his system is well worth the investment, highly recommend first time using a P.O.E system was the best thing I could have done. plug and use connectors made set up much easier than the old BNC connections. the slight lag in motion to screen was something different , fixed with some adjustments. the set up was fast and simple, was pleased overall with this system we ordered 2 of the 180 degree cameras to go with this system. well worth the investment. saves time, better quality video, easy interface, got the job done for home coverage. and the night vision is pretty nice to and clear. great security and peace of mind
Great Ki These are great and easy to set up. The picture quality is excellent, and the alarm feedback is excellent, as it rewinds slightly to capture the alarm just before it happens.
The LED light only comes on when it detects someone.
Easy to set up and piece of cake to connect cameras. Only hard part is running cables. TL:DR This Annke camera system is easy to install, has all the features I needed, and configured itself automatically with minimal effort. I had all 6 cameras installed and the lines run in a 4 hour session at a local coffeeshop. It looks great, I can playback from an App, from my laptop or at the store. They have been paying for a non-functioning monitoring system for years. Now they can view everything.
I have installed a lot of cameras. I started out years ago with Swann and Lorex. later putting in Blink, Wyze, and Arlo systems. I have used DVRs with BNC connectors and powered the cameras with a separate DC 12v power supply, sometimes in a fancy cabinet, sometimes just up in the ceiling with wires everywhere. I have used POE systems with Cat5 running to the cameras and nothing else. I have stood on a 26 foot ladder terminating 100′ runs with RJ45s, the ground below me littered with failed attempts. I have put them in Schools, Businesses, Homes and mounted on poles in vacant lots.
All that being said, this is the second Annke camera system I have installed this year. I am amazed at how easy the install was. I have experience with NVRs and camera systems so installing the hard drive only took a minute (and 6 screws) and once I had my cables run (they supply 100′ and 60′ in this package) the NVR automatically detected the IP Cameras and configured them for me. Take the ladder, aim them where I wanted them, and voila. I had a spare camera and entered the IP address and camera login information and it came up no problem.
Configuring the motion detection and private zones was easy. I don’t use object detection or any AI features so I can’t tell you if they exist on this system, or how they work. The hardest part was running the Cat5 cables. Everything else was 1. install hard drive 2. plug in NVR 3. plug in my monitor (old TV with HDMI input) 4. plug Cat5 into back of NVR 5. plug cameras in at the other end. watch the NVR autodetect. name my cameras and adjust motion detection and daily recording. It was dead simple.
To get the app to work for me (I didnt use Annke Cloud) I had to forward the NVR server port through my router to the IP address of the NVR. I imagine if you stay within their ecosystem its a lot easier.
As far as longevity, the camera bodies seem really well built. Solid and thick plastic with a good swivel range. I just put the whole thing together yesterday so I will check back with reports on how the system has lasted. All in all great picture, easy install, and win win for me.
Excellent quality, Excellent picture, Excellent customer service I purchased this to replace an aging Night Owl set for our business.
* Packaging was excellent.
* Only needing the single network cable to each camera was great. My old set required a secondary power cable which created a mess near the DVR from so many connections, this set resolved that totally.
* Being wired, there is no worry for overcrowding wireless bands or potential for other devices interfering.
* Picture clarity is excellent. There would be no issue using video taken from this system for evidence.
* The proprietary ANNKE Sight app provided is quick and intuitive, and works perfectlyon my S24. You can easy move through recorded video for review in partioned segments direct to you phone.
* 2tb of storage will allow months of video to be kept
I did run into an issue where the DVR was not recognizing the built in hard drive right after installing everything. A system reset through the app resolved it completely, but before I did that I emailed for assistance. Since I resolved it myself, I was not monitoring for replies, but later looked and found that ANNKE not only replied to assist within a few hours, but also sent 2 more follow-up replies over the next 2 days when they did not get a response from me. That said, I feel good knowing they have actual customer service ready to assist not only quickly, but are capable and willing to follow an issue cradle-to-grave should the need arise.
Overall I am pleased with this system and will not hesitate to use ANNKE in the future.
