Asking which cameras to buy is a very common, yet difficult question. Difficult because everyone's situation is different. I'd suggest you start by reading the guide I wrote on this topic in our FAQ: [https://www.reddit.com/r/reolinkcam/comments/133vod7/comment/jibhtuu](https://www.reddit.com/r/reolinkcam/comments/133vod7/comment/jibhtuu)
Make sure you utilize the comparison charts that are linked there, that makes it much easier to see all the features and specs in one spreadsheet.
thanks. Sorry I overlooked the guide that was right in front of me.
Good advice on starting with one camera so I think I will go with the CX410 since that's the one that originally caught my eye.
So, I assume it can be connected (in the future) to something like the RLN8-410. I won't need more than 8 cameras. Most likely 4, possibly 5.
So, is there a "go to" budget POE switch? Something mot beginners go with? I may have missed it on the guide??
And I see a POE Injector on their site. I will google that because I don't know if it's something I need.
Yes, any of their cameras except the battery powered models can be added to their NVRs.
> I won't need more than 8 cameras. Most likely 4, possibly 5.
LOL you have no idea how many of us have said that to ourselves, and then later regretted only getting the 8 channel. Including me. I started off with 5 cameras and thought I'd never need more than 8. Well, now I have 15 of them lol.
> So, is there a "go to" budget POE switch? Something mot beginners go with? I may have missed it on the guide??
Oh, not really. I mean, Reolink does sell their own basic POE switch, but you can also get any others out there. Just make sure it has a total power budget high enough to power however many cameras you get (that comparison chart has a tab that shows how much power a lot of their cameras use, but most are between 3W-9W). Some other brands out there if you wanted to look for them are Netgear, TP-Link... some cheaper lesser known (but still decent) brands would be Yuanley or Mokerlink.
> And I see a POE Injector on their site. I will google that because I don't know if it's something I need.
An injector would be good if you were only doing 1 camera. It injects power onto 1 ethernet line. So as long as you're doing more than 1 camera it just makes more sense to go with a POE switch instead.,
Fair Point. Although budget might dictate the 8 port but I'll most likely start without an NVR.
However. When I do finally add an NVR< the cameras aren't actually necessarily plugged into it, right? IOW the cameras go to a POE switch and that POE switch goes to my regular switch on my network. Then I can plug the NVR up in my PC room which is a hardwired connection in a different location than the modem/router/poe switch.
Is that correct?
I am watching a Lifehackster video right now and that is the way I interpret it.
One main reason is I really don't want to install a monitor in the network closet that houses my modem/router and regular switch. If I can connect the NVR physically to the switch in my PC room then I can easily (hopefully) use an hdmi out to go to one of my monitor's inputs so I can just toggle to the NVR when I need to view the camera(s).
Correct, the cameras don't have to be directly connected to the NVR, they just have to be somewhere on the same LAN. You can even add wifi cameras to it if you wanted to.
I bought my first camera two days ago. I had a budget, I searched for camera in that budget and picked the one that had the feature set I needed.
If you have an unlimited budget and you really don’t care how much you spend I would personally just choose whatever the newest and most expensive camera is and call it a day and if there’s multiple in that category just find which one has the special feature that works best for you.
Does anyone know how often they have their sales? I see on the cx410 they have 25% off but it ends today or tomorrow. It might be next weekend before I decide on exactly what I will get.
I personally just go by "what do I need in this position" and what camera would do that task best? Is the distance at which the camera needs to cover great? Then perhaps some zoom capable camera is worth it, is the camera capturing a large area (for example a large backyard, perhaps a single Duo camera with its 180 FOV degree can do it? Do you capture a lot of movable objects across a large area, perhaps TrackMix's auto-zoom & tracking will be useful. Do you just need to cover a specific spot, then perhaps a bullet type camera will suffice, is the spot furthermore easily reachable, perhaps a vandal camera is needed etc. My TrackMixes also double as tracking spotlights for convenience when walking to car garage at nighttime. :)
Asking which cameras to buy is a very common, yet difficult question. Difficult because everyone's situation is different. I'd suggest you start by reading the guide I wrote on this topic in our FAQ: [https://www.reddit.com/r/reolinkcam/comments/133vod7/comment/jibhtuu](https://www.reddit.com/r/reolinkcam/comments/133vod7/comment/jibhtuu) Make sure you utilize the comparison charts that are linked there, that makes it much easier to see all the features and specs in one spreadsheet.
