REOLINK 5MP PoE Security Camera, 2.8mm Len, 130° Diagonal, 100ft IR Night Vision, Up to 256GB SD Card, Built-in Mic, Human/Vehicle/Pet Detection for Outdoor Indoor Home Surveillance, RLC-520A-2.8mm

If you’re looking at this camera there is a high probability that you are familiar with Reolink products and are considering this as an add-on to your existing system. Great! In that case I have some very important information for you to know. If you landed here still in the early stages of researching security cameras and aren’t sure which of the many brands to buy that’s also great. Please read on for some things that should make your decision easier.MEI have bought and installed Reolink cameras and NVR (network video recorders) at my various properties for over 10 years after doing a ton of research. I used to run a well-known video security company for many years and I would be considered an expert on the subject, but I promise not to use any big techie terms here, just some simple hints and tips.REOLINK IS A CLOSED SYSTEMThere are several ways of saving this but maybe one of the most important things you need to know is that Reolink designs their products to work best with other Reolink products and for the most part they are not interchangeable with other brands. Some people don’t like that and try to turn it into a negative but in reality I think it’s a very good thing. My experience with the almost countless number of no-name brands coming out of China is that they rarely have any U.S based after-sale support and almost never do anything to keep their products updated with software and firmware releases so once you buy something you’re stuck with what you get. Reolink is different, my cameras and NVR’s are constantly updated with new features, bug fixes, compatibility revisions for newer models, etc. The bottom line here is that if you are considering this camera it is an excellent choice for your existing Reolink system but if you are starting to plan a new system know that it probably won’t just plug in and work with another brand’s system.WHAT IS CHANGED FROM THE PREVIOUS MODELThe chances are you ran across this camera when searching for an add-on to your existing Reolink system or (like me) to replace a camera, in my case my camera was destroyed in a violent storm. You might also already have the previous almost identical model and want to know if this one is improved in any way. Yes it is, but unfortunately the manufacturer doesn’t do a good job making that clear in the model number. The old model and this one are both RLC-420 and all they did was to add “5MP” to it. As a direct comparison I’ve found numerous other ways the camera is improved beyond much higher resolution, starting with the price which is about half of what I remember paying for the previous model. At about forty dollars now it is a steal, perhaps one of the best values for a security camera anywhere.Beyond that the big news is higher resolution and it is improved enough that anyone can see the difference. The image is sharper and the colors are better and because this is a fixed focal length camera the difference is especially appreciated if you tend to pinch zoom for a closer look at something. The IR LED’s look different, being square instead of round and when installed in the same location they seem to illuminate brighter and further than my old camera.The sensor sensitivity seems improved as well, it gives me a full color image at night in conditions where the old camera would only operate in B&W and it gives an excellent color picture under very challenging conditions, for example in one instance I had it pointed at a street but there was a very bright white strobing holiday decoration right in front of the camera lens. Instead of stopping down the iris and darkening the whole picture it handled the lighting situation remarkably well.Finally, they’ve now included a memory card slot built right into the camera housing. I have no use for it but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing, I can see some circumstances where it would be useful. The card isn’t easy to get to but that discourages tampering so I guess that’s a good thing.ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENTIf you’ve opted in to the Reolink ecosystem you pretty much have to accept their products the way they are, warts and all. And despite me being a long-time user of their products and giving this camera 5 stars that doesn’t mean I don’t think there could be room for improvement. For one, this camera is not easy to install with the fussy bracket design and that tiny retaining setscrew that always falls out into the bushes. Once the camera is installed it’s not that easy to rotate the “eyeball” to adjust it. And then there is the odd dongle that splits into the PoE connector, microphone connector and reset button. The way it’s designed it remains exposed to everyone’s view after installation and it’s also exposed to the elements. It could also invite unwanted hands to reset and thereby disable your entire system. I think all of those things should be built into the camera housing, with the PoE connector weatherproofed and the reset button hidden from view.SUPPORTWhen I bought this camera it appeared to be dead out of the box despite trying every troubleshooting thing I could think of. I emailed them (their support is U.S. based) and got an immediate personalized response leading me through several checklist steps, NOT the usual “unplug it and wait 10 seconds” scripted babble some tech support gives you. I tried their suggestions and after about the fourth step my camera was working as it should. Most people would have already returned it as “defective” and written a negative review but their excellent service advisor saved me all that. Then after I got it installed I discovered that the built-in microphone wasn’t recording so I contacted them again and once again they lead me through some bulletpoint steps, this time it was because my NVR’s firmware wasn’t updated to work with the newer high-res cameras and in about 30 seconds after updating it my camera was up and running perfectly. And then the service rep followed up with me through another email to make sure everything was working the way I expected. I consider their service support as among the best I’ve seen.RECOMMENDED OR NOTI’ll repeat what I said earlier, at about forty bucks this is the best add-on or replacement camera you can possibly buy for your existing Reolink system. This and the other factors I discussed should also give you reason to strongly consider this brand if you are building a new video security system from scratch. As the world becomes more privacy and security conscious the greed of security product sellers is increasing and a lot of junk is being sold at exorbitant prices. This is one company that stands out from the rest for offering quality products and excellent service for reasonable prices. I highly recommend this camera.

