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I've used a ton of ubiquity unifi cameras and they have a solid range on pricing. I think you need the unifi software to commission them though. For what it's worth they don't use the cloud for storage and don't require any sort of subscription.
Ubiquity is the definition of vendor lock in.
Right. I only mentioned them because they don't require a sub and you can store everything locally.
Regular IP cameras don't require a sub and let you store everything locally (even to the point of a micro SD in the camera for backup).
Ubiquity cameras are ridiculously over priced for their quality. They charge $140 for a worse camera (image quality/ features) than a $40 ip camera that supports ONVIF so works with open source Linux NVR software.
This just isn't true and I love an open source solution as much as the next guy but for ease of use, features and image quality you could do a lot worse. We use axis cameras where I work and they're ridiculously over priced imo I understand that there are IP cameras that don't require subs and have local storage but I offered my suggestion in case those were the major hold ups for OP.
Out of curiosity what's a solid $40 outdoor IP camera with great image quality and features?
Hikvision has a $34 4 mp turret camera that outperforms the $130 2 MP Ubiquity in both dark and brightly lit environments. You can get them with color night vision or IR. Feature wise you can use them stand alone: you connect and control them with a web browser. You don't need to buy anything else. They have built in motion detection and will save to a microsd card. I use an NVR, but it's nice to have that feature if you are just getting started.
Same with Dahau. I like Hikvision for its web UI. But as I've already said, I don't trust them and block their Mac/IP at the router. Ideally you want them on their own vlan.
Higher resolution doesn't necessarily mean a better picture here. From what I can see in watching videos from this camera is that the bitrate is pretty low and the image is decent but not great. Without a doubt I get a better picture from a g3 flex and it's tiny. It's okay if you don't like ubiquity hardware but it seems more like you just want to bash on ubiquity than actually make a fair comparison.
Comparison Video
https://youtu.be/a3G_2zVu3cU
As I already said I have a lot of ubiquity hardware. I have a router, switch, and several wifi APs. I really want to go all Ubiquity for the convenience but their cameras are just bad at the same price as other products.
I've actually bought and compared them. I've had ip cameras in my home for almost 10 years now. I've tried many cameras over the years.
It's not just my opinion, every review rates Ubiquity's cameras low. You are paying for convenience of integration if you already have Ubiquity's products.
https://youtu.be/dz3KG0cgwrI
https://youtu.be/a3G_2zVu3cU
But there is an option in the UniFi software to have the cameras output an RTSP stream. It’s not bad if you already have some UniFi gear.
Regular IP cameras support ONVIF so they can work with any software.
I have Unifi router, switch and wifi APs.
And Unifi Protect recently started supporting ONVIF so it's an option.