2 years in - still going strong! I am writing this review 2 years after buying this CCTV kit and having it in constant use ever since. The only issue I encounter was the the hard drive has died after 12 months and I had to spent additional 55 on a new one. Still, a very good picture quality and reliability of all the cameras, no issues with misting or water ingress etc. Installation was very simple, as all cameras are automatically detected once plugged in and working with no problems!
Excellent camera system & great service Excellent camera system, easy installation, without any technical hitches. I had one faulty camera on night vision and could not fault the Annke Technical Service and After Sales for their prompt assistance to solve the problem. Camera was exchanged quickly without any fuss and communication was excellent throughout. Thoroughly recommended.
Great value, easy install, a bit too wide angle Very easy installation, great app, great picture quality. As others have commented, a bit too wide angled
Very easy to fit and very good value for money I got 2 of these sets on for one of my buisness premises and one for another I’m opening. I originally got price 1200 quid to fit the same cameras but with a background in trade and having decent drill I’d though I’d give it a go and try myself as it’s always good to know. I planned to do it in one day on a Monday but got the cameras the Thursday before. Being inpatient I’d thought I’d fit one every so often and how easy they are to fit was definitely a surprise. I think I spent about 10 minutes a camera after planning where to run the wires and setting it all out before hand. I did find it difficult on the tech side at first but that’s just me not being patient enough to read a manual. Two things I have noticed is if the scanner doesn’t work the code on the app press the top right botton for the manual linking, the codes on the back of the box. The other thing is the camera quality did seem low at first but after playing around with the settings I don’t know how I did it but a flip switch kinda set up popped up on the screen, after maxing the power to each camera the quality improved dramatically. The streaming quality is a little lower but I think that’s my Internet over the product. Definitely value for money being able to view my buisness at any time of the day.
Worth every penny I purchased this item to install at my home address to provide peace of mind. Installation was relatively straight forward and easy, basically mount the camera route the single cable per camera back to the main unit then simply plug in and connect to your tv.
This system has performed above my expectations over the last month and has plenty of features, such as continuous or scheduled recording, fully adjustable motion detection sensitivity and detection area, up to 4 adjustable privacy screens per camera so as not to encroach on neighbours or public areas.
I am very pleased with this purchase and would definitely recommend paying the extra to get a system that is actually worth having.
Brilliant System and Even More Brilliant suppo Once set up this is a brilliant system for our home. I had some difficulties getting 4 of the cameras to work but made contact with their technical support ( Sandy) and it was sorted out very promptly. I would recommend this product.
5MP cameras had too wide an angle of view I set this CCTV system up on my kitchen table before installing it around the house. As it is I decided to return it after experimenting with it and so can not comment on all of the features (eg night vision).
The system came well packaged and everything was present.
Somebody has commented that the cameras were plastic rather than aluminium and this is true, but they were still sturdy and seemed well made.
There were 4 * 18M cables (I think) and 4 * 30 m cables which should be sufficient for most houses. The connections at the camera end looked as though they would be waterproof had I needed them to be.
One of the features that I particularly liked was that when setting up the mask for motion detection, any movement that would have triggered recording was highlighted on the screen, so it was easy to decide which areas to mask out.
I also loaded the ANNKE Vision app on my Android phone and that worked fine.
I had also previously phoned up the US support team. At the time they were all busy but within 10 minutes someone phoned me back (even though I had not left any details) and asked what my problem was, so I assume from this that their support is reasonable.
There were two aspects that I didn’t like.
The first was that the camera housing was in two parts with the camera held between the two parts. To fix the housing onto the wall you need to split the two parts in order to get to the screw holes. I found this very difficult to do and was constantly worried that I would break it. As it happens I didn’t break either of the two that I managed to separate but I’m not sure that taking them down from a wall whilst up a ladder would have been very easy.
The second problem (which was the one that made me decide to send it back) was that the cameras had 105 degree wide angle lenses in, which are advertised as a way of covering a large are or view with a small number of cameras (which is true). However it meant that if I was going to be reviewing a recording and wanting to zoom in on faces or number plates, by the time that I had zoomed in far enough for the face or number plate to be sufficiently large to see it, the image had become so blurred that it made identification difficult if not impossible.
