I've learned a surprising amount of things during this "Let's install security cameras" adventure! Everything has been learned the hard way! Please read my review and don't repeat my mistakes!
We are pretty avid DIYers and wanted something to record 24/7, but I didn't want to pay an annual fee for storage. A CCTV system seemed like the most affordable long term. My Hubby could run the wires and I'm not a total beginner with software set up.
Harbor Freight had a very affordable unit, winner winner chicken dinner! NOPE, big fat nope! First of all their DVR wasn't playing nice with either my modem or router. I spent 3 entire days consulting Dr Google, Comcast, Asus, Harbor Freight tech support, and all the techy friends I could find. I tried to open port forwarding on the router on the correct ports. It was a nightmare! None of the companies were helpful. No one knew what the problem could be. Everyone pointing their finger at another company.
I gave up, went back to Google to find a local install company in hopes they could help me. So much for a cheap set up since I would now have to pay for someone to come and fix what I couldn't figure out.
Stay in Sight had the best website so I picked up the phone and called. James answered right away, assured me that I wasn't stupid, and instantly tried to help "walk me through" how to set up this strange DVR that wasn't even from his company!! Where do you find that level of customer care, or even human decency these days?
Turns out the easiest thing was to get a functioning (non 3rd party) DVR that would actually set up easily. James was able to help with that. He shipped me out a super affordable DVR (cheaper than the Harbor Freight nonsense) and even asked his tech support pals to walk me through set up! Those tech support folks only do this DVR setup for a living, so it's super easy to understand and do what they tell you to on the phone. Plus they are totally located here in the USA, so no language barrier! The phone app is so much better than the other one I was trying to mess with.
We had a few other calamities from the Harbor Freight unit, hard drive was bad, wires were glued in? The hard drive wires didn't even have clips on them! They were glued in! James kept in touch and followed me through each calamity to make sure I was okay.
The end result of my lesson is that it would have cost around the same amount of money and MUCH less time and frustration just to buy locally through James! I always thought that the local security companies just catered to businesses and a system would be thousands of dollars. Nope! They have a wide range of items for every situation. Even affordable DIY units for stubborn people like us! Apparently a large amount of their clientele are slightly crazy people like me who mainly just want to watch their pets during the day!
I don't live in the best of neighborhoods, very happy that I can now watch the outsides of my house. Of course the best part, is that I can watch my dogs sleeping on the couch! They have 2 cameras in that room.
I can't recommend James and Stay in Sight enough! When anything goes wrong or we are ready to upgrade, I am staying AWAY from the internet and am just calling James. Everyone else should do the same too! read more