D-Link made domestic Wi-Fi cameras attractive. How’s the new batch?
We’ve been big fans of D-Link’s Wi-Fi cameras since the DCS-8526LH first appeared. It was simple to set-up, came with a year’s free cloud upload storage, offered great image quality and was genuinely useful. This was refreshing in a word where cameras frequently come with all manner of complex wiring systems, expensive cloud support and awkward apps.
These two cameras are slightly different. The DCS-6500LH is a smaller, black version of the original pan-and-tilt 8526LH. Meanwhile, the DCS-6100LH is an even smaller camera on an adjustable stand that can be set on a table or mounted on a wall. Both are easy to set-up via the MyDlink app and QR Code in the box. The app offers to update the firmware and automatically set-up three profiles: Home, Away or Sleep. This will turn the cameras off when you’re home and back on when at night or you’re away. You can configure these times manually if you desire.
DCS-6500LH
At any time you can see a live view of what’s happening on premises and listen-in to what’s going on. The pan-and-tilting DCS-6500LH also has a speaker for two-way communication. Plus, it has a microSD card slot for local storage in addition to the Cloud storage that both have. The DCS-6500LH lens rotates into its body when in privacy mode so there’s no doubt it’s not recording you. However, while there’s significant -170 / +170 degree horiszontal pan and -40 / +50 degree tilt, the lens’ angle of view is a bit less than the wide-angle, 135-degree DCS-8526LH… at 100 degrees. The fixed position DCS-6100LH has a 110-degree field of view.
Both support Full HD video capture that offers colour during the day and a 5m night view in the dark. Both offer impressive clarity.
DCS-6100LH
The app lets you set-up notifications – including to a dedicated contact in your phone. We received plenty of notifications, thanks mainly to our cats, but it was always nice to be remined that the cameras were working. Whenever we were alerted, it was always simple to look at the live view or check up what the cloud backup had recorded.
We’re a little disappointed that they both work on the aging 802.11g and n Wi-Fi bands as this could slow your network down if you’ve an old router. However, we were impressed with the WPA3 security as nobody wants cameras on their premises hacked!
Both cameras work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant virtual assistants.
At $105 the pan-and-tilt DCS-6500LH is, frankly, a bargain. The $84 DCS-6100LH is also a decent buy and will better suit those who don’t want the pan-and-tilt complexities. Whichever you choose, these are excellent ways to protect and …….