So in the end I sent it back because I felt that if I ever needed it to help solve a crime that I would not be able to rely on it because I would need to ‘over zoom’ to get close enough to the entity that I was trying to identify.
DOES THE JOB This was a great purchase for our business. Viewing camera on TV screen not so good but yet to download onto devices. Hoping the picture is as good as it shows on the packaging.
Not as good as I thought it would be I was expecting great things from this 5mp camera kit. However, I’m somewhat disappointed, the quality is no different from 1080p. It’s pixelated, slow and very dull colours.
Recording of a moving object is very blurry, for example my dog, when he’s running around, it’s very jumpy, it’s as if it’s missing frames, I’m guessing the cameras have very low frame rate.
Night vision is quite good but no where near 100ft. It’s also very slow to activate / deactivate, for example when my security lights activate, the camera picture goes bright white, then it switches to colour. Fine, but then the light goes off the camera picture goes black because it’s too slow to react.
Installing the camera is also made more complex than needed, because the Ethernet cable is moulded into the camera and cannot be removed. It’s also not just an Ethernet cable. The cable contains a large (20mm-ish) plug and an audio cable. So if installing it through a wall, just keep this in mind. I was under the impression I could just add my own cable, whilst you can add your own cable to the camera connector, you cannot by pass the connector. The kit also does not come with any cabling for the audio, so bit silly really.
The computer interface and app are also very sluggish, and not as easy to use as they should / could be. I can’t work out how to activate the motion detection, I’ve ticked it, but nothing seems to happen.
The app also consistently reverts the cameras back to ‘basic’ mode instead of keeping it at HD. On basic mode the video quality is just terrible. You can’t see detail at all. You also have to set the main settings from the NVR itself, mines installed in the loft, so this is annoying. You can setup DDNS settings but this is inherently insecure. Without it you can still view the cameras remotely.
Note: the cameras are marked with an ‘up’ sign. Unlike other systems you cannot rotate the image so be sure not to install the camera upside down, as otherwise you’ll be up the ladder again, it’s actually a nice little addition as makes it easier.
Great CCTV system Great indoor/outdoor camera system with Poe so only one wire going to each camera, easy setup, up and running in a matter of minutes only gripe is the plastic camera housing doesn’t seem very strong it would be easy for someone to smash them off with a decent broom stick so make sure they are fitted high up.
Works Grea Fantastic System, Way exceeds my expectations for the price, Great performance and the quality is just amazing.
Would have cost me 5 times more for the Lillin system I was looking at just for the integration to my smart home system but happy to forget this at the price and i’m sure the cameras are better,
I ordered to go with it an Anpviz PTZ 5MP 20x Optical zoom camera and it integrated just as easy, the zoom of this cam was just mind blowing…. GREAT WORK and very happy….
Great quality Great camera system for the price, a cut above other budget systems. Easy to set up, nvr with decent features for the price and the cameras are nice and clear.
Good motion detection and night visio Motion detection is really good and night vision is excellent. I think it captures the picture around 180 degrees. It is really great.
Excellent video quality and incredible night visio Picked this system up to replace a number of Blink cameras that were struggling to cover the area I wanted and were unfortunately chewing through batteries as a result.
The Good:
Installation is really easy as the cameras are PoE (power over ethernet) so you only need to run a single Cat5 or Cat6 cable from the camera back to the NVR. All the camera connectors have weather-proof gasket covers and the cameras themselves come with a really handy template sticker that guides you where to drill mounting holes. If you’re buying an 8 camera system, you likely have a fair distance to cover so most of your time is going to be spent running the cables back to the NVR along walls with cable clips etc. as everything else is a piece of cake.
