OT - Theft and surveillance cameras

Lived at my present location for over 20 years and never had a problem until last month. While I was out of town a chain saw and leaf blower 'walked' out of my unlocked garage. Nothing else was missing, but I am afraid of what might be missing next time. Obviously I can lock the service door to the garage, but breaking the glass is easy for someone who wants to get in. Nearest neighbor is over a half mile away. A friend of mine recommended Netgear's Arlo camera system, but the reviews on Amazon are mixed. Anyone have experience with this or other system.

I have no first hand knowledge but if you have home WiFi and a smart phone , you can buy cameras starting at $40 that you can control from your phone . They will send you pictures as it takes them , real time . You then have proof and can call the cops or neighbor to assist .

As long as it picks up the WiFi signal you can relocate to a different area or add more cameras to the system .

Some models allow you to communicate over the phone . you can announce that they are trespassing before they steal something .

You can mount it inside to keep an eye on your pets or check on school kids when they come home or who they are with .

check out local flea markets. my neighbor found his stolen porch chairs (antiques) at a local flea market or you can follow the smell of "meth" cooking.

I had an issue with an arsonist back in August 2008. Since then my new - electrically connected - sheds are covered by X10 motion sensing lights that signal the house when they sense motion after dark in my shops or behind. I have recently added a couple of Stealthcam cameras in locking cases to record areas without electricity. In areas that have electricity and can be seen from the house, I use simple motion sensing flood lights.

Real boogers hate light. Of course having the local Deputy Sheriff being fully aware of who did it helps, but they didn't have enough to prove 'beyond a reasonable doubt'. They were however able to make his life so miserable he left town after violating a restraining order. People will create more boogers than Deputies.

I know times continue to get worse, as drugs continue to get worse. You cannot beat a shotgun as a deterrent if you confront someone, but there is a down-side to that - you have to know they are there, and they 'have rights'.

The X10 and Stealthcam websites are easy to find. With the Stealthcams you WILL want the locking cases because a human can see them trigger and could easily steal them by cutting the standard web belt. With X10 (or whoever), buy at least 3 alarms - one for inside the house, one inside the shop, and one for outside your shop. I would rather they ran away than have to confront them. The outside one may also keep the deer and dog alerts down. Dogs will only do it once or twice, Deer are rather dumb and can wake you up for a week before they figure out they do not want to be there. Cats will never figure it out.

I have gone almost 9 years without incident, but I only live on the edge of the wild. I average about an alarm every 2.5 weeks, and I often never see who triggered it - human or animal - but I never fail to go shine my super bright LED flashlight around so if it was a human, they will know they woke me up.

Just my opinion and experience - I hope it helps in your decision about what you want to do.

Trail cameras will work too. You have to hide them discreetly because if they are spotted, they will be stolen as well. Movement activated.

yup. one of mine walked away last fall. was ok till the leaves dropped.

I sold a guy some outboard motor parts & the following week a canoe I've had for 40 years walked off. the neighbor's camera caught the guy walking off my place at 11:30 on a sunday night. you couldn't make out his face but the guy was the same height & build. I did a reverse phone number thing but he was not at that address. I have 2 more ways to track him if I want to put in the time.........

(quoted from post at 16:59:20 04/11/17) Trail cameras will work too. You have to hide them discreetly because if they are spotted, they will be stolen as well. Movement activated.

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Some of the guys I work with bought the $400 trail cams that send a pic to your phone , in real time . $20 pet month added to your cell phone bill plus data usage . But you get pics of who the thief is and you know right away , not a month later .

I sold some eBay parts to a man in California and the post office confirmed delivery but porch pirates got it first or they delivered to the wrong address . a video would have confirmed or denied delivery / theft .

When we leave town for a week end I tell the wife to stay off Face Book till we get back home.

I had petty theft in the area a few years back so I took some rebar and welded up some burglar bars which I mounted inside the windows of the garage and shop. I mounted them with heavy Phillips screws then drilled the screw slots smooth. Not foolproof but might deter a fool.

I had bought a system off of Ebay for 200 something that had a central box with up to 8 channels (camera) capacity but came with 4 cameras with 100' of cabling each. I bought it after some of our Halloween decorations were stolen. The cameras gave really good quality daytime and had infrared for the nighttime. I was able to look at the cameras live when I was at home via Wi-Fi gut but could never figure it out when I wasn't on my home network. The central box took a dump and I moved shortly there after so I haven't looked at what's available lately. I'd like to go wireless so I don't have to drill holes in the exterior walls to bring the wires back to that central box.

If you have an old iphone you can gig it up as a surveillance camera using an app called Manything on another mobile device. I keep an eye on my cottage that way. So as it turns out an iphone can serve one purpose adequately.