63% Off | 43,722 review: Blink Outdoor 4 (newest model), Wireless smart security camera, two-year battery, 1080p HD day and infrared night live view, two-way talk – 6 camera system

5.0 out of 5 stars

Very Good System & Price. Read My Detailed Review

Overall, I’m very happy with the Blink camera system (and I’m not paying for the subscription). One of the reasons I decided to buy into this system was because I didn’t need a subscription for: 1) Live view option, which means, see the live video from the cameras any time I want via the app, from anywhere. 2) Save videos that were triggered by motion to a USB flash drive (memory stick) inside my house (not cloud only and not stored in the camera itself). Keep in mind, most of my comments here will be related to using the system without a subscription, but I’ll comment on the differences where possible. Also, my comments may be a little more technical than most people would like, but for anyone interested, I’m being as detailed as possible 🙂 These comments are relevant as of Feb 2024 (the date I wrote this review).Viewing/Storing Your Videos: During the trial subscription period when I could view my motion-triggered saved videos in the cloud, I noticed the videos load/play quicker than if you’re accessing the videos stored on the USB flash drive in the Sync Module 2. Anyway, not a big deal, but it’s a difference. You need to provide a USB flash drive to plug in to the Sync Module, but those are very cheap these days and a 128GB drive will give you TONS of storage for videos since the file size of the videos is not very big. Also, with the cloud subscription there’s a thumbnail for each video saved, which can be helpful in finding important videos if you’re trying to find one with people in it, rather than a video triggered by a dog. Without a subscription, there’s no thumbnail on the saved videos which you view in your app, and it takes several seconds for them to load/play in your app, but it’s bearable. The nice thing is, if you don’t have a subscription, the videos save to your flash drive/memory stick in the Sync Module 2 immediately after the recording is finished. If you have a subscription, the videos only download to your Sync Module’s USB flash drive once per day, at night (as I understand it).Sync Module 2 & Wireless Signals to Wi-Fi & Cameras: The Sync Module is required for the cameras, but you get one of those if you buy a package, like I did. I bought the bundle that included two Outdoor 4 cameras, one video doorbell and the Sync Module 2. It’s important to know the Sync Module and the cameras have TWO wireless signals. One that needs to connect to your home (or business) 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network and one that is only for use by the Sync Module and cameras and that signal is a ‘Low-Frequency Radio’ (LFR) signal. It does not have 5GHz, but you don’t want that anyway because the 5GHz signal is weaker than 2.4GHz signal. The Sync Module is where you connect a USB flash drive (memory stick) to save your videos if you’re not paying for a subscription (and also for once-daily backups of your videos if you ARE paying for a subscription). PLACEMENT OF THE SYNC MODULE IS IMPORTANT! Remember, it has TWO signals. It needs to be placed in an area that has a good signal to your home/business Wi-Fi AND so that it also has a good signal to all your cameras (if you have them spread out in different areas around your home or outside your home). To give you some perspective, my house is a single-story ranch style house (around 1,700 sq ft) and I have a camera outside on each wall (each wall is brick). I was able to place the Sync Module and my Wi-Fi access point in the center of my house. Even in this central location, I have one camera (the video doorbell, about 38’ away from sync module and Wi-Fi access point) that has only 2 to 3 bars (out of 4) for the Wi-Fi connection but usually 4 bars for the Sync Module connection. Long story short, make sure you place the sync module, your Wi-Fi access point and the cameras so they all connect to each other with as strong a signal as possible for best performance/reliability. It worked out well for my house, especially since I have flexibility on where I can place my sync module and home Wi-Fi access point and the technical knowledge and tools to move it wherever I needed it.Outdoor 4 Camera: The image quality/exposure for these cameras is very good. The nighttime IR (infrared) view is very good also (it will appear like black and white footage). The coverage of the IR light when it’s dark is also very good and has better coverage than I would have expected. I have motion-triggered flood lights outside my house anyway, so if my lights are triggered, the camera may not use IR because it sees enough light (at that point it will record normal video in color just like it does during daylight). I bought 25 ft long third-party USB-C cords with a power supply to use as the power source for my Outdoor 4 cameras so I never have to replace batteries and so I can view live video from the cameras as much as I want and also have the infrared light set to High without impacting battery life, because there are no batteries to worry about :-). I don’t know if it’s different WITH a subscription, but the longest period you can record when the camera is triggered by motion is 60 seconds. For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds, just so you know. Regarding the power, I drilled a hole in the bricks of my house (in the mortar actually) to feed power to my Outdoor 4 cameras. One camera is directly under a soffit, so there’s no danger of rain getting in there where the power cord connects (but the cord I bought is weather sealed anyway, not a normal USB-C cord). The other camera is mounted under a third-party security camera cover to keep the sun from beating down on it all summer (it’s on a south wall) and to keep rain off it, just in case…because again, I decided to power this one by a cord that plugs into the back of the camera instead of using the batteries). The included mount is very nice and flexible. If you mount an Outdoor 4 camera under a white security camera cover like I did, you may need to paint the underside of that cover with flat black paint because at night (in my case) the infrared light reflected off the underside of the cover/shield I’m using over my outdoor 4 camera and that made the video made difficult to see clearly. Daylight videos were unaffected, it was just at night in low light when the IR light was active for video recording that was a problem with that aftermarket cover I bought.Doorbell Camera: For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds. Why, I don’t know. Technical limitations? The Outdoor 4 cameras can record 60 seconds of motion triggered video. The wireless signals for the doorbell camera seem to be a little weaker than the outdoor 4 cameras. One big disappointment is that the video doorbell camera can NOT be powered by your existing doorbell power wire. My old Skybell brand video doorbell CAN be powered by the doorbell wires, so it’s a bummer that Blink can’t do the same. You can connect your existing doorbell wires to trigger your indoor doorbell, so that’s good…but like I said, you can’t use that wire to power the video doorbell. I confirmed this with Blink tech support. I hope they have a new version in the future that is able to be powered solely by the doorbell power wires, but for now, I have to keep batteries in it. The video doorbell device has a weaker infrared (IR) light than the Outdoor 4 cameras and lesser quality video than the Outdoor 4 cameras, but overall, it’s good (especially during daylight hours). The included mount is very nice and easy to install.Motion Triggering of Videos + Privacy: The settings/customization for when motion triggers video recording is very good. You have the option to block out as much of the scene as you need to to prevent unwanted triggering of video recordings, such an area of the scene where tree limbs often blow around or something like that. For privacy, you have the option to block out 2 custom size areas in the scene you select for privacy reasons so that area in the video is grayed out. The selected privacy area does not trigger when motion happens in that privacy section and also, when other sections in the scene that you allow to be seen trigger video, the video that’s recorded has a gray box in the privacy section (all you see is a gray box). That’s pretty powerful and useful, if you need it. Regarding motion triggered video recording in general, I’ve noticed the cameras can accidentally trigger (record) when it’s really misty/foggy outside. If there’s a lot of mist in the air floating by the motion sensor, it can trigger a recording. Just something to keep in mind because you may need to adjust the motion sensitivity and/or ‘disarm’ the cameras for a while until the mist clears because you may be getting lots of unwanted/accidental recordings. I have mine adjusted to the point where the cameras almost never accidentally record unless it’s very misty outside, which isn’t too often where I am.Audio Quality: The microphones on the Outdoor 4 and video doorbell camera pick up sound very well. I can clearly hear anyone speaking. The closer they are, the better of course, but it’s very good. The speaker volume for the cameras is very good as well. It’s plenty loud and if anyone is nearby when you activate the camera and start speaking, they’ll hear it clearly :-)Blink App for Phone: The app you can download on your phone for managing the cameras/sync module is very nice and has plenty of options to configure/customize the cameras (motion settings, video quality, audio settings, check status, etc). The app is where you view your videos, but of course if you’re storing videos on the flash drive connected to the sync module, you can remove that flash drive and plug it in to your computer to see the video files there or make copies of the files for long-term storage…but of course you can also use the app to save a video file to your phone if you want to keep a copy of share it with someone, like the cops :-). I wish they had an app for Windows so I could view the cameras live and see saved videos on the sync module’s flash drive right from my computer, but at this point there’s no PC app. I think there used to be one?…but if there was, there isn’t one now (Feb 2024).Price: I compared the price of this system and what it can do with other systems like Ring, Nest and Skybell and at this time, the price difference is significant, in my opinion. The Blink system (and what it offers even without a subscription) is better than the other systems I checked out.

3,242 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

First impression is great! Seems to work well for our life!

We ordered this pack of 3 Blink Outdoor 4 cameras, and also an original Blink Doorbell. Four days in, and so far our first impressions are really wonderful.Due to previous experiences with WiFi cameras, my husband and I were expecting a long and drawn out setup process. I set up the doorbell and sync module on the Blink app first, and I was impressed with how quickly and easily it set up. With the three cameras, one was going to be easier to install (it didn’t involve a ladder, the other two would) so we tried it first. Yet again, set up and installation were so easy we were surprised and decided to put up the other 2 as well. All together, set up of the camera doorbell, sync module and 3 outdoor cameras took right about an hour. We were throughly impressed! We spent another little bit quickly syncing it to our Alexa devices and learning the features there.Camera quality for the these seems to be good so far. The videos it captures are clear even at night. I have one I’ve left at stock settings for motion sensitivity and such, and the other two get considerably less traffic and seemed to miss things occasionally so I bumped them up a bit. But they aren’t going off for no reason and do seem to pick things up much better.I love the notifications, they’re timely and the cameras always record when they should. I really really appreciate how the app strings together video from all the camera that captured footage during an event. It’s seamless.I plan on purchasing a set of AA lithium rechargeable batteries so I have an extra set for the cams and doorbell, as I do anticipate to need them for the doorbell and one camera as it’s high traffic but I do want to see the traffic.Additionally I like the various features of the app like arming and disarming all cameras, or being able to turn motion off just one or two.I will update this review in a couple of months with how things are going, but so far we are impressed!

26 people found this helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars

I cannot rely on these. Very disappointed so far.

Terribly disappointed so far. Unbelievably disappointed.Cameras were easy to set upI bought an extra sync module so that I could 2 networks, 1 for my house, 1 for a vacant family homeMy wi-fi systems are 300mbps, or better6 month old routersSync module positioned about 10’ from my routers at most.system 1 cameras are both within 30’ of the sync moduleSystem 2 cameras are max 10’ from the sync moduleSystem 1 installed at my house and operates normally for 3 days. There are 3 wireless outdoor cameras and 1 mini camera on this system. All seems okay, except 1 camera will not reliably display live video and will not update thumbnail images, but detects motion and records.Then I go on vacation OVERSEAS, and a second camera at the front door goes offline. Fantastic.Instructions say I just need to cycle power. But I cannot remove and reinstall the batteries here in the USA when I’m in Germany.So this system has 4 cameras: 1 doesn’t open live video feed or update thumbnails, and a second drops offline 1 day after starting a vacation.I install the second system at in-laws house a few days in advance of leaving. This system has only 2 cameras, wireless outdoor gen 4 cameras, and as a precaution I buy and install new batteries.The system is performing normally for a couple days, but when I return home to the USA, camera 2 drops offline. A half-day later it returns online. On day 4, both cameras drop offline. They do not reappear online.During all failures, the sync modules appeared to be connected with a full strength signal. And when the cameras all showed that their batteries were full, and all showed a full strength connection to the sync modules.When I returned home, I was able to remove and replace the batteries in the offline camera, and it has been working normally, so far. The camera with the live video issue was also power cycled, and still not functioning properly.It will be 2 months before I can power cycle the cameras on Germany.At this time, I have no faith in this system.They have dropped connectivity at random, and there is no easy option to troubleshoot remotely.A lot of folks seem to have good systems, and I was impressed at first, setup was easy, settings were pretty good, day and night video was good, motion detection was good.But if they don’t stay connected reliably then they are not good. And mine have not been good.————————————————————————-Update 23 Dec 2023 – Improving my review from 1 Star to 2 StarsTrying to organize this so it’s easy to follow.Home Cameras – Camera 1 – This camera (Outdoor 4) still not reliably responding to Live Video or Thumbnail Update requests, but detecting motion okay, and sending alerts okay, when the system is armed – Camera 2 – This camera (Outdoor 4) fell offline after its 1st 3 days of service, and stayed offline while on vacation. I cycled power when I returned, and it has stayed online for 9 days now. It is sometimes slow to show Live Video or Thumbnails, but has generally responded. – Camera 3 – This camera (Outdoor 4) has worked 100% good, without issue. – Camera 4 – This camera (Mini) has worked 100% good, without issue.In-Law’s Cameras (Overseas)Camera 1 went offline and came back online a day later. Then Camera 2 went offline, then both cameras went offline. I tried to “jiggle the handle” on this system, by removing the cameras and reinstalling them remotely (I know the camera serial numbers) – Camera 1 – This camera got disassociated from the Sync Module, and it’s gone until I can return Overseas and cycle the power again. – Camera 2 – I removed and reinstalled remotely, and this camera has remained online without issue.Don’t know why.Some cameras have been good all the time, some have been unreliable.On a good note, Blink Customer Service reached out to me based on my initial review, and has so far been very responsive.Based on the Customer Service guy’s help, I am improving this review to 2 stars.The cameras still need to be better than this, but Blink seems to be trying, and I appreciate that.————————————————————————-Update 17 Mar 2024 – Reducing my review to 1 Star againDO NOT TRUST THE OUTDOOR WIRELESS CAMERAS TO STAY CONNECTED RELIABLY.5 DAYS INTO A MONTH LONG TRIP AND ONE OF MY CAMERAS GOES OFFLINE.IT HAS DROPPED OFFLINE 2 TIMES IN JANUARY, BUT HAS BEEN OKAY, UNTIL I NEED IT.A SECOND OUTDOOR CAMERA ON MY NETWORK DROPPED OFFLINE AT LEAST 3 TIMES IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, BUT IS CURRENTLY FUNCTIONING.I NOW HAVE 2 BLINK MINI CAMERAS AND THEY HAVE BEEN 100% GOODTHESE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE GREAT WHEN THEY WORK, WHICH IS 95% OF THE TIME, AND THEY WORK AGAIN AS SOON AS I REMOVE AND REINSTALL THE BATTERIES, BUT YA CAN’T JUST RETURN HOME FROM VACATION, RIGHT?!?BECAUSE OF THIS,THE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE FRUSTRATING AND MISERABLE.IT’S TIME FOR BLINK TO REPLACE THESE.

1,065 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

GREAT!

This 5-camera kit is a powerhouse for smart home security. Each Blink Outdoor 4 camera offers crisp 1080p HD video, clear infrared night vision, and a wide field of view, making it easy to monitor your home day and night. The two-year battery life (on AA lithium batteries) means you can set it and forget it—no wires, no constant recharging.What sets it apart is the easy setup and seamless app integration. The Blink Home Monitor app lets you view live feeds, receive motion alerts, and even use two-way talk to communicate in real time. It also includes an adjustable motion detection zone and support for custom privacy zones, so you’re in full control.Weather-resistant and Alexa-compatible, this kit delivers strong value for homeowners looking to boost peace of mind with minimal fuss.

3 people found this helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars

Safety first, be aware of what’s involved overall!

