There is a lock on your front step, there is a safety door and there is a neighbour who knows everything about everyone. The thing your front door lacks is proof of the number of visitors that came by while you were busy working. This is where the security camera steps in and you do not have to worry about spending Rs 15,000 on one. Rs 5,000 gives you the advantage of night vision, audio communication and notifications on your phone even before the courier rings your bell. However, cheap security cameras fall into two categories – the ones that work and the ones which become mere dust collectors when the software updates are no longer available. Here is the list, but only those which have their services available in India.
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All the cameras in this price range are indoor devices. This Qubo camera comes in a bullet form factor, which is generally designed for gates, balconies, and car parking. The term “180” in the name of this camera signifies its field of view, as a single device has to cover a large area. Qubo is a smart home camera range from Hero Group, which is an Indian company and hence has all Indian services. If you need an outdoor camera instead of an indoor one, this should be your choice.
Tapo C230 stands out as an all-rounder among the pack. It records in 2K resolution, pans and tilts to track motion, and shifts to colour night vision once the lights turn off. AI recognition is smart enough to distinguish between human form and curtain movement, avoiding those 3 a.m. false alarms. The interface is sleek and easy to set up, the camera comes with a microSD slot for local recording, meaning there is no need to pay a monthly cloud subscription service fee.
Rs 2,410 will not even make for a decent dinner for four people in Mumbai, and the Godrej brand is already familiar with Indian households for its lock and almirah range. Eve Pro 3 is a pan and tilt Wi-Fi-enabled camera, meaning that it can be controlled using your phone and scan the entire room from one corner only. This model would work well for those situations that everyone can think of – for example, a living room when you are at work or a parent’s bedroom in another city.
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If you enter any CCTV store in India, you will notice that the brand CP Plus is available at half of the store. It’s all about the popularity of the brand in this case. Local technicians will be familiar with it; spare parts and support won’t be hard to get. The name Z-series tells about the ability to pan and tilt. This camera may seem boring for you but that’s what we need.
Hikvision’s ColorVu tech is the headline act. Rather than having the typical grainy and black-and-white infrared images, it takes advantage of its wide-aperture lens and its highly-sensitive sensor to record color in dim lighting. This comes in handy whenever you have to tell the cops what kind of jacket or car you saw instead of just looking at a gray blob. Being that it has a 2MP sensor, the resolution is only 1080p so it is not the best for sharpness, but it’s cheap for 360° pan-tilt and color night vision along with voice capture.
Quite a number of cameras in this segment don’t come with one, and Rs 400-600 for a card isn’t a negligible amount added to your bill. The second thing is to see your router because there are plenty of budget cameras that support only 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, so you’ll have to spend your first evening in settings.
No matter which camera you choose, change the default password on the first day and always keep its firmware up to date because a camera that watches your home can watch it for somebody else when the front door stays unlocked.
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