Smile and Don’t Pick Your Nose: Reolink C1 ProHD Camera Review

“It is a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your front door.”

Wise words from Bilbo Baggins and ones I take very much to heart. Bilbo may have had a different meaning with those words but they speak volumes to me. Most days when I leave home for my office in the city, I am leaving at least one loved one at home and even in rural areas, we are not immune to crime.

It was only about a year ago this very house had the front door kicked in and two men came inside with the intent to steal. Even more worrisome is that my mother was here at the time. Thankfully, the men ran when they realized the house was not empty but the door was ruined and had to be completely replaced. Since then we have made some changes to make our home feel a little safer, and one of those changes is the addition of the Reolink C1 ProHD camera.

In addition to the alarm system I installed, I’ve recently decided to add some cameras. Reolink sent me a couple options to try out and their Reolink C1 1080P ProHD Wireless IP Camera is a wonderful addition to my system.

This particular camera is an inside-only camera and, with how small and versatile it is, I can move it anywhere in the house I want at any time. All I need is a standard power outlet and a place to set or mount the camera and I’m good to go. To fit my needs right now, I have strategically placed it in a window pointing out at our front porch so I can monitor the comings and goings. This particular camera connects via Wi-fi to your home network and then you can monitor it easily on either a computer connected to that same network or an app your smartphone. You can set the program up to record to a storage drive on the network as well or just use it to live monitor, whichever meets your needs.

I don’t intend to leave this camera in the window forever, though. I’m eager to make use of the camera’s night vision capabilities as well. By trial and error, I found the reflection from my window renders the night vision useless. You can disable the night vision through the application but I have simply been leaving my porch light on at night. When I move the camera I will be able to use not only this feature but a second very cool feature. The camera has a built-in speaker and microphone so that you can interact with people near it from your phone or computer.

How cool is that?

Here are the technical details from their website:

The camera has phenomenal resolution and the advanced controls on the software will allow you to set up scheduled scans as the camera also rotates and the pattern and timing of the scans is fully customizable.

This would be particularly useful for monitoring an entrance for a business or coordinating with a caregiver in your home if you have to be away. It would also work well in a nursery as part of a baby monitoring system. And coming in well under $100 it is a lot of bang for your buck.

You can find full specs and information on the Reolink site and the camera is sold on Amazon, though it is currently out of stock. I confirmed with my PR contact from Reolink that they will be available again soon and in the meantime you can order directly from their site.

A review copy of this camera was provided to GeekMom/GeekDad