Well, it’s official. I’m a tech idiot. It’s actually more difficult than I thought it’d be to admit that but here I go. I purchased this awesome camera set and an echo dot because I thought that combo would help make my life easier. (You know the thought: I come home after a long day doing this and that and I’d be able to call out: “Alexa, turn off exterior cameras” or something similar!)Unfortunately I had a piece of bad luck because the echo dot wouldn’t stop saying “hello “ to me in amazingly multiple languages! After a few days of this I did what anyone would do and called Amazon for help and found out that there’s a whole ECHO DOT help division! That made me feel better about myself because it told me that lots of folks were having issues. Anyway, after a bit of directions they figured out the thing had a problem and I had to send it back for a replacement. (I know, I’m getting to the part about the cameras! No worries 😉)So! In the meantime I figured I can still use my cameras and I set it all up and place them around the place and I feel like “yeah, safer already!” This is where the problems begin, firstly, the cameras are front heavy and just I don’t think they were meant to be just “placed around the place”. After about an hour or so I started getting “movement notifications and the pictures all showing the counter top or shelf top. They kept falling forward and the cameras seemed to take their movements as “motion detection” and took a picture and sent a notification to me. That’s actually an excellent thing because it means that the system was doing something so that was good. The bad part was that no matter what I tried over a 3 week period, the cameras wouldn’t stay upright. So being a dedicated Amazon Prime believer I called in and imagine my shock that there’s no tech support for this device! I got a phone number and website for BLINK and I had another step along my journey to getting safer… I tried calling Blink, no joy. I got to the site and filled out the form and created an account (which it seems you have to do to send a “help me” request so, yeah, I did that thing too.)Next thing is I get an email from BLINK saying they got my request and someone would contact me “soon”. Argh! I waited a day and finally put a call in to Amazon again because the 30 days return policy is coming up fast and I needed help. I finally got some customer service person and was told that my option is returning the set. I was seriously disappointed 😢 and frustrated and finally decided to give up on my dream of a technology driven home and agreed with the cs. During all this process I’m told I have to PAY TO RETURN THIS BLINK 4 OUTDOOR CAMERA setup but , hey, the really awesome part is that I can CHOOSE any mail out service I want so there’s a bonus…Now, I just got confused as well as frustrated and my immediate, insightful response was “huh?” And worse yet: “ um, what’s going on?” I’m told that the computer the cs is using is showing only 1 return and I have to pay to get it back to them and I have 2 days to do it (remember that 30 day return thing is still ticking away.)Bad luck me because next day is pouring down rain and windy like crazy. Now, I’m in wheels so in order to get to the post office I have to wrap my wheels in a gigantic plastic garbage bag to protect all the electronics and then I have to wrap myself in all my rain gear and got busy making my way to the post office dodging huge puddles and cars hitting those same puddles and swamping me like I’m invisible even though I’ve got lights on and an ugly bright yellow rain poncho going on! LOL 😂 I’m laughing crazy and just soldier on and I got the thing done and got a real good receipt too because I was told I’d get a refund for that. I finally get home, make the call to the call center and am sent an email while we’re talking and I send off a picture of the receipt showing everything about the order and delivery date and everything is the way I was told to do it. The guy on the other end says “ ok, I got the receipt and it’s clear and I’ll call you back in a few days about your reimbursement “!And once again my amazing insightful response system kicks into high gear and I go: “huh?!” Meanwhile, the cs person was asking a bunch of questions about whether I have received other orders and I finally say: “ can’t you see my account?” And he says, no and something about computer issue or some such and I’m still dripping wet and I still have to unwrap my wheelchair and myself and my insightful response system rears it’s head and I say: “whatever dude”. And I hang up feeling pretty good because I have the email.For this product: it easily connected to my existing Blink doorbell setup and I was not too difficult to get it connected to my blink network. Be really careful with what you’re trying to do with this camera set. It’s not made for my kind of setup where you can move the camera around to where you mostly think you need it until you decide on a permanent installation. It’s probably for a setup where you have already decided where to permanently install. It’s front heavy so even though the frame looks boxy and squared it isn’t and if it isn’t permanently installed from the start the cameras will fall forward and it will start notifying your app constantly that there’s motion in your camera view when it’s really just falling forward and it takes a picture of what it sees as it’s falling. The image quality is decent but blurry when the camera is falling forward so that you can’t really make out what you’re seeing unless you manually do a walkabout of the location that you placed the camera. I’m unsure of how to rate the motion detection since it was the thing in motion and it isn’t clear. The inability of the camera to stay up even though it looks as if it should be stable is possibly because the camera probably makes some kind of internal movement during activation of picture taking but again and most importantly I’m NOT a tech genius so I couldn’t figure out why it keeps falling over. It comes with a plastic key for battery installation or changing and some other plastic thing but I couldn’t figure out what the other plastic thing was so that means that I probably needed help and I couldn’t get the help I needed. It didn’t pick up sounds very well. The app I used is the blink app and I’ve used it for years with my doorbell so that app is easy to use and understand but you need to “play with it” to figure out most of the advanced settings. During my attempt to figure out this camera setup and the problems with instability of its outer shell I was offered (during initial setup) to connect to something called “sidewalk” that appears to use the nearby cameras of neighboring other users in your area but I interpreted that as a breach point for camera access so I refused that offer but others might think that is a good thing so you’ll have to decide for yourself when the time comes. Despite the shape of the camera shell it is highly unstable during use if it isn’t used as a permanent installation. Be really aware of this problem otherwise you may believe that it’s useful for moving it from place to place until you determine the best locations and view overlap to get the best protection for your location and application. The cameras have major drawbacks and some plastic parts have no apparent use as they don’t show up in the pictures in the ads or on an existing installation in the ads. The customer service response for my situation was an email saying they got my help request and would contact me soon without any timeline for the response and to date I haven’t heard from Blink as I am writing this. Beware of the return policy that requires you to pay for the return shipping as the size and weight of my return cost $28.00 and change. For my situation there wasn’t any option to return via a Amazon drop point at Whole Foods even though the box is pretty compact and well suited to shipping. Good luck and I hope that this comprehensive review will help someone avoid the pitfalls I’ve experienced with this Blink 4 outdoor camera set and barely responsive customer after care.

29 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Very Good System & Price. Read My Detailed Review

Overall, I’m very happy with the Blink camera system (and I’m not paying for the subscription). One of the reasons I decided to buy into this system was because I didn’t need a subscription for: 1) Live view option, which means, see the live video from the cameras any time I want via the app, from anywhere. 2) Save videos that were triggered by motion to a USB flash drive (memory stick) inside my house (not cloud only and not stored in the camera itself). Keep in mind, most of my comments here will be related to using the system without a subscription, but I’ll comment on the differences where possible. Also, my comments may be a little more technical than most people would like, but for anyone interested, I’m being as detailed as possible 🙂 These comments are relevant as of Feb 2024 (the date I wrote this review).Viewing/Storing Your Videos: During the trial subscription period when I could view my motion-triggered saved videos in the cloud, I noticed the videos load/play quicker than if you’re accessing the videos stored on the USB flash drive in the Sync Module 2. Anyway, not a big deal, but it’s a difference. You need to provide a USB flash drive to plug in to the Sync Module, but those are very cheap these days and a 128GB drive will give you TONS of storage for videos since the file size of the videos is not very big. Also, with the cloud subscription there’s a thumbnail for each video saved, which can be helpful in finding important videos if you’re trying to find one with people in it, rather than a video triggered by a dog. Without a subscription, there’s no thumbnail on the saved videos which you view in your app, and it takes several seconds for them to load/play in your app, but it’s bearable. The nice thing is, if you don’t have a subscription, the videos save to your flash drive/memory stick in the Sync Module 2 immediately after the recording is finished. If you have a subscription, the videos only download to your Sync Module’s USB flash drive once per day, at night (as I understand it).Sync Module 2 & Wireless Signals to Wi-Fi & Cameras: The Sync Module is required for the cameras, but you get one of those if you buy a package, like I did. I bought the bundle that included two Outdoor 4 cameras, one video doorbell and the Sync Module 2. It’s important to know the Sync Module and the cameras have TWO wireless signals. One that needs to connect to your home (or business) 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network and one that is only for use by the Sync Module and cameras and that signal is a ‘Low-Frequency Radio’ (LFR) signal. It does not have 5GHz, but you don’t want that anyway because the 5GHz signal is weaker than 2.4GHz signal. The Sync Module is where you connect a USB flash drive (memory stick) to save your videos if you’re not paying for a subscription (and also for once-daily backups of your videos if you ARE paying for a subscription). PLACEMENT OF THE SYNC MODULE IS IMPORTANT! Remember, it has TWO signals. It needs to be placed in an area that has a good signal to your home/business Wi-Fi AND so that it also has a good signal to all your cameras (if you have them spread out in different areas around your home or outside your home). To give you some perspective, my house is a single-story ranch style house (around 1,700 sq ft) and I have a camera outside on each wall (each wall is brick). I was able to place the Sync Module and my Wi-Fi access point in the center of my house. Even in this central location, I have one camera (the video doorbell, about 38’ away from sync module and Wi-Fi access point) that has only 2 to 3 bars (out of 4) for the Wi-Fi connection but usually 4 bars for the Sync Module connection. Long story short, make sure you place the sync module, your Wi-Fi access point and the cameras so they all connect to each other with as strong a signal as possible for best performance/reliability. It worked out well for my house, especially since I have flexibility on where I can place my sync module and home Wi-Fi access point and the technical knowledge and tools to move it wherever I needed it.Outdoor 4 Camera: The image quality/exposure for these cameras is very good. The nighttime IR (infrared) view is very good also (it will appear like black and white footage). The coverage of the IR light when it’s dark is also very good and has better coverage than I would have expected. I have motion-triggered flood lights outside my house anyway, so if my lights are triggered, the camera may not use IR because it sees enough light (at that point it will record normal video in color just like it does during daylight). I bought 25 ft long third-party USB-C cords with a power supply to use as the power source for my Outdoor 4 cameras so I never have to replace batteries and so I can view live video from the cameras as much as I want and also have the infrared light set to High without impacting battery life, because there are no batteries to worry about :-). I don’t know if it’s different WITH a subscription, but the longest period you can record when the camera is triggered by motion is 60 seconds. For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds, just so you know. Regarding the power, I drilled a hole in the bricks of my house (in the mortar actually) to feed power to my Outdoor 4 cameras. One camera is directly under a soffit, so there’s no danger of rain getting in there where the power cord connects (but the cord I bought is weather sealed anyway, not a normal USB-C cord). The other camera is mounted under a third-party security camera cover to keep the sun from beating down on it all summer (it’s on a south wall) and to keep rain off it, just in case…because again, I decided to power this one by a cord that plugs into the back of the camera instead of using the batteries). The included mount is very nice and flexible. If you mount an Outdoor 4 camera under a white security camera cover like I did, you may need to paint the underside of that cover with flat black paint because at night (in my case) the infrared light reflected off the underside of the cover/shield I’m using over my outdoor 4 camera and that made the video made difficult to see clearly. Daylight videos were unaffected, it was just at night in low light when the IR light was active for video recording that was a problem with that aftermarket cover I bought.Doorbell Camera: For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds. Why, I don’t know. Technical limitations? The Outdoor 4 cameras can record 60 seconds of motion triggered video. The wireless signals for the doorbell camera seem to be a little weaker than the outdoor 4 cameras. One big disappointment is that the video doorbell camera can NOT be powered by your existing doorbell power wire. My old Skybell brand video doorbell CAN be powered by the doorbell wires, so it’s a bummer that Blink can’t do the same. You can connect your existing doorbell wires to trigger your indoor doorbell, so that’s good…but like I said, you can’t use that wire to power the video doorbell. I confirmed this with Blink tech support. I hope they have a new version in the future that is able to be powered solely by the doorbell power wires, but for now, I have to keep batteries in it. The video doorbell device has a weaker infrared (IR) light than the Outdoor 4 cameras and lesser quality video than the Outdoor 4 cameras, but overall, it’s good (especially during daylight hours). The included mount is very nice and easy to install.Motion Triggering of Videos + Privacy: The settings/customization for when motion triggers video recording is very good. You have the option to block out as much of the scene as you need to to prevent unwanted triggering of video recordings, such an area of the scene where tree limbs often blow around or something like that. For privacy, you have the option to block out 2 custom size areas in the scene you select for privacy reasons so that area in the video is grayed out. The selected privacy area does not trigger when motion happens in that privacy section and also, when other sections in the scene that you allow to be seen trigger video, the video that’s recorded has a gray box in the privacy section (all you see is a gray box). That’s pretty powerful and useful, if you need it. Regarding motion triggered video recording in general, I’ve noticed the cameras can accidentally trigger (record) when it’s really misty/foggy outside. If there’s a lot of mist in the air floating by the motion sensor, it can trigger a recording. Just something to keep in mind because you may need to adjust the motion sensitivity and/or ‘disarm’ the cameras for a while until the mist clears because you may be getting lots of unwanted/accidental recordings. I have mine adjusted to the point where the cameras almost never accidentally record unless it’s very misty outside, which isn’t too often where I am.Audio Quality: The microphones on the Outdoor 4 and video doorbell camera pick up sound very well. I can clearly hear anyone speaking. The closer they are, the better of course, but it’s very good. The speaker volume for the cameras is very good as well. It’s plenty loud and if anyone is nearby when you activate the camera and start speaking, they’ll hear it clearly :-)Blink App for Phone: The app you can download on your phone for managing the cameras/sync module is very nice and has plenty of options to configure/customize the cameras (motion settings, video quality, audio settings, check status, etc). The app is where you view your videos, but of course if you’re storing videos on the flash drive connected to the sync module, you can remove that flash drive and plug it in to your computer to see the video files there or make copies of the files for long-term storage…but of course you can also use the app to save a video file to your phone if you want to keep a copy of share it with someone, like the cops :-). I wish they had an app for Windows so I could view the cameras live and see saved videos on the sync module’s flash drive right from my computer, but at this point there’s no PC app. I think there used to be one?…but if there was, there isn’t one now (Feb 2024).Price: I compared the price of this system and what it can do with other systems like Ring, Nest and Skybell and at this time, the price difference is significant, in my opinion. The Blink system (and what it offers even without a subscription) is better than the other systems I checked out.

3,242 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

First impression is great! Seems to work well for our life!

We ordered this pack of 3 Blink Outdoor 4 cameras, and also an original Blink Doorbell. Four days in, and so far our first impressions are really wonderful.Due to previous experiences with WiFi cameras, my husband and I were expecting a long and drawn out setup process. I set up the doorbell and sync module on the Blink app first, and I was impressed with how quickly and easily it set up. With the three cameras, one was going to be easier to install (it didn’t involve a ladder, the other two would) so we tried it first. Yet again, set up and installation were so easy we were surprised and decided to put up the other 2 as well. All together, set up of the camera doorbell, sync module and 3 outdoor cameras took right about an hour. We were throughly impressed! We spent another little bit quickly syncing it to our Alexa devices and learning the features there.Camera quality for the these seems to be good so far. The videos it captures are clear even at night. I have one I’ve left at stock settings for motion sensitivity and such, and the other two get considerably less traffic and seemed to miss things occasionally so I bumped them up a bit. But they aren’t going off for no reason and do seem to pick things up much better.I love the notifications, they’re timely and the cameras always record when they should. I really really appreciate how the app strings together video from all the camera that captured footage during an event. It’s seamless.I plan on purchasing a set of AA lithium rechargeable batteries so I have an extra set for the cams and doorbell, as I do anticipate to need them for the doorbell and one camera as it’s high traffic but I do want to see the traffic.Additionally I like the various features of the app like arming and disarming all cameras, or being able to turn motion off just one or two.I will update this review in a couple of months with how things are going, but so far we are impressed!

26 people found this helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars

I cannot rely on these. Very disappointed so far.