The picture quality on the cameras is really fantastic and I’m so glad I went for a 5mp system instead of a 1080p – having a security system that produces crystal-clear images means you can have confidence that if they’re ever really needed they’ll be fit for use. When you have the system set up, remember to go into the settings and tick the box to enable H.265+ (not really sure why that isn’t just turned on by default) as it will save you huge amounts of storage space without affecting quality.
This brings me onto the night-vision. WOW. Seriously, it’s mad. Firstly, it manages to stay in colour ‘daytime’ mode until it’s almost pitch-black – so when you’re looking at your cameras it appears to be early dusk but look out your window and it’s already really dark. Then when it does flick over to night vision mode it has awesome visibility and distance with no weird halo that you get on traditional night vision.
The Bad:
So far a glowing review right, so why the four stars and not five? This is a relatively pricey 8 camera 5mp system – this isn’t an entry-level kit. Chances are you’re covering a fair bit of area and they are advertised as being IP67-rated Weatherproof cameras, so they’re obviously built to be outside. The one area I have real concerns about as a result is the supplied Cat5.
The supplied Cat5 cables are about 30m long so I purchased a couple of additional 100m and 50m spools of outdoors-rated Cat5 to cover the awkward furthest areas that the supplied cables wouldn’t reach. When these extra spools of ethernet arrived it was apparent that they were printed on the cable as being suitable for outdoor use and inherently more sturdy and better protected than the Annke-supplied cables. So are the supplied cables actually suitable for outdoor use or are they just bog-standard Cat5 and will likely fail in a few years of being outside? Hmm. Watch this space I guess. To be honest this is likely exactly the same on every camera system you buy and I might be being a bit harsh but you pay the money for a premium product, you expect everything to be premium.
Edit: July 2020 – So a year has passed since my original review – so far so good! No issues with the system at all, it just quietly gets on with it without ever needing resetting or any input at all. Nice to be able to forget about it with confidence. My reservations about the supplied Cat5 seem to be unfounded thus far, lets see what another 12 months of British weather makes of it 🙂
his system is well worth the investment, highly recommend
first time using a P.O.E system was the best thing I could have done. plug and use connectors made set up much easier than the old BNC connections. the slight lag in motion to screen was something different , fixed with some adjustments. the set up was fast and simple, was pleased overall with this system we ordered 2 of the 180 degree cameras to go with this system. well worth the investment. saves time, better quality video, easy interface, got the job done for home coverage. and the night vision is pretty nice to and clear. great security and peace of mind
Great Ki
These are great and easy to set up. The picture quality is excellent, and the alarm feedback is excellent, as it rewinds slightly to capture the alarm just before it happens.
The LED light only comes on when it detects someone.
Easy to set up and piece of cake to connect cameras. Only hard part is running cables.
TL:DR This Annke camera system is easy to install, has all the features I needed, and configured itself automatically with minimal effort. I had all 6 cameras installed and the lines run in a 4 hour session at a local coffeeshop. It looks great, I can playback from an App, from my laptop or at the store. They have been paying for a non-functioning monitoring system for years. Now they can view everything.
I have installed a lot of cameras. I started out years ago with Swann and Lorex. later putting in Blink, Wyze, and Arlo systems. I have used DVRs with BNC connectors and powered the cameras with a separate DC 12v power supply, sometimes in a fancy cabinet, sometimes just up in the ceiling with wires everywhere. I have used POE systems with Cat5 running to the cameras and nothing else. I have stood on a 26 foot ladder terminating 100′ runs with RJ45s, the ground below me littered with failed attempts. I have put them in Schools, Businesses, Homes and mounted on poles in vacant lots.
All that being said, this is the second Annke camera system I have installed this year. I am amazed at how easy the install was. I have experience with NVRs and camera systems so installing the hard drive only took a minute (and 6 screws) and once I had my cables run (they supply 100′ and 60′ in this package) the NVR automatically detected the IP Cameras and configured them for me. Take the ladder, aim them where I wanted them, and voila. I had a spare camera and entered the IP address and camera login information and it came up no problem.
