ANNKE 3K Lite 8CH 8-Camera Security System

Fire hazard

Update 05/2025- After much back and forth and linking my review in my emails to Annke, they gave a new DVR with a new HDD. I had already installed the Zosi. However, the Zosi load time slow. The DVR would show offline when it clearly was connected to the internet. After much hassle, I switched back to the new Annke DVR I was sent and within minutes I was already happier. Annke's product is good. Electronic components fail. The issue with the Annke DVR is it does not have a HDD protection circuit. When the Annke provided HDD failed, it took the DVR with it.

I can prove this as when I plugged the Annke DVR HDD into the Zosi, the Zosi would not boot and emitted an alarm. Once I replaced the HDD, the Zosi worked. The Annke just self destructed.

I've worked at component level with electronics as a hobby and understand things like this happen. But instead of a faulty component, the Annke just isn't robust in the engineering of the board.

But to to sum things up. The Alternative DVR was bad enough that I took a chance on the Annke again. Your perspective may differ. I'm okay with taking the chance.

End of update-

My DVR caught fire after about 1 year 5 months of operation. Annke support asked me to plug it back in and record the issue.

I have posted a video from the attempt to plug it in after the initial problem. You can see that there was a small active flame inside the box, then is started smoking. Also, I have posted a photo of the burned electronic component and the 12 volt positive tip adapter. Rated for 1.5 amps.

Annke refused to replace my DVR and does not know their own warranty policy. Which is 1 year refund and 2 year replacement.

I have owned this for since 10/2023 or 1 year and 5 months.

They at first suggested I must buy a new one. When I sent a screenshot of their warranty, they said I must send my DVR in for repair. With me paying the shipping.

After shipping on a DVR, it would more financial sense to buy a Zosi DVR.

0:39

Customer service a joke ... a bad joke

The pictures shows two cameras that were active at the same time on two different ports. One shows motion and the other, recorded at the same time shows no image or motion either during daylight or at night. I switched the camera on the bad port with another camera on a good port with the same result. I have gotten nothing but run around from their alleged customer service. I replaced a GW Security system with this one and found out the nite vision on the GW System cameras was much better than these. Buy at your own risk.

After realizing I made a mistake on the photos I replace them with new one. The first two records show the patio with a person while the second, taken at the same time, records nothing. After switching the cameras on the ports the photos show the same result. Port 1 shows no figure while port 2 shows a figure standing in the patio. After annke responding to the same photos shown here and saying the photos prove both ports are working properly I am no longer going to wasting my time trying to get them to fix their crappy DVR. I will just write this off as an unreliable company to do business with and a terrible purchase..

Best camera

They have multiple options make sure you choose right one. Some has no voice recorder and some two way talking. Choose your best.

Great System For A Good Price, But...

Very good entry-level surveillance system. This Ennka 8-channel system replaces an 8-year-old, 4-channel, broken, and somewhat similar analog H.264 system. This Ennka is surprising, by a big margin with its way more advanced H.265Pro+, such as:

Pros:1-Much better daytime color and image. 2- Camera controls and options are vastly superior. 3-iPhone Annke Vision app is fantastically better and smoother, when you receive a notice of events (movement, etc) very fast, tap on the notice link and it directly takes you to the event where you see the recording with all its information. 4-The sensitivity control is terrific and wide-ranging. My wife thinks that we have adjusted one camera, or so we think, to the point where we can exclude cats walking around but still trigger when a person appears. I like this very much.

Cons: Night vision is not so good. Those in the know about CCTV would not imagine getting the 3K cameras with this very low price package. In truth, it was my lack of knowledge that failed me.

But I do recommend this more basic system to anyone since it accomplishes a great deal of surveillance and the latest technology for a very good price. Annke stands behind its products with a very good 2-year warranty. Support is available at Annke.com, Annke.com Chat service, and many videos on YouTube. You do have to put a little effort into learning all the details of this wonderful and fascinating technology so cheaply available.

Very hard to find footage!

Not enough cable! Beware if you have a detached garage you will have to buy more! It turns into not as good of a deal.

You will have wires running everywhere!