Terribly disappointed so far. Unbelievably disappointed.Cameras were easy to set upI bought an extra sync module so that I could 2 networks, 1 for my house, 1 for a vacant family homeMy wi-fi systems are 300mbps, or better6 month old routersSync module positioned about 10’ from my routers at most.system 1 cameras are both within 30’ of the sync moduleSystem 2 cameras are max 10’ from the sync moduleSystem 1 installed at my house and operates normally for 3 days. There are 3 wireless outdoor cameras and 1 mini camera on this system. All seems okay, except 1 camera will not reliably display live video and will not update thumbnail images, but detects motion and records.Then I go on vacation OVERSEAS, and a second camera at the front door goes offline. Fantastic.Instructions say I just need to cycle power. But I cannot remove and reinstall the batteries here in the USA when I’m in Germany.So this system has 4 cameras: 1 doesn’t open live video feed or update thumbnails, and a second drops offline 1 day after starting a vacation.I install the second system at in-laws house a few days in advance of leaving. This system has only 2 cameras, wireless outdoor gen 4 cameras, and as a precaution I buy and install new batteries.The system is performing normally for a couple days, but when I return home to the USA, camera 2 drops offline. A half-day later it returns online. On day 4, both cameras drop offline. They do not reappear online.During all failures, the sync modules appeared to be connected with a full strength signal. And when the cameras all showed that their batteries were full, and all showed a full strength connection to the sync modules.When I returned home, I was able to remove and replace the batteries in the offline camera, and it has been working normally, so far. The camera with the live video issue was also power cycled, and still not functioning properly.It will be 2 months before I can power cycle the cameras on Germany.At this time, I have no faith in this system.They have dropped connectivity at random, and there is no easy option to troubleshoot remotely.A lot of folks seem to have good systems, and I was impressed at first, setup was easy, settings were pretty good, day and night video was good, motion detection was good.But if they don’t stay connected reliably then they are not good. And mine have not been good.————————————————————————-Update 23 Dec 2023 – Improving my review from 1 Star to 2 StarsTrying to organize this so it’s easy to follow.Home Cameras – Camera 1 – This camera (Outdoor 4) still not reliably responding to Live Video or Thumbnail Update requests, but detecting motion okay, and sending alerts okay, when the system is armed – Camera 2 – This camera (Outdoor 4) fell offline after its 1st 3 days of service, and stayed offline while on vacation. I cycled power when I returned, and it has stayed online for 9 days now. It is sometimes slow to show Live Video or Thumbnails, but has generally responded. – Camera 3 – This camera (Outdoor 4) has worked 100% good, without issue. – Camera 4 – This camera (Mini) has worked 100% good, without issue.In-Law’s Cameras (Overseas)Camera 1 went offline and came back online a day later. Then Camera 2 went offline, then both cameras went offline. I tried to “jiggle the handle” on this system, by removing the cameras and reinstalling them remotely (I know the camera serial numbers) – Camera 1 – This camera got disassociated from the Sync Module, and it’s gone until I can return Overseas and cycle the power again. – Camera 2 – I removed and reinstalled remotely, and this camera has remained online without issue.Don’t know why.Some cameras have been good all the time, some have been unreliable.On a good note, Blink Customer Service reached out to me based on my initial review, and has so far been very responsive.Based on the Customer Service guy’s help, I am improving this review to 2 stars.The cameras still need to be better than this, but Blink seems to be trying, and I appreciate that.————————————————————————-Update 17 Mar 2024 – Reducing my review to 1 Star againDO NOT TRUST THE OUTDOOR WIRELESS CAMERAS TO STAY CONNECTED RELIABLY.5 DAYS INTO A MONTH LONG TRIP AND ONE OF MY CAMERAS GOES OFFLINE.IT HAS DROPPED OFFLINE 2 TIMES IN JANUARY, BUT HAS BEEN OKAY, UNTIL I NEED IT.A SECOND OUTDOOR CAMERA ON MY NETWORK DROPPED OFFLINE AT LEAST 3 TIMES IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, BUT IS CURRENTLY FUNCTIONING.I NOW HAVE 2 BLINK MINI CAMERAS AND THEY HAVE BEEN 100% GOODTHESE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE GREAT WHEN THEY WORK, WHICH IS 95% OF THE TIME, AND THEY WORK AGAIN AS SOON AS I REMOVE AND REINSTALL THE BATTERIES, BUT YA CAN’T JUST RETURN HOME FROM VACATION, RIGHT?!?BECAUSE OF THIS,THE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE FRUSTRATING AND MISERABLE.IT’S TIME FOR BLINK TO REPLACE THESE.

1,065 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

GREAT!

This 5-camera kit is a powerhouse for smart home security. Each Blink Outdoor 4 camera offers crisp 1080p HD video, clear infrared night vision, and a wide field of view, making it easy to monitor your home day and night. The two-year battery life (on AA lithium batteries) means you can set it and forget it—no wires, no constant recharging.What sets it apart is the easy setup and seamless app integration. The Blink Home Monitor app lets you view live feeds, receive motion alerts, and even use two-way talk to communicate in real time. It also includes an adjustable motion detection zone and support for custom privacy zones, so you’re in full control.Weather-resistant and Alexa-compatible, this kit delivers strong value for homeowners looking to boost peace of mind with minimal fuss.

3 people found this helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars

Safety first, be aware of what’s involved overall!

Well, it’s official. I’m a tech idiot. It’s actually more difficult than I thought it’d be to admit that but here I go. I purchased this awesome camera set and an echo dot because I thought that combo would help make my life easier. (You know the thought: I come home after a long day doing this and that and I’d be able to call out: “Alexa, turn off exterior cameras” or something similar!)Unfortunately I had a piece of bad luck because the echo dot wouldn’t stop saying “hello “ to me in amazingly multiple languages! After a few days of this I did what anyone would do and called Amazon for help and found out that there’s a whole ECHO DOT help division! That made me feel better about myself because it told me that lots of folks were having issues. Anyway, after a bit of directions they figured out the thing had a problem and I had to send it back for a replacement. (I know, I’m getting to the part about the cameras! No worries 😉)So! In the meantime I figured I can still use my cameras and I set it all up and place them around the place and I feel like “yeah, safer already!” This is where the problems begin, firstly, the cameras are front heavy and just I don’t think they were meant to be just “placed around the place”. After about an hour or so I started getting “movement notifications and the pictures all showing the counter top or shelf top. They kept falling forward and the cameras seemed to take their movements as “motion detection” and took a picture and sent a notification to me. That’s actually an excellent thing because it means that the system was doing something so that was good. The bad part was that no matter what I tried over a 3 week period, the cameras wouldn’t stay upright. So being a dedicated Amazon Prime believer I called in and imagine my shock that there’s no tech support for this device! I got a phone number and website for BLINK and I had another step along my journey to getting safer… I tried calling Blink, no joy. I got to the site and filled out the form and created an account (which it seems you have to do to send a “help me” request so, yeah, I did that thing too.)Next thing is I get an email from BLINK saying they got my request and someone would contact me “soon”. Argh! I waited a day and finally put a call in to Amazon again because the 30 days return policy is coming up fast and I needed help. I finally got some customer service person and was told that my option is returning the set. I was seriously disappointed 😢 and frustrated and finally decided to give up on my dream of a technology driven home and agreed with the cs. During all this process I’m told I have to PAY TO RETURN THIS BLINK 4 OUTDOOR CAMERA setup but , hey, the really awesome part is that I can CHOOSE any mail out service I want so there’s a bonus…Now, I just got confused as well as frustrated and my immediate, insightful response was “huh?” And worse yet: “ um, what’s going on?” I’m told that the computer the cs is using is showing only 1 return and I have to pay to get it back to them and I have 2 days to do it (remember that 30 day return thing is still ticking away.)Bad luck me because next day is pouring down rain and windy like crazy. Now, I’m in wheels so in order to get to the post office I have to wrap my wheels in a gigantic plastic garbage bag to protect all the electronics and then I have to wrap myself in all my rain gear and got busy making my way to the post office dodging huge puddles and cars hitting those same puddles and swamping me like I’m invisible even though I’ve got lights on and an ugly bright yellow rain poncho going on! LOL 😂 I’m laughing crazy and just soldier on and I got the thing done and got a real good receipt too because I was told I’d get a refund for that. I finally get home, make the call to the call center and am sent an email while we’re talking and I send off a picture of the receipt showing everything about the order and delivery date and everything is the way I was told to do it. The guy on the other end says “ ok, I got the receipt and it’s clear and I’ll call you back in a few days about your reimbursement “!And once again my amazing insightful response system kicks into high gear and I go: “huh?!” Meanwhile, the cs person was asking a bunch of questions about whether I have received other orders and I finally say: “ can’t you see my account?” And he says, no and something about computer issue or some such and I’m still dripping wet and I still have to unwrap my wheelchair and myself and my insightful response system rears it’s head and I say: “whatever dude”. And I hang up feeling pretty good because I have the email.For this product: it easily connected to my existing Blink doorbell setup and I was not too difficult to get it connected to my blink network. Be really careful with what you’re trying to do with this camera set. It’s not made for my kind of setup where you can move the camera around to where you mostly think you need it until you decide on a permanent installation. It’s probably for a setup where you have already decided where to permanently install. It’s front heavy so even though the frame looks boxy and squared it isn’t and if it isn’t permanently installed from the start the cameras will fall forward and it will start notifying your app constantly that there’s motion in your camera view when it’s really just falling forward and it takes a picture of what it sees as it’s falling. The image quality is decent but blurry when the camera is falling forward so that you can’t really make out what you’re seeing unless you manually do a walkabout of the location that you placed the camera. I’m unsure of how to rate the motion detection since it was the thing in motion and it isn’t clear. The inability of the camera to stay up even though it looks as if it should be stable is possibly because the camera probably makes some kind of internal movement during activation of picture taking but again and most importantly I’m NOT a tech genius so I couldn’t figure out why it keeps falling over. It comes with a plastic key for battery installation or changing and some other plastic thing but I couldn’t figure out what the other plastic thing was so that means that I probably needed help and I couldn’t get the help I needed. It didn’t pick up sounds very well. The app I used is the blink app and I’ve used it for years with my doorbell so that app is easy to use and understand but you need to “play with it” to figure out most of the advanced settings. During my attempt to figure out this camera setup and the problems with instability of its outer shell I was offered (during initial setup) to connect to something called “sidewalk” that appears to use the nearby cameras of neighboring other users in your area but I interpreted that as a breach point for camera access so I refused that offer but others might think that is a good thing so you’ll have to decide for yourself when the time comes. Despite the shape of the camera shell it is highly unstable during use if it isn’t used as a permanent installation. Be really aware of this problem otherwise you may believe that it’s useful for moving it from place to place until you determine the best locations and view overlap to get the best protection for your location and application. The cameras have major drawbacks and some plastic parts have no apparent use as they don’t show up in the pictures in the ads or on an existing installation in the ads. The customer service response for my situation was an email saying they got my help request and would contact me soon without any timeline for the response and to date I haven’t heard from Blink as I am writing this. Beware of the return policy that requires you to pay for the return shipping as the size and weight of my return cost $28.00 and change. For my situation there wasn’t any option to return via a Amazon drop point at Whole Foods even though the box is pretty compact and well suited to shipping. Good luck and I hope that this comprehensive review will help someone avoid the pitfalls I’ve experienced with this Blink 4 outdoor camera set and barely responsive customer after care.

29 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Very Good System & Price. Read My Detailed Review

Overall, I’m very happy with the Blink camera system (and I’m not paying for the subscription). One of the reasons I decided to buy into this system was because I didn’t need a subscription for: 1) Live view option, which means, see the live video from the cameras any time I want via the app, from anywhere. 2) Save videos that were triggered by motion to a USB flash drive (memory stick) inside my house (not cloud only and not stored in the camera itself). Keep in mind, most of my comments here will be related to using the system without a subscription, but I’ll comment on the differences where possible. Also, my comments may be a little more technical than most people would like, but for anyone interested, I’m being as detailed as possible 🙂 These comments are relevant as of Feb 2024 (the date I wrote this review).Viewing/Storing Your Videos: During the trial subscription period when I could view my motion-triggered saved videos in the cloud, I noticed the videos load/play quicker than if you’re accessing the videos stored on the USB flash drive in the Sync Module 2. Anyway, not a big deal, but it’s a difference. You need to provide a USB flash drive to plug in to the Sync Module, but those are very cheap these days and a 128GB drive will give you TONS of storage for videos since the file size of the videos is not very big. Also, with the cloud subscription there’s a thumbnail for each video saved, which can be helpful in finding important videos if you’re trying to find one with people in it, rather than a video triggered by a dog. Without a subscription, there’s no thumbnail on the saved videos which you view in your app, and it takes several seconds for them to load/play in your app, but it’s bearable. The nice thing is, if you don’t have a subscription, the videos save to your flash drive/memory stick in the Sync Module 2 immediately after the recording is finished. If you have a subscription, the videos only download to your Sync Module’s USB flash drive once per day, at night (as I understand it).Sync Module 2 & Wireless Signals to Wi-Fi & Cameras: The Sync Module is required for the cameras, but you get one of those if you buy a package, like I did. I bought the bundle that included two Outdoor 4 cameras, one video doorbell and the Sync Module 2. It’s important to know the Sync Module and the cameras have TWO wireless signals. One that needs to connect to your home (or business) 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network and one that is only for use by the Sync Module and cameras and that signal is a ‘Low-Frequency Radio’ (LFR) signal. It does not have 5GHz, but you don’t want that anyway because the 5GHz signal is weaker than 2.4GHz signal. The Sync Module is where you connect a USB flash drive (memory stick) to save your videos if you’re not paying for a subscription (and also for once-daily backups of your videos if you ARE paying for a subscription). PLACEMENT OF THE SYNC MODULE IS IMPORTANT! Remember, it has TWO signals. It needs to be placed in an area that has a good signal to your home/business Wi-Fi AND so that it also has a good signal to all your cameras (if you have them spread out in different areas around your home or outside your home). To give you some perspective, my house is a single-story ranch style house (around 1,700 sq ft) and I have a camera outside on each wall (each wall is brick). I was able to place the Sync Module and my Wi-Fi access point in the center of my house. Even in this central location, I have one camera (the video doorbell, about 38’ away from sync module and Wi-Fi access point) that has only 2 to 3 bars (out of 4) for the Wi-Fi connection but usually 4 bars for the Sync Module connection. Long story short, make sure you place the sync module, your Wi-Fi access point and the cameras so they all connect to each other with as strong a signal as possible for best performance/reliability. It worked out well for my house, especially since I have flexibility on where I can place my sync module and home Wi-Fi access point and the technical knowledge and tools to move it wherever I needed it.Outdoor 4 Camera: The image quality/exposure for these cameras is very good. The nighttime IR (infrared) view is very good also (it will appear like black and white footage). The coverage of the IR light when it’s dark is also very good and has better coverage than I would have expected. I have motion-triggered flood lights outside my house anyway, so if my lights are triggered, the camera may not use IR because it sees enough light (at that point it will record normal video in color just like it does during daylight). I bought 25 ft long third-party USB-C cords with a power supply to use as the power source for my Outdoor 4 cameras so I never have to replace batteries and so I can view live video from the cameras as much as I want and also have the infrared light set to High without impacting battery life, because there are no batteries to worry about :-). I don’t know if it’s different WITH a subscription, but the longest period you can record when the camera is triggered by motion is 60 seconds. For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds, just so you know. Regarding the power, I drilled a hole in the bricks of my house (in the mortar actually) to feed power to my Outdoor 4 cameras. One camera is directly under a soffit, so there’s no danger of rain getting in there where the power cord connects (but the cord I bought is weather sealed anyway, not a normal USB-C cord). The other camera is mounted under a third-party security camera cover to keep the sun from beating down on it all summer (it’s on a south wall) and to keep rain off it, just in case…because again, I decided to power this one by a cord that plugs into the back of the camera instead of using the batteries). The included mount is very nice and flexible. If you mount an Outdoor 4 camera under a white security camera cover like I did, you may need to paint the underside of that cover with flat black paint because at night (in my case) the infrared light reflected off the underside of the cover/shield I’m using over my outdoor 4 camera and that made the video made difficult to see clearly. Daylight videos were unaffected, it was just at night in low light when the IR light was active for video recording that was a problem with that aftermarket cover I bought.Doorbell Camera: For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds. Why, I don’t know. Technical limitations? The Outdoor 4 cameras can record 60 seconds of motion triggered video. The wireless signals for the doorbell camera seem to be a little weaker than the outdoor 4 cameras. One big disappointment is that the video doorbell camera can NOT be powered by your existing doorbell power wire. My old Skybell brand video doorbell CAN be powered by the doorbell wires, so it’s a bummer that Blink can’t do the same. You can connect your existing doorbell wires to trigger your indoor doorbell, so that’s good…but like I said, you can’t use that wire to power the video doorbell. I confirmed this with Blink tech support. I hope they have a new version in the future that is able to be powered solely by the doorbell power wires, but for now, I have to keep batteries in it. The video doorbell device has a weaker infrared (IR) light than the Outdoor 4 cameras and lesser quality video than the Outdoor 4 cameras, but overall, it’s good (especially during daylight hours). The included mount is very nice and easy to install.Motion Triggering of Videos + Privacy: The settings/customization for when motion triggers video recording is very good. You have the option to block out as much of the scene as you need to to prevent unwanted triggering of video recordings, such an area of the scene where tree limbs often blow around or something like that. For privacy, you have the option to block out 2 custom size areas in the scene you select for privacy reasons so that area in the video is grayed out. The selected privacy area does not trigger when motion happens in that privacy section and also, when other sections in the scene that you allow to be seen trigger video, the video that’s recorded has a gray box in the privacy section (all you see is a gray box). That’s pretty powerful and useful, if you need it. Regarding motion triggered video recording in general, I’ve noticed the cameras can accidentally trigger (record) when it’s really misty/foggy outside. If there’s a lot of mist in the air floating by the motion sensor, it can trigger a recording. Just something to keep in mind because you may need to adjust the motion sensitivity and/or ‘disarm’ the cameras for a while until the mist clears because you may be getting lots of unwanted/accidental recordings. I have mine adjusted to the point where the cameras almost never accidentally record unless it’s very misty outside, which isn’t too often where I am.Audio Quality: The microphones on the Outdoor 4 and video doorbell camera pick up sound very well. I can clearly hear anyone speaking. The closer they are, the better of course, but it’s very good. The speaker volume for the cameras is very good as well. It’s plenty loud and if anyone is nearby when you activate the camera and start speaking, they’ll hear it clearly :-)Blink App for Phone: The app you can download on your phone for managing the cameras/sync module is very nice and has plenty of options to configure/customize the cameras (motion settings, video quality, audio settings, check status, etc). The app is where you view your videos, but of course if you’re storing videos on the flash drive connected to the sync module, you can remove that flash drive and plug it in to your computer to see the video files there or make copies of the files for long-term storage…but of course you can also use the app to save a video file to your phone if you want to keep a copy of share it with someone, like the cops :-). I wish they had an app for Windows so I could view the cameras live and see saved videos on the sync module’s flash drive right from my computer, but at this point there’s no PC app. I think there used to be one?…but if there was, there isn’t one now (Feb 2024).Price: I compared the price of this system and what it can do with other systems like Ring, Nest and Skybell and at this time, the price difference is significant, in my opinion. The Blink system (and what it offers even without a subscription) is better than the other systems I checked out.

