AOSU Security Cameras Outdoor Wireless, 4 Cam-Kit, No Subscription, Solar-Powered, Home Security Cameras System with 360° Pan & Tilt, Auto Tracking, 2K Color Night Vision, Easy Setup, 5G & 2.4G WiFi

I have been looking at security cameras for my small business for a while now. Most things I tend to DIY. A low-impact installation was driving factor in my decision to purchase this 4 camera set from Aosu. The integrated solar panels of these cameras meant full wireless capability. The only wires involved were an ethernet cable to connect the receiver for these cameras to our network, and the power cable for the receiver. The cameras being solar powered meant no need to run power to their individual installation sites.Ease of installation - The cameras use a snap-in mounting bracket. The bracket is secured to the mounting surface, and the cameras simplay snap onto the bracket once it's installed. You don't have to juggle a drill/bit driver and these cameras at the same time when you're installing them. Most security cameras are installed off of a ladder, so the easier the work is while you're on the ladder the safer it is.Video quality - Picture quality is outstanding. Not just at this price point either. Day or night, the resolution is high enough to identify faces and license plates from 30-50 feet. You can zoom in on the video and still have decent resolution for details.Durability - Yet to be determined. Before installing the cameras I set them outside with the solar panels pointed towards the south western sky for a few days. I wanted to be sure the cameras started out with 100% charge before installing them. These cameras were rained on a couple of times during that initial charging period. They are advertised as IP 65 rated, which means (6) pretty much dust proof and (5) sealed to low pressure water spray from any direction (but not full immersion). Rain and general outdoor conditions shouldn't be an issue. The solar panels did charge the cameras fully in those 3 or so days. The cameras were left off during this time. After installing the cameras they functioned as advertised. I expect durability to be outstanding, but only time will tell.Battery life/solar panel effectiveness - Two of the cameras were installed in shaded areas with zero direct sunlight. Typically, this is not a good idea for solar-powered/charged equipment. After 1 week, starting from 100% charge, These two cameras are at 78% and 82% charged. I expected them to deplete within a few days. The other 2 cameras see several hours of direct sunlight each day and stay fully charged. There are some remote solar panels available on Amazon if your cameras have to be installed in a shaded area. See the next section before you purchase them though.Customer service - When I received my camera set there was a card inside warning not to install the cameras in a shaded area. The card was worded like I could contact Aosu and they would provide a remote solar panel for these locations on request. So I emailed Aosu about it. On a Saturday. Within a few hours I had a reply. They wanted to know my Amazon order number to verify the purchase, and my shipping address. They sent me 2 extra solar panels AT NO CHARGE! They arrived within a few days. I understand them not wanting to include these extra solar panels with the camera set. Many, if not most, people won't need them. But to offer them at no extra cost or even shipping cost I was not expecting. I received regular emails from Aosu concerning these solar panels as well. They seem to want satisfaction for their customers and are willing to put in the extra effort/expense that somtimes requires. They now have a dedicated customer from me as a result.The app - Too many products are destroyed by a sub-par app for the product interface. The Aosu app was painless to install, hasn't frozen or suddenly closed once, and is easy to learn and navigate. Setting up alert notifications for each camera, including an option for time windows for these notifications, is done through the app. I purchased these cameras as an after-hours security supplement for outside my business. I have other cameras inside for shoplifting and general security during business hours. What I didn't want, or need, was to be alerted with a phone notification every time a car drives by during business hours. What I wanted was to be alerted when people were walking in the immediate area of my business outside of normal business hours. I had a window broken in my store front by some fatherless children a few months back. My inside cameras didn't catch anything since they didn't enter the building. Still, my window was broken and these little hoodlums were never caught. None of the other businesses had outside cameras either. The app being set up with notifications outside of business hours, plus the camera footage, would have allowed me to call police quickly and to have evidence of the vandalism taking place.Motion detection and Tracking - These cameras being able to rotate 360 degrees and tilt up and down is a feature I didn't know I needed. Not only these features, but the ability for these cameras to auto-track with movement greatly reduces the "out of frame" issue with static cameras. Through the app you can manually control the camera movement as well. I set the cameras to look in the direction I wanted. They track movement as advertised. When the event is over, they return to the original viewing direction that I set. I wasn't expecting that either. Otherwise, some random event could move the camera in a direction that doesn't concern me, and then another later event goes unnoticed by the camera where it does concern me. The motion detection of any camera is never unlimited. Having the camera return to a "home base" position that I set through the app is exactly what is needed. The motion detection works very well, even out to 50 feet or so.Audio - The microphone on the camera picks up normal conversation level noise out to around 20-25 feet. If louder, it will detect noise further away. The audio clarity is very good. I do like the fact that I can also speak through the camera. I'm not sure in what scenario I need that capability, but it is a neat feature. And you can understand what someone is saying through the camera speaker better than a drive-through speaker.Value - The price point for this package provides an outstanding overall value. These aren't the absolute best security cameras you can buy. I do believe though that you can spend several multiples of the cost of this system and get less. Like I said, I have been researching solar powered wireless camera systems for a few months. A friend of mine purhcased a set of these Aosu cameras for his home. He showed me on his phone how well they worked. I was able to see for myself that they were a quality setup. The price of roughly $100/camera is not a huge investment. A plate glass window for a store front costs A LOT more than this camera system did. My decision was made, so I purchased this set. I couldn't be more pleased with the value, performance, and customer service.No Monthly Fees - I am allergic to monthly fees and subcriptions. They are death by a thousand cuts. This system having roughly 30-day storage (32gb) on the receiver with no monthly fees is another reason I even considered this purchase. Aosu does offer a relatively low cost cloud storage option if you want to keep videos longer than 30 days. I have no need for that for this system's intended use. I can download videos of captured events as needed. The mundane, non-event captured events get auto-deleted.Security - Being wireless I suppose these cameras are vulnerable to hacking, just like anything else that is wireless. There isn't any information about encryption of the wireless wifi signal between these cameras and the receiver. All that was shown to be encrypted was the data on the receiver. If I were concerned about a sophisticated thief/burglar that could hack a wifi signal, I would go with a closed circuit, wired system. It's a lot harder to physically hack a closed, wired network than it is a wireless signal. But, any system is only as strong as its weakest link. There are 2 independent camera systems now for my business. This system was purchased just for outside security, more or less for property damage and vandalism. The inside of the business has a separate camera system that is tied into my security alarm. That camera system is for break-ins and theft. No security system is perfect, without weaknesses and vulnerabilities. This system is a great starting point. It is infinitely better than NO camera system. Even if you decide to upgrade later to a closed circuit system or something more sophisticated/secure, this system will do much better than just get you by until then.

So far I’m very impressed with these cameras, and the customer service received from the company. Due to odd circumstances, I was hoping to be able to purchase an extra wall mount, so I could move one particular camera to a slightly different location on occasion (I won’t go into the details of that). Additionally, two of our cameras would be mounted under soffits, meaning they wouldn’t get direct sunlight. I reached out to the company to see if I could purchase the extra wall mounting bracket, and to see what options I had for the cameras that would not get direct sunlight. After speaking with Lynette, she told me they would send me two solar panels, AND an extra mounting bracket for FREE. No one does that anymore! I was left speechless! Truly top notch! Because of the area we need coverage for, we ended up buying another 4 camera kit (8 total cameras). We purchased the 2nd kit directly through AOSU - which was significantly less expensive than Amazon - and it included free shipping. Outstanding!These cameras are much heavier, and much better quality than I expected for the price. The picture is also exceptional for the price point. Night vision is limited to maybe 20 or so feet, but still not bad if you are thoughtful when installing to ensure you’re in proximity to entry points, or important structures. They have digital zoom, which leaves things a bit blurry if you zoom in a bit too far, but the positives, and price for what you get surely outweighs that. Also, it should be noted that the stronger your WI-FI signal, the better they work. If you think you’re going to install one at the limit of your signal, I’d recommend getting a WI-FI extender (Booster).The app is super simple, straightforward and easy to connect to the system. Unlike a lot of instructions that accompany a product made overseas, the English is clearly written, sensible and understandable. Installation of the cameras themselves took 2 minutes once I determined where I wanted them. I recommend using the included USB wire to fully charge the cameras before installing them. The sun will take it from there. I was a little unsettled with the first camera that I turned on as I held it in my hands… It said “Hello”, then panned around the room, then tilted to look me in the eye, then around the room again. Gave me a sense that it was smarter than I thought! Lol! I said - “You’re the one I’m trusting to watch my front door!” Lol!!The only negative thing I can say is… I wish the video would continue to record for 5 to 8 seconds - or more - after the movement has stopped. I’ve noticed that if a subject walks past a camera, it will follow the subject just fine, but if the subject stop moving for a second or two, the camera stops recording, and returns to its home position. That means whatever this subject does after that, it’s now out of view of the camera, and will not be picked up by any new motion. If there’s a way to extend this “Time on target” recording, I haven’t found it yet. I like the notifications though my phone, but sometimes they’re a little delayed. I sometimes receive a “movement” notification, but by the time I get it, the moment has passed, and the camera has returned to its home position - by a couple minutes, and I have to review the recording in playback. Not a big deal, but if I got the notification sooner, I could have manually trained the camera on the subject, because as previously mentioned, if the subject stops moving for a second, the camera stops recording, and returns to its home position. Nothing more is recorded from off screen.All in all, these cameras are really nice for the price. If you can handle the few shortfalls, they’ll work just fine for you. There are much better systems out there - at much higher prices, but if you’re looking for a good system and you’re on a bit of a budget, these are perfect!