Basically needs a tv monitor too. Short cables for this. To hook up to wifi, the dvr and your router must be very close to each other. And all camera cables have to end up to this area. The cables to hook this up dvr to monitor are SHORT. Adding more cost to get longer ones.

In my mind a difficult setup overall. I'm a very capable 60 yr old, and this is a pain!

If all the cameras were not set up, I would stuff it back in the box.

To escape monthly fees this is what you have to do. Nest cameras are trash now due to

lack of support if you have a problem.

Day 2 brush up on your tech language. It's not so friendly between the screen and manual.

Overall it does have a good picture. But if you want a clean install maybe hire someone to go in the attic, drill holes and raise the wires high enough so they are not cut.

My home is 700 Sq feet and I had to buy 2 sets of 100ft wires as I have a garage 40 ft from my home. This comes with 60 ft wires. An additional 60 bucks to make it work for me.

Day 3. Now had to buy a 50 ft. HDMI cable to get the monitor where I can actually see it. Another 30 bucks! Additionally if you want images to your phone, you must scan each camera. Don't put the cameras up first!

Dependable, Quality, Stands Test Of Time

We purchased and installed this unit after a break in back in 2019. Was super easy to install, setup, and program. Every time I've opened the app to check the cameras, they load and I can view current and past footage. I would highly recommend this system.

I needed to reset the admin password as I forgot it recently, and the tech support was super prompt and helpful.

Daniel

June 12, 2023

Great cameras

I run a small welding shop and I bought these to watch the property. On a slow day I had me and a helper install all 8 cameras inside and out. Not even 20 minutes after we finished the install the cameras caught someone breaking into my truck clear as day and we got him! Cameras have a function that tells you when a human or car passes by and lets u look through the footage with spots highlighted with human or vehicle movements on a 24hr loop. I love them so far

Great system for the price

Let me start out by saying this is a great system for the money hands down. Now let me tell you the things that bother me about it. 1. Motion detection is a joke , you can adjust it but I have yet to find a setting that works like I expected it to. 2. And this one is a bit funny but the cameras have red IR lights all around the lense for night viewing. We'll at my house that seems to attract spiders and they build webs right in front of the cameras witch is not a problem till night time the IR light illuminates the webs and thats all you see....lol so now I have a duster on a pole to clean them off every other day. But other then that I love this system great cameras nice picture the zoom is pretty good as well . Your not goingbto read a license plate or make out a face far away but works well. I have had several compliments from friends and family that have seen the system for themselves and can't believe it was so cheap. I like it and would definitely buy it again even if I knew about the other stuff first . Oh and the remote viewing from your phone works great the pictures of the system working are from my phone . It was an overcast day and still great pictures and the night viewing is incredible you won't be unhappy if you buy this system as long as you understand it's not the best but for the money I think it's a no brainer

Decent System, Low Price

Update: I do love this system but after 2 years of continuous use, the DVR has stopped recording video (just out of warranty, no less). We can get a live view and still photos of whatever set off the motion alert, but there is no playback on either the DVR nor on the mobile app. It's pretty much useless without this feature. It says the storage is full but just a minute or two after emptying it, it "fills back up" and won't record. Nothing has changed, it just stopped working one day. Did all the troubleshooting, updates, formatting, etc and customer service basically says get a new one or find a repair place. So this system is for you only if you want to replace it every couple of years.

I went through literally thousands of reviews on countless systems before finally deciding to get this one. I'm glad I did, we're happy with it so far. I'd like to break it down and leave information about our experiences so far:

Wiring: This is a WIRED system! It does not work on wifi! Wires can be kind of a pain if you're used to wireless. But this was specifically what I wanted because I didn't want to have to worry about unreliability or service issues that sometimes comes with wireless. Plus, I didn't want to have to change batteries. We went ahead and ordered Annke brand 100' cables to extend the reach of some cameras. They provide 60' cables with this system and for just around the house, they're sufficient. But for the ones further away from the house, we have the option to add 100' onto that. Just a side note, if you plan to bury the line, conduit would be best and don't forget to call and check for currently buried lines (water, power, cables, septic, etc).

