Blink Outdoor - wireless, weather-resistant HD security camera, two-year battery life, motion detection, set up in minutes – 2 camera kit
[{'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "Play Video\n We've got some bad actors in the hood, so it was time to catch them with some irrefutable evidence. Our XT2 is a little old and our Arlos are acting stupid. Saw this come out and had to give it a shot. It was time to upgrade. Plus, the specs of the possibility of TWO YEAR BATTERY LIFE is mindblowing. It's probably a lot less, but my Arlos would last a week with $10 CR123 batteries, so that had to go. Anything had to be better than those dinosaurs.\n\nSet up was fairly easy. There is no real printed instruction manual, but those are rare today. Scanned the QR code and my smartphone popped me to their website with tons of tips, info, and even setup videos. The entire setup process is QR from the new Sync Module 2 to the camera itself. So don't make the mistake of slapping the batteries in and closing the camera unit like I did before I scanned the QR code. Whoops. Took less than 15 minutes to setup and sync. Signed up for a new Blink account so the old one won't get confused - plus there's several weeks of free cloud storage right now. Boom.\n\nSet it up in a tree ACROSS from my house this time. When I put it over my door, my old cameras would flag every car or pedestrian close and far. All I want to see is the jerk stealing my UPS packages, so I flipped the perspective. The HD is super clean and clear, and the camera is at least 30 feet from the sync module with no problems connecting. Big plus there. And, there's a pretty powerful little speaker in this unit! I was really surprised at the volume this thing can push for such a small speaker. Now, when this alerts me to funny business, maybe I'll be able to yell at the perps. Probably not, because they'll be long gone by the time I see the notification. Still, this feature could be useful in warning your kids from doing something silly when you're not home.\n\nThe live view was disappointing, since you have to keep clicking the app to continue the live view for longer than 10-ish seconds. So you can't use this as a spying device or a baby monitor. Bummer. Also, the default recording time was like 5 seconds, probably to maximize battery life. You can't catch much in 5 seconds. I adjusted mine in the settings to about 20 seconds. I'll sacrifice battery life to catch a bad actor. Plus, there's a battery pack you can attach to this unit to increase battery life. I'll update in the future to let you know how the battery goes.\n\nOverall, I'm impressed with the new Blink outdoor. It's gonna rain here in Florida soon, so I'll let you know how that goes as well as night shots when available."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "It's super easy. Works great. Setup was simple. It works exactly as advertised. What I didn't know for sure is that the batteries are just high quality AA batteries. So when they die, you can get some rechargeable ones and just rotate them through the thing. I'm going to order a couple more. They are pretty great. *Edit-A nice person took the time to let me know it's best not to replace w/ traditional AA batteries."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "This new camera is better then the Blink xt2 ! It has been totally re-engineered. Take it from someone who owns all the different cameras Blink had to offer since day one and had to get on a waiting list to get the very first one. So, I should know what iam talking about. This new camera no longer has the push down and pull system to open the back to install batteries. It has a large screw that you simply unscrew with a included tool to open the back of the camera which is really nice. Once you open the back and install the included batteries scan the small QR code inside the camera threw the blink app it will scan to find the camera once that is done it will automatically do a firmware update. After that you are ready to install your new blink camera. Also noticed the sound is much louder and more clear then the other cameras. This is good if two people are talking in a low voice you can hear what they are saying. Has brighter clearer night vision. Nice clear voice communication with two way talk. Alot stronger wifi signal to sink module and from sink module to camera. Sharp, clear, bright, and colorful HD vision during the day. I noticed before I wrote this review that some people only gave this camera 2 or 3 stars. Like the guy who is complaining about software issues. Well if you follow the directions you would not have that problem. Let the camera finish its firmware update. Duh ! Also, if you have been a Blink customer for a while and want to add this camera to your current system. You do not have to pay for cloud storage you are grandfathered in. After you add this camera to your existing system it will actually tell you this ! The front of the camera has a all new face with a very smooth and shinny surface iam sure to help combat the weather and give it a more high tec look. Their is no longer a switch inside the camera to turn on or off the blue recording light located on the front of the camera. It's is all done threw the app which is really nice as well. They really did a good job in re-engineering this camera and listened to customer complaints about their past cameras and went threw and fixed every issue. I would definitely buy this camera again ! UPDATE : 09-25-20 After using this camera for a couple of days. And as other reviewers have noted that this camera only has a 25 foot motion trigger ! Anything further than 25 feet it will NOT record when motion is present. So if you need a camera get the Blink XT2 for the further range. This camera will only be good for specific areas like door or window that are within the 20 to 25 foot range from the camera."