Customer Ratings & Reviews

The range really is far and dependable. I mounted one camera about 70ft away from the hub and I can view the camera feed without latency. The signal is reported at the max of 5 bars. In San Diego, there is plenty of sunlight and my cameras took a week or two to get to full charge and has stayed at full charge ever since. Mounting options come out of the box were great in quality and easeof installation. I mounted one using the gutter mount and another with the wall mount. The mounts stay in place firmly. Angling is versatile. I can place the cameras at whatever angle I want. The antenna can only move along one axis, which is the one thing I didn't like. I also tested the alarm noise and the motion detection and spot light. They are all accurate. Noise is loud enough and the light is also bright. Video playback is also easy to navigate. The app is full of features that you would need. All in all, this was a great purchase on an extremely quality set of cameras.

Great camera system pretty much plug and Play would definitely recommend

This is a great camera 3 pack security camera package. Its essentially a NVR, where the cameras just send the stream and a central HUB records and manages it all. It includes all you will need to monitor around your property. Everything comes very well packed and with 3 distinct separated boxes inside the major box. They also include a quick start guide and more detailed manuals (1 for the NVR Hub, 1 for the cameras, and 1 for the Android/iOS apps). This is a whole NVR system. They include a central hub, which creates its own wireless network, it does not use your home's Wi-fi at all. This is great, and it has further reach and penetration than your common household Wi-fi. The hub has also a backup battery, so in case power goes out, it will still continue to record until power comes back. It also has a HDMI port to connect the hub to any TV or monitor, an ethernet port, if you wish to give it internet access and two USB ports (one used for the mouse they include) and also if you wish to add an external USB drive for larger storage. They do include a 64GB Micro SD card (has also an Micro SD card slot) to get you started. Following the instructions, you start with the HUB. I plugged everything I needed first before powering it on (HDMI cable, mouse ethernet, an external USB drive), then powered it on and it came up on my TV monitor screen. Its like its own operating system. Once it, you go through a simple setup (like language, time zone etc.) and create an admin password (so no one else can access it and view your recordings or change your settings). Once in, you can see your camera channels and change any settings. At this point there was no camera, as had not added any yet. Onto the cameras, I had charged them for around a day before (you should fully charge them first, because the solar panels are to keep them charged, but you have to give them a full charge first). All the cams have a flap you open (this is to protect them from weather elements) and that exposes a type C USB charge port, a power on/of button. They include everything you need to wall mount them, either on wood or concrete. They also include easy rain gutter mounts, no drilling necessary. Once I mounted mine with its own large wireless antenna and turned it on, it paired automatically with the central hub and showed there. Once you have all your cameras showing up, you can download and pair your hub with the Swann mobile app for remote viewing, management and alerts. This is my biggest CON though. The app on Android (and I have a last gen phone) is super slow, unstable (crashes a lot) and makes my whole android phone crash. Videos take forever to load. AND THEY DO NOT EXPOSE ALL THE SETTINGS ON IT. I will highly recommend you go through all the settings in the CENTRAL HUB, because many important settings are not exposed in the app. I.E. the app does not have options to change the cooldown time of detections, change the AI detection strength (app will only let you change the regular motion sensitivity, but there are far more options regarding these on the HUB). Luckily they also have an app for windows, so I can also manage and keep an eye from any Windows PC/laptop I have. The whole kit's hardware is great and of quality, very well constructed, the cameras feel great too. It's their software, more the mobile app that needs more work. The camera solar panel will keep your camera charged, as long as you follow their instructions well (the manual recommends where to mount it if you live on the northern or southern hemisphere). Of the 3 included cameras, I had to mount one where only gets sunlight half of the day. On this one I had to tweak some settings in the HUB (like length of recordings, cooldown time and also the recording zones: Yes you have a grid were you can chose what area only to monitor). This allowed this one to keep its charge around 45-50% all the time no problem. The other too do get sunlight all the time, because I mounted them higher on the gutter with the included gutter mounts (this is great) and the solar panel does a great job keeping them charged. You should still fine tune your motion sensitive, cooldowns etc. IN THE HUB for better optimization. Video and audio quality is great, you can choose to record either in SD or HD mode and the app lets you see it in many screen ratios (1.1, 4:3, 16:9 etc.). The motion light is bright and strong, and cameras also have some blue and red lights called "Swann force" its kind of a little cop siren light. You can program the cameras to light, play a loud siren, or those blue/red cop lights. The cameras also have two way audio so you can speak through them. Video quality at night is also great and they have night vision, although if you make the cameras turn on their lights they will record in color. The central HUB offers lots of customizations (you can even setup an email server and make it send alert emails etc.). I highly recommend to explore and get familiar with the central NVR hub as it makes this kit powerful. The mobile app, I just recommend for regular alerts. It still needs a lot of work from Swann. The central HUB will record and store all your video clips on the included SD card or your own provided USB storage. There is no need for cloud subscriptions. However, they do offer an OPTIONAL cloud subscription for cloud upload and backup and some more rich alerts. They do give you a 3 month trial if you wish to test this. I will highly recommend this kit if you want to monitor your property around. It is great for a large property, backyard, barn etc. It offers great quality compared to other ones out there. This is really an upper level of camera kit and I have had lots in the past from the other more known and mainstream brands and were not as well constructed as this one. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Some PROS AND CONS as a TLDR +++PROS+++ +Central NVR hub. +Creates its own wireless network. +Records locally in the hub. +64 GB Micro SD card included. +You can add your own USB storage solution. +Can also backup to the cloud, this is optional and not required, they give you a 3 month trial of their service. +Cameras are sturdy. +Solar charging. +Large wireless antennas. +Easy to wall mount. All you need included. +Rain gutter mounts also included, no drilling necessary. +Hub also has a back up battery, in case power goes out, you still record. +Large wireless range. +There is also a Windows app. +Great video and audio quality. ---CONS--- -Mobile app (only tried the Android one) needs LOTS of work. Crashes a lot and its very slow to load any videos or alerts. -Not all the settings are exposed on the mobile app. Need to manage the HUB NVR directly for better customization.

