Last week I attended a "Neighborhood Watch" block Captain training meeting. Neighborhood Watch, in case you don't know, is one of the most effective deterrents against home burglary. It increases awareness of people in your neighborhood, improves communication between them and improves the quality of life for all involved. There's a lot to Neighborhood Watch that I won't get into here. One of the things I asked our trainer was for some of the things that law enforcement recommends to improve home security.
Not surprisingly at the top of the list was to start or join a Neighborhood Watch program. So that's a given. Then he recommended a dog. This surprised me a little bit but he went on to explain that burglars just do not want to have to mess with a dog. They could be friendly, little, cuddly things but more often than not they bark loud enough to alert neighbors, or if a burglar does get into the house, they could take his arm off.
The second thing he recommended as a deterrent to home burglary was security cameras. He pointed out that burglars, when they see a security camera, are more than likely going to choose another target. Of course that's exactly what you want. But if they are foolish enough to break into the house anyhow, their picture will be captured on video for police to identify. Police statistics show that if they have a picture of the suspect breaking into a home or business, the chances of them catching the culprit improves by 50%. That's a pretty big statistic.
Third thing he recommended was motion activated spotlights. The bad guys don't like lights shining on them. They much prefer to work under cover of darkness.
What if you combined the two-a motion activated spotlight and a security camera all-in-one? If you did, you would get the Floodlight DVR. This motion activated spotlight not only records video but audio as well. It has a viewing range up to 10 meters or close to 33 feet. Two prerecorded and two user-recorded alerts are built into the unit which has an overwrite feature. This allows you to set the unit up and basically forget it. Audio and video are recorded to an SD card and since it is motion activated, only usable activity is recorded.
Everything you need to mount it comes with the unit. It weighs a little over 3 pounds and is 7 1/2 inches long. Video is date time/stamped for evidentiary reasons.
Get the best of both worlds with a motion activated spotlight and a built-in DVR all-in-one to improve your home security.