Display: The display is really nice on our 65" TV and just as good resolution on our phones. If you need to fine-tune the cameras individually, there are settings in the menu that allow you to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, etc. and you can set your mode to indoor, outdoor or other modes.

Playback and Notifications: The notifications from the app started getting a little annoying because these cameras have a good range of distance for detection. And we live on a farm where the animals are constantly setting them off. No biggie, I just turned off notifications for the app. The only issue I saw with this is that when I go back into the app, I have to delete all the recordings that I wasn't alerted to. Not a big deal and you can delete them in bulk. As far as the playback, we've had an issue with the cameras only playing back some of the videos it alerted us to with motion detection. Like there would be 15+ motion detection notifications and when we'd go to play the videos back, only a few of them were actual recordings, the other ones didn't record...or they didn't seem to.

Tech Support/Customer Service: Customer service has been VERY responsive and assisted me with everything. They had me re-download the app on my phone and walked me through settings on the box to help get my recordings to play back. Sometimes I had trouble getting through to an agent but their lines were busy and when I called back later, I didn't wait very long before I was patched through to an agent.

Setup: It took us a few hours to set up all the cameras but we were picky with where we wanted the wires. We ran them so they're not visible and adjusted each camera to exactly the parameters we wanted, which took a little time.

Night Vision: The night vision is really good and the cameras pick up motion from quite a bit of distance away. We have a few acres between the front of the house and our front gate, it picked up my husband leaving for work in the dark, at our gate...pretty impressive. Oh, and we have NO porch or security lights. Picture the darkest night in the middle of nowhere without street lights, moonlight or light pollution. Zero visibility with the naked eye! So to me, the fact that the cameras catch as much as they do is a big deal!

Overall this system does exactly what we need it to and you can't really beat the price. If you just want basic surveillance that you can check from anywhere without a subscription, get this system! You won't be disappointed! A little tip, go ahead and get the extended warranty just in case.

SaQi

January 11, 2022

A bit blurry

Its a good security system, but it got blurry when u watching it some times then i have to restart it .

Vision is good widely we can see everything !!! With zoom

Easy to install and easy to use app on phone.

When i buy after 1 week they give discounts offer😒

Great Cámaras for its Value

Really great cameras, you are able to utilize them during the night. The cable is super long and enough to be able to place anywhere outside of the house. We actually had someone break into our SUV the week after installation made a police report with the cámara footage and saw the thief’s face so great through the night vision system. The app works great too. Also I would suggest watching a YouTube video that explains how to use them and name them from there you will be able to go through the process easier. It’s pretty simply put to be honest there a couple other and you will need a small monitor to be able to see the cámaras at first.

Easy installation

Update: idk if it was a software update but the events are much easier to see. My only gripe is that I am still not able to get events without getting a push notification. There's an option in the app under settings but it still pushes them. I may need to take permissions away through my phone. Another con is, the time resets and is programed 1 hour back Everytime I lose power even if it's for a second.

Review so far is based off installation and use ability of 1 day so far. Will come back and update if I don't like it.

Tldr- recommend it as a secondary system. The notifications are very sensitive. Motions zones can be changed through the DVR settings. Still picking up moving shadows though.

Plenty of wire is a plus. I don't see a point in wireless systems if you need to run a power source to them. Battery operated is a different thing too, but this saves the whole day on the DVR instead of just motion times. Even if my internet goes down, I can go back in time through my app and view every minute of the day when it comes back.

Slight hiccup was getting online, enable vision, then MAKE a code and press apply. The instructions shows something like QWER123.

You get more controls through the tv screen so put it in a spot where you can have a monitor, or a long enough HDMI cable.

Great clarity day or night, easy to install security camera system

I bought this ANNKE security camera system to replaced my old Samsung cameras, since the dvr and three of the cameras stopped working, also the value, excellent less than half of what I paid for my other ones, three years ago, luckily for us these cameras use the same cables, so it was an easy replacement, the dvr was easy to setup and after that just plug all cables back and replaced the old cameras outside for the new ones.

As I said this were simple to install, did not take anytime to connect the signal and display on my monitor.

The advanced 2MP sensor enables the camera to capture the best 1080p Full HD images without noise, regardless day or night. Smart IR provides up to 100 ft night vision, no overexposed or underexposed image issues.