Configuring the motion detection and private zones was easy. I don’t use object detection or any AI features so I can’t tell you if they exist on this system, or how they work. The hardest part was running the Cat5 cables. Everything else was 1. install hard drive 2. plug in NVR 3. plug in my monitor (old TV with HDMI input) 4. plug Cat5 into back of NVR 5. plug cameras in at the other end. watch the NVR autodetect. name my cameras and adjust motion detection and daily recording. It was dead simple.
To get the app to work for me (I didnt use Annke Cloud) I had to forward the NVR server port through my router to the IP address of the NVR. I imagine if you stay within their ecosystem its a lot easier.
As far as longevity, the camera bodies seem really well built. Solid and thick plastic with a good swivel range. I just put the whole thing together yesterday so I will check back with reports on how the system has lasted. All in all great picture, easy install, and win win for me.
Excellent quality, Excellent picture, Excellent customer service
I purchased this to replace an aging Night Owl set for our business.
* Packaging was excellent.
* Only needing the single network cable to each camera was great. My old set required a secondary power cable which created a mess near the DVR from so many connections, this set resolved that totally.
* Being wired, there is no worry for overcrowding wireless bands or potential for other devices interfering.
* Picture clarity is excellent. There would be no issue using video taken from this system for evidence.
* The proprietary ANNKE Sight app provided is quick and intuitive, and works perfectlyon my S24. You can easy move through recorded video for review in partioned segments direct to you phone.
* 2tb of storage will allow months of video to be kept
I did run into an issue where the DVR was not recognizing the built in hard drive right after installing everything. A system reset through the app resolved it completely, but before I did that I emailed for assistance. Since I resolved it myself, I was not monitoring for replies, but later looked and found that ANNKE not only replied to assist within a few hours, but also sent 2 more follow-up replies over the next 2 days when they did not get a response from me. That said, I feel good knowing they have actual customer service ready to assist not only quickly, but are capable and willing to follow an issue cradle-to-grave should the need arise.
Overall I am pleased with this system and will not hesitate to use ANNKE in the future.
I am writing this review 2 years after buying this CCTV kit and having it in constant use ever since. The only issue I encounter was the the hard drive has died after 12 months and I had to spent additional 55 on a new one. Still, a very good picture quality and reliability of all the cameras, no issues with misting or water ingress etc. Installation was very simple, as all cameras are automatically detected once plugged in and working with no problems!
Excellent camera system & great service
Excellent camera system, easy installation, without any technical hitches. I had one faulty camera on night vision and could not fault the Annke Technical Service and After Sales for their prompt assistance to solve the problem. Camera was exchanged quickly without any fuss and communication was excellent throughout. Thoroughly recommended.
Great value, easy install, a bit too wide angle
Very easy installation, great app, great picture quality. As others have commented, a bit too wide angled
Very easy to fit and very good value for money
I got 2 of these sets on for one of my buisness premises and one for another I’m opening. I originally got price 1200 quid to fit the same cameras but with a background in trade and having decent drill I’d though I’d give it a go and try myself as it’s always good to know. I planned to do it in one day on a Monday but got the cameras the Thursday before. Being inpatient I’d thought I’d fit one every so often and how easy they are to fit was definitely a surprise. I think I spent about 10 minutes a camera after planning where to run the wires and setting it all out before hand. I did find it difficult on the tech side at first but that’s just me not being patient enough to read a manual. Two things I have noticed is if the scanner doesn’t work the code on the app press the top right botton for the manual linking, the codes on the back of the box. The other thing is the camera quality did seem low at first but after playing around with the settings I don’t know how I did it but a flip switch kinda set up popped up on the screen, after maxing the power to each camera the quality improved dramatically. The streaming quality is a little lower but I think that’s my Internet over the product. Definitely value for money being able to view my buisness at any time of the day.
Worth every penny
I purchased this item to install at my home address to provide peace of mind. Installation was relatively straight forward and easy, basically mount the camera route the single cable per camera back to the main unit then simply plug in and connect to your tv.
This system has performed above my expectations over the last month and has plenty of features, such as continuous or scheduled recording, fully adjustable motion detection sensitivity and detection area, up to 4 adjustable privacy screens per camera so as not to encroach on neighbours or public areas.
