Last Updated on September 30, 2020 by Christopher G Mendla
Let me preface this by saying that the DCS 936L is not designed for outdoor use. I installed it under my garage eave to look at the driveway and doorway.
The way the unit is now, it’s worse than worthless. I turned the sensitivity up to 50 percent (It Was windy today and the unit is under the garage eve looking at the driveway and door).
Results
– no less than 50 false alarms for SUBTLE changes in the darkness of the driveway.
– Did manage to catch my 4400 pound truck pull out with my lights on.
– Missed my son (Big guy – weightlifter) getting into his car and pulling out of the driveway – The car is 10′ from the camera
– Missed the mailman — Maybe he’s a ninja or an alien with stealth invisibility powers.. I’m beginning to wonder.
– Missed my truck coming into the driveway in daylight but it did catch me coming out.
– I walked in a 10′ circle in front of the camera five time – Nada Nyet, Zilch, Zero.
– I walked right up to it and give it the finger.. it caught that.
– Lowered the sensitivity to 30 percent to reduce false alarms.
– It missed me getting back into the truck to head out in daylight and pull out. in daylight.
– Got another half dozen false alarms.
– Came back and OMG – It recorded the truck coming in with my top end high beams on .. I can only hope any potential evil doers will come in with four halogen headlights strapped to their head.
– Missed me unloading groceries.
– missed me making 3 trips to take out the trash and recycles.
Who the hell did you have design this thing?? The international association of house burglars?? I could hire a legally blind person for security and get better results.
Seriously guys, something is seriously wrong with your motion detection algos.. It’s almost as though they are doing the inverse of what they are supposed to do.
Update – My son just came into the driveway with his high beams on and it recorded that..
I think I’m going to return the unit (Check out my previous post about Guardzilla). My thought is to bite the bullet and try an Arlo.
Note – I don’t believe that this camera was designed for outdoor use. That could be the reason I wasn’t getting satisfactory results.
UPDATE – Sept 2020 – I have one Arlo. It is an older model and therefore has limited detection range. I understand that the newer models have a much better range. I’ve also been using Wyze cameras and have had good results.