Had a break in. | Page 2 | Homestead Security | Forums

Just saw this now. As you may recall, I've had my own troubles with theft. I've already done a fair amount of research into camera options. Sorry to say, but it's highly unlikely that you will find even 1 camera under $100 much less a system.

I agree that having visible security cameras is a good idea as a deterrent. But you may be better served by visible dummy cameras and hiding the actual cameras if you can. They can destroy the cameras as happened to me leaving you with the financial loss of the cameras and potentially no footage.

You will want the footage backed up someplace they cannot get to it, or at least where they are unlikely to get to or find it.

Multi-camera DVR systems typically are pricey. They are also highly vulnerable to physical attack of the cameras, wiring, and DVR. They can have power vulnerabilities too if they are A/C grid powered.

Trail cameras might be a better option. I don't care for any cellular system presently on the market. The system I had found and wanted to use had already been discontinued, and is now sold out by the last vendor I knew of. The reason I liked the system is that it wasn't a 1-to-1 camera-to-cellular design like everything else on the market. Instead, it was a 10-to-1 system: 10 cameras supported by 1 cellular plan (with a central backup unit).

They eliminated the cellular model, but still have 2 systems with a backup unit. You loose immediate notification and upload via cellular, but you still have a wireless backup unit that you can hide so even if they destroy the cameras, you will still have the footage.

This is not a cheap solution, but there are no decent camera systems that are cheap. If you are going to get a camera system, be prepared to spend more; or just go without. Sadly its an either/or market. Cheap camera systems do exist for other purposes such as Dashcams and Action-cams. Youtube channel Techmoan specializes in reviewing these "cheap" options. It's a great channel with reliable reviews, but I am not aware of any cheap camera system suitable to indoor/outdoor security with day/night, invisible LED, and motion detection. If you find something that isn't a complete dud, I welcome you let me know about it.

The Spypoint TinyW3+Blackbox-D system comes with the Blackbox-D backup unit and 1 Tiny-Plus camera. You can buy additional cameras and accessories separately. Their accessories include motion detection range extenders, invisible LED boosters, steel security boxes, etc. I suggest invisible IR for day/night footage, HD video with sound (sometimes the only thing you have to go on is sound, and you want HD video because image resolution is the difference between clear and fuzzy). Have as many cameras watching at least 1 other camera (if something is vandalized you will have footage of the act). You can take or leave the accessories. You may want 1 cellular camera at the barn to notify you immediately (get the cheapest you can with the best detection - resolution is less important since you should have HD from the Tiny-Plus cameras).

Hope this helps and good luck. I've been through it myself and know how much it sucks.

You should be aware, or should I say beware, claims of resolution with modern digital camera systems. You want to be certain that they are telling you the optical resolution and not a "digitally enhanced" resolution which is worthless. They do it for marketing (read: to scam you) and typically they do not specify. Once I learned of this I began calling the techs at different vendors I was considering -- often the techs didn't know and had to ask their engineers (I have a history of stumping techs on all manner of subjects/systems and having my questions escalated to senior staff because I get so in depth) -- It's a pain to go thru, but saves you from buying a bad product.

Oh, also keep in mind, you are better off avoiding wide-angle and fish-eye lenses. Get standard lenses with no distortion. The wider viewing angle is tempting, but you loose more in distortion than you gain in field-of-vision.

Keep in mind the vulnerabilities I mentioned for DVR systems. If you get a DVR system, get something phone and/or network capable that will notify you of problems and ideally send pics or stream video. --- If you feel like you're "rolling the dice" on a product, either it's the wrong product or you have more homework to do before purchasing it.

Also you may want to take another look at your property with the idea of finding places to position and conceal game cameras where they will be close enough. You can hide the game cameras in creative ways like fake rocks and logs. You could cut into a hay bale, insert a box and then place hay around it. While I have a low opinion of Geocachers, they have some superb tutorials on how to build concealment containers to hide "in plain sight".

Unfortunately, no matter the camera placement, don't count on getting tags. Even 4K UHD (Ultra High Definition) may not get tags because of variables out of your control like angles, sight lines, weather, insects, spiders, birds, etc.

No matter how you approach this, something is going to either be a royal pain, or go very wrong because you didn't go to enough trouble. It's a sad truth, but thieves are lazy and stupid, and in order to catch or deter them, you have to work harder and be smarter.

For the gate, is there an actual gate? If so, why not just lock it with thick braided steel cable (harder to cut than chain). If it's just an opening, why not just do a cable gate like I did? Tensioning the cable is the biggest pain about it, but next to giant logs with a tractor is a piece of cake.