Pet monitoring camera recommendations?

Babypinkweeb

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Apologies if this isn't in the right forum.

My previous cheap home monitor camera died so I'm in the market for a new one. I don't do any serious monitoring or recording. I travel often for business and have a sitter but would just like to check in on my cats if I need to. Ideally would like one without cloud subscription as the previous model I used just had microSD card storage for viewing. I live in a small apartment so don't need a large fancy surveillance set, just one camera is fine.

Thanks in advance!!
 

sanfran_kitty_lady_21

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Wyze, super cheap and good enough to keep an eye on your cat. The camera is less than $30 and while they have premium subscription options, I'm pretty happy at the free level. One thing I REALLY love - motion detection. Wyze will tag motion and record 12 seconds of it (if you pay you can get a longer clip). So if my cat is hiding the moment I check the app - I can see if they had any recent movement and that gives me a lot of piece of mind. You can buy it on Amazon.
 

daftcat75

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I like D-Link. I have one PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) and several smaller single purpose "spy cams". I call them spy cams because they are about the size and shape of a salt shaker making it easy to put them in all your cat's favorite hiding spots. All of D-links cameras have night vision so you don't have to worry about light levels wherever you are putting them. They also support motion detection, cloud recording, and configurable notifications (phone, email, both, or neither) as well as automation schedules (e.g. when recording and notifications should be active and when to give it a rest.) And for the models that support them, you can select between cloud recording and local storage (SD card.)

Here is the PTZ I have:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079RL1YDH/?tag=thecatsite

Here are the "spy cams":
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0719RW67Z/?tag=thecatsite

And here is some footage from one of the "spy cams" mounted underneath the bookcase, one of Krista's favorite after-meal spots.
View media item 423206
And by "mounted", I mean I use 3M Command Strips to velcro the camera in place because they weigh nothing. They are versatile like this.
 

klunick

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My husband said last night that we should get a camera to see who it is that pulls toys out during the night and leaves them in the living room like little landmines. I have a feeling that is all it would catch and I'd be looking at the empty living room the rest of the time because it seems like the cats spend most of their day downstairs. I guess I could invest in two of them if not too expensive. 🤷‍♀️
 

daftcat75

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My husband said last night that we should get a camera to see who it is that pulls toys out during the night and leaves them in the living room like little landmines. I have a feeling that is all it would catch and I'd be looking at the empty living room the rest of the time because it seems like the cats spend most of their day downstairs. I guess I could invest in two of them if not too expensive. 🤷‍♀️
The nice thing about the motion detection cameras with cloud recording is that you (usually*) only get clips with motion. You don’t have to watch hours of nothing. *Sometimes the motion detection is too sensitive. At least with the D-Link, you can configure the sensitivity and block out certain parts of the picture for motion detection e.g.don’t monitor a ceiling fan for motion. 🤦🏼‍♂️ The ones I posted above that I call “spy cams” are $99 for a pair. They are the size and shape of a salt shaker. 🧂 They weigh nothing. You can attach Command Strips to them and Velcro them into place wherever you need to monitor, even and especially in tight places. I had one attached to the litterbox enclosure to monitor my ailing IBD kitty’s bathroom habits. After she passed, I was taking care of a community stray for awhile. I kept one of those cameras leaning against the sliding door between the glass and the vertical blinds. Pretty much all of the footage in this folder is from that camera:
OC
 

klunick

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The nice thing about the motion detection cameras with cloud recording is that you (usually*) only get clips with motion. You don’t have to watch hours of nothing. *Sometimes the motion detection is too sensitive. At least with the D-Link, you can configure the sensitivity and block out certain parts of the picture for motion detection e.g.don’t monitor a ceiling fan for motion. 🤦🏼‍♂️ The ones I posted above that I call “spy cams” are $99 for a pair. They are the size and shape of a salt shaker. 🧂 They weigh nothing. You can attach Command Strips to them and Velcro them into place wherever you need to monitor, even and especially in tight places. I had one attached to the litterbox enclosure to monitor my ailing IBD kitty’s bathroom habits. After she passed, I was taking care of a community stray for awhile. I kept one of those cameras leaning against the sliding door between the glass and the vertical blinds. Pretty much all of the footage in this folder is from that camera:
OC
Good quality but I'm not that interested in who brings out the cat toys at night to go spend $100. More like ask for a cheap one (like the Wyze one mentioned) for Christmas and set it up. If it turns out to not be worthwhile, I'm not out any money and can get rid of it .
 

Maurey

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I have the eufy pan and tilt. Great for the price, and does everything I need it to do. Has motion detection and will only record clips that contain motion. You can set the app to alert you if it detects a pet, as well.


 

Meowmee

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I have a couple of yi cams I got on amazon to monitor Jezibel. They were ok. They are motion activated and it stored the videos and gave me alerts, but they often disoriented. They were cloud usuable but I didn’t use that. It was so sad though because she passed at dvm not long after enucleation when it was discovered she had facial oral cancer not an fhv infection.

