Specifications
- High definition 720p recording. Double the resolution of 960H
- Real-time recording at 30fps per channel
- 3-Step remote view with FLIR Cloud
- Continuous, scheduled and motion recording
- Advanced apps with live viewing, playback, video recording, and snap shot
Lorex Review – What does it do well?
The Lorex 4 camera 720p surveillance system is a remarkably good surveillance system for the price. With 1TB of storage included on the digital video recorder (DVR) that can record approx. 6 days of video from all 4 cameras before it gets full you’ll have plenty of time to review the footage if something goes down while these cameras are watching. It’s basic set up allows the DVR to automatedly overwrite the video it has recorded with current footage once the DVR is full, so if you don’t need to use the footage you can set it and forget it. If you need to get some footage off the camera, it would be a good idea to get it before the 6 days have passed.
Additionally the fact that they’re HD quality makes these cameras leaps and bounds better than any standard definition system on the market today. You may save a bit of money going for a standard definition system, but if something happens and you can’t recognize the at-fault party, you’ll regret not putting down an extra few dollars more for the HD version.
These cameras provide high quality images both day and night, althought the night vision is not “top of the line,” it gets the job done well for the price.
Lorex provides an app for easy viewing of all the cameras. There are both iPhone and Android apps available (sorry windows phone!) and both are rated above 3 stars. The android app had a recent update that has annoyed a lot of people, but overall the responses from most people is that it eventually works and the worst part of the install is uninstalling and re-installing the app. You can see the reviews for the apps here: iTunes and Android
The interface on the apps is relatively easy to use and you can view real time footage, play back recorded footage from a calendar view and you can set individual user permissions, so if you want someone to have access to only one of your multiple security cameras setting that up is made easy.
Also, viewing footage while you’re at the same physical location as the DVR is very easy. You could use your smartphone or your computer or table to access the feeds and there would be no extra work required.
Lorex Review – Where does it Falls short
The biggest trouble most people site when talking about the lorex surveillance system is that it’s difficult to get remote viewing to work properly. Remote viewing is where you can view the live feeds from your cameras from where ever you are as long as you have an internet connection. Remote viewing use to be very difficult to set up but Lorex is addressing this with a simple QR code directly on the DVR. You scan the code into your smartphone or tablet and it will do all of the work for you. But – it’s not a perfect science yet. There are some issues with the app (remember when I said that it only got 3 stars? Yeah). It can be unreliable at times and has required some people to uninstall and reinstall a few times. Trust me when I say – this is a lot easier than the old way of forwarding ports from your router and digging through technical manuals to figure it out – but still it’s frustrating for some people to deal with. Ultimately Lorex is working toward a system that “just works,” but unfortunately we’re not quite there yet.
This is also not a wireless system – you’ll need to run wires from where the DVR is placed to where you want the camera to record. This isn’t a huge deal but could take up a lot of your day. There are many wireless options – but they aren’t as robust and are more expensive.
Some customers complained because the cameras are made from plastics. I didn’t see this as a big deal as it didn’t harm their functionality, but i wanted to mention it for people who want a more robust container for their camera.
Lorex Review – tips and tricks for installing
A few tips from someone who’s installed these cameras already (user None Ya on Amazon):
1.The ends of the cables are different, so only one end will plug into the camera and one end into the DVR, so make sure you pay attention to this when stringing the cables.
2. Buy a Steel Fish Tape to help pull the cables from the attic to the outside. I bought a 25′ Klein brand from Home Depot and it helped out running the cables. Extended the fish tape up through the sofit and hung it off my ladder. Went up into the attic and tapped the end of the cable to the fish tape. Go back outside and use the fish tape to pull the cable to the outside.
Conclusion
For the price this Lorex surveillance system is top notch. The quality compared to other non hd system is a total difference and well worth the money. The system itself is not all that expensive for what you get considering monthly costs for a similar system run by a big corporation.
The DVR is flexible – you can set it to record all the time or just during times that you define (like when it sees movement) and the cameras work in both day and night light levels. Businesses and home owners alike use this system and report that it’s robust and up to the challenge of keeping your home watched at all times. 6 days of time to get to the DVR to recover a recording is very good and the fact that if you want it recording 24/ 7 this system is capable of that.
Overall this is a great wired surveillance system from Lorex. Well worth the investment.