The Swann - MaxRanger4K Solar 3 Camera Security System is no toy. Anyone considering making the leap to a 4k security system for their property & somewhat apprehensive about the potential of getting wrapped up in something too expensive as well as seemingly too complicated to use - well - they must really take a serious look at the MaxRanger4K Solar - no matter the configuration size (number of cameras...). The Swann - MaxRanger4K Solar 3 Camera Security System is no toy... but what it is, is a fully capable, easy to setup & install CCTV grade system that won't break-the-bank. Setup was as simple as connecting the main hub/base to a home network router with a Cat cable (yes, power adapter comes first - I know! ) and pairing each individual camera unit before proceeding with mounting any of them in their designated location. I fall short of giving this system a full 5-stars for the simple fact that - once again - a great product experience is tainted with a subpar mobile app. I struggled to get through the system initialization steps with a sole reliance on the Swann app and it became a touch frustrating. But once I logged into the local IP address of the base station with a computer, I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of navigating the various configuration pages and entire experience went smooth & easy for that moment forward. If anyone researches recommendations on how to position the solar powered cameras via the Swann online resources, they are apt to find a plethora of information suggesting that the cameras be mounted in positions that receive a good deal of direct sunlight that will, in principal, provide the best possible system performance. I won't refute that assertion but I will also attest to the fact that when positioned outside of the 'arc' of direction sunlight but still in a relatively brightly lit area - that these integrated solar panels (on top of each camera) do a mighty job of capturing & converting available light into stored energy. I tested one camera indoors, near a window with the slatted blinds closed and I never saw the battery "fuel gauge"drop below 81% anytime before midnight. I know this isn't a comprehensive, scientific or engineering study but for all practical purposes, these cameras demonstrated what appears to be some cutting edge solar conversion panels - especially for their diminutive size. Regarding the transmission & recording quality, the 4K rendering is clear & astounding. There is a substream channel of operation that is equally impressive, even for its Standard Definition quality - and the night vision sensitivity is remarkable as well. I can't rave enough about the camera quality of the The Swann - MaxRanger4K Solar 3 system. Getting back to the app, there is plenty of functionality to allow users to review 'events' with relative ease and get automated alerts via their phone but if you want to experience the true CCTV capabilities of the system, one will want to spend a hour or so with the user manual & actually navigate through all the device settings & tabs to become familiar. The configuration options & scheduling functions are well engineered. The cameras can be scheduled individually for different behaviors, including deterrent measures and I like the options available. Even in a relatively subdued configuration, with just the flashing red & blue, alternating LEDs (on the camera face) during a detection, anyone approaching the system will know they are being monitored in an obvious way. Another key area I was most interested in testing out was the robustness of the 2.4 GHz, WiFi connectivity and I can attest to the fact that for a 2400 sq/ft, single story Ranch Home, that having the MaxRanger's base station positioned in one extreme corner of the home & cameras positioned on the opposite end of the home - outside - connectivity remains stable & rock solid, with full bars of signal strength. I can imagine an arrangement for some customers with the base station hub positioned somewhere centered to the home and cameras positioned even further away from the actual home - with no issues. Like a camera or two positioned on a secondary structure or pole, further out in a yard - for instance. This is just another demonstrative facet of why this system is pretty much a serious business CCTV system. Obviously, everyone's YMMV can come into play dependent upon the construction of ones home and the potential for WiFi interference dynamics, but we run a lot of wireless devices in our home and have a multitude of neighboring WiFi channels that are part of our environment and the The Swann - MaxRanger4K Solar hasn't hiccuped once. If Swann seriously works to improve the bugs inherent to their mobile app, I could confidently award this product a full 5-stars. But I must draw the line somewhere. No matter what, using a computer to do most the heavily lighting in-situ, provides a comprehensive means to setup, configure and monitor the system in real-time. In true CCTV style... I love it! Pros: Easy to get up & running - most everyone should be able to handle the simple setup procedures Excellent build quality Excellent camera rendering, both night & day Comprehensive configuration options - as a system and per camera 'node' Built-in deterrence options, including sound alerts and spot lights, are top-shelf No cloud storage or subscription plans needed but they are available to enhance the system - if that's your thing Plenty of built in storage space and easily augmented with an external storage drive, if wanted or needed. Excellent documentation/instructions Not a long-term evaluation but the solar panel tech of the camera nodes appear to be cutting edge and the entire system tuned for power efficiency. The question remains though..."For how long - in terms of years?" The base station hub comes with a battery backup cartridge. Nice touch, Swann! The base station status LEDs are color keyed and informative. Captured events can easily be downloaded, saved & viewed. The mounting options are well covered and even include gutter hangers, for those not wanting to drill holes into siding or bricks. Lots of options in terms of mounting configurations with the provided hardware - all in the box! Cons: The usual half-baked and glitch prone mobile App thing that impedes an otherwise excellent product experience. I know, I'm 'that guy' but this is my honest feedback and a 1-star demerit is justified IMHO Another example of a glitch in the system is reflected with the attached photo, where the system generated an error from a simple Format storage command. The software side of the MaxRanger4K solar security system just needs a touch more polish IMHO. Beyond that, everything else is solid and still highly recommended as a budget friendly package.

The clarity is awesome. But the cameras load very slowly and are not reliable in catching action. Sometimes they never load or if you are looking at them they go to a black screen. Also they never fully charge.

I just bought these and out of 3 cameras 1 would take minutes to connect to Wi-Fi. The other 2 would connect in seconds but 1 didn't. And it takes longer than nest and ring camera to notify me about detecting motion. I called warranty and technical support and they sent me a floodlight camera to replace my bad camera. Im done with them. Taking them back and try out eufy 4k solar

When it comes to large properties, the only way to keep a watchful eye on them is to run wire for power and connection or rely on solar/battery powered Wi-Fi cameras. Although an accessible solution, the main issue with this is that Wi-Fi never reaches far enough, and battery powered cameras just aren’t good enough when it comes to detections. Thankfully, this is where the Swann MaxRanger 4k shines. The good Set up: The MaxRanger pro is a breeze to setup. All you need to do is download the app and charge the cameras. Swann includes universal gutter mounts and the cameras come preconfigured with the home base so all you need to do is put the cameras in your desired location. Swann also allows you to add up to 8 cameras if you need more coverage. Connectivity: This is one of the biggest and most unique functions of the MaxRanger cameras, they operate on the 900MHz (HaLow)frequency so they are able to go much further when connecting to the home base than just Wi-Fi. The use of HaLow frequency is also one of the reason these cameras are so efficient when it comes to battery management. I placed the MaxRanger 4K cameras in multiple areas to see what gave me the best result and when it comes to distance of connections these cameras far exceed any Wi-Fi camera. I was able to get a 70% connection with the camera 320 feet from the home base, this was in a residential neighborhood and the homebase/camera were separated by 3 walls and 4 cars directly in between them. Now while you might think this is not as advertised, please keep in mind what was in between the homebase and the camera. I couldn’t find a location where I had 2000ft of direct line of sight, but I did find a spot where I went 700 ft line of sight and the connection was great. Storage options: Swann’s homebase comes with a 64 GB SD card and has an option to add external USB/hard drive if you want to save more of your data. Swann also allows you to have cloud storage if you would like, however with the option to add storage to the homebase I felt this wasn’t needed especially since you still get smart detections without having to sign up for a monthly subscription. Another great thing about the basestation is that there is a built in backup power supply which means the cameras will keep recording even if the internet goes down or if the power does the basestation will record all events for up to 5 hours. Build quality: These cameras are some of the best built wireless solar cameras on the market, even the solar panel on top of the camera is rugged and looks like it could take whatever mother nature can throw at it. Battery life: The battery life has been great on these cameras, the one in front of my house stayed above 97% at all times, which had foot traffic of about 30 to 50 people a day. Just to push the limit I went ahead and put it in location where the foot traffic was much more (400+) and the camera dropped about 20%. This is exceptional as there were NO FALSE alerts at all and with the solar panels you wont have to worry about the camera running out of power or recharging. Smart Detections: This is where the Swann MaxRanger 4K shines as I got ZERO false detections, I even had this put in front of a tree with the branches swinging in the wind and got no false alerts. This has to do with the way Swann does detections with its Detect+ which uses heat to sense people, this helps eliminate the false triggers that most Wi-Fi cameras give you. The MaxRanger cameras also do a great job when you specify detection zones, but this is a given as detections overall are the best I have seen from any wireless camera. Data security: The data transmitted from the cameras to the hub is encrypted and not being forced to use the cloud for saving clips is a huge win. Streaming quality: Streaming the live feed works great when you’re away from home and the detections come through quickly. The only issue I had was that the streaming seems to lag while I’m on same network the home base is on, it takes about 5 seconds for the stream to load whereas when away from home on cellular connection it connects withing 3 seconds. The Bad While most of my experience was good about the MaxRanger 4k system, it did have a few areas that could be improved, mainly the app. The app for the Swann is laid out nicely for your normal stuff (playback/modes/devices). Issues arise when you are trying to do detailed changes and you’re stuck digging through menus. For instance, to change the detection zones you must go to the camera, settings menu, channel settings, camera again and then detection zone. Another issue with the app is the streaming does not work in stretched (landscape mode) and you only see half of the image. I also wish that Swann had made these cameras work as repeaters so the range could be extended even more. As of right now the distance is based on the homebase, had the cameras worked as repeater they could just ping off one another and extend the range up to a possible 2000 feet per camera and you wouldn’t have to worry about centralizing the homebase. The Swann system offers the same functions as most other wireless security systems they have night time recording, siren to deter unwanted guest, local recording but the MaxRanger 4k are the best solar cameras with the best detection and range on the market. These are perfect for large properties or congested areas where there is a lot of signal interference. The homebase gives you a ton of options to add storage and even use the system connected to a monitor as a traditional security system (although they cannot records 24/7 which no wireless camera is able to do at the moment). I would recommend these over any other solar wireless camera on the market today.