UPDATE: So, originally gave 3 Stars due to the issues mentioned below, most of the problems still apply, but honestly, I don't think you can get a better camera on the market. I spent literally days on end researching these cameras, hours and hours, and I found the Reolinks to be the ONLY actual "reliable" ones and made well. So, despite the below-mentioned issues, I HIGHLY recommend these cameras.I also recommend them because Reolink's customer service was excellent. They fixed the issues I had that they could fix (and forwarded the rest), and for upgrading my star they even sent me a free power adapter (though I made that offer, they just asked if I would upgrade my star, but they bent over to help me, so you can't beat that kind of customer service). While it is too late, bought the switch/injector already, I still want it as a backup and if I need to use it in other situations, etc. So, still very happy with that.Anyway, despite the flaws, I'm VERY happy with the Reolink product, and my research also demonstrated that. So, you can't find better than the Reolinks in Camera quality, image quality, features, and customer services. So, I give them 5 Stars for doing whatever they could to help...!PREVIOUS REVIEW: (with a couple of updates)1. They don't allow you to use the "Cloud" with the POE cameras, apparently only the "wireless" or whatever cameras. That's not fair. I would have gotten one of the wireless, but I wanted reliability, thus a wired connection option, so I had no choice but to go POE. I'm just using one camera, so I should be allowed to use the Cloud also.2. The Motion Detection doesn't work well... I have it set to high, like 75% which was the default, and I have the camera in my room. And the camera apparently detected "light" changes that came through the window. The camera isn't even facing the window. It detected "shadows" on the friggen WALLS or something. So, I had to put the motion detection lower. We'll see how I low I have to go, I'm testing 50% now.UPDATE: 50% seems to be working fine, no more false positives save I think one for some reason, which is okay.3. The firmware update was confusing... They have apparently two versions of this camera a "B" version and a version # that has no "B" in the middle of the #. Though, it looks like they fixed the firmware update article and the update.UPDATE: Looks like they fixed this and I was able to get the proper update thanks to support.4. I almost thought there wasn't a way to activate and deactivate the camera, but I finally discovered the "Scene" function, so I create activate and a deactivate scene options. However, I don't understand why they don't also provide a "Camera Off" function. At least in the Android APP they don't. In the Desktop App you can "disconnect" the camera which I guess serves like an "off" switch turning off the camera, but we need it in the App too. Though, I also don't know when you shutdown the Desktop App whether the camera comes back on or not? I'm going to "assume" it actually remains off? But still, we need a setting in which the Camera is totally shutdown in all Apps.Otherwise, all seems to be working so far... They do really need to give us single-camera users access to the Cloud also. That's just not fair. I thought I was able to have access, so that wasn't clear either. And I likely would have gotten the E1 Zoom or whatever, but I wanted to ensure a reliable connection, was disappointed they didn't provide a "wired" ability to that camera. That would have been my preferred option since I only need one camera for my current situation.P.S.... Oh, one other thing.... The camera didn't come with a "Power Adapter" (and there is a plug for it).... I was forced to get a POE Injector, which was a pain trying to figure out, they don't make that easy either as to what and how to do it, and it's easy to get the wrong thing and unnecessarily expensive switch/injector too. But, at least the one I got was cheap and is working. I got the "IPCamPower Mini POE Injector Wall Wart Plug | 802.3af Full 15 watts | Designed for IP Cameras". You have to make sure you get the right rated switch/injector, and that it's an injector, not just a switch etc. The information was seriously lacking in this area that needs to be improved.Worse... On their website they had some power adapters you could buy, but NONE of them said they were compatible for the RLC-520. So, I couldn't even buy one.Also forgot to mention they don't provide a way to DELETE recorded scenes.... I mean what is that? Can't do it in the App nor the Windows App. You have to Re-Format the entire drive to delete videos. This is a big flaw too...

So I've got a bunch of reolink cameras ... A couple of 410's, some 420's and now 520. The 410's and 420's are different hardware versions, but they're still working fine. The 520 is easily the best of the bunch. Crystal clear picture during the day. Night vision is pretty good (not great), but if you use WDR you can get a decent picture without ghosting or blurring.I can't comment on the built-in motion detection or the SD card because I don't use them. I have all my cameras set up through Blue Iris and they work perfectly. The Blue Iris Motion detection and Alerts work flawlessly with these cameras. They also support sub-streams in Blue iris which is very nice!I use these mostly as a critter cams around the house and I have absolutely no issue with them whatsoever. The picture and audio are clear.I've used Foscam, Hikvision and Amcrest and honestly I like the Reolink better. I was looking for low cost cameras to play around with, and this seems to do the trick. I'll likely replace the 410's and 420's I have with the 520. At this price point, you really can't go wrong!I would be nice if you could adjust the I-Frame interval - but I'm not sure that's going to happen unless you go with a higher end model.Bottom line - If you're looking for a low cost camera that produces extremely good quality pictures and supports audio, you really can't go wrong with the 520.