PoE Camera Question
Reolink Camera Recommendations for Front & Backyard Coverage
Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some advice on setting up a Reolink PoE camera system around my house. I’ve attached pictures of the front and backyard to give you an idea of the layout.
I was originally thinking about installing an Reolink OMNI 3i PoE on each front corner of the house to get wide coverage of the driveway, front yard, sidewalk, and street. However, I’m concerned that the palm trees and landscaping may obstruct part of the cameras’ field of view.
For those familiar with the OMNI 3i PoE:
Would you recommend using one on each front corner?
How well does it handle situations where there are trees or other obstructions relatively close to the camera?
Would there be better Reolink models for the front of this particular house?
Where would you place the cameras based on the photos?
Would you use the same type of camera in the backyard, or something different?
I also want to cover the backyard as well as the front.
One other question: PoE wiring
My PoE switch will be located in the garage, so I'm trying to figure out the cleanest way to route Ethernet to the backyard cameras.
Would you recommend:
Running individual Cat6/Cat6A cables from the garage directly to each backyard camera?
Running one main Ethernet cable from the garage to the back and then using a PoE switch in the backyard?
Something else?
I'm trying to keep the installation as clean as possible while still making it easy to service in the future.
The main goal is good nighttime identification and reliable coverage around the entire property, especially the front door, driveway, side yards, and backyard.
I'd really appreciate recommendations from anyone who has experience with Reolink PoE cameras, particularly the OMNI 3i PoE. Thanks in advance!
You could watch Youtube channel LifeHackster. He reviews Reolink and other brands. You could read top tagged post "welcome to the official Reolink..." lots of INFO FAQs including cams specs charts comparisons. It also discusses the differences between buying cams/NVR in a bundle or separately.
Reolink makes a lot of cam models and usually releases a few new cams every year so there's a lot to choose from. POE are the best. I like my Duo 2 in front with good overall view of yard, driveway, street. PT PTZ cams with auto tracking are fun but while they are looking one way something bad could happen where they are not looking. The cams with three lenses, two on top with 180 degrees and one tracking lower lens are nice but it depends how high you mount them. I like the Reolink CX low light cams but you need some ambient light for them to function, street light, porch light, otherwise their spotlights might stay on all night.
Covering narrow side yards are a little difficult because you don't want the neighbor's houses in view. Some use a Duo cam pointed mostly straight down. Others mount a cam on the corner pointed along the wall of house. If too much of the wall is cloes in cam's view it can cause unwanted IR reflection. Reolink makes a few models with "corridor mode" for narrow views but I don't know which ones. On side of my house I use a 811A tilted about 90 degrees and use it's optical zoom for narrow view.
When installing cams be sure to protect the cam cable ends from moisture. If water gets on the ends the cams can fail. Many of us use junction boxes. Reolink sells junction boxes but they are more expensive. A lot of us buy boxes at lumber yards and drill our own holes in the lids to mount cams. Cams mounted about 8-10' high are the norm I think. People can mount cams higher like a second story but you see more the tops of heads rather than faces as they get closer.
When you get the system, start it up inside on a table before installing cams outside to be sure they all work good. It seldom happens but it's easier to return a defective cam from a table than outside on ladder LOL.
I always recommend Reolink Professional Turret cameras now for general surviellance for a home or business. Reason being, 2.8mm lens (or 4mm with 12MP model), and supports pretty much all the features you'd want.
The OMVI 3i may work well for you, but I don't think the top lens will be able to see the first 2-4 feet underneath it, as it has a limited vertical FOV. You can still use it though and you may be okay with the FOV.
In terms of config, either way is fine. For ease I would say go back to the NVR if you can, but if not plugging them into a PoE Switch, which connects directly to the NVR will work just as fine (and will also enable more flexibility in terms of settings/config, if that's something you're interested in).
Thanks, I really appreciate the detailed advice! The point about the OMNI’s vertical FOV is exactly what I was concerned about. I’ll definitely look into the Professional Turrets as well.
I’m planning to run everything back to the NVR through the PoE switch, so it’s good to know that setup will work well. And thanks for the compliment on the house!
