ALC AWF71D Sighthd Video Doorbell with 1080P Full HD Wi-Fi Camera

1. Instructions were incorrect2. Does not connect 90+ % of the time even after adding Wifi Repeaters and having a Wifi Signal of better than 60% (the minimum before expecting connection problems is 40 % per the Tech Support person)3. Sitting directly beside the Wifi repeater and only 3 feet away from the Doorbell Camera the thing doesn't connect any better4. Live view always disconnects5. Watching Recorded events is impossible..Either disconnects during download or just simply wont connect6. Tech support instructed me to lower the Video Quality to 780 then to VGA if 780 still doesnt work and that should fix the problem...I did and it didn't improve any connection problemsNote: this is sad to have to give a review like this..I have 4 other ALC Security (3 outside and one inside) and they all work fine...

I did a lot of research on these things before deciding to buy this one. Here is my pro's and con's list:Pro'sNo Monthly feePowered from existing doorbell wireshigh quality 1080p recordingleverages cloud storage such as google drive or dropboxmotion activated recordingautomated video transfers to cloudEasy to install and setupConsALC SightHD app is a little clunky, its slow to load and delivers poor real time video qualityALC SightHD software is only available for phones and tablets, cannot monitor it from desktopsetting up email alerts and phone notifications will spam your inbox with false positives.Overall, I would absolutely buy this again and recommend it to anyone who wants added security without the cost of monthly subscription fees.

After reading the instructions, I began to install the doorbell. After mounting it and connecting the wires (something I have often done in my over 40 years as a licensed electrician), I learned that the doorbell had not connected to our internet.Phone call #1: I contacted ALC who gave me two ZIP files that I loaded onto the micro SD card that is inside the doorbell. I tried the step again, and the doorbell connected, but it would disconnect from my home network and then re-connect.Phone call #2: When I called again, I was told the doorbell was too far from my network center; however, they are only about 25 feet apart.+Phone call #3: I called again and waited. ALC indicated they would send me two more ZIP files; however, they did not.Phone call #4: When I called again, I waited about 30 minutes for an answer. I was told that the software is being worked on, and I was to WAIT for the new software.Since my 30-day return window has passed, I can no longer return the doorbell to Amazon. ALC will not refund my money or send me a new door bell because it will have the same OLD software as the new one and it will not work any better.I hope this saves someone some time and money. As the saying goes ”you get what you pay for”. Buy Ring and enjoy.

This was easy to install with the existing doorbell wires, only took 30 minutes. The bracket is angled to allow a better view of the front porch area and a second one is included in case you need a bigger angle. The doorbell sits securely in the bracket once it is snapped into it.Setting up the app and connecting to the doorbell was very quick and easy. When somebody rings the doorbell it rings your phone and gives you clear video and sound. Love the ability to see who is at my door if I'm not home. It also gives a notification on your phone if any motion is detected which is great for security.Definitely recommend this product!

Pros:- Saves video to SD cardd...no paid cloud service required!!!-All the features at half the price of some other brands.Cons:- A little difficult to get working.- Bug with Iphone app sometimes makes video retrieval tediousInstall was a little rough. Camera initially was only sporadically working. Turns out my existing doorbell transformer was underpowered. The instructions only say 10-24 V voltage required. But the POWER of the transformer (expressed as "VA") is also important. Power requirement was not specified anywhere. Other camera brands specify 16V transformer with 30 VA power. So I bought a 16V/30 VA replacement transformer, installed it, and voila the camera started working fine.Picture quality is typical for this type camera (fisheye). Yes it's 1080p resolution, but highly compressed so lots of artifacts. Motion detection has a lot of false alarms, but seems to trigger when it should. Motion detection triggers a 60 second video clip stored to the SD card that can then be viewed on your phone. Apparently there's an issue between the camera and the Iphone app where some of the videos return an error when you try to stream them on your phone. There's a workaround I stumbled into where you can "download" to phone rather than stream, followed by exiting the app and restarting. Then you can view the video (I know...very clunky).The free phone app works pretty well other than that one glitch. You can remote answer the doorbell, review saved videos, or pull up a live video. (Note that to review saved videos, you need to adjust the date range to see beyond the default one hour).All in all I'm happy with camera after I worked the kinks out. LOVE the fact that I don't have to pay $$ for eternity just to view my saved videos (I'm talking to you Ring and Nest). The SD card is the difference maker. The included 16GB card will save about 1000 video clips, which is many days. If you need more than that you can upgrade all the way to 128GB.