It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings. These are a few of my favorite things. One of my least favorite things, however, is also prevalent during this time of year, usually right alongside brown paper packages tied up with strings. I am talking about porch pirates, the dastardly neighborhood bandits who swipe your deliveries from your porch while you aren’t looking or aren’t home.
This problem keeps getting worse: on the news last week, they reported that many thieves are deputizing their kids to do the dirty work for them; meanwhile a friend of mine caught a legitimate deliveryman stealing a different package from the porch while dropping off his cargo. What to do? The answer is to invest in a security camera.
Over the past month, I have tried out the Reolink Argus 2 security camera, and let me tell you, it is up to this task.
Normally $130, the Reolink Argus 2 is 20 percent off (Photo via Reolink)
Reolink Argus 2 on sale for $103.99
The first thing I want to say about the Reolink Argus 2 is how extremely easy it is to set up. You take it out of the box, plug in the rechargeable battery, install the Reolink app to your phone and scan the QR code on your camera. Then just connect the device to your WiFi via the app and you are all set! You can put your Reolink Argus 2 anywhere and get a live feed sent to your smartphone. We first set the camera up in our office kitchen, and it worked exactly as promised. The picture is clear 1080p HD and any delay is minimal. The coolest part is that it supports two-way audio. So we could hear what was going on in the kitchen and also talk to anyone there. At first, we scared quite a few people unaware of where the voice was coming from.
The next place we tried the Reolink Argus 2 was on my front porch. My porch is covered, so rain wasn’t an issue, but it was comforting to learn that it is IP65 certified weatherproof. You should have no qualms mounting this camera outside your house. One day, I set mine up, went to work, and I waited. I also set up the option motion activation alert. While this would have been useless in a high-traffic place like the office kitchen, my main point in getting the Reolink Argus 2 was to see if anyone lingered on my doorstep for too long. The day I set up the camera, no porch pirates came. But a deliveryman did. Initially, I worried that I would not be able to identify the man at my door as friend or foe, since it had already gotten dark. My fears were baseless. The night vision technology worked perfectly, and I knew not to scream at the deliveryman to get away from my house.
In conclusion, the Reolink Argus 2 is for those looking for an extra set of eyes around (or outside) your house. The battery is rechargeable, but if you use your camera outside, you can set up a Reolink solar panel to keep it constantly charged. While it can record and store of-interest videos on a Micro SD card (up to 64 GB), it won’t keep everything. That is not a big deal for most — who wants to watch a video of their front porch at times when nobody is near it? — but might make it less than ideal for high-traffic areas, at which it may be difficult to sort between regular motion and danger.
If you are in the market for a security camera to keep watch on your house, I definitely recommend the Reolink Argus 2. It’s wire-free, the video is clear no matter how far you are, and the 2-way audio adds an extra layer of protection. Now is an especially good time to invest in one, since it is 20 percent off until December 25. The Argus 2 is made by Reolink, which is actually having a giant Christmas sale until the big day.
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