Customer Ratings & Reviews

Easy to install (I’m pretty handy at intalling and building things), pretty easy to set up. I don’t have this by my router so I bought a WiFi extender and install went great. I’ve been monitoring my house in my basement in my new “Command Center” and also on my iPhone. Downloaded the app and done. I plan on adding more cameras to this system. Best purchase I made! BTW, my house was broken into so that’s why I bought this system.

Title pretty much sums it up. I currently have an 8 camera/8 channel/2 TB 4k system that I have mounted on the exterior of my house. I am using this 4 camera/16 channel/1TB 1080p system to monitor my garage and my safes in the basement. I cannot fairly compare the 2 systems as one is 4k on a 47" 4k LG TV while on this 1080p I am using a Dell 1080p monitor. Additionally, this system is "budget-minded" whereas the other one is more feature rich and also more expensive. That said, on its own merits, it is a decent system. The video quality is pretty good and the night vision is also pretty decent. I see most of the complaints being related to the facial recognition. This is a non-factor to me so I won't ding it for a feature I don't use and don't care about. As far as the motion detection recording, I really don't like that feature on any video system since the delay can often miss important features or activities. I much prefer to record all the time. Having said that, the delay on this system seems a little more "laggy" than my other system or my doorbell camera. THE PROS: -Decent picture both day and night -Value priced -16 channel -1 TB HDD -"Spotlight" feature -Recording options (motion based, always on, removing area's you don't want to record etcetera) THE SO-SO: -Laggy motion detection recording -Interface good not great -Camera's feel a little bit (not too bad) plastic THE CONS: -No zoom feature -Spotlight is either motion-based or off. Would like to be able to manually control (In fairness, I'm using these in my garage and basement so perhaps that would be a nice feature were it outside) -No zoom ability End of the day, a decent choice for a budget-minded system. Could it be better? Perhaps. Would it be more expensive? Probably. But for the price, this is a solid system. The pictures included for this review are all temporary in my mad-scientist garage as I have not had chance to pull cables but they are fair and representative. I would recommend to a friend, but I would mention the caveats noted above. **PLEASE NOTE** This product was provided to me at no cost in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. This review is exactly that: Honest and unbiased. The price played no role in the tone or honesty of this review.

My 8 camera Swann crapped out. I needed more cameras anyway. This 12 camera Night Owl is way easier to use. The old cameras hooked right up! Same connections. Excellent picture. Very pleased.

Beautiful camera quality. I have owned the older version of these cameras in the past so I had to choose this brand again have never been let down

Easy hook up great picture day/night!!! Love it!!!

I’m very excited to upgrade and use the updated version of Night Owl Security. Unboxing: 1TB hard drive DVR Mouse 4 Coax set of wires 4 cameras Night Owl decal stickers Quick start manual 2 Power supply for DVR and cameras 4 packs of mounting hardware for cameras Installation: This was easy for me to install because I had an existing Night Owl system which used coax wires. I did have to adjust the existing drilled holes because I did not want to drill more holes to my house. The most difficult part of the install was the hard to reach areas. To make sure everything was perfect and cleanup took about 4 hours. App: I did download the Night Owl Protect app because of the convenience of checking the cameras whenever I decided. The UI for the Night Owl is much nicer and user friendly to navigate. I included some pictures that have the app in use. It also allows you to use the Apple Touch ID to securely log in the app. Quality: I’m not happy with the quality of the DP2 compared to my older Night Owl security systems. This DP2 is all plastic compared to my older Night Owl system that was made of aluminum. I’m not sure how well they will hold up with the outside elements but I will wait and see. Setup: Adding the DVR and cameras to my app was very easy. All I did was use my login on both the app and the DVR. All is done using 2 step verification. To conclude my review, I do want to mention that this is an improvement from my older security system of 5 years. The image appears sharper with more detail and it has a spotlight that activates when the camera senses motion. I’m happy with the DP2 but I was expecting more of an upgrade from my older security system. Cons: -Event playback and live feed play have some lag. I do have high speed internet so the connection is not the issue. -The DVR do not have a digital or any type of indicator. (Maybe it’s for stealth) -DVR gets hot quickly even at a ventilated area. -The overall quality of the materials used seems cheaper than my older Night Owl. Pros: -Better image at 1080p especially during the daytime. -Capable of adding 16 cameras -I can add or remove users in the app. -Finding footages are much easier using the Night Owl Protect app. -DP2 is small and allows you to use less space. -I was able to use my existing coax wire from my old Night Owl. I have more pros listed and for that reason I would recommend the DP2. If the Night Owl team continues to update the app and hardware of the DP2 I think it will get better. With no monitoring fees I’m sticking with Night Owl.

Works great in the day. Limited in the dark. The Ap could be better but works good. Buying extra cameras is as much as another unit. But it is well worth it for an 8 camera system. I have 7 hooked up. Day time is in color.

