27 November, 2020

Being that I’m away from Mazatlán for a while I rely on my security system to keep an eye on my little apartment.  I have two types of cameras monitoring the apartment – a Blink camera outside my entry and one on the roof.  Inside the apartment I have a Canary Pro.

The reason for two systems is that I preferred the options of the Blink system for the outdoor cameras, and those of the Canary Pro for indoors.  In addition to a camera, the Canary Pro tells me the air quality, temperature, humidity, and also has a microphone/speaker in case I needed to use it to speak with someone in the apartment.  Note that the newer Blink cameras also have microphones/speakers so communication is available with them as well.  I have the older mute model!

I have the camera on the roof because the previous owner of my apartment told me that he had trouble with roof jumpers stealing the lid to the tinaco.  His solution was to screw the lid into place – which has worked pretty well.  I have the Blink camera pointed at the tinaco to catch both the lid stealing roof jumpers, and my petty neighbor who thinks it’s great fun for him to turn off the water to my tinaco.  I’ve caught him doing it once but didn’t say anything as that would let him know the camera is there.  One day he might do something worse, and I’d like to have a recording of it.

The Blink cameras are small, weatherproof, run on batteries (which last a good year), and have excellent resolution.  

Both of the systems work with Amazon Echo, and have apps for iPhone and Android.  I recently purchased an Amazon Echo Show, and am impressed with the ability to see each of my cameras in Mazatlán with a simple voice command.

All of the cameras require an internet connection, and the Blink cameras require a hub.  The Blink hub also requires an electrical outlet, as does the Canary Pro, so placement of each will be limited to areas where you have power.

I’ve had these systems for a few years now, and am extremely happy with them.  Occasionally the Canary Pro will believe I’m away and will then send me alerts saying it has detected someone – but other than that it’s been reliable and worry free.  The Blink is prone to activate when it rains hard, so I just temporarily disable them during the downpours in summer.

If you’re interested, here are links to each product.  These are direct links – I don’t get a kickback if you buy!

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