The Swann MaxRanger 4K wireless camera security system is impressive. Bottom line, if you don’t want to read any further, that is my verdict. 4K video. Long range wireless capability. Built in solar panels for recharging. Included 64 GB SD card for recording. Inexpensive monthly cloud storage. This system meets my needs perfectly. The Swann MaxRanger comes with three wireless cameras and a base unit that ties directly into your current router/modem/network switch via Ethernet. The three cameras communicate to the base unit, which then communicates to the phone app or via HDMI to an external monitor connected to the base unit. Set up was extremely easy. Charge the three cameras for three hours. Turn them on. Plug in the base unit to power and to the router. Press and hold the connect button. All three cameras synced immediately. Downloaded the Swann Security app. Registered with Swann, used the app to add the MaxRanger system, and off and going. There is a free 90-day subscription to one of Swann’s more advanced plans which include cloud storage and access to some of the more advanced features of the MaxRanger system (such as detecting motion differences between cars, peoples and pets and selecting which areas of each camera detect motion). Secure + plans through Swann include Unlimited (which I just described above), Pro (which has a central base monitoring your system) and Pro Video (which builds on the Pro plan). I chose the Unlimited package (it’s free for the first 90 days anyways), which suits my usage best. The MaxRanger system allows for up to 8 cameras. I only have the three that came with the package, as at this time they are enough for me. I mounted each one of them in different spots of the house, making sure that I selected areas where the cameras would get several hours of sun. The package comes with mounting hardware and screws/inserts, which I used to mount all three cameras to stucco or a patio cover in the backyard. Even though two of the cameras are approximately 100’ from the base unit, I still get good signal. The app is easy enough to use. I adjusted the amount of motion detection needed (I had to set it at 15% motion detection sensitivity, otherwise I got way too many alerts). That leads me to the only issue that I encountered with the MaxRanger 4K system: The selected motion detection monitoring areas and the car vs. person vs. pet detection doesn’t seem to work. I have one camera mounted on the front of the house. It overlooks my front yard and the street in front of it. In the app, I turned off car, pet, and package alerts. I still got an alert every time a car drove down the street. In some cases that would be an alert every 10 seconds. That got to be annoying. Then I went into the app and cleared any motion detection areas that included the street. I still get alerts whenever cars go by. Basically, this camera is ignoring my instructions to not provide me alerts for cars and is also monitoring areas I don’t want it to monitor for motion detection. One star off for that aspect of the system. Other than that it has been a great experience using the Swann MaxRanger 4K system, and I am hoping somehow we can iron out the kinks with the motion detection. It is a pricey system, but provides a lot of value for what you get.

The Swann MaxRanger 4K Solar is an easy 3 camera security system to install, with great video quality, lots of features, and unending power! Design This three piece security solution includes an NVR and three identical camera. The NVR includes a 64 GB MicroSD card, a USB port for a mouse (a small, corded, optical mouse is included - I'll get to that later), a USB port for an external hard drive, an HDMI port & HDMI cable, a network jack & network cable, and a port to plug in the power cord. There are three indicator lights of different colors on front of the NVR. The NVR has a removable battery. Each camera has a built-in non-removable battery and a solar panel on top. Installation For each camera there's a base with four screws and a mount that attaches to that base and then screws in to the back of the camera. It's a good system and will probably work for many installations. I was planning to use that system but started to realize that my cameras would have been under roof overhangs, mostly in the shade, not able to charge as well via solar. Then I remember, the box also included optional gutter mounts. I thought that sounded strange and a little questionable at first, but now I was interested and decided to take a look. What I found was a very solid and simple gutter mounting system. The gutter mounts make it easy to mount the cameras on pretty much any gutter, I think, and at least for my installation needs, keep the solar panels in the sun. The gutter mounts are very solid and attach to the camera mount with four screws and attach to the gutter with two large wing nuts that are easy to tighten. Please see the attached pictures. I was very happy with how that worked and the resulting camera mount positions. Setup The cameras connect to the NVR automatically, very quickly and without you doing anything other than charging the cameras and turning them on. You will hear a sound when each camera connects to the NVR. Then NVR connects to your network via a network cable. There is no WiFi in the NVR to connect to your network so make sure you are able to have it in a location where you can connect it to your home network via a physical network cable. Once all components are charged and/or plugged in, you can start the setup process. This REQUIRES (I thought this was odd but it's probably not for an NVR) a TV or Monitor with an HDMI input (cable included) and a mouse (included). Note that a keyboard is not needed. The monitor and mouse are not regularly needed after the initial setup. The setup process will walk you through some configuration and account creation. Once that's done though, you can just use the app to access and control the camera feeds and settings. You will create an account using the mouse and an on-screen keyboard. That's not hard but but just a little tedious. The setup was really easy, especially considering the cameras connected automatically. If you do keep a TV or monitor connect to the NVR it is designed to use for watching live feeds of all your cameras. There are a number of different display options to arrange the video from each camera on the screen in different ways - you know, like it looks when you see security guards on TV shows watching their TV screens. Although the system includes three cameras, you can expand it up to a total of eight cameras on the same system. Swann Security App Part of the setup with the NVR includes scanning a QR code on your TV to add the NVR, and cameras, to the Swann Security app on your phone. The app works well and makes it easy monitor video, view recorded video, and change camera settings. From the app you can go to a "Playback" list of any recorded video from all your different Swann devices. I think I mentioned this before but those recordings can be saved and shared if you want. Also, while playing with the app now I just found it has a three different views to go through the recordings, a text only time and date list, one with thumbnails, and one with thumbnails along the bottom and you can watch the video on the top as you slide though recordings on the bottom. Connectivity The wireless connectivity works very well! I'm actually very excited about how well the built-in wireless data for the cameras works, connecting them to the NVR. Not only is it simple, actually automatic, for them to connect to the DVR, but it's a signal that goes long distances and/or through buildings well. I was a little concerned about my one camera because the video needs to go through at least two cinder block walls and two metal sidings that have caused some issues for me with other wireless solutions. The MaxRanger 4K system has no problem! In fact the camera I was most concerned about shows 3 to 4 bars out of 5 and has no issue sending back 4K video! I actually have three buildings on my property. I have a camera in back of one building and another camera in front of another building. There's a small building between those two that has the NVR in it. Then, on the far side of the second building I mentioned I have the third camera. That's the one I was concerned about and it just works. The fact that no connectivity is required for power to the cameras is a bonus! The solar works great! In fact, since I charged the cameras I haven't seen them go below about 94% and they charge in the sun of the day. I'm glad that charging these is not something I'll need to worry about. Video quality The video quality is great and even still images that are captured are very good. Daylight is awesome, night mode is still very good but black and white. You can pinch to zoom to on the live feed too and zoom in to a specific area. The video is always on high quality, since they have great wireless technology to handle 4k video apparently, I guess it makes sense. Again, I'm very happy with the image quality and color brightness. The video looks very bright and rich - even brighter that it probably is outside as the sun starts to set. Features While watching a feed in the app you can turn on a spotlight, listen to audio coming from the camera mic, talk back through the camera, take a photo, record video, or turn on a siren. You can also set different "Detection zones" for each camera. You can have it automatically turn on a light, turn on a siren, or just send a notification when it detects something, it will record video of the event too. It can detect cars and people with the combination of the camera and a heat sensor. Summary For me, the Swann MaxRanger 4K is exactly the camera security package I was looking for. It was easy to setup and is loaded with great features. The video quality is great and it's wireless has no problem getting the video to me from everywhere I need it from. I'm glad the requirement of a network cable wasn't a problem for how I wanted to set everything up because I didn't even check into if the NVR supported WiFi and I would have guessed it did. I can see why they don't, because many people may not have a strong enough WiFi connection to handle all the 4K video. The cameras seem to handle power so well between the solar power, battery capacity, and power efficiency, that keeping the cameras charged should never be an issue. All the features I mentioned work using local storage, that 64 GB MicroSD card so you don't need to pay for a subscription, which is also something I was looking for. It's easy to add more storage too, with either a larger MicroSD card or an external hard drive - or both. I'm very happy with the MaxRanger 4K!

