Argus Eco - Could be a great security solution if these 2 things were solved

Alex_fs

Hello everyone,

I would like to share my take on Argus Eco camera, and also to make a request to the dev team that might be reading this forum...

I myself am a software developer so i understand a bit thing at a technical level...

I own a Argus Eco + Solar panel camera and I think this wire-free camera is a great camera for many purposes, and the price is also great. BUT my purpose was to use it as a surveillance camera in my parents house, and after extensive tests, this is why i don't think it can do that job (and how it could be fixed):

Problem 1) Limited options for Remote storage of video:

It does allow Cloud storage in selected countries (not Portugal so far, so i can't have this option), but technically is capable (battery-wise, etc...) of handling this functionality. I'm limited to store it in the local SD card, which means for surveillance, either i would hide the camera, and lose the deterrent effect that a visible camera brings, or can't use it, because first thing a criminal does to a visible camera is break it. So chances are even if i did capture pics/videos, most likely the SD card would be broken along the way.

Solution:

PLEASE, allow for FTP upload of the videos. The problem is not battery drainage, because you are already having to option to upload to Cloud server, and i don't think it's a significant difference in terms of power consumption to upload to cloud with uploading to FTP. I think it's a commercial option you have in hand, and you are trying to monetize the remote storing of the video with the Cloud solution, which is understandable, but making this camera not possible to use in a own-server setup, is a BIG red flag for many people.

Problem 2) Sending photos by email / push notifications:

Right now the camera only sends 1 photo per triggered "alert", and usually it lags a little bit, so many times if i pass quick enough in front of it, it's sending me an email with a picture where i'm not there anymore. The way it is right now, without being able to store video remotely, and sending one picture per movement triggered, makes it unusable in a real surveillance scenario.

Solution:

Allow for sending a stream of photos, instead of just 1 per movement trigger. Yes, it consumes more battery, so allow it to be customisable how many photos to take with what interval in between and during for how long. So the user has the option to spend more battery but increase the chances of getting a good picture of the situation. This doesn't seem like anything complex to implement, but increase greatly its usability.

Thank you for reading this, i think this could be a great camera for surveillance purposes, all the hardware is great, but what a pity that is so limited in terms of software, making it, in my opinion, unusable in a realistic surveillance scenario.

joelradon

Hi Alex,

I am a brand new Reolink Wirefree customer as well. I just came to the realization that I cannot do SFTP uploads because of the nature of the battery powered cameras.

Reolink's Cloud is very reasonably priced so I subscribed to 5 camera plan. I dont mind paying the $3.50 a month for the convenience of the uploads, but it would be nice if Reolink provided an API to sync with S3, OneDrive, and/or Google Drive. It is a bit un-nerving to have such important data only in one remote place.

I think Reolink Cloud API sync would be a great option for paid plans and would not require any modifications to the way the camera would function.

Data loss is damn near impossible with Cloud service such as S3 or Azure Blob storage. Amazon S3 storage provides 99.999999999% to it's object storage and is hosted across all Availability Zones in a region.

Cynthia

Dear customers, thanks for your feedback!
1. Cloud storage. Cloud storage could be more convenient than SD card for some users. Unfortunately the Cloud service is limited in the EU countries because of the GDPR policy, and we are still working on supporting Cloud in the EU.
2. For picture delay. The battery-powered camera uses the PIR detection. When the PIR detects motions, the camera will need around 1 second to start recording/taking picture, so the picture in the email is a bit behind the event.
3. We will forward your requirement on the FTP function, photo stream and 3rd-party compatibility to our R&D team, and they will be valuable reference for the future produce design. Thanks!

trackyj

I suspect my Argus Eco is more than a second behind the event. I have the camera set to view motion on my granny flat door. When someone exits the door and walks up the slope (towards the camera), I get a notice that there is motion but it never catches the person in the picture. I don't think the person is moving so quickly as to get up that slope in a second.

I have tried pointing the camera to different angles and have tried different sensitivity settings and still cannot capture the person moving.

What can I do to improve this?

Thanks,
Tracy

Alex_fs

Well in my case, Cloud storage is not an option, since it's still only possible in a few countries (i think like 5 or 6) and Portugal is not one of them.
Thank you for your and everyone's answer!

Cynthia

Hi Alex,
We will forward your suggestion about the FTP function on the camera to our R&D department for estimation.
Amd if you need the camera which can support the FTP currently, please consider our normal ip cameras like RLC-410W.
Thanks for your understanding!