Customer Ratings & Reviews

The box that has the memory was not functioning, the installers had to get "corporate permission" to replace the box. This was while they did the initial install, not happy with best buy installation services and the product broken right out of the box? Not good

worked great for about 4 months & then i started having problems with the cameras they will start going in & out. some cameras will stay in night vision mode, lose color. i replaced The ones that were giving me problems with new ones . then one of the power wire to the camera will not give power to it. if it wasn’t one thing it was another. bought a few new swann cameras & they started giving problems again 3 weeks of being replaced. never again with swann. got rid of my swann system and went with the ring. haven’t had no problems with Ring yet.

I am Very Dissapointed with this product and their support. I had some issues with getting the recorder setup and the support was pitiful. But ever more disappointed with the product. I bought the more expensive model and it cuts in and out regularly. The motion detection is useless ... on the lowest sensitivity, I got 33 emails in a 2 hour span. Don’t buy this product!

The cameras are O.K. but not worth the $ I have used several systems and I returned this one and bought a LOREX system direct from the company, this swan system is hard to use and a bad picture.

I own this system for a little over a year and the harddrive crashed.I called the company and they basically told me to buy a new one.Save your money and buy a cheaper system that does the same thing and last the same amount of time as this product.It's hard to escalate any complaints since everyone you speak to claims they are the supervisor or manager.

Many calls to tech for help, they took over dvr & did not do as instructions stated. Still working on phone set up.

This system has bad quality the box said that it had audio and it does not it has audio capabilities. The picture was grainy. I returned it within days.

This security system works well but remote accessing it can be difficult and very frustrating.

The dvr and cameras seem to wok. iOS software is 32bit and flaky. Windows software produces error codes on some functions. 2nd level support could not tell me what erro code 2 was and did not have a list. Back in the box for a return.

Been having problems with them about 3 months after they were installed. Quality isn’t that great. Customer service was contacted but couldn’t resolve the issues. Not purchasing that brand again.

item is trash. cams go out all the time i would not recommend

Picture quality is not good at all, buy something else.

I spent a lot of time reading reviews, and honestly I didn't find many for this product when we purchased it, but reviews on Swann were generally positive. Setting the cameras was a bit of a pain for our apartment, since we can't drill holes, and had to install on the window frames and run the wires via the tops of the windows. Utilizing an air conditioner window insulation kit, we could do this without getting soaked in the rain/freeze in the winter, it also helps to prevent pinching the wires. Setting up the dvr unit wasn't too hard, if you can hook up a dvr to surround sound, you can hook this up with no issues. It took me longer to get the cameras mounted, then it did to run the cables to the dvr and hook them up. I did forget to write down my password at the beginning, but thankfully they give you 7 tries to get it right. The recording of these cameras is awesome! we have 5 cameras outside and 3 inside (we had 4 cameras from another unit that were compatible with this dvr) some of the outside areas are very poorly lit, but these cameras have no problems picking up anything that walks by, even stray cats, and the rodents. We were curious how good the cameras are on zooming in for details. We zoomed in on the neighbors license plate across the street in his driveway, and could read it clearly. That part of our view is the very top corner of the camera's aim, so it's not in the direct line of sight of the camera, but it picked up the detail of the plate so we could read it. Distance is about 150 yards. The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is no user instructions in the box, only installation and a basic run through of how to set up the dvr. However going to the manufactures website, there are lots of videos and downloads of the manual.

I bought this system to augment my Vivint Alarm. I had inside cams but also wanted some for the outside. I first bought/returned a Night Owl NVR wireless system, it was horrible. The picture quality in this Swann 5MP is definitely better than the night owls 1080p version. I'm pretty sure being wired is the main reason. I'm barely on my first week of ownership but everything seems to be good. The reason for a 4 star rating is their 70° FOV, there's a bit more to be desired, the Night Owl had 100° FOV and was a big plus (but that's where it ended). After reading numerous reviews I dreaded the issues with the mobile app. To my surprise, it has worked flawlessly! No issues whatsoever. FOV is the only thing to complain about. On a side note, I currently have Vivint with 3 indoor cams and now this 4 cam system (outside). My internet upload speed is 12Mbps and all cams work fine.

Swann limits the number of cameras that can be set up for VCA (Video Content Analysis). VCA is a great feature for line crossing and intrusion detection but Swann decided to limit this option to only 2 cameras. I purchased 4 cameras so would expect to have all functions available for all cameras. Also, night vision image is not very clear. Customer support was not able to help me with either concern.

I bought and installed this system. To do the install took me about 3 1/2 hours. That because I ran this system up high around my home and put all connections in water proof boxes. The software is very easy to set up and I love the iPhone and iPad operation. I can travel and dial up my cameras and there they are. A great System.

Great cameras horrible app! App most diff. Needs work!

I got my system around May 2017. Picture quality is nice for the old BNC analog system; however, after 8 months, 3 of the 4 cameras started to have blurry running horizontal and vertical lines across. Tried to file a warranty with Swann, they want to remote in to my systems to see the camera which I found uneasy. Sent them photos of the defective cameras and they did not accept like it, still insisted to remote in. I had to change my password and IP address later. After a few days, I had to call them on the phone again. They closed my case, I had to reopen it and they issued RMA form. I have to ship them 3 defective cameras and I will no longer have anything to watch around my house until I receive new cameras from them. They said it will take 2 weeks turn around. Not a good choice at all.

This is our second system. The software is enough to make me return the system. I trusted in the previous Swann system quality and should not have. The systems cameras are installed under the eves of my home with the wiring concealed making removal difficult. The system is also wired to a large monitor on the main floor via the HDMI connection. That portion of the product works well. I did contact the support desk for help with the software only to realize that the contact person was working from a script and did not fully understand networking or anything that deviated from her script. She was very nice but was of no help. the model that I purchased is the DVR-4900 SWDVK-8HD5M. They need to improve the mobile software for I phones and the Windows application.

This 2017 not 1995, the software for this system must have been written then. First they tell you to "try" the entire system out before installing. However you need a magnifying glass to read the instructions very serious about that. I used one very hard even with it. The cameras work great feeding into my 32 inch HD TV with a HDMI cable. But that is where it ends. The software to be installed off of the awful Swan website is a total joke. Nothing works, I tried to use it on my desktop Windows 7 and my Laptop Windows 10. It was so cantankerous I gave up after 3 hours of messing with it. I never did call the tech line why bother ? Did I mention trying to download software to my mobile ? Another joke, I kid you not the most aggravating 2 hours of trial and error I have ever experienced . I gave up and packed it and took it back to Best Buy. This not Best Buy's fault, they merrily sell the goods not build them. They gave me a full refund on the spot, no problems , Only asked why I returned it. Stay away from this unless you want to just have a monitor to look at to see what the cameras are seeing. Good luck if you want to get the views from your mobile phone, laptop , and or desktop. Very unsatisfied with this purchase, not Best Buy. I will remain a loyal customer to them. I still like buying my goods and walking out of the store with them in my hands.