We live out in the country on 70 acres, and I’ve used a lot of different cameras over the years to try and keep an eye on the place. I’ve got a few cameras around the outside of the house, but my main need has been for cameras further away to watch the entrance and mailbox, the barn, and other outbuildings. I have four different brands of cameras that I use to try and cover the various ranges. Our driveway meets the road about 350’ downhill from the house and this is where our mailbox is. Our barn is about the same distance downhill in a different direction. I have a couple of cell-based cameras about 600’ from the house to watch gate areas so I know when our horses (and other critters) pass through them. I mention all this just to emphasize that I’ve been waiting for a solution like the Swann MaxRanger4K to come along for a long time now. I’ve been using the three cameras and the DVR hub for about a week now, and I can tell you this HaLow system is a complete game-changer for me. Where I had marginal and intermittent coverage of our mailbox, I now get solid coverage from the Swann camera. I have replaced both cell-based cameras with the MaxRangers. I can either move those cameras to where the Swann ones won’t reach or cancel the plans to save some money. I plan to buy additional MaxRanger add-on cameras which cost about the same as one year of the cellular plan for the other cameras. Okay, now into the details. Setup was easy for the most part. I did stumble a little initially, because I assumed I could set everything up via the phone app. However, you do have to hook up a monitor and mouse (no keyboard needed) to do the initial setup to get it on the network. After that, you can connect to it via a web interface. They do provide an HDMI cable and a compact mouse in the box, which I thought was a nice touch. One additional requirement is that you connect the hub via a wired Ethernet port. I also set up the Android app and got logged into it that way. After charging the cameras and installing their antennas I just turned them on, they automatically linked to the hub, and I could start viewing video. It was that easy. Another nice touch is the hub contains a removable battery that it says will run the hub for 5 hours if there’s a power outage. I already have things in my network closet on a UPS, but I like the idea that the hub will continue to work for another 5 hours after my UPS runs out. The hub also comes with 64GB of SD storage for the videos. You can upgrade to a 256GB SD card, if needed, or even add up to 5TB of storage via USB connection. Having solar panels on the cameras is another great feature. Yes, that constrains where you can install them to take advantage of the sun, but I’ve been able to figure out a useful camera angle with all of them so far. Not having to pull the cameras down to recharge them is totally worth any inconvenience with the placing as far as I’m concerned. At least now in the summertime, the panels definitely keep the batteries fully charged. We’ll see how they perform in December/January, but it has got to help extend the time between charges even if it doesn’t keep them at 100%. I got so anxious to try the first camera out that I didn’t fully charge it. It started at about 40%, but each sunny day moved it up about 10% until it was fully charged. Other solar cameras that I’ve tried (at least ones without an external/separate solar panel) could only maintain the charge but wouldn’t charge it back up, so I was impressed with this one. Let’s talk about the effective range of these cameras. I’m including a Google maps picture of our land and marked where I tested cameras (green spots worked, red spots didn’t). The Swann specs say up to 2,000ft if you have clear line of sight, and 650ft under more normal conditions. It depended on the terrain and trees, but I was able to get it to work at 1600ft from the house with just a couple of small trees in the way. It did work more consistently in the 600-700ft range but having more trees and a building in the way definitely cut the range. A couple of places 700ft and even 300ft away did not work, but I could see it was because of outbuildings in the way. So, their specs seem reasonable, but you’ll just have to look at your environment to know for sure. If you can see your house, though, it’s likely going to work. When I say “work,” I mean that it captures video events and can stream live video. The cameras do change the quality and frames per second dynamically based on the connection, though, so videos from even the 300ft range are not at the full frame rate. From my gate camera, I get 5-10 fps video. From further out, it’s almost always 5 fps. However, I can live with this. The action may be a little jerky, but the resolution is still good enough that I can see mail going into the mailbox, etc. Another great thing about Swann is you don’t have to pay a monthly or yearly fee to view your videos. Everything is stored locally, which is a real advantage sometimes. However, you can pay a subscription for not just cloud storage, but also some other features like a 3-year warranty (instead of 1), pet/package detection (instead of only person/car), and “rich notifications” which I understand should be thumbnail pictures with the push notifications. The system comes with a 90-day trial of the unlimited plan. The one area where I’m still having some issues and I hope Swann will make some improvements is with the Android app. I have yet to get the “rich notifications” to work, and I also seem to get multiple alerts as the AI is figuring out what’s in the video. For example, I’ll get “motion” detected, followed by “car” and sometimes then “person” (like if it’s a UPS truck with a person inside). But the biggest problem is the alerts all override my phone’s do-not-disturb settings somehow. I’ve never had an app do that before. I don’t like to have any alerts while I’m sleeping, so for the moment I have to manually set DND in the Swann app. Even though I’m still working through the app problems, I love this new camera system. I plan to get more add-on cameras and I expect I’ll continue the unlimited subscription. The MaxRanger system is finally a great option for rural people that have larger areas to cover with cameras.

Swann - MaxRanger4K Solar 3 Camera Security System The Swann - MaxRanger4K Solar 3 Camera Security System with Forever Charged Solar Panel, Longest Wi-Fi Range, and Night Vision without fees. I have tested several security camera systems, both wired and wireless, with solar charging and without, so I was interested in testing out the latest from Swann with cameras that have a built-in solar panel, especially one advertised as having the most extended range in WiFi cameras. Most haven’t lived up to the promise of a decent WiFi-based security camera, and trust me, I don’t have the biggest property, but it seemed to challenge most WiFi systems. Spec, wise, The MaxRanger has just about everything you could want in a wireless solar-charged security system; let's see how it performs. The Cameras are powered by a Rechargeable 12,600mAh 3-cell Lithium Battery with a solar panel built into the top of the camera. There is a USB-C port under a rubber panel on the rear of the camera to charge the camera initially or if it is needed at some point. It is recommended that you charge the batteries prior to the installation, and it suggests that this can take up to 6 hours. I just charged them and the backup battery for the hub overnight. The Camera records in 4K at 15 frames per second, but it ramps down if needed due to poor connection or a low WiFi signal. The camera has a 105° diagonal field view and uses a Sony Starvis sensor for enhanced color recording at night; thanks to its spotlights, you get some tremendous daylike videos. Video clips are recorded locally at the hub using a Micro SD card with a 64 GB capacity, which is included. You can also use Dropbox for your videos. The storage is expandable with a Micro SD card up to 256 GB, and a cloud backup option is available for continuous storage at a fee. There are several Secure + plans through Swann that are fee-based, including Unlimited, Pro, and Pro Video; both of the Pro plans have central monitoring for your system. All have 60-day cloud storage and 30-day activity reporting. The Unlimited plan has enhancements to your camera, including Rich Notifications, Pet, Package, and Vehicle Detection enhancements, upgrades to warranty and insurance protection, plus Third-party integration for Hey Google, Alexa, and IFTTT. There is a long-range WiFi antenna, a microphone, a siren, and a speaker built into each camera, as well as a True Detect heat and motion sensor and two spotlights. The HUB is the heart of the system and has a battery pack that provides up to five hours of backup power in case of an outage. The main feature is its use of Halo WiFi on the 900 MHz band, which promises a 2,000 ft range and claims to penetrate walls, ceilings, and obstacles with no signal dropouts. The system uses Halo WiFi instead of your home WiFi to communicate with the cameras. You set up the system with the Android or Apple App. Hook the HUB to a TV with HDMI or a Monitor with HDMI It can use anything with a display of 1080P to 4K and will configure accordingly. The Hub does have some features that the App does not. One thing not promoted is that one can attach a wireless mouse and keyboard with a dongle, making typing easier when using the NVR HUB. The Hub can support up to 8 cameras, with this particular package having 3 cameras. It would be nice if the Hub had the ability to integrate a microphone into it or use one that the monitor or TV had to talk to people at the cameras. The initial setup is super easy, but to fine-tune everything, you need to use both the Hub and the Android/Apple App. I found that a lot of the defaults would not work with the way I wanted to be alerted or recorded video clips. The App was more intuitive because the organization and flow seemed to work more logically. One can set up motion zones sensitivity and distances and you can have the system respond by setting up alerts via email or set off the alarm feature. You have the ability to do things by the times of the day and days of the week and add modes like a security alarm system with home, away, and night modes. Swan Products has other Alarm components that can be integrated into the video system, and different Swann video camera systems can all be integrated to work together into a Single App. Though the App is written a little cleaner, some things are missing, and it does have glitches. At one point, the App showed the system offline, but the Hub showed everything working fine. I had to reboot the Hub to fix the communication with the App. Communication: The Halo WiFi is pretty amazing. I have used other WiFi Security Cameras from Swann and other vendors, and I had areas around my home that I wanted to be monitored. I couldn’t communicate with the other systems even while trying to be cautious to optimize placement and setup. Either penetrating too many walls, weak camera signals, or WiFi interference did not allow the cameras to communicate with the base units. With the MaxRanger4K, I didn’t have any difficulty. As an experiment, I tried setting things up to place the Hub and cameras at the edges of my property in areas with the most outside interference or blockage. I set cameras up to 250 ft away from the Hub with multiple walls and metal and tech barriers, and the system just hooked up. One thing to note is that the WiFi strength fluctuated, and the video would sometimes change from 4K down to 720P and back. When switching to a particular camera on the Hub or with the App on live view, the initial connection would be about a 12-second delay for most of the cameras except if it was in the optimal area where a typical WiFi system would work. The system recorded clips fine, but the live feed had a response delay. I don’t have 2000 FT of property to test the theorized range, but I feel the MaxRanger4K has impressive wireless connectivity with its camera systems. The cameras are constructed well, and the units are heavy-duty. The sensors do their job well. It is nice that they use both heat and motion sensing to detect movement, vehicles, and people in the environment. But the system will often get triggered by things outside of the motion zones, and you will have to play with the sensitivity and range to get the alerts and clips you want but not be bugged by things you don’t. It is nice that you can use the Hub or the App to take snapshots, record live views, and turn on the spotlights to switch to color mode during nighttime while monitoring the system. The 4k videos are clean, and the clips at night are clear and in good color. Plus, the spotlights add a deterrent to the system. If you need some extra deterrent, you can set up the alarm, but check with local codes as you might have to register the system to use this feature legally. Two-way communication is clear, but you need to extend your speech, or it will cut your speech off. The Alarm is anemic but you can’t expect much from the speaker in the unit. It will get the subject attention and is quit directive. When mounting the cameras, you need to consider the sun to take advantage of the solar panels. You get approximately 5 hours of battery power, and as long as the camera gets a couple of hours of sunlight, it can retain this charge. In addition to the swivel mount screw-in system for mounting, you have included rain gutter mounts, which you can also use in other ways to mount your system if you are creative. There is a Windows-based application called HomeSafe View. It is useful, but it is not Windows code-friendly and is somewhat clunky. Plus, it would not scale on my 4Kx2160HD laptop the way the Hud software does, making it tiny and useless unless I changed the resolution on my laptop. The video display is fine, but all of the controls are microscopic, which is just old coding IMO. Pros: • 4K Video quality in both day and night conditions • Solar Power -when situated correctly, the batteries can be charged with only a couple of hours of sunlight • HUB battery backup – your system shouldn’t go down when you lose short-term power this is a nice feature • Relative ease to setup and hookup – you don’t need professional installation but you should use both the App and the Hub to configure the devices. • Made by an Australian Security company. • You choose local storage or if you want monitoring or cloud storage. • No interference from or with WiFi in your home up to and including WiFi 7 Cons: • Not all settings are available in the app. The HUB software is not as intuitive as the APP • Delay in live feed on APP or HUB • Halo WiFi range works well but signal quality can fluctuate through walls and obstacles. • Software that controls alerts can use some refining. Cameras sometimes ignore motion zones, and frequently, a shadow or moving leaves can set off alerts. • Hub has to be ethernet hard wired. In Conclusion, this is a great system for wireless camera connectivity. It has some things you have to consider for your system setup, but I have never seen a WiFi camera security system that works as well as this one. I hope someday they can update their software, and I would truly love for Swann to update these cameras to their 12MPixel level since they spoiled me with that level of detail.