3,242 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

First impression is great! Seems to work well for our life!

We ordered this pack of 3 Blink Outdoor 4 cameras, and also an original Blink Doorbell. Four days in, and so far our first impressions are really wonderful.Due to previous experiences with WiFi cameras, my husband and I were expecting a long and drawn out setup process. I set up the doorbell and sync module on the Blink app first, and I was impressed with how quickly and easily it set up. With the three cameras, one was going to be easier to install (it didn’t involve a ladder, the other two would) so we tried it first. Yet again, set up and installation were so easy we were surprised and decided to put up the other 2 as well. All together, set up of the camera doorbell, sync module and 3 outdoor cameras took right about an hour. We were throughly impressed! We spent another little bit quickly syncing it to our Alexa devices and learning the features there.Camera quality for the these seems to be good so far. The videos it captures are clear even at night. I have one I’ve left at stock settings for motion sensitivity and such, and the other two get considerably less traffic and seemed to miss things occasionally so I bumped them up a bit. But they aren’t going off for no reason and do seem to pick things up much better.I love the notifications, they’re timely and the cameras always record when they should. I really really appreciate how the app strings together video from all the camera that captured footage during an event. It’s seamless.I plan on purchasing a set of AA lithium rechargeable batteries so I have an extra set for the cams and doorbell, as I do anticipate to need them for the doorbell and one camera as it’s high traffic but I do want to see the traffic.Additionally I like the various features of the app like arming and disarming all cameras, or being able to turn motion off just one or two.I will update this review in a couple of months with how things are going, but so far we are impressed!

26 people found this helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars

I cannot rely on these. Very disappointed so far.

Terribly disappointed so far. Unbelievably disappointed.Cameras were easy to set upI bought an extra sync module so that I could 2 networks, 1 for my house, 1 for a vacant family homeMy wi-fi systems are 300mbps, or better6 month old routersSync module positioned about 10’ from my routers at most.system 1 cameras are both within 30’ of the sync moduleSystem 2 cameras are max 10’ from the sync moduleSystem 1 installed at my house and operates normally for 3 days. There are 3 wireless outdoor cameras and 1 mini camera on this system. All seems okay, except 1 camera will not reliably display live video and will not update thumbnail images, but detects motion and records.Then I go on vacation OVERSEAS, and a second camera at the front door goes offline. Fantastic.Instructions say I just need to cycle power. But I cannot remove and reinstall the batteries here in the USA when I’m in Germany.So this system has 4 cameras: 1 doesn’t open live video feed or update thumbnails, and a second drops offline 1 day after starting a vacation.I install the second system at in-laws house a few days in advance of leaving. This system has only 2 cameras, wireless outdoor gen 4 cameras, and as a precaution I buy and install new batteries.The system is performing normally for a couple days, but when I return home to the USA, camera 2 drops offline. A half-day later it returns online. On day 4, both cameras drop offline. They do not reappear online.During all failures, the sync modules appeared to be connected with a full strength signal. And when the cameras all showed that their batteries were full, and all showed a full strength connection to the sync modules.When I returned home, I was able to remove and replace the batteries in the offline camera, and it has been working normally, so far. The camera with the live video issue was also power cycled, and still not functioning properly.It will be 2 months before I can power cycle the cameras on Germany.At this time, I have no faith in this system.They have dropped connectivity at random, and there is no easy option to troubleshoot remotely.A lot of folks seem to have good systems, and I was impressed at first, setup was easy, settings were pretty good, day and night video was good, motion detection was good.But if they don’t stay connected reliably then they are not good. And mine have not been good.————————————————————————-Update 23 Dec 2023 – Improving my review from 1 Star to 2 StarsTrying to organize this so it’s easy to follow.Home Cameras – Camera 1 – This camera (Outdoor 4) still not reliably responding to Live Video or Thumbnail Update requests, but detecting motion okay, and sending alerts okay, when the system is armed – Camera 2 – This camera (Outdoor 4) fell offline after its 1st 3 days of service, and stayed offline while on vacation. I cycled power when I returned, and it has stayed online for 9 days now. It is sometimes slow to show Live Video or Thumbnails, but has generally responded. – Camera 3 – This camera (Outdoor 4) has worked 100% good, without issue. – Camera 4 – This camera (Mini) has worked 100% good, without issue.In-Law’s Cameras (Overseas)Camera 1 went offline and came back online a day later. Then Camera 2 went offline, then both cameras went offline. I tried to “jiggle the handle” on this system, by removing the cameras and reinstalling them remotely (I know the camera serial numbers) – Camera 1 – This camera got disassociated from the Sync Module, and it’s gone until I can return Overseas and cycle the power again. – Camera 2 – I removed and reinstalled remotely, and this camera has remained online without issue.Don’t know why.Some cameras have been good all the time, some have been unreliable.On a good note, Blink Customer Service reached out to me based on my initial review, and has so far been very responsive.Based on the Customer Service guy’s help, I am improving this review to 2 stars.The cameras still need to be better than this, but Blink seems to be trying, and I appreciate that.————————————————————————-Update 17 Mar 2024 – Reducing my review to 1 Star againDO NOT TRUST THE OUTDOOR WIRELESS CAMERAS TO STAY CONNECTED RELIABLY.5 DAYS INTO A MONTH LONG TRIP AND ONE OF MY CAMERAS GOES OFFLINE.IT HAS DROPPED OFFLINE 2 TIMES IN JANUARY, BUT HAS BEEN OKAY, UNTIL I NEED IT.A SECOND OUTDOOR CAMERA ON MY NETWORK DROPPED OFFLINE AT LEAST 3 TIMES IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, BUT IS CURRENTLY FUNCTIONING.I NOW HAVE 2 BLINK MINI CAMERAS AND THEY HAVE BEEN 100% GOODTHESE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE GREAT WHEN THEY WORK, WHICH IS 95% OF THE TIME, AND THEY WORK AGAIN AS SOON AS I REMOVE AND REINSTALL THE BATTERIES, BUT YA CAN’T JUST RETURN HOME FROM VACATION, RIGHT?!?BECAUSE OF THIS,THE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE FRUSTRATING AND MISERABLE.IT’S TIME FOR BLINK TO REPLACE THESE.

1,065 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

GREAT!

This 5-camera kit is a powerhouse for smart home security. Each Blink Outdoor 4 camera offers crisp 1080p HD video, clear infrared night vision, and a wide field of view, making it easy to monitor your home day and night. The two-year battery life (on AA lithium batteries) means you can set it and forget it—no wires, no constant recharging.What sets it apart is the easy setup and seamless app integration. The Blink Home Monitor app lets you view live feeds, receive motion alerts, and even use two-way talk to communicate in real time. It also includes an adjustable motion detection zone and support for custom privacy zones, so you’re in full control.Weather-resistant and Alexa-compatible, this kit delivers strong value for homeowners looking to boost peace of mind with minimal fuss.

3 people found this helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars

Safety first, be aware of what’s involved overall!

Well, it’s official. I’m a tech idiot. It’s actually more difficult than I thought it’d be to admit that but here I go. I purchased this awesome camera set and an echo dot because I thought that combo would help make my life easier. (You know the thought: I come home after a long day doing this and that and I’d be able to call out: “Alexa, turn off exterior cameras” or something similar!)Unfortunately I had a piece of bad luck because the echo dot wouldn’t stop saying “hello “ to me in amazingly multiple languages! After a few days of this I did what anyone would do and called Amazon for help and found out that there’s a whole ECHO DOT help division! That made me feel better about myself because it told me that lots of folks were having issues. Anyway, after a bit of directions they figured out the thing had a problem and I had to send it back for a replacement. (I know, I’m getting to the part about the cameras! No worries 😉)So! In the meantime I figured I can still use my cameras and I set it all up and place them around the place and I feel like “yeah, safer already!” This is where the problems begin, firstly, the cameras are front heavy and just I don’t think they were meant to be just “placed around the place”. After about an hour or so I started getting “movement notifications and the pictures all showing the counter top or shelf top. They kept falling forward and the cameras seemed to take their movements as “motion detection” and took a picture and sent a notification to me. That’s actually an excellent thing because it means that the system was doing something so that was good. The bad part was that no matter what I tried over a 3 week period, the cameras wouldn’t stay upright. So being a dedicated Amazon Prime believer I called in and imagine my shock that there’s no tech support for this device! I got a phone number and website for BLINK and I had another step along my journey to getting safer… I tried calling Blink, no joy. I got to the site and filled out the form and created an account (which it seems you have to do to send a “help me” request so, yeah, I did that thing too.)Next thing is I get an email from BLINK saying they got my request and someone would contact me “soon”. Argh! I waited a day and finally put a call in to Amazon again because the 30 days return policy is coming up fast and I needed help. I finally got some customer service person and was told that my option is returning the set. I was seriously disappointed 😢 and frustrated and finally decided to give up on my dream of a technology driven home and agreed with the cs. During all this process I’m told I have to PAY TO RETURN THIS BLINK 4 OUTDOOR CAMERA setup but , hey, the really awesome part is that I can CHOOSE any mail out service I want so there’s a bonus…Now, I just got confused as well as frustrated and my immediate, insightful response was “huh?” And worse yet: “ um, what’s going on?” I’m told that the computer the cs is using is showing only 1 return and I have to pay to get it back to them and I have 2 days to do it (remember that 30 day return thing is still ticking away.)Bad luck me because next day is pouring down rain and windy like crazy. Now, I’m in wheels so in order to get to the post office I have to wrap my wheels in a gigantic plastic garbage bag to protect all the electronics and then I have to wrap myself in all my rain gear and got busy making my way to the post office dodging huge puddles and cars hitting those same puddles and swamping me like I’m invisible even though I’ve got lights on and an ugly bright yellow rain poncho going on! LOL 😂 I’m laughing crazy and just soldier on and I got the thing done and got a real good receipt too because I was told I’d get a refund for that. I finally get home, make the call to the call center and am sent an email while we’re talking and I send off a picture of the receipt showing everything about the order and delivery date and everything is the way I was told to do it. The guy on the other end says “ ok, I got the receipt and it’s clear and I’ll call you back in a few days about your reimbursement “!And once again my amazing insightful response system kicks into high gear and I go: “huh?!” Meanwhile, the cs person was asking a bunch of questions about whether I have received other orders and I finally say: “ can’t you see my account?” And he says, no and something about computer issue or some such and I’m still dripping wet and I still have to unwrap my wheelchair and myself and my insightful response system rears it’s head and I say: “whatever dude”. And I hang up feeling pretty good because I have the email.For this product: it easily connected to my existing Blink doorbell setup and I was not too difficult to get it connected to my blink network. Be really careful with what you’re trying to do with this camera set. It’s not made for my kind of setup where you can move the camera around to where you mostly think you need it until you decide on a permanent installation. It’s probably for a setup where you have already decided where to permanently install. It’s front heavy so even though the frame looks boxy and squared it isn’t and if it isn’t permanently installed from the start the cameras will fall forward and it will start notifying your app constantly that there’s motion in your camera view when it’s really just falling forward and it takes a picture of what it sees as it’s falling. The image quality is decent but blurry when the camera is falling forward so that you can’t really make out what you’re seeing unless you manually do a walkabout of the location that you placed the camera. I’m unsure of how to rate the motion detection since it was the thing in motion and it isn’t clear. The inability of the camera to stay up even though it looks as if it should be stable is possibly because the camera probably makes some kind of internal movement during activation of picture taking but again and most importantly I’m NOT a tech genius so I couldn’t figure out why it keeps falling over. It comes with a plastic key for battery installation or changing and some other plastic thing but I couldn’t figure out what the other plastic thing was so that means that I probably needed help and I couldn’t get the help I needed. It didn’t pick up sounds very well. The app I used is the blink app and I’ve used it for years with my doorbell so that app is easy to use and understand but you need to “play with it” to figure out most of the advanced settings. During my attempt to figure out this camera setup and the problems with instability of its outer shell I was offered (during initial setup) to connect to something called “sidewalk” that appears to use the nearby cameras of neighboring other users in your area but I interpreted that as a breach point for camera access so I refused that offer but others might think that is a good thing so you’ll have to decide for yourself when the time comes. Despite the shape of the camera shell it is highly unstable during use if it isn’t used as a permanent installation. Be really aware of this problem otherwise you may believe that it’s useful for moving it from place to place until you determine the best locations and view overlap to get the best protection for your location and application. The cameras have major drawbacks and some plastic parts have no apparent use as they don’t show up in the pictures in the ads or on an existing installation in the ads. The customer service response for my situation was an email saying they got my help request and would contact me soon without any timeline for the response and to date I haven’t heard from Blink as I am writing this. Beware of the return policy that requires you to pay for the return shipping as the size and weight of my return cost $28.00 and change. For my situation there wasn’t any option to return via a Amazon drop point at Whole Foods even though the box is pretty compact and well suited to shipping. Good luck and I hope that this comprehensive review will help someone avoid the pitfalls I’ve experienced with this Blink 4 outdoor camera set and barely responsive customer after care.

