ScottM—March 24, 2018
First off I work for a casino and install/maintain non-gaming surveillance equipment including camera's. These are not $1,000 a piece surveillance camera's, in fact I spent less 1/3 for this entire system than the price of our least expensive camera at work. With that being said, the quality of video I'm getting from this ZOSI system is 90% the quality I get from my systems at work at less than 10% of the cost (8 camera's and a storage server). Pros- Extremely easy to set up - If you follow the 1 page guide attached to the top of the DVR. There are a few settings that need tweaking such as time server, passwords etc however even without these you can power up the system, follow the on-screen setup, load the app in your smart phone, scan the on-screen QR and be watching live feed in under 10 minutes. Quality of video - I'm watching snow falling on a camera placed on my kitchen table looking through a sliding glass door and the video is smooth as silk on the monitor (choppy on the smart phone app due to buffering but that's to be expected). Motion detection - Heavy falling snow is providing the perfect environment for setting up motion detection zones and sensitivity. My little Dachshund is running around the back yard and I'm able to set the zone on that camera to pick him up and adjust the sensitivity so that when he runs through a zone it triggers the alert and records but does not trigger with the moving snow when he's in an area outside of the selected detection zone. Cons- Well I haven't found any yet but will update when I have more time on the system after being fully installed Bottom Line- For about 1/3 the price of a comparable system from a big box store (8 camera's and DVR) the quality appears to be just as good if not better and no monthly subscription or monitoring fee's for peace of mind around your home/work is priceless. Yes I would recommend this to friends and family and have just ordered 2 more systems for work to use at two off-site locations we are currently using EZVIZ equipment at and paying $10 a month per camera for storage. 4 camera's at each location X $10 a month and these ZOSI systems will pay for themselves in just a few months with a much better user interface. Read more
Painted Rain Productions—February 20, 2020
This is a great alternative to other security systems that require batteries or monthly subscriptions. We purchased eight cameras to cover the interior of the house, the backyard, and the front yard. The Pros: - Cameras cover a wide range - Options for video, audio, and still camera - Record to DVR - Phone app gives peace of mind when away from home - Very sensitive motion sensors that are adjustable - Excellent night vision - Add a camera or two or three... The Cons - This is a system that has a lot of wires. We ran it through the attic then drilled holes into the ceiling of the room with the DVR so you need to be sure you know where you want the DVR set up or you'll be moving wires or drilling more holes - Getting the DVR and phone app set up and both streaming was a challenge. I had to contact customer service for help. I could not find any USA phone numbers that worked. Email customer support was slow and not helpful. Finally, I found the best help via Facebook and they got things reset and up and running. - Instructions are all online Overall, this is a really nice security system with many options to adjust to your needs. For the price, it beats out all the others that connect with wifi or batteries and by far surpasses those with monthly subscriptions. You may need to hire someone to install it depending on how handy you are or if you can crawl through the attic. It took a weekend to get everything set up and cameras mounted. Now that it is working properly we are totally thrilled with this system. Read more
techie92—February 19, 2018
Helped my friend install this a few days ago (I bought it for her for Christmas). Performs well for a cheap system, but isn't top of the line. Camera pictures are decent, goes together easily. Was professionally packaged. Has some nice functionality like the ability to sound an alarm if a camera's signal is lost. The user interface on the DVR is a bit sluggish but functional. Oddly it has no USB keyboard support from what I could tell. A keyboard powers up if connected but is ignored. Typing things like camera names or passwords requires you to use the mouse with an on screen keyboard. Navigation is not the most intuitive, though you'll figure it out quite quickly. A USB optical mouse is included, no need to get one. I couldn't find a manual for this exact unit (besides the quick start guide), but there's a few on Zosi's website for similar models that use the same DVR software and can be referenced. Some options in the menus aren't explained in any manual I could find. The only big issue we noticed was that the motion detection features don't work well in dim/no lighting, even though the night vision feature will get you a usable picture in these conditions. If you install a camera somewhere with dim lighting (such as a basement, where we observed this), continuous recording or triggering with a camera installed in a well-lit area is recommended. Cameras do make a noticeable "click" when the night vision comes on, and night vision cameras can be noticed in complete darkness if you look for them due to the faint red glow from the IR LEDs. The night vision/ambient light threshold seems to be a bit high too. For indoor cameras, I found the night vision needlessly coming on in areas that most would consider well-lit, which can be an issue since the camera only produces black and white footage when in night vision mode. Despite its shortcomings, I'd recommend it for people seeking a budget camera system Read more
