Lorex LH014501C4F Vantage 4-Channel DVR with 4 Cameras (Black)

You see so many cameras these days and it seems that more and more, as time goes by, more of your life is being watched and even recorded. Cameras, you can't get away from them. We never thought we'd be setting them up at our house. We live in a nice area and have always felt secure. Then we got this security system.

You see other houses with security systems. It's not like it used to be when everybody would think you were either paranoid or hoarding jewels if you have cameras around your house. These days, people don't seem to notice them anymore.

We've not ordinary people though. My husband raises racing homers (fast pigeons for those of you who don't know) and he plays in a band called the Wandering Banshees. Their main gig is in our garage. So he set two of the camera up in there, then put in two umbrella studio lights from Cowboy studios so that they would look TV quality on camera. He already had near professional sound wired from the amps and instruments in the garage into our very elaborate home stereo system. So now I can not only hear the Wandering Banshees, I can watch them too, from two different angles. It's super cool.

The third camera he set up so he could monitor his pigeons and the fourth (we're not completely non security conscious) he set up to monitor the front door, so that we can see who's knocking.

My husband isn't the most techie person on Earth and neither is anybody in the band, but they got this system set up in working in one Sunday. It took them all day, but they did it and it works like a treat. I can see the band clear as a bell and so can the groupies. Okay, we're really wives, but we call ourselves groupies. Having the cameras in the garage allows us to watch them play as we drink Cabernet and talk inside. Like I said, it's super cool.

The pigeons too come in clearly and of course, for the security conscious out there, we can see very clearly who is knock, knock, knocking at our door. This is a very good systems and if you're in the market for a security system that won't break your bank, I highly recommend Lorex.

The Lorex package includes the following:

· 4 Ch DVR with 500GB HDD

· Remote Control

· Power Adapter

· Mouse

· Ethernet Cable

· 4 x Cameras

· 4 x Camera Stands

· 4 x 60ft BNC/DC Extension Cables

· 1 x 4 in 1 Camera Power Adaptor

· CD, Quick Start Guide, and Instruction Manual

I installed this (along with my father) at my father's house as I had already installed another system at my own house. The installation took four hours and went fairly easily as I had gained experience in a prior installation (which I'll call Brand X for comparison to this unit).

Observations: The instruction manual wasn't as well written as Brand X but with my experience I managed pretty well. Someone without experience may need some help in the installation process.

The daytime image was almost as clear as the pricier Brand X (I used the same monitor for comparison). I was pretty happy with it. The nighttime image wasn't as defined as Brand X and the range was about 20% lower, but still very good. I could pick out the neighbor's dog across the street pretty well, but lost visibility once I looked down the street.

The images via smart phone were also good, but not great.

Recommendation: There are systems with better cameras and greater range on the market but these systems are more expensive. I felt Lorex had very good performance for a less expensive system and would recommend purchase if your budget is in the $300 or below price range.

Buy Lorex LH014501C4F Vantage 4-Channel DVR with 4 Cameras (Black) Now

You know that saying "You get what you pay for"? It appears that the more you are willing to spend on this product and its many variations, the more features and the better quality you get.

I have the this modelthe 4-camera kind. We thought it would be nice to hook it up to our TV so we can simply flip to it during commercials while watching TV. Here are some things to know:

It does NOT come with RCA cables.

Each camera has about 50 feet of cord.

The camera quality is ok at best. Colors are often faded and not like what the human eye sees, or it goes to black and white with IR mode.

It switches automatically between color and IR mode. It seems to use IR mode in relatively light conditions.

We bought connectors so we could use the existing cables with our RCA inputs and ot worked fine. I haven't figured out the DVR part yet though.

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