I am very pleased with this purchase and would definitely recommend paying the extra to get a system that is actually worth having.
Brilliant System and Even More Brilliant suppo
Once set up this is a brilliant system for our home. I had some difficulties getting 4 of the cameras to work but made contact with their technical support ( Sandy) and it was sorted out very promptly. I would recommend this product.
ANNKE CCTV System
A very good CCTV system for the home, very easy to install and setup!
Great suppo
Couple of our cameras went down due to network issue. They logged in remotely and sorted the issue very efficiently.
I set this CCTV system up on my kitchen table before installing it around the house. As it is I decided to return it after experimenting with it and so can not comment on all of the features (eg night vision).
The system came well packaged and everything was present.
Somebody has commented that the cameras were plastic rather than aluminium and this is true, but they were still sturdy and seemed well made.
There were 4 * 18M cables (I think) and 4 * 30 m cables which should be sufficient for most houses. The connections at the camera end looked as though they would be waterproof had I needed them to be.
One of the features that I particularly liked was that when setting up the mask for motion detection, any movement that would have triggered recording was highlighted on the screen, so it was easy to decide which areas to mask out.
I also loaded the ANNKE Vision app on my Android phone and that worked fine.
I had also previously phoned up the US support team. At the time they were all busy but within 10 minutes someone phoned me back (even though I had not left any details) and asked what my problem was, so I assume from this that their support is reasonable.
There were two aspects that I didn’t like.
The first was that the camera housing was in two parts with the camera held between the two parts. To fix the housing onto the wall you need to split the two parts in order to get to the screw holes. I found this very difficult to do and was constantly worried that I would break it. As it happens I didn’t break either of the two that I managed to separate but I’m not sure that taking them down from a wall whilst up a ladder would have been very easy.
The second problem (which was the one that made me decide to send it back) was that the cameras had 105 degree wide angle lenses in, which are advertised as a way of covering a large are or view with a small number of cameras (which is true). However it meant that if I was going to be reviewing a recording and wanting to zoom in on faces or number plates, by the time that I had zoomed in far enough for the face or number plate to be sufficiently large to see it, the image had become so blurred that it made identification difficult if not impossible.
So in the end I sent it back because I felt that if I ever needed it to help solve a crime that I would not be able to rely on it because I would need to ‘over zoom’ to get close enough to the entity that I was trying to identify.
DOES THE JOB
This was a great purchase for our business. Viewing camera on TV screen not so good but yet to download onto devices. Hoping the picture is as good as it shows on the packaging.
I was expecting great things from this 5mp camera kit. However, I’m somewhat disappointed, the quality is no different from 1080p. It’s pixelated, slow and very dull colours.
Recording of a moving object is very blurry, for example my dog, when he’s running around, it’s very jumpy, it’s as if it’s missing frames, I’m guessing the cameras have very low frame rate.
Night vision is quite good but no where near 100ft. It’s also very slow to activate / deactivate, for example when my security lights activate, the camera picture goes bright white, then it switches to colour. Fine, but then the light goes off the camera picture goes black because it’s too slow to react.
Installing the camera is also made more complex than needed, because the Ethernet cable is moulded into the camera and cannot be removed. It’s also not just an Ethernet cable. The cable contains a large (20mm-ish) plug and an audio cable. So if installing it through a wall, just keep this in mind. I was under the impression I could just add my own cable, whilst you can add your own cable to the camera connector, you cannot by pass the connector. The kit also does not come with any cabling for the audio, so bit silly really.
The computer interface and app are also very sluggish, and not as easy to use as they should / could be. I can’t work out how to activate the motion detection, I’ve ticked it, but nothing seems to happen.
The app also consistently reverts the cameras back to ‘basic’ mode instead of keeping it at HD. On basic mode the video quality is just terrible. You can’t see detail at all. You also have to set the main settings from the NVR itself, mines installed in the loft, so this is annoying. You can setup DDNS settings but this is inherently insecure. Without it you can still view the cameras remotely.