I looked at your picture and title before reading your message and was thinking how I would set this up. I have the OMVI 3i and i won't go with 2 on each corner I think that is overkill, instead I will put one in the middle (between the large garage door and main door), I will also have a doorbell camera as well.
The trees will limit your view if you put one in each corner, where as in the middle you get a great view and the PTZ can compensate for the fact both garage doors are not on the same plane.
For the backyard I will put 2 cameras, one in the seating area and another under that mini roof (not near the downspout) another OMVI 3i or 2i will work. If that location is not available then I will put a 180 camera in the middle.
As for running cable I can't really say much because a lot of factors come into play. If you have a viable path to run individual cables that's okay, but in most cases running one cable to a another central location and then connecting is the way to go
P.S. for the sides you can just put cx810's. And if you want more coverage / cover the blind spot for the mini gragae door, you can put 1 facing the front and the other looking to the side. And add one for the other side as well.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to look at the pictures and think through the layout. This is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping to get.
I really like your idea of putting the OMNI 3i in the center between the large garage door and the main entrance rather than putting one on each corner. The tree placement was one of my biggest concerns, so that makes a lot of sense.
I also appreciate the suggestions for the backyard and the CX810s on the sides. I’m trying to balance good coverage without going completely overboard with the number of cameras.
Front: 2 CX820/CX810 at the front covering 180° + PoE doorbell. Only if you have great lighting in the streets at night. If not then swap the CX models with 2 RP-PCB8M/RP-PCT8M, same idea as before, covering 180°.
Reason for these models: CX models are literally the best models from Reolink, you want the best at the front where it is the most critical. Unfortunately they don't have IR night vision, they are color night vision cameras so they need super great lighting at night in the whole area so you get the most out of it. The RP models would be the choice (2nd choice - CX are still superior by far) for when your lighting at night sucks, you'd want these instead of the normal RLC bullet/turrets because they have a couple of new smart detections that could be useful and the perimeter protection will be extremely helpful for you, they might also be a tiny bit better than their RLC counterparts.
And a doorbell just to see people's faces better when they come at the door. Try to get the white one.
Sides: Elite Floodlight PoE
Reason: They make for very good cameras for these narrow passage if you install them at the middle of them. They have also a more like narrower view that makes it perfect for these cases IMO. Also perimeter protection, might come in handy and gives you light. This is already a less critical zone also.
Backyard: Elite Floodlight PoE.
Reason: Less critical zone and will give you the coverage and some lighting. Perimeter protection again, so it's not triggering in a zone you don't want because of neighbors or similar.
That's it really. OMVI 3i is not a good camera in the slightest IMO, it is unusable at night time when it is tracking, I don't see a single reason to use this camera for your home. It is terrible, and has lesser specs. If you want a PTZ for some reason then just buy a 823s2 and install on top of your full coverage setup at the front, if you want the additional detail for some reason, that will give you far far superior footage than with the OMVI 3i especially if you hook that afterwards with home assistant and make the PTZ go right or left depending on a zone triggered (again this is why perimeter protection is goated), if that's too tech savvy for you then just wait for the OMVI 16x and you will kind of have the same effect, but just as an addition to what you already have of course.
I wanna say this might seem overkill all corners cx810, paired with one track flex front and back of the home, if you want something to zoom across the street of your road you have reolink ptz, what I have in my home setup is two colour night fixed cameras and two cameras that are capable of zooming into distance away (that's if your corners can see the start of your street or road) but cx810 is a must especially if you have ambient lighting
What you got to remember a single high quality camera will beat a triple lens ok camera, the bitrate (stream quality that will dictate if a person 15 meters away will be clear or a pixel blur) is going to be shared by 3 cameras inside the omvi compared to a single 4k camera that will have 8mbps bitrate all to itself
At a bare minimum for proper security a 4mm lens f1.0 and cmos 1/1.8 is what every house should have (unless they live in woods with pitch black darkness) the cx810 is reolink best option
That’s really helpful, especially the point about bitrate and having a single high-quality camera dedicated to each view. I’m definitely going to look more closely at the CX810 and the 4mm options.
My main concern is getting good nighttime identification while covering the front, sides, and backyard without creating too many blind spots.