The phone app was extremely easy to setup and well it works great, we were never able to installed the app or see our cameras online with the Samsung system.

You get everything you need inside the package an 8CH H.265+ 5MP Lite DVR, eight 2MP Bullet Cameras, eight60 ft BNC Cables & CCTV Cables for Cameras (It’s NOT a wireless camera system, but we provide a 60 ft cable for each camera.), three Power Adapters, four to one Power Splitter Cables, eight Mounting Screw Kits, 5.9 ft/1.8 m HDMI Cable, USB Mouse, User Manual, Wall Sticker and 1 TB Security-Grade Hard Drive (Pre-Installed Inside the DVR)

These cameras are doing exactly what I needed, the clarity is great, the night time view is impressive. (Check my video and pictures), they are also activated on motion and on the software you can setup notifications, if you like, we are very happy with our purchase. Recommended.

2:59

Its a great buy

I love this system if im away i can just look at my phone super easy to set up

0:07

Annke Tech Support is Awesome

Cannot get mobile app to work because DVR will not connect to Annke server. I have read through all of the troubleshooting help on Annke website and tried all of setup tips on all of the videos on YouTube. I have contacted Annke support multiple times and even sent screenshots begging for any tips, tricks or help of any kind and Cannot Get Any Response from Annke Support.

*Update- Annke did get in touch and set up a remote login and did not give up until problems were resolved-Highly Recommend

Ok but not great

After a having these cameras and a years review, I wanted to leave feedback on how they perform. I've noticed over time the cameras have in fact started to loose some quality in the image and that is especially so at night. The night vision is not great to begin with. It is decent but you can only see in complete darkness up to about 50-70ft. Our driveway is about 113' long and you cannot see "anything" on the street what so ever. They do work fairly wepl during the day, but the point of cameras is to have them work consistently throughout day/ night. Far as motion detection they. That does work very well. However the only down side of it is bugs are extremely attracted to the infared lights at night. All in all they are decent camers but for the price I feel they could be a look let better quality image. Here is an image of what they look like now at night. You can see that it someone were to come up you wouldn't even be able to make out their face.

easy to installation and setup

Bought this May2020.

It is very easy to installation and setup. The quality is great.

The camera resolution is fantastic, day or night.

The software is feature rich, has many options.

The mobile app is what pushes this over the value limit, being able to monitor or playback remotely.

I chose the hard wired system, because regardless of whether the internet is up or down, this unit is always recording.

I recommend this to anyone looking for a security system.

Impressed! Good system for not a lot of money.

Easy to set up, easy to install. Im impressed with the quality of the video. Only dislike is that the "night vision" only has about a 10 foot "throw". Beyond that, it's blackness but for the money, this is a good system! I used an unused computer monitor as the monitor screen. This system uses three walwart power supplies (included), so make plans on having a suitable power strip to handle all three. In my case, I had 2 cameras that needed to be about 65 feet away from the DVR so I needed to order extra cables, no biggie. Review updated! After a couple of weeks with this system, I'm even happier with it than at first. Once I got everything adjusted properly, it lights up the backyard like daylight at night. The night vision is great.

Eauthement

July 27, 2020

It takes work to get it done but worth it

If you don't mind crawling thru attic spaces, this is great system. I'm giving it a 4 because of the difficulty of learning the app and stuff. But the quality of the product would be a 5. It took it little while to figure out the app on my phone. It started working right away and then I piddled around with it and lost a couple of cameras. The more I tried stuff, the worse it got, lol. Next thing you know, my hard drive is offline. So I unplugged it and did another start up and got it all back working.

The picture clarity is great. Night time view is awesome. So for day 1, this product looks to be really good. We'll see how it does in the long run.

Update...5 days later: I turned off notifications on my phone this weekend because I was getting about 80 notifications a night while I was away. I turned it back on and now it doesn't work. While I am constantly emailing Annke Support and they are responding, usually by the next day, it just leads to another problem. First notifications didn't work. Then I got that corrected. Now I turn it off and it won't work anymore. The cameras work fine and they do record to the hard drive 24 hours a day. But don't expect the phone app to respond great. I can use the app to rewind and watch what was recorded. But when motion detect notifications are sporadic and sometimes non existent, it's just frustrating. I've got more important things to do than play around with this stuff for hours every day, troubleshooting and sending emails. I'll update in a few days once I get a correct response.