Note: the cameras are marked with an ‘up’ sign. Unlike other systems you cannot rotate the image so be sure not to install the camera upside down, as otherwise you’ll be up the ladder again, it’s actually a nice little addition as makes it easier.
Great CCTV system
Great indoor/outdoor camera system with Poe so only one wire going to each camera, easy setup, up and running in a matter of minutes only gripe is the plastic camera housing doesn’t seem very strong it would be easy for someone to smash them off with a decent broom stick so make sure they are fitted high up.
Fantastic System, Way exceeds my expectations for the price, Great performance and the quality is just amazing.
Would have cost me 5 times more for the Lillin system I was looking at just for the integration to my smart home system but happy to forget this at the price and i’m sure the cameras are better,
I ordered to go with it an Anpviz PTZ 5MP 20x Optical zoom camera and it integrated just as easy, the zoom of this cam was just mind blowing…. GREAT WORK and very happy….
Great system for the price.
Great system. Easy to configure and install. Good in daylight and low light.
Love i
Great kit. Easy to install and to set up.
Great images and excellent user interface.
Great camera system for the price, a cut above other budget systems. Easy to set up, nvr with decent features for the price and the cameras are nice and clear.
Good motion detection and night visio
Motion detection is really good and night vision is excellent. I think it captures the picture around 180 degrees. It is really great.
Good picture + online suppo
Arrived on time – Not fully fitted yet, but good results so far – Good online suppo
Picked this system up to replace a number of Blink cameras that were struggling to cover the area I wanted and were unfortunately chewing through batteries as a result.
The Good:
Installation is really easy as the cameras are PoE (power over ethernet) so you only need to run a single Cat5 or Cat6 cable from the camera back to the NVR. All the camera connectors have weather-proof gasket covers and the cameras themselves come with a really handy template sticker that guides you where to drill mounting holes. If you’re buying an 8 camera system, you likely have a fair distance to cover so most of your time is going to be spent running the cables back to the NVR along walls with cable clips etc. as everything else is a piece of cake.
The picture quality on the cameras is really fantastic and I’m so glad I went for a 5mp system instead of a 1080p – having a security system that produces crystal-clear images means you can have confidence that if they’re ever really needed they’ll be fit for use. When you have the system set up, remember to go into the settings and tick the box to enable H.265+ (not really sure why that isn’t just turned on by default) as it will save you huge amounts of storage space without affecting quality.
This brings me onto the night-vision. WOW. Seriously, it’s mad. Firstly, it manages to stay in colour ‘daytime’ mode until it’s almost pitch-black – so when you’re looking at your cameras it appears to be early dusk but look out your window and it’s already really dark. Then when it does flick over to night vision mode it has awesome visibility and distance with no weird halo that you get on traditional night vision.
The Bad:
So far a glowing review right, so why the four stars and not five? This is a relatively pricey 8 camera 5mp system – this isn’t an entry-level kit. Chances are you’re covering a fair bit of area and they are advertised as being IP67-rated Weatherproof cameras, so they’re obviously built to be outside. The one area I have real concerns about as a result is the supplied Cat5.
The supplied Cat5 cables are about 30m long so I purchased a couple of additional 100m and 50m spools of outdoors-rated Cat5 to cover the awkward furthest areas that the supplied cables wouldn’t reach. When these extra spools of ethernet arrived it was apparent that they were printed on the cable as being suitable for outdoor use and inherently more sturdy and better protected than the Annke-supplied cables. So are the supplied cables actually suitable for outdoor use or are they just bog-standard Cat5 and will likely fail in a few years of being outside? Hmm. Watch this space I guess. To be honest this is likely exactly the same on every camera system you buy and I might be being a bit harsh but you pay the money for a premium product, you expect everything to be premium.
Edit: July 2020 – So a year has passed since my original review – so far so good! No issues with the system at all, it just quietly gets on with it without ever needing resetting or any input at all. Nice to be able to forget about it with confidence. My reservations about the supplied Cat5 seem to be unfounded thus far, lets see what another 12 months of British weather makes of it 🙂