Is Q-See Equipment any good?

[Secerator 0]

OK. I had a Q-see 526 model for 7 months from costco. (still have it)

you can view the full story with it here: http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=28670

 

basically the mother board died in 6 months and 2 cameras died.

But: They replaced it very quickly. When the first camera malfunctioned they sent me a return label pretty quick and then sent me a replacement camera.

 

When the motherboard of the DVR died it took 2 and a half weeks from RMA request to getting the DVR back at my door.

I just installed it and it works, but now I see that second camera is dead. So I will request a new RMA tonight.

 

So I can't complain about their customer support. I think that if you buy it from Costco then they take care of it very quick. (They even have a link on their website support page that say: Click here if you bought the item from Costco, so probably they take care of costco customers faster because costco has a good return policy).

 

 

That being said, one of my friends house was robbed in March. I bought the QT426 with 8 cameras for him from costco for $500 (after $300 off).

Installed fine. No problems in almost 2 months so far. Works over the internet. And it WORKS on IE9 on Win7 x64.

I can manage his DVR from my home in IE9, Chrome, Firefox and iphone with no problems.

 

His cameras are the same as mines 600 TVL and the quality of image is almost like CNB monalisa 24vf. Actually I can't see a difference in day time. (not the same build quality as CNB and two died in 6 months).

His 426 DVR is smaller in size, but has 16 channels as mine (526). In 526 you can put 3 HDDs (I know they say 2, but there is room for 3 HDDs and there are 3 sata ports). The biggest difference between his and mine is 526 can record full D1 on all 16 ports. I can't remember his fps number, but it can't record D1 on all channels. If you use less then 16 channels, then you can have a few channels on D1.

 

Q-See Conclusion:

Reliable? ...so far not really.

Customer support: I will give it 9 points from 10 so far (quick enough and free shipping labels).

Image quality/options/functions: good enough, I have nothing to compare too, just one CNB24VF.

Works in all my browser from home network and from remote locations on internet using Windows 7 x64.

Works on iphone and ipad app. You have to buy 2 apps if you want iphone and ipad. There is a free app, but it;s limited in functionality. Iphone app is $2. Ipad: I think it was $10 or $20 (I didn't buy it using same iphone app on ipad).

18 months warranty if bought from costco.

Buy it from costco! At least you can return it if it stops working any time.

[buster74985 0]

Thanks Secerator for your comments. I was most concerned about the image quality and DVR reliability. Although you have had some issues I may purchase the 536 system from Costco. Thanks again!

[buster74985 0]

I also forgot to ask if images of people in the camera field of view are good enough for identification or not.

[Secerator 0]

See this post for some screenshots:

 

http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=28670

[mhercus 0]

I installed 8 cameras of a 16 camera Q-see system from Costco in September 2012. I am amazed at how well the system works for the price. I have a high end system at home and it works almost as well as the high end system. You need common since when comparing. In some conditions, nothing works. Works great on the laptop and android as well. I called Q-see a few times when setting up and they could not have been more pleasant and helpful. I did not use the wiring supplied with the system. I used Cat5 with balun's and it was much easier. I don't think you can go wrong with Q-see for a basic system. Good Luck

 

Mark

[pmauro55 0]

Bought a Q-See 8 camera system new in the box from a reseller on Ebay, Hard drive was DOA and the HDMI was not working, contacted Q-see CS, they are clueless, Q-see refused to honor the warranty and used many excuses to not honor the warranty, I won't go through all of then here but I have the official transcripts from Q-see to prove what I say, NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH Q-SEE!