Got a Blink security camera? You need one of these, too

Price When Reviewed

$69.99

Best Prices Today: Blink Sync Module XR

$69.99

$69.99

$69.99

$69.99

I’m an enormous fan of safety cameras with the capability to stream their recordings to native storage on my house community. Amazon’s Blink household of cameras, floodlight cameras, and video doorbells has lengthy had one of the cheap choices because of its Sync Module collection. And the all-new Sync Module XR is a major enchancment over the Blink Sync Module 2 that precedes it.

Most safety digicam hubs have to be hardwired to your router or to an ethernet swap related to your router, however the 3.25-inch-square, 0.75-inch-thick Sync Module XR connects to your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi community (5GHz networks usually are not supported). You can view reside streams and recordings from as much as 10 Blink cameras—separately—within the Blink app.

Specifications

Michael Brown/Foundry

The XR within the product’s title is said to a brand new Extended Range characteristic that works with the most recent era of battery-powered out of doors cameras, the Blink Outdoor 4. When you join considered one of these to the hub, you possibly can select between a Wi-Fi connection; Extended Range (XR), to succeed in cameras as much as 250 ft from the hub; or Extended Range Plus (XR+), to service cameras as much as 400 ft away. The latter two connections use a Blink-proprietary community working within the 900MHz spectrum.

Note that these vary estimates assume a single wall between the hub and the digicam, and that you just’re restricted to utilizing two XR-capable cameras with these settings. The longer-range options additionally entail trade-offs: Using an XR connection reduces video decision from 1080p to both 720p or 360p, and utilizing XR+ drops decision right down to 360p. You additionally lose the two-way speak characteristic with this setting.

Performance

Michael Brown/Foundry

The Sync Module XR additionally gives a superior technique of storing video recordings from as much as 10 Blink cameras. Where you’d plug a USB thumb drive into the Sync Module 2, tempting curious toddlers to yank it out, this new mannequin encompasses a microSD card slot. You’ll want to offer the storage gadget in each circumstances. There’s been no enchancment in capability, nevertheless; the Sync Module XR nonetheless limits your storage to 256GB.

If you discover you want extra storage than that, join a Blink subscription plan that gives 60 days of cloud storage for all of your Blink cameras (30 days within the EU and UK) within the cloud. Subscriptions price $10 per thirty days or $100 per yr. There’s additionally a $3/mo, $30/yr plan, however that solely covers a single Blink digicam.

Michael Brown/Foundry

In addition to cloud storage, a Blink Subscription gives individual detection (on cameras that help it), the power to ship video recordings by way of e mail or textual content message, prolonged reside viewing (you get 5 minutes with no plan, and as much as 90 minutes with one), automated thumbnail picture refresh, and some different perks.

I had been utilizing three of Amazon’s impressively cheap Blink Outdoor cameras (two 4^th-generation and one 3^rd-gen) for the previous couple of years, together with a Blink Sync Module 2. The cameras ship spectacular battery lifetime of almost a full yr on a pair of AA Lithium disposable batteries.

Michael Brown/Foundry

Removing the previous sync module and migrating the three cameras to the Sync Module XR was a snap. While I couldn’t migrate the previous recordings to the brand new storage, I used to be in a position to plug the thumb drive I used to be utilizing into my PC and watch the recordings and transfer them to my NAS field as unencrypted MP4 information.

This evaluation is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the best home security cameras.

Should you purchase a Blink Sync Module XR?

Anyone who owns Blink safety cameras will profit from including a Blink Sync Module XR to their house safety portfolio. The elevated vary promise is real, even when it does compromise video high quality. While the Blink Sync Module XR doesn’t provide any extra storage capability than the Sync Module 2, it initiates reside streams and performs recordings with a lot much less delay than the older mannequin did.

If you don’t have already got a Blink Sync Module 2, the $20 distinction in value between the second-generation mannequin and the XR is absolutely justified. The calculus is a bit more sophisticated for individuals who already personal the sooner product. Personally, I don’t want the prolonged vary, and the faster efficiency and the help for a microSD card with the identical storage restrict as a USB thumb drive aren’t sufficient to justify the price of the improve.

My bottom-line rating, due to this fact, is from the attitude of a Blink digicam proprietor who doesn’t wish to pay for a subscription and who doesn’t personal a previous-generation Sync Module.