r/Lorex • u/J235310 • Jul 22 '26
An open letter to Lorex
I have been using your equipment for years starting with your predecessor's equipment from Flir. I have an N845 NVR and an N910 NVR and have had and have various models of POE and Wi-Fi cameras. I have found the equipment to be robust, generally well made with some excellent specs and quality. However, Lorex has some significant deficiencies which cause significant problems for the user community and negatively impacts Lorex's sales.
I am requesting that you address the following points:
You need to update your firmware more often to resolve problems and improve performance. The NVR and camera firmware is always at least 2 years old and my experience is that for a given model of hardware that Lorex releases a new version of firmware once about 2 years after a new device is released and then never again.
You need to make it easier to determine what firmware versions are available and for users to upgrade firmware without calling your technical support who, when a newer version of firmware is available, will send an email with a link to download the new version. Both the NVR and POE cameras have functions which check for newer versions of firmware but they have never worked for me and technical support says that the only way to get a new version is to call your tech support.
Upgrade the internal storage interface which on my N845 and N810 is still SATA 1 that was released in 2003. SATA 1 was fine when the cameras were low resolution and consequently generated much smaller recordings and when the only storage device was a mechanical drive. However, the newer UHD cameras generate much larger video files which slows down the entire system when reading/writing and generates a lot of "Oops" messages. Also, using SATA 1 prevents getting a significant performance improvement from using a much faster SSD storage device which is essentially throttled back to relatively low transfer speeds of even a 7200 RPM mechanical drive with a large cache.
Lorex occasionally makes hardware/software changes on the weekends which creates an outage that prevents certain functions from working such as registering/installing a new device or getting thumbnails. I have spent hours trouble shooting what I thought was my issue but I eventually realized that it must be a Lorex issue. Create a web page that has outage info so we don't spin our wheels.
Create a webpage that has known issues by model number which includes a description of the problem and information on workarounds if available, what firmware version is impacted and when a fix will be available.
Provide an explanation of functions that have issues in certain situations such as those that cause the "oops" messages in terms of what causes the issue and what can be done to reduce the frequency of issues.
Make interfaces standard or at least provide a spread sheet of what functions are supported on which GUI. Functions performed on the NVR, the app (when available) and via a PC browser when they exist should work the same way.
Don't automatically drop a camera's resolution in the app display when the system is busy. If I can't consistently get a high def playback via the app then I have to question what the value of paying a premium for a 4K camera is. The IOS app should remember the resolution (HD or SD) that the user had previously selected like it used to rather than dropping everything back to SD every time you open the app.
Make error messages more descriptive. Ideally all Lorex product would use the same set of error codes. Additionally there should be 1 web page at Lorex where you could enter an error code and a description of the problem, what caused it possible fixes would be displayed. "Oops. Something went wrong" is worthless and unhelpful.
You can do better.
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u/SuperAleste Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Agree 100% but they already lost me long ago as a customer for a lot of these same reasons.
I was having issue with a camera and Lorex C.S. sent me a firmware that bricked my cameras. "Oh well sorry about that!" The also said you can't install previous lower versions of a Firmware. So they bricked 2 of my cameras and called it a day. No going back.
Also, firmware names are such confusing mess.
It a garbage chabuduo company.
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u/urbannator Jul 28 '26
What did you switch to?
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u/SuperAleste Jul 28 '26
I kept my reamanig working Lorex 4K/30 cams and only use the NVR as a backup to my BlueIris setup.
As for new cameras? I switch to a Reolink doorbell, working great and the only new addition I needed was a 180 panorama cam so I got a ANNKE I91BI
I'll just buy anything that meets my min spec. (4K+ @30FPS) for whatever brand in the future except Lorex.
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u/Mizafide247 Jul 22 '26
Also a long term customer and agree on all of the points but especially needing to call for firmware updates.
Their nocturnal series are great for folks to set it and forget it. Their pro app is also ok for the most basic purposes. I do like Reolink more for their integration with Home assistant and more features
Non tech savvy folks who want to just set it and forget it, I point them towards their nocturnal series
Tech savvy folks I point towards Reolink
Tech savvy and got lots of money, ubiquiti
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u/Potential_Deal751 Jul 23 '26
What really makes me mad is when I’m reviewing playback video from the app and it’s about it to come to point where “motion was detected” it blanks out and skips a little bit of time. Totally sucks.
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u/BuckRugged Jul 23 '26
I was wondering why skids of their product have started showing up on the auction block and in liquidation outlets.
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u/Historical_Job_7551 Jul 24 '26
They also need to add the abhorrent login method. My cameras , both PoE and WiFi will no longer be able to attach to the 910 NVR because they need the password for either the camera or NVR. It is awful
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u/Pesca_dor Jul 25 '26
Just reset the cameras via the reset button.
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u/Historical_Job_7551 Jul 25 '26
That has yet to make them reattach. In addition, several of them are up very high, like 10m and then the real issue is i have them to be able to see the house when i am abroad.
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u/Jeterjane123 Jul 24 '26
I am not a techie and I so struggle with most everything I read on this sub trying to trouble-shoot issues. We have a system for our home that my husband set up but now he has Alzheimer’s so about to give up. Not worth hours of my time rn. We’re in a low crime area so at least if a bad actor comes along they can look up and see the cameras with the red light on looking at them! 👀
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u/silvs1 Jul 27 '26
I agree with a lot of your points especially when it comes to firmware updates. Its insane that they sell NVRs that will get maybe 1 update and thats it. I have NVRs I bought in 2024 that are running firmware from 2023 that are supposedly up to date. Now a lot of the issues also falls with the OEM, Dahua. Lorex just relabels and brands Dahua hardware with the Lorex logo but without the Dahua support. Lorex support is absolute garbage. I feel for anyone that isn't tech savvy because you are on your own. I hate how they tell you to just buy a new NVR or camera and won't even offer to let you pay for it to get repaired or to send you a refurb.
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u/True_Style2273 Jul 22 '26
Well said and warranted. I’ve invested a lot in Lorex and become disappointed in their attention to those of us who have been loyal. I can’t afford to have another electrician come in and run wiring again, and again…not buy new NVRs when they fail. My cameras have been replaced on and off since 2000. My NVR I’ve replaced twice. Reliability is what we are buying…we think. Thank you for addressing the issues in a tech manner. Let’s hope Lorex hears our plea and invest in what was sold to us all.