I really like this system more than 4 stars, but I think that it was harder to set up than a 5 star rating system should be. Unboxing was pretty easy, as it should be. Most everything was divided up into smaller boxes, all easily recycled, and packaged well. There were a number of pamphlets included for each step of the setup (English and Spanish). I had some challenges using the pamphlets to set up the system, partly because of the technology already present at my house, and partly because the pamphlets were pretty basic and didn't indicate the terrific amount of flexibility this system provides, which is a shame because I tried to force a difficult (for me) setup when there was a far easier alternative setup that works just as well. Still, for those of us that still like (and depend on) included written instructions, the pamphlets were a welcome sight. Installation of the central hub was pretty simple in concept, but initially challenging because we live in an old, inflexible house and our router is positioned where our router has to be. It was also a bit of a surprise that I had to connect the hub to my router with a cable (from what I've found, there are products available that can make that a wireless connection, but a cable was provided and a cable is what I used). Then, the instructions indicated that I should connect the hub to my television by an HDMI cable and our television's HDMI ports are positioned in exactly the wrong place. I could connect them, sure, but only barely and, because of the shape of the television, the hub hung wright in front of the screen. Easy fix? Sure, though I had to go to the Internet and read about it. I set up my laptop as the monitor, installed the easily downloaded software, and it all worked great! Well, mostly great. The next challenge for me is that our router is on one side of the house and the cameras were to be installed on the other side of the house. Other wireless systems we tried in the past completely failed to be able to connect to their hubs because of distance and concrete walls. This system worked. IT WORKED! I set up the cameras and all three cameras were able to stream their fields of visions. Next, I downloaded the system's app for my phone. The app works great. I did need to adjust the sensitivity of the alerts and adjust the regions covered for alerts, but both were easy to access and easy to adjust. I like it when things work the way you think that they should. This did. Mounting the cameras was easy (just mount a plate on a wall and the camera fits right into the mount). There are solar panels on each of the cameras and, so long as you have the cameras in adequate sunlight, they'll recharge. One of my cameras is not in an optimal sunny place, though, and it only lasted three days before I had to take it inside and charge it up using a usb-c cable. That's easy enough, but the alerts that the camera was running low on battery life were driving me out of my mind (mental note to self - disconnect the security alerts from my watch). Since that camera is where I want it to be, and that space is shady this time of year, I'll need to remember to take the camera inside every couple days to make sure that it has enough charge to keep watch. Finally, there are lights, speakers, and microphones installed on each of the cameras. Sort of surprised me when I took the dog out in the night and one of the lights popped on, but sort of delighted me, too, because I had light enough to see what was going on around me. Kind of a bonus plus. Wrapping up, that we were able to view all three cameras really should get this system five stars (even now, I'd like to add a star), but there was a fair amount of frustration I went through to get there and battery life without adequate sun is pretty bad, so four is appropriate. Please keep in mind that I still love the system and four stars means that I think it's a great product. I expect that I'll buy another camera or two to get better coverage. This is as close to what I want as I have seen in the market. I recommend it.

Swann MaxRanger4k Solar 3 Camera Security system is a good all-around security system. The premium build of the cameras and the feature-rich options that this system has, set it apart from the competition. After opening the package, it's really a simple straight forward process to get the cameras and hub setup in no time. The packaging included the central hub, 3 cameras, ac adapter, HDMI cord, micro-SD card, and wired mouse. The package also includes a back-up battery for the hub in case of power loss. Swann has thought of everything needed with this security system. Setup – Really easy setup. The packaging included the mounts and screws necessary to install almost anywhere. Swann also included gutter mounts as well. This is a plus as most competitors do not include extra accessories like gutter mounts. I was able to install all 3 cameras in 20 minutes. It took longer trying to decide where to install the cameras. I wanted to ensure the cameras received enough sunlight throughout the day since the cameras have internal batteries that charge using solar energy. I love this, I really wanted something that I would have to remove every other month to charge. Windows and Android App – Here is where I encountered a few issues that really made my experience frustrating. I was able to successfully set up the admin account and view each camera in the Swann application. For some reason the time of day keeps showing incorrectly. When I select time zone and hit sync with phone, it selects Eastern Time. I’m currently in Central Standard time zone. While using the mobile app, it takes too long to load the Live View Tab. It averages around 15-50 seconds to pull the camera feed from the mobile application. Granted this is the android version, not sure if iOS has these same issues. The web interface in the Swann app for Windows is loaded with additional features. It is miles better than the mobile app. So many useful settings and camera adjustment options. The only issue I’m noticing is the live feed always stops for some reason. I have the cameras fairly close in proximity, and my internet plan is top tier. I did notice that when I open the mobile app on the phone and open the live feed in Windows web application, the feed is continuous. I don’t experience the cameras stopping in the mobile app. Camera Security – Here is where I thought the cameras would shine, and after my initial tests, I do have concerns. I messed around with the sensitivity because the cameras weren’t capturing actions all the time. I performed some tests like walking past and waving at the camera, and the feed would show my actions after I had already completed them. Like me walking away. Maybe this is something that could be adjusted with firmware updates in the future. I do like the ability to enable Swann force however, which is red and blue lights when the camera detects motion. Also, having two-way communication and a built-in siren is also a plus. Final thoughts – This Swann security system with solar has it all. The clarity of the feeds is really good. I was able to make out license plates from a good distance while viewing in HD quality. The battery life is also pretty great. All 3 camera placements are in direct sunlight, so I do not foresee any issues in that department long-term. Hopefully Swann can address some of the force closing issues and reduce the time the feeds take to display on mobile while using Android. Once those issues are resolved, I truly think this is the security camera system to beat.

