REOLINK4K Security Camera System, RLK16-800B8 8pcs H.265 PoE Wired with Person Vehicle Detection, 8MP/4K 16CH NVR with 4TB HDD for 24-7 Recording

Reolink 16 cameras nvr poe system is excellent.This system was chosen because it had good reviews, slightly better than the competition. The part number for the system was RLK16-810B8-A. It includes a 16 channel box, 3 Tbyte hard drive, 8 POE cameras, part number RLC-810A, some misc cables and hardware. I purchased three additional cameras, a single point and zoom Reolink camera, part # RLC-423-5MP for over two hundred dollars, and a twin pack of two dome cameras, part # RLC-520 2PACK for about ninety dollars.Overall I am very pleased with the results so far. I've installed an IPhone app called simply "Reolink" in the apple store. This app smoothly and flawlessly connected to my system and works well to see through the cameras both live and playing back previous recordings, remotely as well as on site. Presently I have 8 cameras hooked up including the ptz camera above. The ptz camera is easy to use aiming left right and up and down as well as zooming. It does not, however, aim up above the horizon. So if you have a house up a hill, it shouldn't be placed down the hill from it. This is exactly what I did and I can see most of my house but can't zoom in on details much. But I can spin this camera around and zoom in on much of the rest of my property. Very good camera.I also installed the Reolink app on my laptop and tested it outside my home network. It too worked great to access the camera system remotely.I should talk about "poe" or power over ethernet. Each camera gets only one cable connected to it. This cable, called a cat5e cable in my case, supplies the power down to the camera and returns the collected video. I made a decision to purchase 1,000 ft of this cable for a number of reasons. Part # 5ECMXBLK_1Krl, True Cable direct burial cable. First, if anything had gone wrong with the Reolink camera system, I wanted to be able to return it, so didn't wish to take down all the cabling as this is a major amount of work to install. I could simply leave the seperatly purchased cable in place, allowing a replacement of one poe system with another if something went wrong. I also purchased a couple of 100 pack packages of mounting clamps to install the cat5e cables. Part # CMP-SCRW-SGL-WHT-100P. These were excellent and could easily be removed after install if needed.Also, I didn't wish to drill big holes in the walls of my house. So I decided to learn how to install the connectors, called RJ45 connectors, on the cable ends. This way I could use a small hole in the walls for each cable needed and install the connectors after positioning the cable in place. This was a good decision and a great way to get it all done. I purchased a crimping kit, part number Ninhao01. This crimping kit included several items, the crimper, which worked flawlessly, and an electronic test module, which displayed a sequence of lights clearly indicating whether the connectors were correctly wired. Very important. Worth it even if you don't attach any connectors. The first cable I checked was incorrectly wired, even though it was purchased with connectors! It was obvious and easy to see using the little diagnostic checker. This was my first time ever doing ethernet wiring and it was fairly easy to do with this crimping kit. I did watch a video on how to do it. You'll have to search for this as Amazon won't let me post a link. I used 568B cable endings, which turns out to be recommended by Reolink as well.I'll talk about where I placed the console. I put it in our basement. This was less cluttering for me and eliminates the fan noise, which runs 24/7 by the way. There were a few added complexities because I placed the console in such a remote location. I wanted to be able to quickly see through the cameras and accomplished this by running a display cable from the basement to my 51 inch living room TV. How? By using VGA over ethernet. Part # B07F3RW1C1. Once again I could wire the connectors myself and drill small holes. I also purchased a wireless mouse that worked in my living room as well. Part # M8126AB01. This worked one floor up from where the console was located and allowed me to select cameras and operate the ptz camera just as if the console was in the same room with me.A little note about exterior connections to the cameras. Reolink supplies supposedly sealed connectors, but these did not work for me as the direct burial cat5e cable I was using had too large of a diameter. So instead I opted for heat shrink tubing and glue to seal off the ends. The heatshrink was 3/4 inch by 4 ft xhf brand. I used a map gas torch to do the shrinking.All in all the Reolink camera system is the best of three different camera systems that I have worked with. The other two were gw security and lorex, both older systems that were dvr coaxial cable plus seperated power wires. Those systems were pretty good as well, but the Reolink system has been smoother and easier to use.

This deserves a 10/5 stars! 4k is super clear and I've been able to capture plates from the end of my driveway. Not to mention I've had this system for 3+years in MN. We have below zero weather and this thing never skipped a beat. Never had to replace a camera yet.

A special thanks to the support team. Has been a great product and, yes, everything will encounter an issue, but they understand and accommodate. Great communication and a testament to a well designed product. WTG REOLINK!!!

Updated, I am doing 4 stars now instead of 1 or 5 because of the problems I had with customer service on a brand new system and a faulty camera, see original review below. After being frustrated with Reolink customer service and countless emails and hoops they are finally sending me a new camera to replace the one that doesn’t stay connected. Everything else is awesome with the product, so long as the equipment doesn’t fail and you need to deal with customer service for warranty.Original review below:Reolink customer Service is a joke.One ⭐️ for Reolink customer service. If they would have just sent me a new camera right away to replace one faulty camera that came in the kit I would have left a 5 star but they wasted hours of my time and only respond to one email a day. I’ve sent days of emails.I like the cameras and the recorder, and the software.I even bought other Reolink cameras to add to the system and they all functionThe issue is I had one camera that is having issues that came with this kit, and I have determined it’s the camera by way of process of elimination(I ran a new wire to start with, still doesn’t work, swapped cameras to the wire and they all work, the broken camera will work for like a minute and then no video, but IR lights work, light on the port on the NVR stay solid on that port and don’t blink). And getting them to replace the camera over warranty through customer support has just been a waste of time. For a camera that I could buy a replacement for like $50 on Black Friday sale they have wasted like 10 hours of my time and still got no where. They are telling me that I need to buy a monitor and plug it into the NVR to further diagnose the problem and the information they need cannot be accessed through the computer app or the phone app. They are like oh just plug it into a tv, my recorder is like 100’ away from a tv and my TVs are too big to fit where the recorder is. And the mouse they sent is too short to run 100’ and I would need 100’ hdmi cable as well. So what am I supposed to uninstall everything and plug it in on a bench just to get them what they want, that’s a lot of work on my part for a faulty camera.Maybe this review will get them to send me a replacement camera….

Awesome and easy to install.