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': "So far everything is as advertised. Setup was a breeze and the image quality is great - especially when set to “best.” I really appreciate the custom activity zones that you can set, as well as the ability the turn off the led light.\n\nIn terms of improvement, the included mount is pretty basic. For better or worse the mount snaps into the back of the camera module. This makes installing it relatively easy, but also means anyone could detach it with a firm pull. I’ve noticed that there are upgraded mounts that you buy, but haven’t had a chance to fully check those out yet.\n\nLastly, I noticed another reviewer mentioned subscription pricing, but it’s a bit misleading. Yes, there is cloud storage that you can pay for, but there are multiple levels, including a free plan, as well as a basic plan for $3/month. Also, the paid plans don’t start until 2021. More importantly, What this camera has, that the XT2 doesn’t, is local storage. If you’re big on privacy, and don't want to store videos on the cloud, you can attach a USB drive to the blink module and save your videos there (see photo which shows the usb drive). There’s no fee for saving your videos locally - you can still get alerts and watch your video feed live for free."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-5 review-rating', 'review_body': 'What an awesome product...total install took 25 minutes. I put 3 camera’s up outside to monitor my summer home. One of the camera’s I places on a pole in the yard pointing at the roof so I can monitor snow fall and snow melt roof system. The app was friendly. I shared the app with my wife and she was up and running in 2 minutes with minimal effort. We are so happy with this wireless system.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-3 review-rating', 'review_body': "Pros: 1. Quality HD picture\n2. Easy to set up\n3. Can arm/disarm camera to save on battery life, so if you're working in the yard, bringing in groceries etc... you're not constantly receiving notifications and using the battery life.\n4. Your videos can be stored in the Cloud (for a nominal fee) or you can insert a USB into the sync module for local storage. If someone is brazen enough to steal the whole camera, you still have access to the video.\n5. You can adjust the sensitivity level, so after you install the camera, you can reduce the level if you're getting too many notifications from trees, animals etc..setting off the alarm.\n6. It is easy to adjust the camera (after you've installed it) if you want to change the angle for a better view.\nCons: Connectivity (update) This issue has resolved itself. For the last 4 days, I have had no issues receiving notifications or viewing videos. If you experience first day hiccups, hang in there.\n2. The only way to share access to your live videos is by giving your username & password to a person. The individual then has access to change your email address, password, and delete videos. Technically, they can lock you out of your own security system. Good luck with that if you have teenagers. While you want them to see what's going on outside if they're home alone, you don't want them deleting videos of friends who might visit the house when you're not home. Deal breaker.\n3. This one is not a deal breaker. The camera is small, so if you're looking to deter criminals who are opportunist, they might not even notice the camera is there. Sometimes just the visual presence of a camera will deter individuals.\nI cannot speak to the longevity of the battery life, which was one of the selling points for me. I'll update later if I encounter other issues."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': "Passed, not interested in paying $120 a year. Xt2's have no fees. Thus the reason why I bought them."}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-2 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Very inconsistent when it goes off and what it records. I have been playing around with all of the settings and not really happy with the performance so far.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': 'Worst security camera i ever bought in my life. Keeps losing connection even though everything else wifi and wireless runs great. I even have a wifi extender i tried to help matters but nope. I just got this today and im boxing it up. Was difficult to get it going with setup, then to make things worse, the night vision is nothing but a big dark blur, i get no pic at all. The daylight view was pretty clear, but i needed this more at night. i uploaded the view. It is right outside my window, nothing obstructing it, so theres no reason i cant get a clear pic.'}, {'review_meta': 'Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2020', 'review_star': 'a-icon a-icon-star a-star-1 review-rating', 'review_body': "Had high hopes for this product, so the letdown is extra harsh.\n\nReally, really poor optics for this class of home security camera. Our old Wyze cameras are way sharper.\nNight vision is abyssmal. Not kind of bad, but truly muddled grey blotchiness.\nThe app is atrociously slow. We're running Amplifi Alien mesh wifi in a small house, so it's not the wifi connection. The cameras take about 10 seconds to activate whereas our Wyze cameras take about 3 seconds.\nThe fact that it will not interact and display feeds into the Ring app of our brand new Amazon Ring alarm system (Ring alarm is awesome!) is my other very major gripe.\nConsidering the muscle Amazon could bring to this product launch, I see it as an utter flop."}]