the delivery guy has already left. it makes blink stuff useless.
Maybe a wifi issue? My front door cam will trip and record in about 2 seconds after first detection of movement. Unless someone does a drive-by package toss onto my doorstep, I WILL capture that footage (caught my first, and hopefully last, porch pirate thanks to this... in retrospect it was comical).
In fact, mine works annoyingly well and I've had to go into settings to alter the field of movement detection as well as set the sensitivity to near the lowest setting. It works about perfect now, though it only really became this way after switching to fiber optic internet (circa 100gb/sec). It might also help to point out I use their cloud data storage.
My biggest gripe is that when a camera is recording, it is the ONLY camera recording, even though one or possibly two other outside cameras are overlapping the area and might have a better view/angle.
It's a shame so many people are having issues. I'm guess I'm fortunate that I'm not one of them.
Your right they are a load off crap
I have 18 Blink cameras and my hoise getting broken into constantly by a disgruntled ex. I've changed passwords, phones, phone numbers, modems.......I just can't seem to keep him out. And yes, I've changed locks many times. It doesn't help that You Tube tells you how to pick locks and even where to buy the tools to do it with.
I am finished with Blink as well. Not worth all the work I am having to deal with.
Nate, did you only have the Blink Minis? I'm looking into the current line of Blink Cameras they sell at Costco. The black square cameras... Maybe another viewer cant tell me if you don't, but Im curious if your issues apply to the newer current lineup of Blink cameras or if its just the Minis? I know they still use the same Sync Module 2.
I think the Mini's are the worst offenders. I don't have the black ones.
I swapped out all Blink and Ring cameras for Eufy. Happy with them. Blink lost their way after Amazon acquired them.
My main cameras are wired 4k IP into a 24/7 NVR.
Great videos!
I'm leaning that way myself. Just hard to bite the bullet and "reinvest".
Slowly over time.
Did you keep your Blink outdoor cameras?
I don't have any blink outdoor ones.
They are trash. They only record some things. I have a swing in the front yard and my 2 daughters were out there They said a lady approached them as I went to the store. The camera only captured the kids walking to the swing sitting down and nothing else smh I told my husband they've got to go. Turns out she was with the Home Owners Association
Yes i quickly found I could not rely on them.
Yup my two outdoor modules and the mini do not back up clips to my synch 2 module. K am ripping them off my house and smashing them with a hammer and mailing them back to the Blink Corporate offices. I'm tired of crappy products.
I have 5 of them n I'm having the same problems. Plus my USB device is no longer saving anything n i don't know why.
Sorry to hear
How's your internet speed? I used to have that problem until I installed mesh extender.
~250/20 Mbps at the camera and sync module locations.
@@NaterTater I wonder if that 20 Mbps upload speed has something to do with the slow video stream.
@Musicality TV they use a few hundred kbps for their compressed 1080p stream so bandwidth is far from the issue. I have 4k cams of other brands that work fine.
Never had any problems with mine. I think your review is fair considering all the troubles you've had... I mean you can't even see the thumbnails. I can!
If you see the thumbnails that means you have the subscription. It seems the subscription plan "fixes" a lot of issues. Doubt thats a coincidence! But severely hurts the no subscription benefit.
@@NaterTater I never subbed to anything. I got the local storage with the sync module and a USB stick.
@@rickvince are you still in the 30 day honeymoon with free subscription?
@@NaterTater no it's been a long while.
Agreed but can u tell what u replaced with
I cover a lot of my cameras in this playlist. My favorites are probably Eufy and Reolink Security Camera Reviews: th-cam.com/play/PL8d9FovK2dNTiRc3a9Vn5bjYNZuaqcVNh.html
I bought a chinese camera on Amazon like.. 8 years ago (The brand is Yi) and it came with 720p, and a way better microphone. $40. I can still see it in my purchase history.
This is such a low quality product. Every "Amazon Select!" or "Amazon Basic" is awful.
Having issues with mine from picking up motion where the action is right in front of the camera.
Yep
Hmm I've had Blink since they came out. Had all the versions of the outdoor cams and the door bell. I don't have any of the issues you are encountering. I actually have three systems reporting back to the same app. Something doesn't sound right.
Maybe their outdoor cams are better. These mini's are terrible as shown. No theatrics.
If you have no problems then you probably have a subscription. Drop your subscription for a few weeks and see.
@@Davegbuf nope I dont pay any monthly fees. I have the sync2 module and the xt2 outdoor cams currently. Just stating my experience with the system
@@JMSynthetics My boss has the XT2 cameras also connected to his sync 2 module and has no problems either; however, the XT2 cameras are previous generation which included some free cloud storage. People who have them are grandfathered in. That means you have a free subscription with limited cloud storage (about 2 hours I think). All newer generation cameras do not include the free storage and require a subscription plan instead after the 30 day trial. My boss's brother got the newer cameras as I did and they worked well as mine did also while we had the 30 day trial subscription. As soon as the 30 days ran out, he had all the same problems I still do today. By the way, I have a Blink mini that looses connectivity a little while after connecting it to USB power. I need to keep plugging and unplugging it for it to work but it worked fine while I had a subscription. That is no longer the case. The cameras are practically useless unless you give in to paying for the subscription. It is false advertising in my opinion. Blink might argue that it is not because they work without a subscription but in reality, if the product does not function problem-free as advertised and as a consumer would reasonably expect, then in essence it is false advertising. I'm surprised there isn't a class action lawsuit already (that I'm aware of).
@@NaterTater No I have 5 outside cameras and have issues getting y motion video clips to my phone
Mine stop work pretty much every morning at sunrise and sometimes at sundown.
Hope your recording locally, I would not want my house recorded on the.inside and sent to any data center. That does not sound like a good idea.
Yes as mentioned I use the blink sync module.
Blink is pure GARBAGE 🗑️
I can't get the sync 2 modules to connect to do anything.
If I do get halfway through setup it says my wifi password is wrong.
I'm so frustrated.
How do you turn off the led light since you can't turn off the click sir
You cant turn off the red IR light if you want night vision. There is a settting to turn off the blue "recording" led though in the app.
@@NaterTater okay thanks
Your basement is too far from the sync module?
It happens regardless of location including away from home. Full bars of wifi in basement and sync module.
@@NaterTater crazy. Faulty sync module? Based on your review, this is completely faulty. There's not much delay for me.. I'm sure Amazon would send you a new set if you ask, based on this video. Blink people would absolutely find this unacceptable. This can't be the norm.
@@snagboi sync module isn't even needed with the mini cam so it's not related to the sync module (meaning it does it without the sync module powered on). Do you have blink mini cams? Many others report these delays and no motion detects too with the mini cam.
@@NaterTater was this review performed without the sync module??? Maybe that's the reason 🤔
@@snagboi haha. No, the sync module was on and connected for this review. No magic or drama here on the Nater Tater channel... this is after many years with many different camera systems including these blink mini cams.
To clarify do you have these blink mini?