29 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Very Good System & Price. Read My Detailed Review

Overall, I’m very happy with the Blink camera system (and I’m not paying for the subscription). One of the reasons I decided to buy into this system was because I didn’t need a subscription for: 1) Live view option, which means, see the live video from the cameras any time I want via the app, from anywhere. 2) Save videos that were triggered by motion to a USB flash drive (memory stick) inside my house (not cloud only and not stored in the camera itself). Keep in mind, most of my comments here will be related to using the system without a subscription, but I’ll comment on the differences where possible. Also, my comments may be a little more technical than most people would like, but for anyone interested, I’m being as detailed as possible 🙂 These comments are relevant as of Feb 2024 (the date I wrote this review).Viewing/Storing Your Videos: During the trial subscription period when I could view my motion-triggered saved videos in the cloud, I noticed the videos load/play quicker than if you’re accessing the videos stored on the USB flash drive in the Sync Module 2. Anyway, not a big deal, but it’s a difference. You need to provide a USB flash drive to plug in to the Sync Module, but those are very cheap these days and a 128GB drive will give you TONS of storage for videos since the file size of the videos is not very big. Also, with the cloud subscription there’s a thumbnail for each video saved, which can be helpful in finding important videos if you’re trying to find one with people in it, rather than a video triggered by a dog. Without a subscription, there’s no thumbnail on the saved videos which you view in your app, and it takes several seconds for them to load/play in your app, but it’s bearable. The nice thing is, if you don’t have a subscription, the videos save to your flash drive/memory stick in the Sync Module 2 immediately after the recording is finished. If you have a subscription, the videos only download to your Sync Module’s USB flash drive once per day, at night (as I understand it).Sync Module 2 & Wireless Signals to Wi-Fi & Cameras: The Sync Module is required for the cameras, but you get one of those if you buy a package, like I did. I bought the bundle that included two Outdoor 4 cameras, one video doorbell and the Sync Module 2. It’s important to know the Sync Module and the cameras have TWO wireless signals. One that needs to connect to your home (or business) 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network and one that is only for use by the Sync Module and cameras and that signal is a ‘Low-Frequency Radio’ (LFR) signal. It does not have 5GHz, but you don’t want that anyway because the 5GHz signal is weaker than 2.4GHz signal. The Sync Module is where you connect a USB flash drive (memory stick) to save your videos if you’re not paying for a subscription (and also for once-daily backups of your videos if you ARE paying for a subscription). PLACEMENT OF THE SYNC MODULE IS IMPORTANT! Remember, it has TWO signals. It needs to be placed in an area that has a good signal to your home/business Wi-Fi AND so that it also has a good signal to all your cameras (if you have them spread out in different areas around your home or outside your home). To give you some perspective, my house is a single-story ranch style house (around 1,700 sq ft) and I have a camera outside on each wall (each wall is brick). I was able to place the Sync Module and my Wi-Fi access point in the center of my house. Even in this central location, I have one camera (the video doorbell, about 38’ away from sync module and Wi-Fi access point) that has only 2 to 3 bars (out of 4) for the Wi-Fi connection but usually 4 bars for the Sync Module connection. Long story short, make sure you place the sync module, your Wi-Fi access point and the cameras so they all connect to each other with as strong a signal as possible for best performance/reliability. It worked out well for my house, especially since I have flexibility on where I can place my sync module and home Wi-Fi access point and the technical knowledge and tools to move it wherever I needed it.Outdoor 4 Camera: The image quality/exposure for these cameras is very good. The nighttime IR (infrared) view is very good also (it will appear like black and white footage). The coverage of the IR light when it’s dark is also very good and has better coverage than I would have expected. I have motion-triggered flood lights outside my house anyway, so if my lights are triggered, the camera may not use IR because it sees enough light (at that point it will record normal video in color just like it does during daylight). I bought 25 ft long third-party USB-C cords with a power supply to use as the power source for my Outdoor 4 cameras so I never have to replace batteries and so I can view live video from the cameras as much as I want and also have the infrared light set to High without impacting battery life, because there are no batteries to worry about :-). I don’t know if it’s different WITH a subscription, but the longest period you can record when the camera is triggered by motion is 60 seconds. For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds, just so you know. Regarding the power, I drilled a hole in the bricks of my house (in the mortar actually) to feed power to my Outdoor 4 cameras. One camera is directly under a soffit, so there’s no danger of rain getting in there where the power cord connects (but the cord I bought is weather sealed anyway, not a normal USB-C cord). The other camera is mounted under a third-party security camera cover to keep the sun from beating down on it all summer (it’s on a south wall) and to keep rain off it, just in case…because again, I decided to power this one by a cord that plugs into the back of the camera instead of using the batteries). The included mount is very nice and flexible. If you mount an Outdoor 4 camera under a white security camera cover like I did, you may need to paint the underside of that cover with flat black paint because at night (in my case) the infrared light reflected off the underside of the cover/shield I’m using over my outdoor 4 camera and that made the video made difficult to see clearly. Daylight videos were unaffected, it was just at night in low light when the IR light was active for video recording that was a problem with that aftermarket cover I bought.Doorbell Camera: For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds. Why, I don’t know. Technical limitations? The Outdoor 4 cameras can record 60 seconds of motion triggered video. The wireless signals for the doorbell camera seem to be a little weaker than the outdoor 4 cameras. One big disappointment is that the video doorbell camera can NOT be powered by your existing doorbell power wire. My old Skybell brand video doorbell CAN be powered by the doorbell wires, so it’s a bummer that Blink can’t do the same. You can connect your existing doorbell wires to trigger your indoor doorbell, so that’s good…but like I said, you can’t use that wire to power the video doorbell. I confirmed this with Blink tech support. I hope they have a new version in the future that is able to be powered solely by the doorbell power wires, but for now, I have to keep batteries in it. The video doorbell device has a weaker infrared (IR) light than the Outdoor 4 cameras and lesser quality video than the Outdoor 4 cameras, but overall, it’s good (especially during daylight hours). The included mount is very nice and easy to install.Motion Triggering of Videos + Privacy: The settings/customization for when motion triggers video recording is very good. You have the option to block out as much of the scene as you need to to prevent unwanted triggering of video recordings, such an area of the scene where tree limbs often blow around or something like that. For privacy, you have the option to block out 2 custom size areas in the scene you select for privacy reasons so that area in the video is grayed out. The selected privacy area does not trigger when motion happens in that privacy section and also, when other sections in the scene that you allow to be seen trigger video, the video that’s recorded has a gray box in the privacy section (all you see is a gray box). That’s pretty powerful and useful, if you need it. Regarding motion triggered video recording in general, I’ve noticed the cameras can accidentally trigger (record) when it’s really misty/foggy outside. If there’s a lot of mist in the air floating by the motion sensor, it can trigger a recording. Just something to keep in mind because you may need to adjust the motion sensitivity and/or ‘disarm’ the cameras for a while until the mist clears because you may be getting lots of unwanted/accidental recordings. I have mine adjusted to the point where the cameras almost never accidentally record unless it’s very misty outside, which isn’t too often where I am.Audio Quality: The microphones on the Outdoor 4 and video doorbell camera pick up sound very well. I can clearly hear anyone speaking. The closer they are, the better of course, but it’s very good. The speaker volume for the cameras is very good as well. It’s plenty loud and if anyone is nearby when you activate the camera and start speaking, they’ll hear it clearly :-)Blink App for Phone: The app you can download on your phone for managing the cameras/sync module is very nice and has plenty of options to configure/customize the cameras (motion settings, video quality, audio settings, check status, etc). The app is where you view your videos, but of course if you’re storing videos on the flash drive connected to the sync module, you can remove that flash drive and plug it in to your computer to see the video files there or make copies of the files for long-term storage…but of course you can also use the app to save a video file to your phone if you want to keep a copy of share it with someone, like the cops :-). I wish they had an app for Windows so I could view the cameras live and see saved videos on the sync module’s flash drive right from my computer, but at this point there’s no PC app. I think there used to be one?…but if there was, there isn’t one now (Feb 2024).Price: I compared the price of this system and what it can do with other systems like Ring, Nest and Skybell and at this time, the price difference is significant, in my opinion. The Blink system (and what it offers even without a subscription) is better than the other systems I checked out.

3,242 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

First impression is great! Seems to work well for our life!

We ordered this pack of 3 Blink Outdoor 4 cameras, and also an original Blink Doorbell. Four days in, and so far our first impressions are really wonderful.Due to previous experiences with WiFi cameras, my husband and I were expecting a long and drawn out setup process. I set up the doorbell and sync module on the Blink app first, and I was impressed with how quickly and easily it set up. With the three cameras, one was going to be easier to install (it didn’t involve a ladder, the other two would) so we tried it first. Yet again, set up and installation were so easy we were surprised and decided to put up the other 2 as well. All together, set up of the camera doorbell, sync module and 3 outdoor cameras took right about an hour. We were throughly impressed! We spent another little bit quickly syncing it to our Alexa devices and learning the features there.Camera quality for the these seems to be good so far. The videos it captures are clear even at night. I have one I’ve left at stock settings for motion sensitivity and such, and the other two get considerably less traffic and seemed to miss things occasionally so I bumped them up a bit. But they aren’t going off for no reason and do seem to pick things up much better.I love the notifications, they’re timely and the cameras always record when they should. I really really appreciate how the app strings together video from all the camera that captured footage during an event. It’s seamless.I plan on purchasing a set of AA lithium rechargeable batteries so I have an extra set for the cams and doorbell, as I do anticipate to need them for the doorbell and one camera as it’s high traffic but I do want to see the traffic.Additionally I like the various features of the app like arming and disarming all cameras, or being able to turn motion off just one or two.I will update this review in a couple of months with how things are going, but so far we are impressed!

26 people found this helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars

I cannot rely on these. Very disappointed so far.

Terribly disappointed so far. Unbelievably disappointed.Cameras were easy to set upI bought an extra sync module so that I could 2 networks, 1 for my house, 1 for a vacant family homeMy wi-fi systems are 300mbps, or better6 month old routersSync module positioned about 10’ from my routers at most.system 1 cameras are both within 30’ of the sync moduleSystem 2 cameras are max 10’ from the sync moduleSystem 1 installed at my house and operates normally for 3 days. There are 3 wireless outdoor cameras and 1 mini camera on this system. All seems okay, except 1 camera will not reliably display live video and will not update thumbnail images, but detects motion and records.Then I go on vacation OVERSEAS, and a second camera at the front door goes offline. Fantastic.Instructions say I just need to cycle power. But I cannot remove and reinstall the batteries here in the USA when I’m in Germany.So this system has 4 cameras: 1 doesn’t open live video feed or update thumbnails, and a second drops offline 1 day after starting a vacation.I install the second system at in-laws house a few days in advance of leaving. This system has only 2 cameras, wireless outdoor gen 4 cameras, and as a precaution I buy and install new batteries.The system is performing normally for a couple days, but when I return home to the USA, camera 2 drops offline. A half-day later it returns online. On day 4, both cameras drop offline. They do not reappear online.During all failures, the sync modules appeared to be connected with a full strength signal. And when the cameras all showed that their batteries were full, and all showed a full strength connection to the sync modules.When I returned home, I was able to remove and replace the batteries in the offline camera, and it has been working normally, so far. The camera with the live video issue was also power cycled, and still not functioning properly.It will be 2 months before I can power cycle the cameras on Germany.At this time, I have no faith in this system.They have dropped connectivity at random, and there is no easy option to troubleshoot remotely.A lot of folks seem to have good systems, and I was impressed at first, setup was easy, settings were pretty good, day and night video was good, motion detection was good.But if they don’t stay connected reliably then they are not good. And mine have not been good.————————————————————————-Update 23 Dec 2023 – Improving my review from 1 Star to 2 StarsTrying to organize this so it’s easy to follow.Home Cameras – Camera 1 – This camera (Outdoor 4) still not reliably responding to Live Video or Thumbnail Update requests, but detecting motion okay, and sending alerts okay, when the system is armed – Camera 2 – This camera (Outdoor 4) fell offline after its 1st 3 days of service, and stayed offline while on vacation. I cycled power when I returned, and it has stayed online for 9 days now. It is sometimes slow to show Live Video or Thumbnails, but has generally responded. – Camera 3 – This camera (Outdoor 4) has worked 100% good, without issue. – Camera 4 – This camera (Mini) has worked 100% good, without issue.In-Law’s Cameras (Overseas)Camera 1 went offline and came back online a day later. Then Camera 2 went offline, then both cameras went offline. I tried to “jiggle the handle” on this system, by removing the cameras and reinstalling them remotely (I know the camera serial numbers) – Camera 1 – This camera got disassociated from the Sync Module, and it’s gone until I can return Overseas and cycle the power again. – Camera 2 – I removed and reinstalled remotely, and this camera has remained online without issue.Don’t know why.Some cameras have been good all the time, some have been unreliable.On a good note, Blink Customer Service reached out to me based on my initial review, and has so far been very responsive.Based on the Customer Service guy’s help, I am improving this review to 2 stars.The cameras still need to be better than this, but Blink seems to be trying, and I appreciate that.————————————————————————-Update 17 Mar 2024 – Reducing my review to 1 Star againDO NOT TRUST THE OUTDOOR WIRELESS CAMERAS TO STAY CONNECTED RELIABLY.5 DAYS INTO A MONTH LONG TRIP AND ONE OF MY CAMERAS GOES OFFLINE.IT HAS DROPPED OFFLINE 2 TIMES IN JANUARY, BUT HAS BEEN OKAY, UNTIL I NEED IT.A SECOND OUTDOOR CAMERA ON MY NETWORK DROPPED OFFLINE AT LEAST 3 TIMES IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, BUT IS CURRENTLY FUNCTIONING.I NOW HAVE 2 BLINK MINI CAMERAS AND THEY HAVE BEEN 100% GOODTHESE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE GREAT WHEN THEY WORK, WHICH IS 95% OF THE TIME, AND THEY WORK AGAIN AS SOON AS I REMOVE AND REINSTALL THE BATTERIES, BUT YA CAN’T JUST RETURN HOME FROM VACATION, RIGHT?!?BECAUSE OF THIS,THE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE FRUSTRATING AND MISERABLE.IT’S TIME FOR BLINK TO REPLACE THESE.

1,065 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

GREAT!

This 5-camera kit is a powerhouse for smart home security. Each Blink Outdoor 4 camera offers crisp 1080p HD video, clear infrared night vision, and a wide field of view, making it easy to monitor your home day and night. The two-year battery life (on AA lithium batteries) means you can set it and forget it—no wires, no constant recharging.What sets it apart is the easy setup and seamless app integration. The Blink Home Monitor app lets you view live feeds, receive motion alerts, and even use two-way talk to communicate in real time. It also includes an adjustable motion detection zone and support for custom privacy zones, so you’re in full control.Weather-resistant and Alexa-compatible, this kit delivers strong value for homeowners looking to boost peace of mind with minimal fuss.

3 people found this helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars

Safety first, be aware of what’s involved overall!

