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Doorbell Camera / NVR (post Unifi) (poptalk.scrubbles.tech)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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Hi all, my Unifi Doorbell just died after only 4 years of service. I've been pretty disheartened with them lately, other products haven't lived up to the company's promise.

So I'm not looking to replace my networking stack yet, but I am looking for a doorbell camera. I only have the Unifi machine, but I also have an extensive docker/kubernetes stack, and mostly I want to use it with Home Assistant.

Any recommendations? Open to software, hardware, you name it. I have a few other Unifi cameras too, if they could be brought into the fold while I slowly migrate, I'd be interested. Thanks!

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[–] 16 points 5 months ago (6 children)

Everyone in this thread is complaining about their short-lived UniFi devices, meanwhile I have two dream machines (the original WiFi 5 sol'n, not the rack mounted variant) that have had zero issues and are still running 24/7. I guess I should count my stars. (They replaced multiple failed netgear routers).

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  • [–] [S] 8 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    I've learned it really depends on the device. It's completely a mixed bag, and that's why I can't trust it. Half the time it lasts over a decade, the other half less than a year.

    For example, I got their "Enterprise" Switch 8 PoE with 2 SFP+ ports. I plugged it in in my garage, where it was 50 degrees (F) at the time, and it overheated. I googled it, apparently the SFP ports simply overheat. Turns out while it has a fan, it doesn't turn on and simply overheats because they "Didn't want a noisy fan on someone's desk". Which... uh, doesn't matter if it doesn't work. Their enterprise term means nothing.

    That being said, my rackmount switches have been solid, oldest one is 10 years old. However that unknown makes it hard to justify purchasing new equipment.

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  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Same here. I went through 3 Netgear's and a Linksys in as many years and said no more. Moved to Ubiquiti and haven't looked back. My current dream machine of two years replaced a still working but older/slower cloud gateway of 5 yrs with AC Pro's and now a WiFi 7 AP. The last NetGear I replaced cost more than the Cloud Gateway + AC Pro. And the latter was way faster with better coverage.

    Everyone's got different luck with computer gear though. I know I've had bad luck with things other people rave about, so choices are great to have.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    I had one 2 netgear WiFi AC routers that failed back to back, tho the first one ran for 10 years without trouble. When it died, the replacement was just... Awful. A direct downgrade in every aspect. Performance, wifi coverage was gARBAGE , it would reboot constantly, and the management ui was Fisher Priced to death. I got the Dream Machine BC it was on sale and they were about to roll out the new Dream Router. Never looked back.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago*

    I have an alcatel lucent switch from the 90s

    It's been running 24/7 for 25 years in some companys rack and now it runs for 10 in mine.

    Got it for 30$ on ebay (and a second one for 20 as a backup)

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago*

    I've got the OG UDM trash can as well. It's been doing the thing just fine since 2020.

    Moved to a bigger place a few years ago and recently added a Wifi 7 AP to resolve poor wifi coverage in certain areas. Works great, no complaints. Probably gonna get another Wifi 7 AP so I can just shut off the radio in the router itself, ease the load a bit.

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