My quick experiences with Costco Lorex/QSee NVR and alarms

[FreeLunch 0]

Everyone's needs/requirements are different, however, they may match some of yours. I was looking for an out of the box system since I didn't want my PC being linked with my security system. I wanted 1080p and some way to easily see if someone came to my front door.

 

I first bought a Lorex system and realized that motion activated alarms don't work worth crap on the Lorex system. Even setting the sensitivity down to the lowest possible setting resulted in 50 alarms over the night. After reading and some help on here I decided I needed to get a PIR. I also realized the NVR I had from Lorex didn't support an external alarm. So the Costco handy return warranty came in play and they took my return with no issues.

 

I then bought a QSee. I wanted to get the Swann, but they were out of stock at the time. I installed the QSee unit and the firmware is a bit buggy. It has weird behaviors that you can't explain sometimes. The positive news is that it does push notifications! Whenever, the PIR is activated, it sends me a push notification in near real time. It's better than getting emailed photos, since you can tap on the push notification and it brings up a video of the event. So instantly, you know if UPS dropped off a package, or a solicitor is at your door, etc. This feature alone was more than I wanted. It works great when it works. Going back to the firmware bugs, one day the push notifications stopped working on my ipad and iphone. Therefore, with 2 devices, I'm pretty sure it's the NVR firmware. I didn't really change a setting. I rebooted a couple times and tried settings things (back/forth). It started working again without a config change. I can't explain it, just weird.

 

Anyway, I didn't see push notifications in the Swann literature, but I wouldn't want a system now without it. Getting emails is nice, but not as good as push notifications for me.

 

The QSee NVR is much louder than the Lorex. The QSee also allows you to pick different cameras from different vendors. I do see some flakiness with the QSee firmware (even with QSee cameras), but I think this is a nice bonus, if it works, to be able to add cameras from different manufacturers. In addition, they have built in firmware controls for controlling a PTZ camera, if I get around to adding one of those.

 

The PIR I got has been pretty much 100% accurate. I did need a ceiling mount to point it in a better direction towards the floor, however, after I did that, I would say it's been near perfect. No false alarms, picks up people 100% of the time when I want it to. So, it's nice that it works.

 

Final pet peeve - both the QSee and Lorex firmware isn't the most user friendly. You would have thought they would have better firmware or better documentation.

 

So, I hope this helps some people out their in their decisions. Some people may prefer a PC based NVR, which I may do in the long term future. However, I liked the idea of a box system providing POE, NVR, cameras, and cables. If there is something that I don't like, I can easily box it up and return to Costco.

[lowpro 0]

I'm happy to hear that you're figuring things out!

[shockwave199 0]

What version of idmss are you using? Take a look and make sure you have the latest version, which fixed push.

[FreeLunch 0]

What version of idmss are you using? Take a look and make sure you have the latest version, which fixed push.

 

I am using the QSee QC app that's free. I don't know if that translates to the free or premium app on IDMSS - however - the apps look identical. What does the pay app do that the free app doesn't?

[Don Stephens 0]

The paid app does a lot that the free app does not but as far as you're concerned, the paid app will give you the push notifications that you like.