Well, it’s official. I’m a tech idiot. It’s actually more difficult than I thought it’d be to admit that but here I go. I purchased this awesome camera set and an echo dot because I thought that combo would help make my life easier. (You know the thought: I come home after a long day doing this and that and I’d be able to call out: “Alexa, turn off exterior cameras” or something similar!)Unfortunately I had a piece of bad luck because the echo dot wouldn’t stop saying “hello “ to me in amazingly multiple languages! After a few days of this I did what anyone would do and called Amazon for help and found out that there’s a whole ECHO DOT help division! That made me feel better about myself because it told me that lots of folks were having issues. Anyway, after a bit of directions they figured out the thing had a problem and I had to send it back for a replacement. (I know, I’m getting to the part about the cameras! No worries 😉)So! In the meantime I figured I can still use my cameras and I set it all up and place them around the place and I feel like “yeah, safer already!” This is where the problems begin, firstly, the cameras are front heavy and just I don’t think they were meant to be just “placed around the place”. After about an hour or so I started getting “movement notifications and the pictures all showing the counter top or shelf top. They kept falling forward and the cameras seemed to take their movements as “motion detection” and took a picture and sent a notification to me. That’s actually an excellent thing because it means that the system was doing something so that was good. The bad part was that no matter what I tried over a 3 week period, the cameras wouldn’t stay upright. So being a dedicated Amazon Prime believer I called in and imagine my shock that there’s no tech support for this device! I got a phone number and website for BLINK and I had another step along my journey to getting safer… I tried calling Blink, no joy. I got to the site and filled out the form and created an account (which it seems you have to do to send a “help me” request so, yeah, I did that thing too.)Next thing is I get an email from BLINK saying they got my request and someone would contact me “soon”. Argh! I waited a day and finally put a call in to Amazon again because the 30 days return policy is coming up fast and I needed help. I finally got some customer service person and was told that my option is returning the set. I was seriously disappointed 😢 and frustrated and finally decided to give up on my dream of a technology driven home and agreed with the cs. During all this process I’m told I have to PAY TO RETURN THIS BLINK 4 OUTDOOR CAMERA setup but , hey, the really awesome part is that I can CHOOSE any mail out service I want so there’s a bonus…Now, I just got confused as well as frustrated and my immediate, insightful response was “huh?” And worse yet: “ um, what’s going on?” I’m told that the computer the cs is using is showing only 1 return and I have to pay to get it back to them and I have 2 days to do it (remember that 30 day return thing is still ticking away.)Bad luck me because next day is pouring down rain and windy like crazy. Now, I’m in wheels so in order to get to the post office I have to wrap my wheels in a gigantic plastic garbage bag to protect all the electronics and then I have to wrap myself in all my rain gear and got busy making my way to the post office dodging huge puddles and cars hitting those same puddles and swamping me like I’m invisible even though I’ve got lights on and an ugly bright yellow rain poncho going on! LOL 😂 I’m laughing crazy and just soldier on and I got the thing done and got a real good receipt too because I was told I’d get a refund for that. I finally get home, make the call to the call center and am sent an email while we’re talking and I send off a picture of the receipt showing everything about the order and delivery date and everything is the way I was told to do it. The guy on the other end says “ ok, I got the receipt and it’s clear and I’ll call you back in a few days about your reimbursement “!And once again my amazing insightful response system kicks into high gear and I go: “huh?!” Meanwhile, the cs person was asking a bunch of questions about whether I have received other orders and I finally say: “ can’t you see my account?” And he says, no and something about computer issue or some such and I’m still dripping wet and I still have to unwrap my wheelchair and myself and my insightful response system rears it’s head and I say: “whatever dude”. And I hang up feeling pretty good because I have the email.For this product: it easily connected to my existing Blink doorbell setup and I was not too difficult to get it connected to my blink network. Be really careful with what you’re trying to do with this camera set. It’s not made for my kind of setup where you can move the camera around to where you mostly think you need it until you decide on a permanent installation. It’s probably for a setup where you have already decided where to permanently install. It’s front heavy so even though the frame looks boxy and squared it isn’t and if it isn’t permanently installed from the start the cameras will fall forward and it will start notifying your app constantly that there’s motion in your camera view when it’s really just falling forward and it takes a picture of what it sees as it’s falling. The image quality is decent but blurry when the camera is falling forward so that you can’t really make out what you’re seeing unless you manually do a walkabout of the location that you placed the camera. I’m unsure of how to rate the motion detection since it was the thing in motion and it isn’t clear. The inability of the camera to stay up even though it looks as if it should be stable is possibly because the camera probably makes some kind of internal movement during activation of picture taking but again and most importantly I’m NOT a tech genius so I couldn’t figure out why it keeps falling over. It comes with a plastic key for battery installation or changing and some other plastic thing but I couldn’t figure out what the other plastic thing was so that means that I probably needed help and I couldn’t get the help I needed. It didn’t pick up sounds very well. The app I used is the blink app and I’ve used it for years with my doorbell so that app is easy to use and understand but you need to “play with it” to figure out most of the advanced settings. During my attempt to figure out this camera setup and the problems with instability of its outer shell I was offered (during initial setup) to connect to something called “sidewalk” that appears to use the nearby cameras of neighboring other users in your area but I interpreted that as a breach point for camera access so I refused that offer but others might think that is a good thing so you’ll have to decide for yourself when the time comes. Despite the shape of the camera shell it is highly unstable during use if it isn’t used as a permanent installation. Be really aware of this problem otherwise you may believe that it’s useful for moving it from place to place until you determine the best locations and view overlap to get the best protection for your location and application. The cameras have major drawbacks and some plastic parts have no apparent use as they don’t show up in the pictures in the ads or on an existing installation in the ads. The customer service response for my situation was an email saying they got my help request and would contact me soon without any timeline for the response and to date I haven’t heard from Blink as I am writing this. Beware of the return policy that requires you to pay for the return shipping as the size and weight of my return cost $28.00 and change. For my situation there wasn’t any option to return via a Amazon drop point at Whole Foods even though the box is pretty compact and well suited to shipping. Good luck and I hope that this comprehensive review will help someone avoid the pitfalls I’ve experienced with this Blink 4 outdoor camera set and barely responsive customer after care.

29 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Very Good System & Price. Read My Detailed Review

Overall, I’m very happy with the Blink camera system (and I’m not paying for the subscription). One of the reasons I decided to buy into this system was because I didn’t need a subscription for: 1) Live view option, which means, see the live video from the cameras any time I want via the app, from anywhere. 2) Save videos that were triggered by motion to a USB flash drive (memory stick) inside my house (not cloud only and not stored in the camera itself). Keep in mind, most of my comments here will be related to using the system without a subscription, but I’ll comment on the differences where possible. Also, my comments may be a little more technical than most people would like, but for anyone interested, I’m being as detailed as possible 🙂 These comments are relevant as of Feb 2024 (the date I wrote this review).Viewing/Storing Your Videos: During the trial subscription period when I could view my motion-triggered saved videos in the cloud, I noticed the videos load/play quicker than if you’re accessing the videos stored on the USB flash drive in the Sync Module 2. Anyway, not a big deal, but it’s a difference. You need to provide a USB flash drive to plug in to the Sync Module, but those are very cheap these days and a 128GB drive will give you TONS of storage for videos since the file size of the videos is not very big. Also, with the cloud subscription there’s a thumbnail for each video saved, which can be helpful in finding important videos if you’re trying to find one with people in it, rather than a video triggered by a dog. Without a subscription, there’s no thumbnail on the saved videos which you view in your app, and it takes several seconds for them to load/play in your app, but it’s bearable. The nice thing is, if you don’t have a subscription, the videos save to your flash drive/memory stick in the Sync Module 2 immediately after the recording is finished. If you have a subscription, the videos only download to your Sync Module’s USB flash drive once per day, at night (as I understand it).Sync Module 2 & Wireless Signals to Wi-Fi & Cameras: The Sync Module is required for the cameras, but you get one of those if you buy a package, like I did. I bought the bundle that included two Outdoor 4 cameras, one video doorbell and the Sync Module 2. It’s important to know the Sync Module and the cameras have TWO wireless signals. One that needs to connect to your home (or business) 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network and one that is only for use by the Sync Module and cameras and that signal is a ‘Low-Frequency Radio’ (LFR) signal. It does not have 5GHz, but you don’t want that anyway because the 5GHz signal is weaker than 2.4GHz signal. The Sync Module is where you connect a USB flash drive (memory stick) to save your videos if you’re not paying for a subscription (and also for once-daily backups of your videos if you ARE paying for a subscription). PLACEMENT OF THE SYNC MODULE IS IMPORTANT! Remember, it has TWO signals. It needs to be placed in an area that has a good signal to your home/business Wi-Fi AND so that it also has a good signal to all your cameras (if you have them spread out in different areas around your home or outside your home). To give you some perspective, my house is a single-story ranch style house (around 1,700 sq ft) and I have a camera outside on each wall (each wall is brick). I was able to place the Sync Module and my Wi-Fi access point in the center of my house. Even in this central location, I have one camera (the video doorbell, about 38’ away from sync module and Wi-Fi access point) that has only 2 to 3 bars (out of 4) for the Wi-Fi connection but usually 4 bars for the Sync Module connection. Long story short, make sure you place the sync module, your Wi-Fi access point and the cameras so they all connect to each other with as strong a signal as possible for best performance/reliability. It worked out well for my house, especially since I have flexibility on where I can place my sync module and home Wi-Fi access point and the technical knowledge and tools to move it wherever I needed it.Outdoor 4 Camera: The image quality/exposure for these cameras is very good. The nighttime IR (infrared) view is very good also (it will appear like black and white footage). The coverage of the IR light when it’s dark is also very good and has better coverage than I would have expected. I have motion-triggered flood lights outside my house anyway, so if my lights are triggered, the camera may not use IR because it sees enough light (at that point it will record normal video in color just like it does during daylight). I bought 25 ft long third-party USB-C cords with a power supply to use as the power source for my Outdoor 4 cameras so I never have to replace batteries and so I can view live video from the cameras as much as I want and also have the infrared light set to High without impacting battery life, because there are no batteries to worry about :-). I don’t know if it’s different WITH a subscription, but the longest period you can record when the camera is triggered by motion is 60 seconds. For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds, just so you know. Regarding the power, I drilled a hole in the bricks of my house (in the mortar actually) to feed power to my Outdoor 4 cameras. One camera is directly under a soffit, so there’s no danger of rain getting in there where the power cord connects (but the cord I bought is weather sealed anyway, not a normal USB-C cord). The other camera is mounted under a third-party security camera cover to keep the sun from beating down on it all summer (it’s on a south wall) and to keep rain off it, just in case…because again, I decided to power this one by a cord that plugs into the back of the camera instead of using the batteries). The included mount is very nice and flexible. If you mount an Outdoor 4 camera under a white security camera cover like I did, you may need to paint the underside of that cover with flat black paint because at night (in my case) the infrared light reflected off the underside of the cover/shield I’m using over my outdoor 4 camera and that made the video made difficult to see clearly. Daylight videos were unaffected, it was just at night in low light when the IR light was active for video recording that was a problem with that aftermarket cover I bought.Doorbell Camera: For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds. Why, I don’t know. Technical limitations? The Outdoor 4 cameras can record 60 seconds of motion triggered video. The wireless signals for the doorbell camera seem to be a little weaker than the outdoor 4 cameras. One big disappointment is that the video doorbell camera can NOT be powered by your existing doorbell power wire. My old Skybell brand video doorbell CAN be powered by the doorbell wires, so it’s a bummer that Blink can’t do the same. You can connect your existing doorbell wires to trigger your indoor doorbell, so that’s good…but like I said, you can’t use that wire to power the video doorbell. I confirmed this with Blink tech support. I hope they have a new version in the future that is able to be powered solely by the doorbell power wires, but for now, I have to keep batteries in it. The video doorbell device has a weaker infrared (IR) light than the Outdoor 4 cameras and lesser quality video than the Outdoor 4 cameras, but overall, it’s good (especially during daylight hours). The included mount is very nice and easy to install.Motion Triggering of Videos + Privacy: The settings/customization for when motion triggers video recording is very good. You have the option to block out as much of the scene as you need to to prevent unwanted triggering of video recordings, such an area of the scene where tree limbs often blow around or something like that. For privacy, you have the option to block out 2 custom size areas in the scene you select for privacy reasons so that area in the video is grayed out. The selected privacy area does not trigger when motion happens in that privacy section and also, when other sections in the scene that you allow to be seen trigger video, the video that’s recorded has a gray box in the privacy section (all you see is a gray box). That’s pretty powerful and useful, if you need it. Regarding motion triggered video recording in general, I’ve noticed the cameras can accidentally trigger (record) when it’s really misty/foggy outside. If there’s a lot of mist in the air floating by the motion sensor, it can trigger a recording. Just something to keep in mind because you may need to adjust the motion sensitivity and/or ‘disarm’ the cameras for a while until the mist clears because you may be getting lots of unwanted/accidental recordings. I have mine adjusted to the point where the cameras almost never accidentally record unless it’s very misty outside, which isn’t too often where I am.Audio Quality: The microphones on the Outdoor 4 and video doorbell camera pick up sound very well. I can clearly hear anyone speaking. The closer they are, the better of course, but it’s very good. The speaker volume for the cameras is very good as well. It’s plenty loud and if anyone is nearby when you activate the camera and start speaking, they’ll hear it clearly :-)Blink App for Phone: The app you can download on your phone for managing the cameras/sync module is very nice and has plenty of options to configure/customize the cameras (motion settings, video quality, audio settings, check status, etc). The app is where you view your videos, but of course if you’re storing videos on the flash drive connected to the sync module, you can remove that flash drive and plug it in to your computer to see the video files there or make copies of the files for long-term storage…but of course you can also use the app to save a video file to your phone if you want to keep a copy of share it with someone, like the cops :-). I wish they had an app for Windows so I could view the cameras live and see saved videos on the sync module’s flash drive right from my computer, but at this point there’s no PC app. I think there used to be one?…but if there was, there isn’t one now (Feb 2024).Price: I compared the price of this system and what it can do with other systems like Ring, Nest and Skybell and at this time, the price difference is significant, in my opinion. The Blink system (and what it offers even without a subscription) is better than the other systems I checked out.

3,242 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

First impression is great! Seems to work well for our life!

We ordered this pack of 3 Blink Outdoor 4 cameras, and also an original Blink Doorbell. Four days in, and so far our first impressions are really wonderful.Due to previous experiences with WiFi cameras, my husband and I were expecting a long and drawn out setup process. I set up the doorbell and sync module on the Blink app first, and I was impressed with how quickly and easily it set up. With the three cameras, one was going to be easier to install (it didn’t involve a ladder, the other two would) so we tried it first. Yet again, set up and installation were so easy we were surprised and decided to put up the other 2 as well. All together, set up of the camera doorbell, sync module and 3 outdoor cameras took right about an hour. We were throughly impressed! We spent another little bit quickly syncing it to our Alexa devices and learning the features there.Camera quality for the these seems to be good so far. The videos it captures are clear even at night. I have one I’ve left at stock settings for motion sensitivity and such, and the other two get considerably less traffic and seemed to miss things occasionally so I bumped them up a bit. But they aren’t going off for no reason and do seem to pick things up much better.I love the notifications, they’re timely and the cameras always record when they should. I really really appreciate how the app strings together video from all the camera that captured footage during an event. It’s seamless.I plan on purchasing a set of AA lithium rechargeable batteries so I have an extra set for the cams and doorbell, as I do anticipate to need them for the doorbell and one camera as it’s high traffic but I do want to see the traffic.Additionally I like the various features of the app like arming and disarming all cameras, or being able to turn motion off just one or two.I will update this review in a couple of months with how things are going, but so far we are impressed!

26 people found this helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars

I cannot rely on these. Very disappointed so far.