Update...2 weeks later: I had to do a system reboot on the hard drive to fix the motion detect notifications on my phone but everything works fine again. I think once you run thru the bugs and they show you how to fix them, this system is great. The only one issue that I'm yet to find a remedy for and I'll be contacting support about it is, the motion detect sensitivity. I have it set to the lowest possible setting on every camera but I still get 80 notifications during the night, because it catches every bug that flies in front of the camera. I can't set it any lower. Normally, a lower setting would not go off for bugs, cats or small creatures. But this thing is still very sensitive on the lowest setting. I'll post a few pics and you can see the motion detect catches bugs. They look like white French fries on the screen.

Crisp, clean images and easy setup

The cameras have such great definition and they were easy to hook up, just plug and play. The interface takes a few minutes to get used to and learn where everything is in the software but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy. Like windows 98. I like that it came with a mouse too, it's no gaming mouse but it works well with the system and means I didnt have to use a gaming mouse I already owned, lol. The night vision works better than I had expected it to and the cameras have a menacing red ring of LEDs around them. I like to go outside at night and look at them, they're just cool looking. And I finally got a picture of the raccoon I keep seeing under my porch, lol. Great system, I highly recommend it.

Window to the world

The system works well, good picture night and day. Costumers service is good. You have to understand ,if you have a problem you need to take a picture of what's going on! Follow there instruction, to trouble shoot the problem, the are trying to help you, it could be the camera, the wire or the dvr, a loose connection! It takes time, but they do want to help! It seems with all the questions they ask there are giving you the run around! They are not!

0:10

good choice

This is the best value I found when looking for security cameras for my store, not only because it's eight cameras, but also because the quality is really better than a brand I bought before. Nice setup, not complicated, easy to hang up. The display is clear and the app works well. So far, it seems like a good buy. Now I have replaced the old one, and it works very well. The price is not expensive. I'm quite satisfied!its nice，good choice

0:13

Good HD low budget security camera system

This is a good low budget security camera system. It didn’t take long to install (run wires & power) everything was included for a sturdy install. The software takes some getting used to, but not hard to get started. The included app is free and a great way to view while away from home. Cameras have HD mode which gives a clearer picture. The included 1tb hard drive saves video from 8 cameras for a week straight before it starts rewriting. The camera automatically switch to night vision mode which allows the camera to record even in total darkness. I decided to get these over the WiFi cameras that tend to become disconnected with the router without notice. I have not needed to deal with customer support however, they have reached out a few times to make sure I was satisfied with their product. Overall I am very satisfied with this camera system and would recommend it to a do it yourselfer.

A Nice Security Surveillance System

I purchased this ANNKE 8CH Security Surveillance System to replace a similar system that I had been using for years. I discovered this system is far better than the one I replaced. My old system only had the capacity to keep about eight days of recordings. This Annke system holds well over a months worth of recordings! The Annke vision app is easy to use to remotely view the cameras which is a huge change from my old system's app that I never got to work correctly. Installation was straight forward. It was probably a little easier for me since I already had the experience of installing my first system, but I had the whole thing up and running within a couple of hours on a weekend afternoon. I did spend another hour or so the next day fine tuning the aim of the cameras, but I'm kinda picky about that stuff. I can't speak about the tech support because I haven't had any issues from day one. A feature that I particularly enjoy are the HDMI outputs. I ran wires to my two main TVs so that I can view the cameras in three locations in my house in addition to the app. Recently one of my neighbors had two bicycles stolen from his yard and I was able to provide him with video of the thief who walked right in front of my house. Being able to help my neighbor makes me feel like my Annke system has already paid off.

HD quality video.

Fairly easy to install. The camera cables are 75 ft long each. Plenty of length to reach the recorder. Hooked the DVR to my network, downloaded the app and everything was simple to hookup and use.