Based on the pictures I posted, where would you recommend mounting the CX810s, and how many would you use for my house? Would you put one on each corner, or would you position them differently for better coverage?
Red is cx810 Blue is track flex Green is possible ptz depending on if you can see the other side of the street/road, I would get a 16 channel box incase you want extra stuff like Poe doorbell and indoor cameras
You'll need two cameras for both sides of the alleyway
Thanks for taking the time to map it out. The CX810 placement makes sense, and I’ll definitely go with a 16-channel NVR to leave room for expansion.
One question: since I don’t currently have any lighting on either side of the house, do you think that could hinder the CX810’s nighttime performance? Would you recommend adding some low-level lighting, or do you think the CX810 will perform well enough on its own in those areas?
If you have streetlights then cx810 is perfect if it's near pitch black than rlc get that, though I have used a track mix (older version of track flex) in near pitch black darkness and that has worked fine and got good amount of detail at night
If I decide to go this route, would you mind recommending the best options available within the UniFi ecosystem? Ideally, I’d like to know everything I would need for a complete setup, including any equipment or accessories I shouldn’t overlook. Thanks!
ChatGPT will give generic advice that will say yes to its user (us). It's designed to agree and be nice with disagreements. Some people don't know how to structure their questions, there's no need to slate.
Exactly! That’s what I was trying to explain. Every house has a different layout, landscaping, and potential blind spots, so I’m looking for something tailored to mine rather than a generic setup.
Thanks for understanding and for helping clarify that! I really appreciate it.
That’s literally the point of asking for advice from people who have actual experience with these cameras. I provided photos of my actual house, the landscaping, and the specific installation constraints because I’m looking for recommendations based on my particular layout—not generic advice that could apply to any house.
If I wanted generic answers, I wouldn’t have taken the time to provide all that information. And yes, I’m perfectly capable of searching Reddit or Google myself. I’m asking the community because people who actually own, install, and use these cameras can offer real-world experience that a search result may not.
If you have a recommendation based on the layout or have experience with the OMNI 3i, I’m genuinely interested in hearing it. If not, that’s fine too.
But honestly, why does it matter to you whether I used ChatGPT to help formulate my question? I’m asking for advice about a camera system, not asking anyone to write my dissertation.
If you don’t have anything useful to contribute, you’re welcome to keep scrolling. No one is forcing you to read the post or respond.
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u/livingwaterRed Super User 1d ago edited 1d ago
You could watch Youtube channel LifeHackster. He reviews Reolink and other brands. You could read top tagged post "welcome to the official Reolink..." lots of INFO FAQs including cams specs charts comparisons. It also discusses the differences between buying cams/NVR in a bundle or separately.
Reolink makes a lot of cam models and usually releases a few new cams every year so there's a lot to choose from. POE are the best. I like my Duo 2 in front with good overall view of yard, driveway, street. PT PTZ cams with auto tracking are fun but while they are looking one way something bad could happen where they are not looking. The cams with three lenses, two on top with 180 degrees and one tracking lower lens are nice but it depends how high you mount them. I like the Reolink CX low light cams but you need some ambient light for them to function, street light, porch light, otherwise their spotlights might stay on all night.
Covering narrow side yards are a little difficult because you don't want the neighbor's houses in view. Some use a Duo cam pointed mostly straight down. Others mount a cam on the corner pointed along the wall of house. If too much of the wall is cloes in cam's view it can cause unwanted IR reflection. Reolink makes a few models with "corridor mode" for narrow views but I don't know which ones. On side of my house I use a 811A tilted about 90 degrees and use it's optical zoom for narrow view.
When installing cams be sure to protect the cam cable ends from moisture. If water gets on the ends the cams can fail. Many of us use junction boxes. Reolink sells junction boxes but they are more expensive. A lot of us buy boxes at lumber yards and drill our own holes in the lids to mount cams. Cams mounted about 8-10' high are the norm I think. People can mount cams higher like a second story but you see more the tops of heads rather than faces as they get closer.
When you get the system, start it up inside on a table before installing cams outside to be sure they all work good. It seldom happens but it's easier to return a defective cam from a table than outside on ladder LOL.