Terribly disappointed so far. Unbelievably disappointed.Cameras were easy to set upI bought an extra sync module so that I could 2 networks, 1 for my house, 1 for a vacant family homeMy wi-fi systems are 300mbps, or better6 month old routersSync module positioned about 10’ from my routers at most.system 1 cameras are both within 30’ of the sync moduleSystem 2 cameras are max 10’ from the sync moduleSystem 1 installed at my house and operates normally for 3 days. There are 3 wireless outdoor cameras and 1 mini camera on this system. All seems okay, except 1 camera will not reliably display live video and will not update thumbnail images, but detects motion and records.Then I go on vacation OVERSEAS, and a second camera at the front door goes offline. Fantastic.Instructions say I just need to cycle power. But I cannot remove and reinstall the batteries here in the USA when I’m in Germany.So this system has 4 cameras: 1 doesn’t open live video feed or update thumbnails, and a second drops offline 1 day after starting a vacation.I install the second system at in-laws house a few days in advance of leaving. This system has only 2 cameras, wireless outdoor gen 4 cameras, and as a precaution I buy and install new batteries.The system is performing normally for a couple days, but when I return home to the USA, camera 2 drops offline. A half-day later it returns online. On day 4, both cameras drop offline. They do not reappear online.During all failures, the sync modules appeared to be connected with a full strength signal. And when the cameras all showed that their batteries were full, and all showed a full strength connection to the sync modules.When I returned home, I was able to remove and replace the batteries in the offline camera, and it has been working normally, so far. The camera with the live video issue was also power cycled, and still not functioning properly.It will be 2 months before I can power cycle the cameras on Germany.At this time, I have no faith in this system.They have dropped connectivity at random, and there is no easy option to troubleshoot remotely.A lot of folks seem to have good systems, and I was impressed at first, setup was easy, settings were pretty good, day and night video was good, motion detection was good.But if they don’t stay connected reliably then they are not good. And mine have not been good.————————————————————————-Update 23 Dec 2023 – Improving my review from 1 Star to 2 StarsTrying to organize this so it’s easy to follow.Home Cameras – Camera 1 – This camera (Outdoor 4) still not reliably responding to Live Video or Thumbnail Update requests, but detecting motion okay, and sending alerts okay, when the system is armed – Camera 2 – This camera (Outdoor 4) fell offline after its 1st 3 days of service, and stayed offline while on vacation. I cycled power when I returned, and it has stayed online for 9 days now. It is sometimes slow to show Live Video or Thumbnails, but has generally responded. – Camera 3 – This camera (Outdoor 4) has worked 100% good, without issue. – Camera 4 – This camera (Mini) has worked 100% good, without issue.In-Law’s Cameras (Overseas)Camera 1 went offline and came back online a day later. Then Camera 2 went offline, then both cameras went offline. I tried to “jiggle the handle” on this system, by removing the cameras and reinstalling them remotely (I know the camera serial numbers) – Camera 1 – This camera got disassociated from the Sync Module, and it’s gone until I can return Overseas and cycle the power again. – Camera 2 – I removed and reinstalled remotely, and this camera has remained online without issue.Don’t know why.Some cameras have been good all the time, some have been unreliable.On a good note, Blink Customer Service reached out to me based on my initial review, and has so far been very responsive.Based on the Customer Service guy’s help, I am improving this review to 2 stars.The cameras still need to be better than this, but Blink seems to be trying, and I appreciate that.————————————————————————-Update 17 Mar 2024 – Reducing my review to 1 Star againDO NOT TRUST THE OUTDOOR WIRELESS CAMERAS TO STAY CONNECTED RELIABLY.5 DAYS INTO A MONTH LONG TRIP AND ONE OF MY CAMERAS GOES OFFLINE.IT HAS DROPPED OFFLINE 2 TIMES IN JANUARY, BUT HAS BEEN OKAY, UNTIL I NEED IT.A SECOND OUTDOOR CAMERA ON MY NETWORK DROPPED OFFLINE AT LEAST 3 TIMES IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, BUT IS CURRENTLY FUNCTIONING.I NOW HAVE 2 BLINK MINI CAMERAS AND THEY HAVE BEEN 100% GOODTHESE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE GREAT WHEN THEY WORK, WHICH IS 95% OF THE TIME, AND THEY WORK AGAIN AS SOON AS I REMOVE AND REINSTALL THE BATTERIES, BUT YA CAN’T JUST RETURN HOME FROM VACATION, RIGHT?!?BECAUSE OF THIS,THE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE FRUSTRATING AND MISERABLE.IT’S TIME FOR BLINK TO REPLACE THESE.

1,065 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

GREAT!

This 5-camera kit is a powerhouse for smart home security. Each Blink Outdoor 4 camera offers crisp 1080p HD video, clear infrared night vision, and a wide field of view, making it easy to monitor your home day and night. The two-year battery life (on AA lithium batteries) means you can set it and forget it—no wires, no constant recharging.What sets it apart is the easy setup and seamless app integration. The Blink Home Monitor app lets you view live feeds, receive motion alerts, and even use two-way talk to communicate in real time. It also includes an adjustable motion detection zone and support for custom privacy zones, so you’re in full control.Weather-resistant and Alexa-compatible, this kit delivers strong value for homeowners looking to boost peace of mind with minimal fuss.

3 people found this helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars

Safety first, be aware of what’s involved overall!

Well, it’s official. I’m a tech idiot. It’s actually more difficult than I thought it’d be to admit that but here I go. I purchased this awesome camera set and an echo dot because I thought that combo would help make my life easier. (You know the thought: I come home after a long day doing this and that and I’d be able to call out: “Alexa, turn off exterior cameras” or something similar!)Unfortunately I had a piece of bad luck because the echo dot wouldn’t stop saying “hello “ to me in amazingly multiple languages! After a few days of this I did what anyone would do and called Amazon for help and found out that there’s a whole ECHO DOT help division! That made me feel better about myself because it told me that lots of folks were having issues. Anyway, after a bit of directions they figured out the thing had a problem and I had to send it back for a replacement. (I know, I’m getting to the part about the cameras! No worries 😉)So! In the meantime I figured I can still use my cameras and I set it all up and place them around the place and I feel like “yeah, safer already!” This is where the problems begin, firstly, the cameras are front heavy and just I don’t think they were meant to be just “placed around the place”. After about an hour or so I started getting “movement notifications and the pictures all showing the counter top or shelf top. They kept falling forward and the cameras seemed to take their movements as “motion detection” and took a picture and sent a notification to me. That’s actually an excellent thing because it means that the system was doing something so that was good. The bad part was that no matter what I tried over a 3 week period, the cameras wouldn’t stay upright. So being a dedicated Amazon Prime believer I called in and imagine my shock that there’s no tech support for this device! I got a phone number and website for BLINK and I had another step along my journey to getting safer… I tried calling Blink, no joy. I got to the site and filled out the form and created an account (which it seems you have to do to send a “help me” request so, yeah, I did that thing too.)Next thing is I get an email from BLINK saying they got my request and someone would contact me “soon”. Argh! I waited a day and finally put a call in to Amazon again because the 30 days return policy is coming up fast and I needed help. I finally got some customer service person and was told that my option is returning the set. I was seriously disappointed 😢 and frustrated and finally decided to give up on my dream of a technology driven home and agreed with the cs. During all this process I’m told I have to PAY TO RETURN THIS BLINK 4 OUTDOOR CAMERA setup but , hey, the really awesome part is that I can CHOOSE any mail out service I want so there’s a bonus…Now, I just got confused as well as frustrated and my immediate, insightful response was “huh?” And worse yet: “ um, what’s going on?” I’m told that the computer the cs is using is showing only 1 return and I have to pay to get it back to them and I have 2 days to do it (remember that 30 day return thing is still ticking away.)Bad luck me because next day is pouring down rain and windy like crazy. Now, I’m in wheels so in order to get to the post office I have to wrap my wheels in a gigantic plastic garbage bag to protect all the electronics and then I have to wrap myself in all my rain gear and got busy making my way to the post office dodging huge puddles and cars hitting those same puddles and swamping me like I’m invisible even though I’ve got lights on and an ugly bright yellow rain poncho going on! LOL 😂 I’m laughing crazy and just soldier on and I got the thing done and got a real good receipt too because I was told I’d get a refund for that. I finally get home, make the call to the call center and am sent an email while we’re talking and I send off a picture of the receipt showing everything about the order and delivery date and everything is the way I was told to do it. The guy on the other end says “ ok, I got the receipt and it’s clear and I’ll call you back in a few days about your reimbursement “!And once again my amazing insightful response system kicks into high gear and I go: “huh?!” Meanwhile, the cs person was asking a bunch of questions about whether I have received other orders and I finally say: “ can’t you see my account?” And he says, no and something about computer issue or some such and I’m still dripping wet and I still have to unwrap my wheelchair and myself and my insightful response system rears it’s head and I say: “whatever dude”. And I hang up feeling pretty good because I have the email.For this product: it easily connected to my existing Blink doorbell setup and I was not too difficult to get it connected to my blink network. Be really careful with what you’re trying to do with this camera set. It’s not made for my kind of setup where you can move the camera around to where you mostly think you need it until you decide on a permanent installation. It’s probably for a setup where you have already decided where to permanently install. It’s front heavy so even though the frame looks boxy and squared it isn’t and if it isn’t permanently installed from the start the cameras will fall forward and it will start notifying your app constantly that there’s motion in your camera view when it’s really just falling forward and it takes a picture of what it sees as it’s falling. The image quality is decent but blurry when the camera is falling forward so that you can’t really make out what you’re seeing unless you manually do a walkabout of the location that you placed the camera. I’m unsure of how to rate the motion detection since it was the thing in motion and it isn’t clear. The inability of the camera to stay up even though it looks as if it should be stable is possibly because the camera probably makes some kind of internal movement during activation of picture taking but again and most importantly I’m NOT a tech genius so I couldn’t figure out why it keeps falling over. It comes with a plastic key for battery installation or changing and some other plastic thing but I couldn’t figure out what the other plastic thing was so that means that I probably needed help and I couldn’t get the help I needed. It didn’t pick up sounds very well. The app I used is the blink app and I’ve used it for years with my doorbell so that app is easy to use and understand but you need to “play with it” to figure out most of the advanced settings. During my attempt to figure out this camera setup and the problems with instability of its outer shell I was offered (during initial setup) to connect to something called “sidewalk” that appears to use the nearby cameras of neighboring other users in your area but I interpreted that as a breach point for camera access so I refused that offer but others might think that is a good thing so you’ll have to decide for yourself when the time comes. Despite the shape of the camera shell it is highly unstable during use if it isn’t used as a permanent installation. Be really aware of this problem otherwise you may believe that it’s useful for moving it from place to place until you determine the best locations and view overlap to get the best protection for your location and application. The cameras have major drawbacks and some plastic parts have no apparent use as they don’t show up in the pictures in the ads or on an existing installation in the ads. The customer service response for my situation was an email saying they got my help request and would contact me soon without any timeline for the response and to date I haven’t heard from Blink as I am writing this. Beware of the return policy that requires you to pay for the return shipping as the size and weight of my return cost $28.00 and change. For my situation there wasn’t any option to return via a Amazon drop point at Whole Foods even though the box is pretty compact and well suited to shipping. Good luck and I hope that this comprehensive review will help someone avoid the pitfalls I’ve experienced with this Blink 4 outdoor camera set and barely responsive customer after care.

29 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

Very Good System & Price. Read My Detailed Review

Overall, I’m very happy with the Blink camera system (and I’m not paying for the subscription). One of the reasons I decided to buy into this system was because I didn’t need a subscription for: 1) Live view option, which means, see the live video from the cameras any time I want via the app, from anywhere. 2) Save videos that were triggered by motion to a USB flash drive (memory stick) inside my house (not cloud only and not stored in the camera itself). Keep in mind, most of my comments here will be related to using the system without a subscription, but I’ll comment on the differences where possible. Also, my comments may be a little more technical than most people would like, but for anyone interested, I’m being as detailed as possible 🙂 These comments are relevant as of Feb 2024 (the date I wrote this review).Viewing/Storing Your Videos: During the trial subscription period when I could view my motion-triggered saved videos in the cloud, I noticed the videos load/play quicker than if you’re accessing the videos stored on the USB flash drive in the Sync Module 2. Anyway, not a big deal, but it’s a difference. You need to provide a USB flash drive to plug in to the Sync Module, but those are very cheap these days and a 128GB drive will give you TONS of storage for videos since the file size of the videos is not very big. Also, with the cloud subscription there’s a thumbnail for each video saved, which can be helpful in finding important videos if you’re trying to find one with people in it, rather than a video triggered by a dog. Without a subscription, there’s no thumbnail on the saved videos which you view in your app, and it takes several seconds for them to load/play in your app, but it’s bearable. The nice thing is, if you don’t have a subscription, the videos save to your flash drive/memory stick in the Sync Module 2 immediately after the recording is finished. If you have a subscription, the videos only download to your Sync Module’s USB flash drive once per day, at night (as I understand it).Sync Module 2 & Wireless Signals to Wi-Fi & Cameras: The Sync Module is required for the cameras, but you get one of those if you buy a package, like I did. I bought the bundle that included two Outdoor 4 cameras, one video doorbell and the Sync Module 2. It’s important to know the Sync Module and the cameras have TWO wireless signals. One that needs to connect to your home (or business) 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network and one that is only for use by the Sync Module and cameras and that signal is a ‘Low-Frequency Radio’ (LFR) signal. It does not have 5GHz, but you don’t want that anyway because the 5GHz signal is weaker than 2.4GHz signal. The Sync Module is where you connect a USB flash drive (memory stick) to save your videos if you’re not paying for a subscription (and also for once-daily backups of your videos if you ARE paying for a subscription). PLACEMENT OF THE SYNC MODULE IS IMPORTANT! Remember, it has TWO signals. It needs to be placed in an area that has a good signal to your home/business Wi-Fi AND so that it also has a good signal to all your cameras (if you have them spread out in different areas around your home or outside your home). To give you some perspective, my house is a single-story ranch style house (around 1,700 sq ft) and I have a camera outside on each wall (each wall is brick). I was able to place the Sync Module and my Wi-Fi access point in the center of my house. Even in this central location, I have one camera (the video doorbell, about 38’ away from sync module and Wi-Fi access point) that has only 2 to 3 bars (out of 4) for the Wi-Fi connection but usually 4 bars for the Sync Module connection. Long story short, make sure you place the sync module, your Wi-Fi access point and the cameras so they all connect to each other with as strong a signal as possible for best performance/reliability. It worked out well for my house, especially since I have flexibility on where I can place my sync module and home Wi-Fi access point and the technical knowledge and tools to move it wherever I needed it.Outdoor 4 Camera: The image quality/exposure for these cameras is very good. The nighttime IR (infrared) view is very good also (it will appear like black and white footage). The coverage of the IR light when it’s dark is also very good and has better coverage than I would have expected. I have motion-triggered flood lights outside my house anyway, so if my lights are triggered, the camera may not use IR because it sees enough light (at that point it will record normal video in color just like it does during daylight). I bought 25 ft long third-party USB-C cords with a power supply to use as the power source for my Outdoor 4 cameras so I never have to replace batteries and so I can view live video from the cameras as much as I want and also have the infrared light set to High without impacting battery life, because there are no batteries to worry about :-). I don’t know if it’s different WITH a subscription, but the longest period you can record when the camera is triggered by motion is 60 seconds. For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds, just so you know. Regarding the power, I drilled a hole in the bricks of my house (in the mortar actually) to feed power to my Outdoor 4 cameras. One camera is directly under a soffit, so there’s no danger of rain getting in there where the power cord connects (but the cord I bought is weather sealed anyway, not a normal USB-C cord). The other camera is mounted under a third-party security camera cover to keep the sun from beating down on it all summer (it’s on a south wall) and to keep rain off it, just in case…because again, I decided to power this one by a cord that plugs into the back of the camera instead of using the batteries). The included mount is very nice and flexible. If you mount an Outdoor 4 camera under a white security camera cover like I did, you may need to paint the underside of that cover with flat black paint because at night (in my case) the infrared light reflected off the underside of the cover/shield I’m using over my outdoor 4 camera and that made the video made difficult to see clearly. Daylight videos were unaffected, it was just at night in low light when the IR light was active for video recording that was a problem with that aftermarket cover I bought.Doorbell Camera: For the video doorbell the max record time per motion trigger is 30 seconds. Why, I don’t know. Technical limitations? The Outdoor 4 cameras can record 60 seconds of motion triggered video. The wireless signals for the doorbell camera seem to be a little weaker than the outdoor 4 cameras. One big disappointment is that the video doorbell camera can NOT be powered by your existing doorbell power wire. My old Skybell brand video doorbell CAN be powered by the doorbell wires, so it’s a bummer that Blink can’t do the same. You can connect your existing doorbell wires to trigger your indoor doorbell, so that’s good…but like I said, you can’t use that wire to power the video doorbell. I confirmed this with Blink tech support. I hope they have a new version in the future that is able to be powered solely by the doorbell power wires, but for now, I have to keep batteries in it. The video doorbell device has a weaker infrared (IR) light than the Outdoor 4 cameras and lesser quality video than the Outdoor 4 cameras, but overall, it’s good (especially during daylight hours). The included mount is very nice and easy to install.Motion Triggering of Videos + Privacy: The settings/customization for when motion triggers video recording is very good. You have the option to block out as much of the scene as you need to to prevent unwanted triggering of video recordings, such an area of the scene where tree limbs often blow around or something like that. For privacy, you have the option to block out 2 custom size areas in the scene you select for privacy reasons so that area in the video is grayed out. The selected privacy area does not trigger when motion happens in that privacy section and also, when other sections in the scene that you allow to be seen trigger video, the video that’s recorded has a gray box in the privacy section (all you see is a gray box). That’s pretty powerful and useful, if you need it. Regarding motion triggered video recording in general, I’ve noticed the cameras can accidentally trigger (record) when it’s really misty/foggy outside. If there’s a lot of mist in the air floating by the motion sensor, it can trigger a recording. Just something to keep in mind because you may need to adjust the motion sensitivity and/or ‘disarm’ the cameras for a while until the mist clears because you may be getting lots of unwanted/accidental recordings. I have mine adjusted to the point where the cameras almost never accidentally record unless it’s very misty outside, which isn’t too often where I am.Audio Quality: The microphones on the Outdoor 4 and video doorbell camera pick up sound very well. I can clearly hear anyone speaking. The closer they are, the better of course, but it’s very good. The speaker volume for the cameras is very good as well. It’s plenty loud and if anyone is nearby when you activate the camera and start speaking, they’ll hear it clearly :-)Blink App for Phone: The app you can download on your phone for managing the cameras/sync module is very nice and has plenty of options to configure/customize the cameras (motion settings, video quality, audio settings, check status, etc). The app is where you view your videos, but of course if you’re storing videos on the flash drive connected to the sync module, you can remove that flash drive and plug it in to your computer to see the video files there or make copies of the files for long-term storage…but of course you can also use the app to save a video file to your phone if you want to keep a copy of share it with someone, like the cops :-). I wish they had an app for Windows so I could view the cameras live and see saved videos on the sync module’s flash drive right from my computer, but at this point there’s no PC app. I think there used to be one?…but if there was, there isn’t one now (Feb 2024).Price: I compared the price of this system and what it can do with other systems like Ring, Nest and Skybell and at this time, the price difference is significant, in my opinion. The Blink system (and what it offers even without a subscription) is better than the other systems I checked out.

