gw security inc, any opinions?

[oderus1671 0]

has anyone dealt with these folks? ive come across a few deals on some Effio cams from them, 700 tvl, bullet style, with 72 ir pcs. just wondering if this company is ok to buy some budget cams from, or if i should stay away. i understand the whole "you get what you pay for" moniker, im just really strapped for $$$ and need to replace some aging b/w 420 tvl 12 pc ir bullet cams.

thanks, and sorry in advance if they are not legit posting here!

[Harold Square 0]

I would also like opinions on GW Security. I see their cameras everywhere online.

[oderus1671 0]

anyone ever dealt with these guys??

[satch1974 0]

They know NOTHING about their own product so heaven forbid you run into any technical issues!! I had the misfortune of using them and regretted it ever since. The cameras and "value" are fantastic (HDIP camera system) but their NVR sucks and has too many glitches. I would stay away from them regardless of their "sales". I would have been better off spending twice as much and getting a solid system than trying to save money and deal with people who KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THEIR OWN PRODUCT!! They have to refer to China. STAY AWAY!! I'm not affiliated with another company and simply wish someone would have warned me a few months ago. Try calling their number and 1) see if you get through to technical and 2) ask them a tech question about their NVR and see if they know what they're talking about. Most likely you'll get a guy with a very thick Asian accent saying they're busy and will return your call, (HOURS later!!) RUN FAR AWAY from using this company!!! Don't say I didn't warn you!

[mcsesaturday 0]

They are about five miles from where I live. They are in El Monte, CA. A small front office (about 6 people) with a medium size "warehouse" (maybe 1,400 sq ft.) with a second partial "floor", where they store cameras. They are not shy about returning a "used" camera to stock and selling it as used. They have one guy who usually "checks them out" before returning them to stock. I have been in there alot when I had my analog system and bought both new and used cameras from there. Two of the "new" cameras that I bought I had to return because of glitches (one kept throwing up a "rainbow" pattern both in day and night about once every two minutes....intensely frustrating." They have ALL asian employees. Now that I am using IP cameras, I only deal with HIK, Dahua and Dahua. I don't know how there IP stuff is, but it is probably the same. For the most part, I think that their reviews (Amazon) are sub-par, and yes, they don't really have that much "expertise" when it comes to support. Those are just my experiences with them. I can tell you that I plan to stay away for anything IP based as I don't really have a "warm and fuzzy" feeling dealing with them.

[mattaggie 0]

I bought a bundled NVR and 4 IP camera system. The value is pretty good for $800. The hardware is fine. Cameras are a little on the large side, but that's not a big deal for most people. Its the software side that stinks. I set up all these motion settings on NVR and it never worked. So I called them. Played phone tag for a few weeks. When you call, they answer, but say they have to call you back, which they will in a few hours. They said I have to set motion up by going into each camera through the IP address No where in the instructions could I find this information. I have no idea what all the motion settings on the NVR control. Motion works better now, but it still records way too much (ie when there is no motion). If you can get comfortable with the NVR interface, its not a bad deal. I'm still undecided on the company. They seem like they are genuinely trying, but just don't have the manpower for good customer service.

[JGCCTV 0]

It's 2019, provisioned a 25 camera network with their NVR setup. One camera is constantly going up and down and throws 2-3 errors every 10 minutes, super annoying.

It's okay at best, problem being the NVR talks to a server within ALICloud, an Alibaba owned server that's stateside. That being said, Alibaba is still a Chinese owned company and thus owned by the Chinese government.

I actually segregated the entire IP Camera network into its own LAN, away from my main LAN, with only one to one NAT used to talk outwards to the internet (NVR, no cameras have a connection directly). 

Need to do some more testing and configuring. I have a new buildout and I'm still using GW Security, but I came into it knowing if I have configuration issues, I'm on my own. Luckily I have a background in development but if I had no software dev/info sec experience i'd stay away from these cameras. The publisher of all of the software packages that come with GW Security is a Chinese National with a PHD in software engineering.

[dsq 0]

I've had their older system since 2015 that worked pretty good. The cameras on it are starting to fail so I ordered 2 news one to start the replacement of them. The first one worked fine but the second one failed. After multiple attempts calling and emails their support org, I finally got an RMA to send the camera back. After a couple of weeks, without any notice the camera came back. Guess what. It wasn't fixed. Now I've made several attempts to get an RMA to sen it back for repair. All I am getting now when I contact their support team is to call call their support number and on option 2,  explain the problem. After calling that number and explaining the problem I was told to expect a call between 12 PM and 7 PM from a tech that would analyze the problem. Instead of a call I got an email telling me to: "Please email our support team in order to receive assistance relating to the issue you're experiencing." which is where I started. I'm sure they will blame their poor service coverage on Covid-19, but be aware of their poor service response. I would suggest going to Amazon and look at other systems and see what their approval ratings are.

[Sheldon 0]

I purchased a GW78 Series NVR recently and have had a whole lot of hassle that is not over yet.  Stand out issues,   

I cannot play back any recorded material on the NVR or through the Web Login Application.

I can press play and note NVR is playing something but no video is rendered.  I configured a local FTP and used the onboard FTP config but the NVR uploads 0 KB DAV files to my ftp server. 

I decided to use the file download function and NVR processes the request successfully but the files never download to anywhere.

I decided to backup the video clips to USB-Stick but the NVR does not find any clips even though the HDD shows usage and I can see on the playback timeline that I have footage.

None of the SMART detect functions work and will not ENABLE even though my cameras supports line crossing, PID and Stationary object. So basically I only have MD.

I have tried for weeks to get assistance from GW Security but have had the same run around and one sentence email responses. 

I purchased my NVR through E-Bay so was able to get a refund quickly but I am really disappointed.  The software and CPU/Bandwidth on the NVR looked really promising,  but if you cant review the footage on the NVR or remotely then the NVR is a brick. 

I have turned off the cloud function due to security concerns.  Trying to locate an earlier firmware version to see if that fixes the NVR but apparently I can only update by connecting the NVR with the cloud. 

I cant seem to find a decent NVR with bandwidth and a decent User Interface 

BUYER BEWARE of GW Security NVRs