Often, I am asked for my opinion on security cameras for the home. There are probably a hundred different points of view on the subject. These are mine. Use them as you wish.
Once you have made the decision to outfit your home with cameras, the next biggest decision is whether you are going to install them inside, outside, or both. There are quite a few things to consider before making that choice. What does your budget allow? What is your goal in installing cameras (what’s their purpose)? Do you want to go wired or wireless? How many cameras do you think you want? How strong is the Wi-Fi signal in the areas you might want to put cameras? What sort of power source do you have in these locations? Do you get freaked out by the idea of having live cameras in your house at all times? And the list can go on and on.
Your budget will almost immediately dictate how many cameras you can go with. If you don’t have that high of a budget, you may have to consider inside or outside, but not both. So, then the question becomes, which location is the best choice, inside or outside? The first thing you must understand is that outside cameras do not stop thugs from breaking into your house. They, hopefully, catch a glimpse of them doing it, but most likely it is going to be very low light and they are going to be wearing a hoodie… In the house they go. Now, if you have the cameras inside your house, you will capture everything they do. You will have lots of footage to give to the authorities. If you happen to be home, you will also have all the footage of you defending yourself. If you shoot them, it will be on video for you to use in your defense when you are sitting in front of a jury. Outside cameras will capture none of that. You’ll have them breaking in and leaving, and most likely, the footage will be useless.
I, personally, have cameras inside my house. They are on all the time and they will most certainly capture any sort of home invasion. They are double password protected and the footage is stored on microSD cards in each of the cameras. I have met folks that have cameras inside their house, but get freaked out by the idea of having them on 24/7. They only have them on at night when everyone is asleep. Well, break-ins are 6% more likely to happen during the day than at night. I’ll let you decide if having them off during the day is a good idea or not. Be sure to read our Home Invasions blog post to learn more about that.
Security cameras in the home are a very good measure for beefing up the security of your home. Is it the only measure to take? No. Is it a great addition to a much larger security plan? Yes. We did not go into all of the other technical aspects of installing cameras, but we did go into the key points that should help steer your decision making.
If you liked this article, please take the time to forward this blog to your friends, and let’s keep the conversation going. Leave your thoughts in the comments section.
Be Safe,
Joe Shahoud
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