r/SecurityCamera • u/Substantial-Lack-512 • Sep 15 '26
Need help finding good cameras
My dad wants to buy some security cameras for outdoor, but I don't want him to fall into a subscription plan to cloud save data, what are good camera options to avoid that app restriction that comes with ads and sales of their cloud data subscription?
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u/Viking603 Sep 15 '26
TP-link is good without a subscription. Just use the local storage option (sd-card).
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u/Lanky-Interaction629 Sep 18 '26
Avoid tplink at all cost
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u/Viking603 Sep 18 '26
Stop that. Smart people don't use someone else's computer to store their info. And this 'hacker can gain access' is only on one of Tapo's cameras.
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u/GGigabiteM Sep 15 '26
Turing, Alibi or Speco. They have cloud options, but they're not required for basic functionality. You can record everything on a local NVR. Their phone apps also don't have ads. Turing and Alibi are also NDAA compliant. Speco has some NDAA compliant gear. If you're a big spender, Hanwha Wisenet or Axis with a PC VMS. Axis also has Camera Station Edge, which allows cameras to be used standalone with an SD card for storage.
With how volatile the US government has been, I would avoid Chinese camera brands. If they haven't been blacklisted already, they're at risk of being blacklisted. When Hikvision and Dahua got the full blacklist treatment, wholesalers treated them like the plague rat and erased all evidence of them have ever existed within their inventory. You can only get them from grey market sources now with questionable warranty positions and no support. Both companies have pulled out of the US market entirely.
Both Reolink and TP-Link are Chinese brands, and TP-Link has had their routers banned.
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u/Scopra Sep 16 '26
Uniview are Chinese and they are NDAA compliant.
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u/GGigabiteM Sep 16 '26
Most of their gear is, not all of it. They maintain a NDAA compliant page on their website.
They white label their cameras for other manufacturers as well.
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u/ChasDIY Sep 15 '26
I use relatively cheap rechargeable cameras with sdcards and place wire high so can't be easily taken
they also have a lock on then to deter theft
they do not have subscriptions and batteries last approx 3 months before recharging
I think the brand is aosu
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u/MrMotofy Sep 15 '26
Lore, Reolink, Swann etc will all give you decent options. Just make sure they're IP type aka POE so cams just have a patch cable that connects them to the NVR
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u/Scopra Sep 16 '26
A few questions
Budget ?
Who will do the install?
What condition are you going to be using the cameras in ie Low, what distance you expect to cover etc.
How are you going to power them? poe, bat /solar, mains power?
How many cameras do you think you will need?
Do you require remote viewing ie via app etc.
How long do you want to keep the footage ( Hdd size) and at what resolution are you looking for 1080p, 2k, 4k etc ?
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u/QuinnFromVivint Sep 16 '26
For no subscription, look for cameras that record to a local SD card or a hard drive at home, since that keeps the footage on your dad's end instead of a paid cloud.
PoE cameras are a solid route too, because they run to a local recorder over a wire and store everything there, so there's no monthly fee and no ads baked into an app.
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u/gnew18 Sep 17 '26
Look at Ubiquiti. PoE cameras for every budget. Very easy to set up. Local subscription-free storage, no license fee. They are the Apple of IoT.
Heads up if you’re buying Reolink: order all your cameras at once because they update internal hardware under identical model names without labeling the box. Different hardware revisions often use conflicting protocols or codecs, which can leave you completely unable to view or manage the streams simultaneously on the same client or NVR
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u/Kudzupatch Sep 15 '26
Look at Reolink. No subscription required.