I bought them to keep an eye on her in the cage because she was not tame yet and was ill/ anxious etc. and I was taking care of my father and could not spend as much time with her as I normally would have with my rescues. I haven't tried using them with my guys indoors yet. For my outdoor clan I have 3 blink security cams which are better, although they use batteries and stop sometimes in weather extremes and the cats don’t always trigger them. I have a fox I am trying to help now as well and they pick up lots of other critters as well. I need more at least one for a larger shelter I built in the woods and 2 for other shelters that aren’t picked up by the blink cams. I need one that can be out in the open for the larger shelter and that can connect to wifi with a longer distance. The mini d link looks nice, I wonder if that would work for my outdoor situation, prolly indoors only and too far away.
 
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daftcat75

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I have a couple of yi cams I got on amazon to monitor Jezibel. They were ok. They are motion activated and it stored the videos and gave me alerts, but they often disoriented. They were cloud usuable but I didn’t use that. It was so sad though because she passed at dvm not long after enucleation when it was discovered she had facial oral cancer not an fhv infection.

I bought them to keep an eye on her in the cage because she was not tame yet and was ill/ anxious etc. and I was taking care of my father and could not spend as much time with her as I normally would have with my rescues. I haven't tried using them with my guys indoors yet. For my outdoor clan I have 3 blink security cams which are better, although they use batteries and stop sometimes in weather extremes and the cats don’t always trigger them. I have a fox I am trying to help now as well and they pick up lots of other critters as well. I need more at least one for a larger shelter I built in the woods and 2 for other shelters that aren’t picked up by the blink cams. I need one that can be out in the open for the larger shelter and that can connect to wifi with a longer distance. The mini d link looks nice, I wonder if that would work for my outdoor situation, prolly indoors only and too far away.
I would caution against using a cheaper, lesser known camera vendor. If there are security vulnerabilities, they may go unreported or unfixed.

Wi-Fi doesn’t extend very far (300 feet outdoors, less with obstructions) even with a bigger brand like d-link. Assuming you can power the device, they have Wi-Fi range extenders that can help you repeat the Wi-Fi signal over larger distances.

You will probably need a trail camera for your remote location though. Those are designed to be dropped off, they record to local storage, and you pick them up to change out the memory card and battery before re-deploying them. Some trail cameras include cellular connectivity 2G/3G/4G. Though you’ll need to purchase the cellular plan separately.
 

Meowmee

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I would caution against using a cheaper, lesser known camera vendor. If there are security vulnerabilities, they may go unreported or unfixed.

Wi-Fi doesn’t extend very far (300 feet outdoors, less with obstructions) even with a bigger brand like d-link. Assuming you can power the device, they have Wi-Fi range extenders that can help you repeat the Wi-Fi signal over larger distances.

You will probably need a trail camera for your remote location though. Those are designed to be dropped off, they record to local storage, and you pick them up to change out the memory card and battery before re-deploying them. Some trail cameras include cellular connectivity 2G/3G/4G. Though you’ll need to purchase the cellular plan separately.
It’s not that remote, there is a small woods in the back garden, but it’s too far way for another blink cam to connect to the wifi etc. I am not sure which one you mean is cheaper etc. the blinks are about the same pricevrange as d link, but they are for outdoor or indoor. I saw one camera when I was first looking at them, it was solar powered I think or maybe battery, it could be attached to a tree but it only recorded onto a card. I don’t think I would have the patience for that I really like it just coming onto my phone with an app and alerts etc.
 
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daftcat75

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It’s not that remote, there is a small woods in the back garden, but it’s too far way for another blink cam to connect to the wifi etc. I am not sure which one you mean is cheaper etc. the blinks are about the same pricevrange as d link, but they are for outdoor or indoor. I saw one camera when I was first looking at them, it was solar powered I think or maybe battery, it could be attached to a tree but it only recorded onto a card. I don’t think I would have the patience for that I really like it just coming onto my phone with an app and alerts etc.
I meant the Yi cams when I was discouraging cheaper cameras for security reasons. I wouldn’t trust my privacy with them.

If you can get a Blink to connect from out back, then you should be able to get another camera or at least a range extender to connect. Once you have a range extender out there, then you could use any brand you want, assuming you trust the camera vendor.
 

Meowmee

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I meant the Yi cams when I was discouraging cheaper cameras for security reasons. I wouldn’t trust my privacy with them.

If you can get a Blink to connect from out back, then you should be able to get another camera or at least a range extender to connect. Once you have a range extender out there, then you could use any brand you want, assuming you trust the camera vendor.
Very odd, I replied to this last night or early am and it and few other replies to some other posts are now missing. Anyone know what’s up with that?
Anyway, I am going to try getting a range extender I guess they are in amazon probably. Thanks 😀
 
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