3,242 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

First impression is great! Seems to work well for our life!

We ordered this pack of 3 Blink Outdoor 4 cameras, and also an original Blink Doorbell. Four days in, and so far our first impressions are really wonderful.Due to previous experiences with WiFi cameras, my husband and I were expecting a long and drawn out setup process. I set up the doorbell and sync module on the Blink app first, and I was impressed with how quickly and easily it set up. With the three cameras, one was going to be easier to install (it didn’t involve a ladder, the other two would) so we tried it first. Yet again, set up and installation were so easy we were surprised and decided to put up the other 2 as well. All together, set up of the camera doorbell, sync module and 3 outdoor cameras took right about an hour. We were throughly impressed! We spent another little bit quickly syncing it to our Alexa devices and learning the features there.Camera quality for the these seems to be good so far. The videos it captures are clear even at night. I have one I’ve left at stock settings for motion sensitivity and such, and the other two get considerably less traffic and seemed to miss things occasionally so I bumped them up a bit. But they aren’t going off for no reason and do seem to pick things up much better.I love the notifications, they’re timely and the cameras always record when they should. I really really appreciate how the app strings together video from all the camera that captured footage during an event. It’s seamless.I plan on purchasing a set of AA lithium rechargeable batteries so I have an extra set for the cams and doorbell, as I do anticipate to need them for the doorbell and one camera as it’s high traffic but I do want to see the traffic.Additionally I like the various features of the app like arming and disarming all cameras, or being able to turn motion off just one or two.I will update this review in a couple of months with how things are going, but so far we are impressed!

26 people found this helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars

I cannot rely on these. Very disappointed so far.

Terribly disappointed so far. Unbelievably disappointed.Cameras were easy to set upI bought an extra sync module so that I could 2 networks, 1 for my house, 1 for a vacant family homeMy wi-fi systems are 300mbps, or better6 month old routersSync module positioned about 10’ from my routers at most.system 1 cameras are both within 30’ of the sync moduleSystem 2 cameras are max 10’ from the sync moduleSystem 1 installed at my house and operates normally for 3 days. There are 3 wireless outdoor cameras and 1 mini camera on this system. All seems okay, except 1 camera will not reliably display live video and will not update thumbnail images, but detects motion and records.Then I go on vacation OVERSEAS, and a second camera at the front door goes offline. Fantastic.Instructions say I just need to cycle power. But I cannot remove and reinstall the batteries here in the USA when I’m in Germany.So this system has 4 cameras: 1 doesn’t open live video feed or update thumbnails, and a second drops offline 1 day after starting a vacation.I install the second system at in-laws house a few days in advance of leaving. This system has only 2 cameras, wireless outdoor gen 4 cameras, and as a precaution I buy and install new batteries.The system is performing normally for a couple days, but when I return home to the USA, camera 2 drops offline. A half-day later it returns online. On day 4, both cameras drop offline. They do not reappear online.During all failures, the sync modules appeared to be connected with a full strength signal. And when the cameras all showed that their batteries were full, and all showed a full strength connection to the sync modules.When I returned home, I was able to remove and replace the batteries in the offline camera, and it has been working normally, so far. The camera with the live video issue was also power cycled, and still not functioning properly.It will be 2 months before I can power cycle the cameras on Germany.At this time, I have no faith in this system.They have dropped connectivity at random, and there is no easy option to troubleshoot remotely.A lot of folks seem to have good systems, and I was impressed at first, setup was easy, settings were pretty good, day and night video was good, motion detection was good.But if they don’t stay connected reliably then they are not good. And mine have not been good.————————————————————————-Update 23 Dec 2023 – Improving my review from 1 Star to 2 StarsTrying to organize this so it’s easy to follow.Home Cameras – Camera 1 – This camera (Outdoor 4) still not reliably responding to Live Video or Thumbnail Update requests, but detecting motion okay, and sending alerts okay, when the system is armed – Camera 2 – This camera (Outdoor 4) fell offline after its 1st 3 days of service, and stayed offline while on vacation. I cycled power when I returned, and it has stayed online for 9 days now. It is sometimes slow to show Live Video or Thumbnails, but has generally responded. – Camera 3 – This camera (Outdoor 4) has worked 100% good, without issue. – Camera 4 – This camera (Mini) has worked 100% good, without issue.In-Law’s Cameras (Overseas)Camera 1 went offline and came back online a day later. Then Camera 2 went offline, then both cameras went offline. I tried to “jiggle the handle” on this system, by removing the cameras and reinstalling them remotely (I know the camera serial numbers) – Camera 1 – This camera got disassociated from the Sync Module, and it’s gone until I can return Overseas and cycle the power again. – Camera 2 – I removed and reinstalled remotely, and this camera has remained online without issue.Don’t know why.Some cameras have been good all the time, some have been unreliable.On a good note, Blink Customer Service reached out to me based on my initial review, and has so far been very responsive.Based on the Customer Service guy’s help, I am improving this review to 2 stars.The cameras still need to be better than this, but Blink seems to be trying, and I appreciate that.————————————————————————-Update 17 Mar 2024 – Reducing my review to 1 Star againDO NOT TRUST THE OUTDOOR WIRELESS CAMERAS TO STAY CONNECTED RELIABLY.5 DAYS INTO A MONTH LONG TRIP AND ONE OF MY CAMERAS GOES OFFLINE.IT HAS DROPPED OFFLINE 2 TIMES IN JANUARY, BUT HAS BEEN OKAY, UNTIL I NEED IT.A SECOND OUTDOOR CAMERA ON MY NETWORK DROPPED OFFLINE AT LEAST 3 TIMES IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, BUT IS CURRENTLY FUNCTIONING.I NOW HAVE 2 BLINK MINI CAMERAS AND THEY HAVE BEEN 100% GOODTHESE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE GREAT WHEN THEY WORK, WHICH IS 95% OF THE TIME, AND THEY WORK AGAIN AS SOON AS I REMOVE AND REINSTALL THE BATTERIES, BUT YA CAN’T JUST RETURN HOME FROM VACATION, RIGHT?!?BECAUSE OF THIS,THE OUTDOOR CAMERAS ARE FRUSTRATING AND MISERABLE.IT’S TIME FOR BLINK TO REPLACE THESE.

1,065 people found this helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars

GREAT!

This 5-camera kit is a powerhouse for smart home security. Each Blink Outdoor 4 camera offers crisp 1080p HD video, clear infrared night vision, and a wide field of view, making it easy to monitor your home day and night. The two-year battery life (on AA lithium batteries) means you can set it and forget it—no wires, no constant recharging.What sets it apart is the easy setup and seamless app integration. The Blink Home Monitor app lets you view live feeds, receive motion alerts, and even use two-way talk to communicate in real time. It also includes an adjustable motion detection zone and support for custom privacy zones, so you’re in full control.Weather-resistant and Alexa-compatible, this kit delivers strong value for homeowners looking to boost peace of mind with minimal fuss.

3 people found this helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars

Safety first, be aware of what’s involved overall!

Well, it’s official. I’m a tech idiot. It’s actually more difficult than I thought it’d be to admit that but here I go. I purchased this awesome camera set and an echo dot because I thought that combo would help make my life easier. (You know the thought: I come home after a long day doing this and that and I’d be able to call out: “Alexa, turn off exterior cameras” or something similar!)Unfortunately I had a piece of bad luck because the echo dot wouldn’t stop saying “hello “ to me in amazingly multiple languages! After a few days of this I did what anyone would do and called Amazon for help and found out that there’s a whole ECHO DOT help division! That made me feel better about myself because it told me that lots of folks were having issues. Anyway, after a bit of directions they figured out the thing had a problem and I had to send it back for a replacement. (I know, I’m getting to the part about the cameras! No worries 😉)So! In the meantime I figured I can still use my cameras and I set it all up and place them around the place and I feel like “yeah, safer already!” This is where the problems begin, firstly, the cameras are front heavy and just I don’t think they were meant to be just “placed around the place”. After about an hour or so I started getting “movement notifications and the pictures all showing the counter top or shelf top. They kept falling forward and the cameras seemed to take their movements as “motion detection” and took a picture and sent a notification to me. That’s actually an excellent thing because it means that the system was doing something so that was good. The bad part was that no matter what I tried over a 3 week period, the cameras wouldn’t stay upright. So being a dedicated Amazon Prime believer I called in and imagine my shock that there’s no tech support for this device! I got a phone number and website for BLINK and I had another step along my journey to getting safer… I tried calling Blink, no joy. I got to the site and filled out the form and created an account (which it seems you have to do to send a “help me” request so, yeah, I did that thing too.)Next thing is I get an email from BLINK saying they got my request and someone would contact me “soon”. Argh! I waited a day and finally put a call in to Amazon again because the 30 days return policy is coming up fast and I needed help. I finally got some customer service person and was told that my option is returning the set. I was seriously disappointed 😢 and frustrated and finally decided to give up on my dream of a technology driven home and agreed with the cs. During all this process I’m told I have to PAY TO RETURN THIS BLINK 4 OUTDOOR CAMERA setup but , hey, the really awesome part is that I can CHOOSE any mail out service I want so there’s a bonus…Now, I just got confused as well as frustrated and my immediate, insightful response was “huh?” And worse yet: “ um, what’s going on?” I’m told that the computer the cs is using is showing only 1 return and I have to pay to get it back to them and I have 2 days to do it (remember that 30 day return thing is still ticking away.)Bad luck me because next day is pouring down rain and windy like crazy. Now, I’m in wheels so in order to get to the post office I have to wrap my wheels in a gigantic plastic garbage bag to protect all the electronics and then I have to wrap myself in all my rain gear and got busy making my way to the post office dodging huge puddles and cars hitting those same puddles and swamping me like I’m invisible even though I’ve got lights on and an ugly bright yellow rain poncho going on! LOL 😂 I’m laughing crazy and just soldier on and I got the thing done and got a real good receipt too because I was told I’d get a refund for that. I finally get home, make the call to the call center and am sent an email while we’re talking and I send off a picture of the receipt showing everything about the order and delivery date and everything is the way I was told to do it. The guy on the other end says “ ok, I got the receipt and it’s clear and I’ll call you back in a few days about your reimbursement “!And once again my amazing insightful response system kicks into high gear and I go: “huh?!” Meanwhile, the cs person was asking a bunch of questions about whether I have received other orders and I finally say: “ can’t you see my account?” And he says, no and something about computer issue or some such and I’m still dripping wet and I still have to unwrap my wheelchair and myself and my insightful response system rears it’s head and I say: “whatever dude”. And I hang up feeling pretty good because I have the email.For this product: it easily connected to my existing Blink doorbell setup and I was not too difficult to get it connected to my blink network. Be really careful with what you’re trying to do with this camera set. It’s not made for my kind of setup where you can move the camera around to where you mostly think you need it until you decide on a permanent installation. It’s probably for a setup where you have already decided where to permanently install. It’s front heavy so even though the frame looks boxy and squared it isn’t and if it isn’t permanently installed from the start the cameras will fall forward and it will start notifying your app constantly that there’s motion in your camera view when it’s really just falling forward and it takes a picture of what it sees as it’s falling. The image quality is decent but blurry when the camera is falling forward so that you can’t really make out what you’re seeing unless you manually do a walkabout of the location that you placed the camera. I’m unsure of how to rate the motion detection since it was the thing in motion and it isn’t clear. The inability of the camera to stay up even though it looks as if it should be stable is possibly because the camera probably makes some kind of internal movement during activation of picture taking but again and most importantly I’m NOT a tech genius so I couldn’t figure out why it keeps falling over. It comes with a plastic key for battery installation or changing and some other plastic thing but I couldn’t figure out what the other plastic thing was so that means that I probably needed help and I couldn’t get the help I needed. It didn’t pick up sounds very well. The app I used is the blink app and I’ve used it for years with my doorbell so that app is easy to use and understand but you need to “play with it” to figure out most of the advanced settings. During my attempt to figure out this camera setup and the problems with instability of its outer shell I was offered (during initial setup) to connect to something called “sidewalk” that appears to use the nearby cameras of neighboring other users in your area but I interpreted that as a breach point for camera access so I refused that offer but others might think that is a good thing so you’ll have to decide for yourself when the time comes. Despite the shape of the camera shell it is highly unstable during use if it isn’t used as a permanent installation. Be really aware of this problem otherwise you may believe that it’s useful for moving it from place to place until you determine the best locations and view overlap to get the best protection for your location and application. The cameras have major drawbacks and some plastic parts have no apparent use as they don’t show up in the pictures in the ads or on an existing installation in the ads. The customer service response for my situation was an email saying they got my help request and would contact me soon without any timeline for the response and to date I haven’t heard from Blink as I am writing this. Beware of the return policy that requires you to pay for the return shipping as the size and weight of my return cost $28.00 and change. For my situation there wasn’t any option to return via a Amazon drop point at Whole Foods even though the box is pretty compact and well suited to shipping. Good luck and I hope that this comprehensive review will help someone avoid the pitfalls I’ve experienced with this Blink 4 outdoor camera set and barely responsive customer after care.

29 people found this helpful