Spoiler alert! I am going to tell you up front what think of the Swann’s latest entry into the crowded Home/Business Camera Security market. Simply, I love the system. It is fantastic, brilliantly designed and implemented. You may have the impression that I “really” like Swann security cameras. The truth is, I do not get excited about security systems, I use them in business and home protection. At present there are fifteen cameras in use on my property to secure approximately four acres of yard around my home and garage as well along my woods that surround our home. Told my wife two months ago that I would ‘really’ like a solar powered wireless camera system that would work with our existing system security. Didn’t give it further thought until a couple weeks ago when the Swann MaxRanger4K Solar system was released. Truth is, then I did get excited! The release of Swann’s new solar powered cameras resolved an issue I have been going over for quite some time without a solution. The ability to mount the solar wireless cameras high up on the west side of our house, where we do not have electricity, solved my dilemma. Had considered wiring that side of the house many times, which would be a major project. Thank you, Swann. The icing on the cake is that my existing home camera security system is Swann and has been for some time. Previously to get the coverage I needed I had used a mix of different products. After years of experience with several systems I settled on Swann as being the best fit for my home and business, and I take my family’s safety seriously. Was pleased to see that both my Swann systems, the DVR 8 Channel and the new MaxRanger4K NVR based system technology are both manageable with the same Swann App. Having the ability to manage and monitor the NVR and DVR systems and cameras is a Big Selling point to me after having to manage different systems separately, no fun. Setup, in other past reviews I have mentioned that setups were straight forward simple and easy. I take most of that back after installing the new Swann MaxRanger4K Solar. There is not one system I have used previously that comes close to the simplicity, hassle-free, and basically automatic installation, as well as system and manageability. Amazed me when I simply turned the MaxRanger4K camera on the first time and it automatically paired with the NVR hub! Swann hit a Homerun. Notes and Likes: - Best Cameras I have ever used – solid and built for the long haul - Solid App - Subscription Free - great option for managing your own data - Extra Protection Security Plans are excellent and more flexible the others - Night Vision 130 ft – Very nice - Battery Power Backup - Camera Resolution 3840 x 2160 - Wide field of view – 120 degrees - 8 Channels – for cameras - 2-way audio – greet people from within the home - MicroSD card storage – comes with 64GB – not clear on maximum storage - Mounting kits for both wall face and an innovative solid mount for rain gutters - Super resolution and vison day or night - Never having to climb a ladder again to recharge a camera Swann has been engineering and developing cost effective security for decades, in my book they provide top of the line systems that are dependable – and that is my bottom-line in-home protection.

FINALLY! We have a nearly perfect system that checks almost all of the boxes that make it truly wireless, battery-less, with high resolution 4K video. Here's what makes the Swann MaxRanger4K system fantastic. 1. Truly wireless. It uses 900MHz local Wi-Fi network with powerful antennaes from each camera to the NVR hub. 900Mhz is lower bandwidth but has longer waves which allow it to better traverse distances and penetrate walls and obstacles. The NVR then connects directly to your Wi-Fi router or Mesh system using ethernet cable. 2. Solar Powered. This helps the cameras maintain wireless freedom, as there is an internal closed battery and a large solar panel on the top of each camera that keeps them charged. The solar panel is really heavy-duty, with little circular bumps and not like the cheap ones on garden lights etc. that blister and bubble over time. 3. No fee recording and Anywhere App monitoring. You can monitor from anywhere via the Swann App and set up and record footage with completely local storage without any fees. There's a 64GB (58GB usable) SD Card included, but I attached a 2TB USB SSD drive to the USB 3.2 port for more storage. After formatting the drive, I was able to record and change clip duration. The App works well, you enter the Admin password for the NVR and it handles all the rest of the network connection which works on your local network (faster camera response), but also over the internet/cellular. All of the networking and routing is handled by the NVR and the Swann App. 4. Fantastic Image Quality and Camera Build Quality. The cameras use Sony sensors and have a wonderful 4K picture in both daytime and at night. My only major complaint with my current Ring cameras is that 1080p just isn't good enough anymore and often don't catch finer details, like facial details and license plates. The build quality is also fantastic with high-end hardware that allows full adjustments. The only minor negatives are that the recordings are only 4K/15 frames, I am not sure if this is higher at lower resolution but maybe 24 or 30 may have been a little smoother. The other thing is the lights are kind of dim, they are not going to help much if you have the cameras set high up or in a dimly lighted area without assistance from a flood light. I'll probably keep my Ring floodlight cams and then use these cameras to fill in the gaps. 5. Simple setup and Administration. I think I set it up the hard way, I went through the 1-2-3 steps in the guide using an external monitor and the included mouse. I'm 99% sure you can bypass this using the Quick Start guide, which just requires you to connect the NVR to your router/modem and then scan the QR code from the Swann App on your phone, which then pairs everything and lets you set the NVR's admin password. Either way, once you set up the App, you never have to connect via HDMI to the NVR again, as you can set every setting in the App and also update the firmware on the NVR and cameras from the App. You can also connect up to *8* total cameras to the NVR, which is amazing. I'll be looking to add more cameras later for sure. 6. Awesome App. The App itself is awesome, it gives you the Preview all in one view from your phone, albeit the image is slightly squished due to aspect ratio. As mentioned, all the settings I saw in the OS GUI seemed to be on the App also, slightly organized differently. You can set the motion zones, auto recording routines, turn on lights, 2-way talk and you also get notifications for people movement sensors as you'd expect from any other high-end camera system. I'm still discovering some features but I also saw the ability to connect a Dropbox account for video clips. I'd love to see this expanded to more vendors, or even the ability to attach network attached storage to my NAS at home for infinite recording/offloading. For now I have 2TB of SSD storage which is a ton. There does seem to be a Premium+ subscription that is optional that adds additional features and most likely, cloud storage, but I did not enable it and I still had all the features I expect and get from my Ring system. 7. The NVR is impressive. Network Video Recorder? Its like the hub unit that connects to your router and the cameras connect to via WiFi. It is TINY and super LIGHT. How is it so light and have all those electronics? Its crazy. Running some small ARM chip probably and Swann's OS, its fast and snappy and handles up to 8 streams. It also isn't huge and doesn't look like an ancient VCR like some of the other NVRs for these camera systems. Some people reading this might not remember what those are, but this unit looks great and blends right in with other modern Mesh WiFi systems. I feel like I could keep going on and on about this system, I know I'm missing a lot but there's a TON to digest. The quality of equipment and the features you get for the price are absolutely mindblowing, especially when you consider the cost of individual cameras for other systems. Highly recommend this for anyone looking for a truly wireless, high resolution camera system, with no fees!