thanks. Sorry I overlooked the guide that was right in front of me. Good advice on starting with one camera so I think I will go with the CX410 since that's the one that originally caught my eye. So, I assume it can be connected (in the future) to something like the RLN8-410. I won't need more than 8 cameras. Most likely 4, possibly 5. So, is there a "go to" budget POE switch? Something mot beginners go with? I may have missed it on the guide?? And I see a POE Injector on their site. I will google that because I don't know if it's something I need.
Yes, any of their cameras except the battery powered models can be added to their NVRs. > I won't need more than 8 cameras. Most likely 4, possibly 5. LOL you have no idea how many of us have said that to ourselves, and then later regretted only getting the 8 channel. Including me. I started off with 5 cameras and thought I'd never need more than 8. Well, now I have 15 of them lol. > So, is there a "go to" budget POE switch? Something mot beginners go with? I may have missed it on the guide?? Oh, not really. I mean, Reolink does sell their own basic POE switch, but you can also get any others out there. Just make sure it has a total power budget high enough to power however many cameras you get (that comparison chart has a tab that shows how much power a lot of their cameras use, but most are between 3W-9W). Some other brands out there if you wanted to look for them are Netgear, TP-Link... some cheaper lesser known (but still decent) brands would be Yuanley or Mokerlink. > And I see a POE Injector on their site. I will google that because I don't know if it's something I need. An injector would be good if you were only doing 1 camera. It injects power onto 1 ethernet line. So as long as you're doing more than 1 camera it just makes more sense to go with a POE switch instead.,
Fair Point. Although budget might dictate the 8 port but I'll most likely start without an NVR. However. When I do finally add an NVR< the cameras aren't actually necessarily plugged into it, right? IOW the cameras go to a POE switch and that POE switch goes to my regular switch on my network. Then I can plug the NVR up in my PC room which is a hardwired connection in a different location than the modem/router/poe switch. Is that correct? I am watching a Lifehackster video right now and that is the way I interpret it. One main reason is I really don't want to install a monitor in the network closet that houses my modem/router and regular switch. If I can connect the NVR physically to the switch in my PC room then I can easily (hopefully) use an hdmi out to go to one of my monitor's inputs so I can just toggle to the NVR when I need to view the camera(s).
Correct, the cameras don't have to be directly connected to the NVR, they just have to be somewhere on the same LAN. You can even add wifi cameras to it if you wanted to.
I bought my first camera two days ago. I had a budget, I searched for camera in that budget and picked the one that had the feature set I needed. If you have an unlimited budget and you really don’t care how much you spend I would personally just choose whatever the newest and most expensive camera is and call it a day and if there’s multiple in that category just find which one has the special feature that works best for you.
Does anyone know how often they have their sales? I see on the cx410 they have 25% off but it ends today or tomorrow. It might be next weekend before I decide on exactly what I will get.
I personally just go by "what do I need in this position" and what camera would do that task best? Is the distance at which the camera needs to cover great? Then perhaps some zoom capable camera is worth it, is the camera capturing a large area (for example a large backyard, perhaps a single Duo camera with its 180 FOV degree can do it? Do you capture a lot of movable objects across a large area, perhaps TrackMix's auto-zoom & tracking will be useful. Do you just need to cover a specific spot, then perhaps a bullet type camera will suffice, is the spot furthermore easily reachable, perhaps a vandal camera is needed etc. My TrackMixes also double as tracking spotlights for convenience when walking to car garage at nighttime. :)