D-Link Covers More!

[Product Review]

I had been using D-Link cameras right from the start and had always found them to be a joy to use. In fact the ones that I am writing about now, had been in use for almost a year and we are already happy and used to them that I had forgotten about my reviews! Opps... But in any case, now that our house is more than twice the size of our previous 3-room flat, we definitely needed more coverage, in terms of CCTV cameras to capture the happenings at home, as well as WiFi!

DSC-8100LH 

So, when I first received the white DCS-8100LH, I thought it looked so familiar to the black DCS-936L that I wondering if it was just a colour variation! But nope, it was a notch above the latter for sure, with its various improvements! In fact, it boast a 180-degree wide-angle view, in 720p HD quality no less, as compared to the black DCS-936L that we reviewed much earlier.

Looks exactly like my old camera but with voice function!

Previously I when I catch my kiddos watching TV before finishing their homework, I would have to call home to give them a piece of my mind! But with the DCS-8100LH, I can eavesdrop on to their conversation and respond to them immediately too! No need to close the app just to make a phone call! In fact, I had given them quite a fright at times!

You can find the link to get the camera here.

DCS-8525LH

I sure was happy with my DCS-8100LH lah, but hor when I received the latest DCS-8525LH, I really had the sudden impulse to change all the other cameras in the house into this lor. Especially so when I am watching the live footage only to see the kiddos get out of the frame of the older models I am using and leave my wondering what is up their sleeves! The reason why, is because I can control and pan the DCS-8525LH remotely!

It is actually rather fun to control the camera! It can almost cover 360 degrees with the panning, and I can even point it upwards to catch geckos in action if I want to. Jokes aside, this is really a great feature to have, especially when you needed to cover all the angles, but yet not with multiple devices since you do not need the footages at all times also.

Up, down, left and right. Now I can rotate and pan anyway I need with this!

Find the link to purchase the camera here if you want.

Mydlink App

The mydlink app is user-friendly and highly intuitive. I had no problems setting up my cameras and accessing the live footages on my four different cameras is just 2 clicks away after opening the app. I am also be able to take still images or videos at this point should I need to.

Can see select the cameras installed easily!

You can also choose if you want the sound on or off, and select the resolution of the videos as well. With the compatible cameras such as the DCS-8100LH and DCS-8525LH I mentioned, I can also tap and hold on to the speaker to talk directly to the person in front of the cameras.

No one in the right mind would always be viewing the live footages all the time, or maybe in the beginning only. The recordings are important for sure, and one can choose to record directly onto a micro SDXC card on the device, or have subscribe to their cloud recording plans. I also subscribed to their free plan, which allows recording from up to 3 cameras to be stored for 1 day!

Now they even have videos tutorials to make learning easier!

It's messy, but just to show you the recording of my DCS-8525LH on top of our wardrobe!

Links of the app for both Apple Store and Play Store can be found here.

COVR-C1203

Now what good is a bunch of IP cameras if you do not have reliable WiFi connection at home? They are basically useless with the connection lor. And with the doubling in size of our house now, we needed twice as much coverage, but luckily we had the COVR-C1203 for mesh networking!

Of course I am no techie but having to sign onto different networks when I was using different extenders previously, having this new gadget is really useful as it provided the best signal available throughout the house without any hassle of switching the networks when I am in different rooms.

To be honest, it took me quite a few tries to get this set up and running and it was because of a certain setting (probably cellular data) on my mobile phone that I had to turn off to enable proper installation of the device using the D-Link Wi-Fi app. But once the setup was done, it was smooth running since then!

The speed was decent enough for the kiddos to watch streaming videos anywhere in the house, which was not bad considering that my main router is tucked in a closed cabinet because I hated cables and wires. It would be great if there wasn't a need to keep all 3 nodes powered with the cables, but luckily the nodes looked pretty cool and futuristic lor!

Get your COVR-C1203 here.

Verdict

I am damn honest here. There are many brands out there that has similar products that goes for cheaper prices. This is not rocket science, just google and you can find them out for yourself. But having used D-Link cameras for almost 3 years now, I can dare vouch for their quality!

The oldest one that I am using, the DCS-960L is still going strong and recording vivid footages after all these while. All I did since then, was only adding new D-Link cameras to mydlink app and enjoying the convenience of full coverage of my house with one single app.

I am a very happy man with the performance of the cameras and the mesh router system, and would not hesitate to recommend these to anyone who wants a simple to install, idiot-proof CCTV monitoring system at home and great WiFi coverage. Many people have the fear of setup complexity, but sometimes these worries are really not necessary because hey, even I can fix it!

This post is brought to you in collaboration with D-Link Singapore!