– BUILD – The Swann MaxRanger4K Wire-free system comes with 3 cameras and a base station. Each camera is primarily made of sturdy plastic with the exception of the screw mount, which has to be extra sturdy due to each camera’s weight. This has to be the heaviest wireless security cam i’ve owned, thus far. The solar panel is pretty neat, considering it is built into the camera itself. This makes each camera a lot larger than your typical. These things are a bit on the large side, for sure. Finally, the antenna is sturdy when pointed and will not move. It’s rare to find antennas on a wireless cam, but these MaxRanger4Ks call for it in their design approach. – INSTALLATION – Installation is very easy and can be set up in minutes, as advertised on the box. The cameras come paired with the base station, so once they’re turned on, they find their way to the base station immediately. Of course, the base station itself will need to be powered on with its included power adapter. But all in all, I did not need to fumble with the cameras and do any manual pairing to the base station, which is nice. As far as the base is concerned, it’s up to you if you’d like to access your events via the internet or if you’ll be using a dedicated monitor to access your system as a CCTV. Or both. I’ve opted to use the Swann App so that I can have eyes on my property on-the-go, and this requires an internet connection. The Swann App will ask you to scan the QR code on the bottom of the base station, ask you to create a username and password, and you’re all set. As far as installing the cameras themselves, each camera comes with a gutter bracket which makes installation so easy. Had I known sooner, I would’ve sourced gutter brackets for all my cameras that I’ve owned in the past so that I don’t drill holes on my fascia board. Installation was super, super easy with these clamps, and the cameras were adjustable to be pointed in the direction I chose after they were clamped down. – RANGE PERFORMANCE – Swann claims 2000 foot range in open air, and 650 foot range everywhere else. I certainly don’t have a lot large enough to exercise 2k feet, but with my humble home’s footprint, all 3 cameras come in just fine with zero hiccups. I’m actually impressed with this design as it does away with the limitations of your WiFi system (if you have a less than stellar one) and puts the onus on Swann to perform the wireless duties. I’ve already envisioned creating a mount closer to my street to catch the criminals that keep taking our mail from our post mailbox on the street. – CAPTURE PERFORMANCE – The cameras are very good at detecting motion…a little too good. The good news is that notifications come immediately after motion is caught. This doesn’t necessarily mean that it is done recording the action taking place, but to be aware that something is going on. Since I have 3 cameras facing my yard in all directions, I get 3 notifications each time a car comes by or if a person walks through. If you opt into the Secure+ Plans, Swann unlocks some AI bits to further distinguish people, car, pet and packages. I opted into this a few days in because I’m big on the AI stuff, and Swann will notify you of these events immediately. What is also generated are thumbnail events that you can see immediately when an event takes place. Not the biggest fan of this -pay-to-play- feature as I think this should be standard for all events. As far as quality, the cameras do capture in 4K and it’s a definite difference when compared to not-4K cameras I’ve owned. Videos appear to be a 30Hz and two finger zoom will allow you to capture details, especially facial features if it came down to it. One thing I could not get is a clear license plate # from any car that passed through, so what I’ll have to do later on is mount this camera much closer to the street to get better captures. When it’s dark out, the camera will turn on its LED lights to give you a clearer video. When you see them light in person, they don’t seem bright, but the image sensors on these cameras are very sensitive to light and can bring a full color video easily. – DETERRENT PERFORMANCE – Each camera has an extra siren and red/blue LEDs that flash when motion is detected. You can’t really see these red/blue LEDs during the day, but at night they are very noticeable. The siren itself cannot be scheduled as it can only be set on/off per camera on a motion trigger. Because of this, I kept the sirens off and only turned the lights on during motion. – BATTERY – Not a whole lot to say here other than this is my most favorite thing about these cameras; the solar panels on each camera keep the battery topped off daily. I never have to worry about charging these, especially in the middle of summer. And with all the events that are taking place in front of my house daily, the panels keep the camera fat, dumb and happy. Finally, in the event of a power outage, the base station holds its own battery that is capable of keeping power up for up to 5 hours. – RECORDING – Swann provides a 64GB microSD card that is pre-installed into the base station. The claim is up to 9 months of revolving videos (as space gets full, the old ones get purged first to make room for new ones). This may be sufficient enough for most people, and there are zero monthly service fees. If you sign up for Secure+ Plan, you’ll be given 60 days of Cloud Recording on top of the other services provided (AI alerts, rich notifications, etc). Again, you don’t need to sign up for any service for this system to be useful. – GOTCHAS – For a good while, I wasn’t getting any sound from any of my recorded videos. Obviously I thought that some setting was not being set or changed; I searched throughout the app for any sound settings and they are non-existent. It was by chance that I tried the microphone and then iOS asked me if I could give permission to the Swann App to use the microphone. Then and only then did the sound finally come through. – CONCLUSION – Here are my top 3 reasons why this is an absolute buy: Wireless Range is an absolute monster Battery life is sustained with built-in solar panels No subscription required for recordings as it is stored locally on the base station

My number one reason in opting for this Swann security system is the fact that it's completely wireless. I previously had a wired system and it was stressful having to go up in the attic, route cables, and drill holes for it all. Having that wired system also limited my options as far as camera placement. This wireless system not only allows for more placement options, but also makes it really easy to install myself, even saving me from having to climb into my attic! Of course, in order to mount the cameras you may still have to perform some drilling for the mounting plates, but it's no more complicated than hanging pictures on a wall. In some cases you may not even have to drill at all, as this system also includes brackets that can just simply hang over the side of gutters and other narrow edges. The rest of the setup is just as easy. Connect the NVR to a router and tv, turn your tv on to the appropriate input, and follow a few easy on-screen steps with the included mouse and you're done. At this point you're seeing live camera feeds on your TV. Next all you need to do is get the Swann Security app for your phone so that you can see the camera feeds when you're away. This process is easy to get through as well, and if you're like me and already have the app for other Swann security products, it's as simple as just tapping the 'add device' button and scanning the QR code on the NVR. With the system up and running, the first thing you'll probably pay attention to is the video quality. While these are 4K cameras, I learned long ago that something being labeled as 4K doesn't always mean you're going to get that amazing picture you see on all the demo TVs at your local Best Buy. Other factors such as frames per second will have an effect on that, and these cameras are only spec'd at 15 fps. While the overall quality is good, when you're used to mostly seeing video content at 30 fps, it's a noticeable difference where it doesn't come across as smooth. At the very least, it does meet my basic expectations for a security camera system. That is to say, acceptable, but nothing that absolutely blows me away. In fact, it doesn't seem to be as much of an improvement as I'd expect over my old security system that's several years old now. Let's not forget though that these cameras are wireless. That can have an impact on video quality as the higher quality means more data needing to be transferred. On top of that, this system is designed for an extended range, while also having to go through barriers such as house walls. Taking all that into account, it actually does a great job ensuring a good video quality given those obstacles, and coming from a wired system, I see no loss or sacrifice over what I had. Even the camera that I placed at the far opposite corner of my back yard of my house had no issue getting a good feed. There is however a slight delay that for me, was from about 2-4 seconds depending on the camera and its location. Data transfer isn't the only issue faced when going wireless, power is the other. When going wireless, you have to use batteries, but the bigger issue is how to charge those batteries. No one wants to climb a ladder and unmount a camera constantly just to plug in and charge up (which is an option). To solve this, Swann added solar panels, and between those, the batteries, and the camera's efficiency in using that power, you probably won't be needing that ladder. To test this out, I placed each of my 3 cameras in a different situation. One that sees direct sunlight for most of the day, one that spends most of the day in an outdoor shaded spot, and finally one indoors without any sun whatsoever. After almost a week of use, both outdoor cameras whether mostly sunny or mostly shaded, still show a 100% charge, while the indoor camera is showing a 44% charge. I need to also mention that my indoor camera is in a spot that sees a lot of activity all throughout the day. That's pretty good use of power, which means my outdoor cameras should stay forever charged, at least until the batteries go bad, and any indoor cameras that never sees sunlight, won't need to be re-charged too often. Finally, let's talk about some of the features. The motion sensors are adjustable and have been working great so far for me. Plus you can turn off alerts for those times you're at home or doing some activity within view of a camera. It also has light and sound alarms that can go off when motion is detected and it allows you to set motion detection zones. All these features can be set individually per camera, which is important in a multi-camera system. My one complaint is that the cameras will flash small red and blue LEDs when they're detecting motion and I haven't found any way to turn that off, either within the app or directly on the NVR. Overall it's a great system and I'd definitely buy it again, and might even add some extra cameras at some point. While I would have liked to have seen a bit more advancement overall in quality and features over my older system, the wireless aspect makes up for that in how easy it is to install, to move around, adjust and most of all, allowing camera placement options that I just didn't have with my old wired system. All without sacrificing anything in quality.

