ANNKE H500 8-Camera PoE Security System

Guaranteed to Be Noticed

What I really like about this CCTV system is the blue and red flashing lights. Many cameras have this feature, but they usually only use white or warm white lights. With the red and blue flashing feature, anyone is guaranteed to notice the camera. They also have an alarm feature which gets triggered automatically with motion that is fairly loud. It sounds like a police siren.

These cameras also have built in microphones, so you can hear what is happening around the camera and communicate through it using the app, even when you are not home. You can also adjust the camera's resolution to find the best video quality possible for your setup.

The system gives you several lighting options to choose from. You can use infrared light for traditional night vision, normal white light if you want the area to stay illuminated, or automatic mode in which the camera uses infrared night vision when it is dark and automatically turns on the white light when it detects movement.

Motion detection sensitivity controls how easily the cameras detect movement. On top of that, you can create specific areas where motion will not trigger an alert, which is useful for areas where there is constant movement that you do not want notifications for.

Another useful feature is the privacy mask option. You can select specific areas of the camera's view that you do not want recorded, and the camera will completely block those areas from being recorded this is perfect if you want to put cameras indoors or maybe in your garage. This gives you more control over what the cameras capture field and helps protect your privacy.

Overall, it's a great system which comes with 2 TB of storage the video quality is pretty decent for general security, but it isn't good enough to reliably capture license plates that are moving or at a distance. That requires more expensive higher tier cameras but for home security I'd say it's near perfect, my only complaint is the motion detection, which can sometimes be overly sensitive and trigger alerts from things like plants moving in the wind, bugs flying close to the camera, or other minor movement. This can lead to quite a few unnecessary notifications,

0:09

They're super good enough. 😂

They work as advertised. Idk what more I can say. Setup is ez enough a 52 yo man can successfully install. Video quality is as advertised. Software is ez enough to setup, the connectivity was streamlined. They seem durable so far.

Excellent system-Easy Set up-Lots of programmable setting options

I like that this camera system has a lot of ‘moving parts’ when it comes to settings. We set up cameras often (we have multiple businesses and we own Escape Rooms). We had to consult the manual several times to get some of the info. Once we started the set up, it walked us through most of it, although it took a few minutes to figure some things out, the process was pretty simple. You can record and playback on your device, you can also talk through the camera on your device, as well as hear what is going on wherever the camera is. There was a little bit of feedback when we tested it, but we were also fairly close to the camera, which usually clears up once it is installed and used appropriately.

The system comes with everything you need to use the cameras POE, there is an option for a 12V DC power supply, however the actual power supply is not included. There are a lot of different options that we will play with in the settings, however the one I really like is the night vision setting, you can adjust the sensitivity of it and can see in color even in the dark. The picture quality is really good for the price point. We ordered 4 cameras but there are 8 ports in the NVR to add additional cameras later, which we will. They are (obviously) mountable, and of special noteworthiness, each camera includes a drill pattern, so you can pre-drill and don’t have to hold the camera up while trying to get it correct. The NVR package included 4 extra long Ethernet cables with weather proof ends (for outdoor use), 2 50’ cables and 2 100’ cables. It took us approximately 30 minutes to set the system up including downloading and setting up the app, not including actual camera installation.

I would definitely recommend this system for just about any use that I can think of.

Very Good System for the Price

The system is up for more than 20 days, I installed only 2 cameras to test them, they are working very, this week i will install all of them to cover all the spaces inside the store and one more outside to have cross view UP-DOWN in the sidewalk and the street.

The interface is very easy, it is base on the HikVision platform, that is one of the most trusted in the CCTV market.

Pros

Clear image

Good Sound

Manage 265+ video format that saves a lot space in the hard drive

Budget Friendly

Cons

Plate Plastic

1:26

Worse camera images ever!!! Color night vision is a flat-out joke!!! Wasted money

So, I bought this system 1 year after COVID-19 because I purchased a new house. Right after receipt, I was struck with COVID-19 & hospitalized for a long time (6+ months). Needless to say, this system and 30 days to return it was the furthest and last thing on my mind. Once I eventually came home and well enough to resume some semblance of normalcy, I installed 2 of 8 of these cameras (hard-wired through attic space. That night, I wanted to check out the color night vision. Boy was I disappointed (see attached images). They are horrible at best!!! I mean really horrible. I contacted Annke (China)...good luck!!! I posted this review because consider that I took one for the team and lost my money. Run from this as far as you can. The system is horrible and the customer support is non-existent. Run Joe. See Joe run. Run Joe, as fast as you can!!!

Great product for the price!

You can’t ask for any better for the price! I started out with a utc system and really wish I would have done more investigating before I purchased! The night vision is superb! Don’t need to have any lights one and you can make out details on almost anything! I can’t say I have needed any tech support yet! Let’s hope it stays this way! Great system, great price!

Some cameras done work; tech support giving the around

Upon set up only 7 out of 8 cameras worked. After reaching out to tech support, I was given extensive instructions to download software on my computer and attach my computer to the DVR via ethernet. A new system should not require trouble shooting on set up. Other 7 cameras work great. Picture quality is good but you still cant make out license plates very well. I gave up on the 8th camera.

Update: came back over the weekend and 2 more cameras stopped working.

Update: tech support is on china time. We were able to coordinate and they sent us new cameras and helped us trouble shoot. The system is working, it was a lot of trouble.

Update: one year in image quality on display quality dropped suddenly. Getting the run around.

Good Deal.

This camera system arrived with 8 Cameras and one was bad. I contacted ANNKE support and they were very helpful. I now have the 8th camera. The photo attached is a view on my phone showing 7 cameras. We keep the 8th one in reserve for when we go on trips and use it inside the house. We have a house alarm system also so the camera system is nice when the alarm goes off and calls us. We can then tell false alarms and reset the alarm system without returning home.