0:20

Requires internet access for remote viewing

My goal with this review is to provide information that others may not. That includes my pictures. I think the most important thing I can point out is that this system is not wireless ready. That means you MUST have a way to hook the system up to the internet if you plan to access the cameras remotely either with your phone or from a computer. If this system is for your home, then you must either wire your internet router to the DVR, or use a wireless connection not included with this system. If you look at my photos you can see I used my own wireless access point (the unit with the two small antennas). These are relatively inexpensive, but they must be configured to work with your internet service. They’re available in many different styles including USB adaptors. There are two USB ports on the DVR, one is for a mouse, but I have NOT verified if the other can be used for wireless internet connection. My guess is yes, but I don’t know. I happened to hook my wireless access point up via a standard LAN-style cable. A second major thing to keep in mind is that you need a TV/monitor hooked up, at least initially, to configure the system. I installed my unit on top of a cabinet, out of the way. I have a 40 foot HDMI cable connected to a TV in my living room but the mouse is connected to the DVR up on the cabinet. To be able to use the mouse and see the TV I bought a wireless mouse with strong signal so I could control the unit as needed from the living room. If you mount the DVR near your TV this shouldn’t be problem. And finally, if you’re wondering how the cables work, each 60 foot cable is basically two wires in one. There is a power and signal connector on each end of the cable. So the signal and power for the camera travel through what looks like single cable but that single cable splits into two connections at each end. I hope this information helps.

It'a outstanding and works great!!

I bought this update security camera system for my store month ago after i lost some package. It.comes a few days later after i ordered. Great shipping speed. I installed it right away. It'a very easy to install and set up. The video quality is great. The images of video taken during the day and night are both very cleaer. It comes with 8×1080p hd camra heads and i can see every connor of my store when i seating in my office or home. I also installed two heads out front of the store. Don't need to worry about in the rain or snow cause they waterproof. Since i had them around my store i haven't lost any package in past month. As a small business owner i think it works perfect for me. Anywag This system is outstanding. Great price and Amazing product!

Great video quality

We set up this security camera system as soon as we received the package and as of right now we have been using it for couple of weeks already and everything is working well so far. It did took us some time to hook up the cameras around our house but the whole installation part is not hard but does require some time, just be patient and follow the setup manual which is easy to understand. We connected the DVR to a pc monitor for viewing and we were also able to download the app for live feeds so we know what’s going on when we are not home. The video quality is excellent during day time and I am really impressed at how well night vision works as well which is a great bonus.

Affordable and great product

I absolutely loved this product! Everything from the packaging to the quality. The packaging was great because it came in three neatly packed boxes. The boxes were very sturdy. The cameras were easy to install and setting up the hard drive wasn’t hard either. The instruction manual had all the instructions you would need. There’s also an app that you can download if you want to check on your house when you’re not home. The cameras are great. They’re weatherproof and that’s good because in Philadelphia, we get different kinds of weather depending on the time of year. Th picture quality is really great. These cameras really picked up a lot of things that my previous cameras couldn’t. Now I have a wider viewing of everything. There’s a setting on my monitor that I can choose to make certain channels bigger than others. Really love this product. I recommend it to everyone who’s looking for an affordable, easy to install security system. I think this is best used for a business.

LEELEE

May 28, 2018

Very nice system for great price!!

It comes with everything you need in the box (except HDMI cord, Ethernet cord & tv/monitor for viewing as listed in the product description & photos are true to form)). I ordered additional wires but didn't need to use them the 60ft wires in box were sufficient. I only gave 4 stars because reaching Annke for assistance is difficult because they are only available 3hrs in morning(7a-11a) and 4 hrs at night (8p-12a EST) otherwise I am truly pleased. There is a phone app for viewing (I am still trying to work out the kinks). As far as camera quality the pictures are very clear & crisp, it has nice features like motion sensors w/ alarm, you can remove certain areas of the viewing to prevent false alarms. The setup is okay my hubby & his friend did it taking about 4 hrs. The screws that came in box aren't good for hanging cameras especially if you live in a block home (we just went to lowes and purchase some). My overall review is that if your looking for a good security system for your home or business w/o spending mega bucks (ADT quoted me $1300 for 4 cameras + monthly service fee) this is the one for you.