About the Swann MaxRanger4K Camera Security System The MaxRanger4K Camera Security System is a solar powered wireless camera system created by Swann. It boasts numerous features paired with solar recharging so that you never have to manually recharge your wireless cameras. Features There are lots of features for this camera, so I’ll list a few of the features I think are important or unique for this type of product. • No Monthly subscription option • Long Range Wireless • Up to 4K video recording resolution • Heat & Motion Sensing • 2-Way Audio • Event alert recording with person / car detection • Memory card video storage • Easy Setup What It Comes With The camera system comes with the following: • 3 solar powered wireless cameras • NVR Hub with 64GB SD Card Storage • 1 Rechargeable Battery for Power Hub • 3 Outdoor Mounting Stands • 3 Gutter Mounts • Power Adapter • HDMI Cable (approx. 6 ft) • Ethernet Cable (approx. 3 ft) • Mouse • USB Charging Cables • Some Instructions (Quick Start and limited information) Setting Up Installing the cameras was relatively easy considering I had to get on a ladder. First, you need to charge the batteries to full charge. This is just a plug and play USB cord, but you’ll need to supply the power adapter. Second, you’ll want to download the Swann Security app. From there you set up the hub to connect with the app, add the antennas to the cameras, and then add each camera separately to the system. I had no trouble get the cameras to communicate with the hub. You can use the camera system through both the app and directly connected to a TV controlled by the included mouse. Once everything is working, you place the cameras in the desired locations. I used the included gutter mounts. Other than getting on a ladder to reach the gutters, the mounts made it really easy to place the cameras. A few things to note for the installation that Swann could improve: • The cords are really short. A longer Ethernet, power adapter, HDMI, and mouse cord would help tremendously. You pretty much have to set the hub next to a TV and the Hub must be connected to a wired Ethernet cable. • The gutter mounts have a Youtube video that Swann created. A reference to that in the packaging would be helpful. • Instructions didn’t match. The Quick Start instructions were different than the larger 3-part guides included. Appearance I’m not going to lie. The cameras are pretty big. They are white and they stand out. I assume that this is due to all of the technology included inside and for there to be enough surface area for the solar panels to work on the top side of the camera housing. The hub is about the size of some router access points. It’s not as intrusive compared to the cameras. Video Video Recording – This system gives you an option for live views and event recordings. This does not record 24/7 as it would kill the batteries. The person and car detection could identify movement consistently, but often other movement was mistaken for a car. I kept having alerts for cars in my backyard, and that’s not happening. Video Quality – The highest quality is clear during the daytime. Night recording is not as clear. The best scenario for night recording is to add light (like porch or garage lights) to increase the clarity. There are options to record in SD or HD. You can also select ratios like 4:3, 16:9, and Stretched. Load Times – The load times were an issue for me. 20-30 seconds most of the time for the app to load the live camera feeds (even on a Wi-Fi 6 network). I have one camera that was taking up to 2.5 minutes. Reviewing the Video Footage – The app playback software is a little disappointing. If I get an alert, and select the alert on my phone, it takes me to a live camera feed. I want to see what the cameras saw, not the current footage. If I wanted live feed I would select that button instead. With the load times, I am not going to see much by the time the camera loads anyways. What I’d like to see is a preview of the event, and when I choose that event the app takes me to that recording. I have used other camera systems that do this, and it’s much more useful. Longer Wi-Fi Signal – The camera range distance is the most impressive of any camera system that I’ve used. I walked a camera out into the field behind my house. I was roughly 300 feet away from the house with the hub behind two walls before the camera went out of range. Swann Support I reached out to Swann’s support for help with the loading times and some other feature questions. The Swann support team was extremely helpful. They think that my load times have something to do with other interference between the cameras and the base. I was getting an audio pulse through my wired computer speakers when the hub was near it. I moved the hub away and the audio noise stopped. Some other items that the support team helped with were: • Red & Blue Recording Lights – I don’t like the red and blue lights on the camera that flash when the camera is alerted. There’s a setting in the Hub that allows you to turn this off. You cannot do this from the app. • They told me about the gutter mount installation video on Youtube. Other Notes Sirens – There’s a setting for a siren to go off when the camera is triggered. I turned that off since I am courteous to my neighbors. I think that this feature could be better served in a setting such as a farm with multiple buildings on it. Some place where you wouldn’t get as many false alarms. White LED Lights – The cameras are equipped with bright white LED lights. They can come on when the camera is triggered. This feature can be turned off using the app. Two-way Audio – I wasn’t very interested in the two-way audio, but I do like it to have the audio during a recording. Subscriptions – These cameras do not require a subscription like most of the other camera systems. There is an option for a more advanced subscription app service if you are interested in that. I’m giving the Swann MaxRanger4K Camera Security System 4 stars. Not having a subscription fee, 4K quality recording, solar recharging, long range signal, and the easy to install gutter mounts are my favorite features. The app function and loading times are my biggest issues. It’s not perfect, but it’s probably one of the best wireless camera systems that I have used.

The Swann MaxRanger4K Solar 3 Camera Security System delivers high-definition surveillance, eco-friendly solar power, and robust security features. This package includes three cameras equipped with 4K resolution, night vision, motion detection, and solar panels for continuous power. Installing the MaxRanger4K system is relatively straightforward. The cameras come with detailed instructions, mounting hardware, and the necessary tools. The solar panels simplify the power setup, eliminating the need for extensive wiring. However, depending on the placement and sun exposure of your property, optimal positioning for solar charging may require some trial and error. The only part that gave me a little bit of trouble was the camera I mounted near my front door since it is a covered area I had to fiddle around with the location a bit to ensure I got sunlight on the solar panel. The 4K video quality is exceptional, offering clear and detailed footage. Daytime recordings are sharp, and the wide-angle lens provides comprehensive coverage. Night vision is equally impressive, with infrared LEDs ensuring visibility in low-light conditions. Faces and license plates are easily identifiable, even at a distance. The integrated solar panels are a must have for maintaining continuous surveillance without frequent battery replacements or charging. The main reason I got these cameras was because I got tired of frequently having to recharge the batteries on my old security camera setup. It gets old real fast to have to drag the ladder out and take down the camera to recharge it! No more of that hassle with these Swann cameras. Under optimal sunlight conditions, the cameras remain powered efficiently. For regions with limited sunlight, however, the cameras might need occasional manual charging, though this is rare. Motion detection is highly responsive, with customizable sensitivity settings to minimize false alarms. The system can distinguish between humans and other movements, reducing unnecessary alerts. However, there can be occasional delays in push notifications, which is a minor drawback for users needing real-time alerts. The Swann Security app provides a user-friendly interface for real-time monitoring, playback, and system customization. Connecting the cameras to your home network is simple, and the app is compatible with both iOS and Android devices. Cloud storage options and local recording on a microSD card offer flexible storage solutions. Built to withstand various weather conditions, the cameras are IP66-rated for water and dust resistance. They operate flawlessly in rain, snow, and extreme temperatures, making them suitable for diverse climates. The robust build quality ensures longevity, providing peace of mind for long-term security. The Swann MaxRanger4K Solar 3 Camera Security System excels in delivering top-tier video quality, eco-friendly power solutions, and durable construction. With minor improvements in alert responsiveness, it could be nearly flawless. For those prioritizing high-definition surveillance and sustainable power options, this system stands out as a reliable choice.

I had the opportunity to test out the Swann MaxRanger4K Solar Camera Security System and I must say that I'm impressed. I had tested out another wireless security system in the past and I was not happy with it at all with the constant signal drops and the lack luster video quality, but the MaxRanger has changed all that and made me a believer in wireless security cameras once again. So, lets go over some of the features of the Swann MaxRanger 4K and what it has to offer. • Solar-powered and wire-free: Forget about drilling holes and fishing wires through walls. The built-in solar panels keep the cameras continuously charged, making installation a breeze and eliminating the need for power and connection issues. This is not only a huge convenience but also reduces your environmental impact by harnessing clean solar power. • Impressive Wi-Fi range: This is one area that I had issues with last time but no more. Swann boasts an impressive wireless range with the MaxRanger, and in my experience, it delivers. I haven't encountered any connectivity issues, even with the cameras positioned at the farthest reaches of my property, which is really not that big but still ran into issues with the previous wireless security system that I tried out, but the MaxRanger performed without any issues. This is a great system for those with sprawling properties or houses with thick walls that can often weaken Wi-Fi signals. The Swann system ensures uninterrupted surveillance without worrying about weak or spotty connections. • Crystal-clear 4K video: The video quality is truly exceptional, providing sharp and detailed images that allowed me to zoom in and see details. This is a major advantage for security purposes, as you'll be able to clearly identify people or objects captured on camera, even from a distance the 4K resolution makes a significant difference in being able to provide clear picture in the event of an incident. • True Detect+ Technology: The system intelligently detects heat, motion, people, and vehicles, triggering alerts, spotlights, and sirens. Some features were a bit spotty but overall worked pretty well. • Two-Way Communication: Two-way talk allows me to communicate with visitors directly through the cameras, and the built-in sirens offer an extra layer of deterrence. Overall, the Swann MaxRanger4K Solar Camera System is a fantastic choice for anyone looking for a reliable, wire-free security solution. It's easy to set up, delivers exceptional video quality with its 4K resolution, and provides all the features I need for comprehensive home security, including smart detection with True Detect+, local storage to avoid monthly fees, and clear color night vision. Whether you're looking to monitor your driveway, backyard, or entire property, the Swann MaxRanger4K Solar Camera System provides the peace of mind you deserve without the hassle of complicated installations or ongoing costs. If you are in the market for a security system, definitely check out the MaxRanger.