Anyone used Swann? or are they more targeted to DIY

[littlespark]

Screwfix doing a good price on this...

8 channel DVR kit

Anyone used them?

Ease of use?

Are the colour at night cameras as good as Hikvision colorvu?

Are they accessible remotely? (i think so, as it comes with a ethernet cable)

 

[JBW175]

I’ve got them at my house, easy to install and set up. Good quality picture but can’t say if it’s as good as the other brand you mentioned.

Can check them through app on phone.

If I was going to put them in again, I’d probably go for the wireless ones as easier and quicker to install.

 

[buzzlightyear]

They are the worst cctv on the planet.
Hick for me.

 

[littlespark]

They are the worst cctv on the planet.
Hick for me.

Even worse than Sannce?

I got a damaged sannce dvr for my own house, fixed it with an old laptop HDD and upgraded with a hik colorvu cam

 

[James]

honestly, they are not bad.
for a domestic install they will be fine.
for commercial stuff i would tend to go with a more professional system.

 

[littlespark]

Cheers, @James

Its just for a house... quite big though... 4 entry doors and a double garage. The 4 cameras that come with the kit can cover everything, and i can add others to cover their garden.

 

[James]

Cheers, @James

Its just for a house... quite big though... 4 entry doors and a double garage. The 4 cameras that come with the kit can cover everything, and i can add others to cover their garden.

the software that you can install on phone is simple to use and geared towards a home owner looking at there home rather than a security guard watching a supermarket.

it all comes in a nice box and you know you wont have any problems pairing a camera with the recorder or using the wrong setting and having poor quality etc.
it is what it is and works out of the box.

 

[James]

certainly good enough to catch other half's illicit lover arriving after you have left for work!!
but lets face it, if you have a break in, all you see on the cctv is 3 people in black with faces covered.

which brings me on to, if i ever do a high value house cctv, always put the recorder in a hard to find place.
sometimes a loft or garage, even an outhouse or summer house.

it is easy to do with an IP system like the swan or others as you only need 1 cable to it (providing you use poe switches to feed cameras.

I normally include a dummy recorder in a more convenient place to find like the pantry or home office, get an old unit from fleabay for £50 plug it in so all the lights come on and run half a dozen cables into a wall or some trunking.

if they are hit by theft, the first thing they like to steal is the cctv recorder. so let them find it!!!!

 

[UNG]

I won't use Swann, a few years ago I found out how bad their tech support was trying to help out a customer who had one of their systems it needs a lot of patience as it can take days / weeks to get answers at the time they had little or no tech support in the UK and all questions were answered via the Australian tech support
Also if you you check the specs they don't use surveillance drives in the DVR's

 

[richy3333]

We inherited a Swann system on a commercial install. They now have over 16 cameras running now. Works perfectly fine day and night. Night footage has been used by police for evidence in the past.

 

[MJPD29]

They are DIY standard aimed at the DIY market. Try hikvision or even uniview. The price isn't even much different

 

[KWCFC]

Their is no comparison between swann and Hik.

Hikvision images will be far superior and will last a lot longer. I've heard many stories of Swann systems failing after about a year maximum. Quite often the people who rate the Swann images have simply not seen anything better to compare it too.

Swann is manufactured for the DIYer. If your being paid to fit a system I'd strongly recommend the customer pays a bit more and you go for Hikvision.. You may lose a lot of money on return tips with Swann.

 

[richy3333]

Thinking about it we've seen several swann cameras die on us. They are by the sea in north west Scotland tho. Water ingress and salt spray kills most stuff. His for us too if we have the choice.

 

[Dartlec]

I put a Swann system in for a cat charity I volunteered at - bought at Maplins so that was a while ago, and still going - however, the phone software is woeful for replaying videos (only replays from the start of 30 minute chunks) and every time I try to use the desktop software it's a pain to get any video that I can watch in anything else.

Also can't get the cameras anymore because they upgraded their system (cameras weren't onvif though were POE)

Trying to find the right programs/converters on their website has been a PITA too, so if you're going to be supporting it, I'd personally avoid Swann. (Not that any others are a whole lot better in terms of supprt I've found...Seems to be a problem across the sector)