For those looking to add some safety and security to their home or small business without paying an astronomical price this is a nice little setup. Everything is simple plug and play with everything included, even a mouse comes with the dvr. For the price point I would have liked to see these be made of nicer material, metal or aluminum but as you can see by the supplied pictures of the camera they look and feel pretty cheap and generic. With that big of an opening its filled with just a black plastic instead of bigger or better lenses or lights utilizing that big of a housing better. IT looks like what they have in it would fiit in more a lipstick camera sized housing. Which would also make it more concealed once setup. Setup is easy and self explanatory. No crazy wiring diagrams or anything to hookup or figure out. Simple plug and play. I would recommend this to someone looking for a quick and simple setup.

I personally prefer wired systems due to various issues with wireless. This Night Owl system is a budget system and feels budget in the small plastic cameras. However, it provides continuous recording and detection at full HD quality. By default though, it actually uses timelapse recording, which saves on space, but if you want the full video recording you can change that setting per camera. This will of course mean that recordings will be overwrote after several days. This is a completely wired system which comes with four 60ft coaxial cables that have power connectors and a power supply that can power 4 cameras at a time. If you want to be able to access the device from the internet it also requires to be wired. There is only one HDMI output for monitoring, which must be used on a 1080p capable monitor/TV until you get to the setup, in which you can choose 4K or 720. It will then reboot and request confirmation of the new setting or it will revert back to 1080. Setup is fairly straightforward. If connected to the network already, it recommends using the Night Owl Protect app to register an account and use that username/password to log into the DVR. Once logged in, the device will be added to your app as well. The most challenging part of installing this system was getting the holes drilled to run wires. It is best to have the DVR already connected to the network so you can get the best angle for your cameras when installing them by watching the app. The screws that came with the cameras are fairly soft and I ended up stripping several of them and even breaking the head off of one. The image quality is good, it provides for ample detection of motion. I’ve had experience with 4K systems and the quality of those is much better, but you are also talking about a much higher price. As this is coaxial DVR, there is also no audio recording, video only. There is a LED on each camera that will activate on motion. It is bright to look at, but barely noticeable to the environment, meaning it isn’t lighting the area up. It does however work as a notification to any would be intruders that there is a camera and potentially making them look at the camera for easier recognition. The app is simple to use, but for some reason, when I get popup notifications of motion detected, clicking the notification would never load the video. I had to use the events list in the app to look back at the triggered activity. Slightly annoying and probably something that can be fixed through an update, but at least it took me into the app so that I could review the footage. Overall, this Night Owl system provides simple video monitoring and is expandable to 16 cameras while not breaking the bank. For a home or small store, this will provide decent coverage for monitoring your property.

Not happy with the cameras. I’m not able to get to the menu on DVR to turn off the lights on indoor cameras. The HDMI output resolution of the DVR results in a display on my TV that will not allow me to get to the DVR menu. I have two TV’s, neither works. I own laptop computers and so do all my friends and neighbors. I have gone to thrift stores. Unable to find used monitor with HDMI input.

The Night Owl DP2-161-4L is my third Camera Security system from Night Owl, first install was 2008. All my installations were business installations for 24hr surveillance. Have had excellent experience with all the systems and appreciate that installations are cost effective. My familiarity with the installations is that Night Owl systems are straight forward in installing to being virtually maintenance free over the years. Have had to replace two DVR’s over 12-year period of time which is reasonable considering the units operate non-stop 24/7. Installation is relatively simple once you grasp the DVR interface which takes a bit of a read and going through the setup screens. Being a wired system, you have the fun of running cables as well as positioning and mounting cameras. Found with my first installation that it pays dividends to spend time with positioning the cameras to achieve full/best coverage. The Night Owl system does the job it was designed for and in the decade plus of use the system has never failed me resolving on premise issues. Once we had a break-in late at night which was captured by the night vision in a low light setting. My security alarm company contacted me and the local police, the police and I arrived within minutes. The intruder had left the premises quickly which left the digital recording to assist the police officers. The officers were able to recognize the intruder from the recorded videos and he was eventually apprehended. This incident was with an earlier Night Owl system that was recording at 720p resolution. Likes: - Excellent real time monitoring images - Recordings are clear - 1080p is always a winner for security video recording - New Two Step Verification access - Human Detection tech which reduces false detection - saves space allows longer period of video recall - 100’ Night Vision - Discontinued having a device on light at the front of DVR – does not advertise presence or location - Facial Capture Technology that works with mobile app - “Remote viewing with no Monthly Fees” - “Color Night Vision, known as L2 Color Boost® Technology” - Wired connections - Flexible Remote Real-Time Monitoring - Easily expandable from small applications to larger requirements Whenever I have had questions over the years have found they are quite capable and knowledgeable in assisting. Bottom-line I have had excellent experience with Night Owl Security systems and welcome the enhancements to the DP2-161-4L security camera system. If you are looking for a capable and reliable camera security system I would give the Night Owl a good look to see if they fit your needs.

Having a hard time getting my camera to show anything but night owl screen

I have owned several of these DVR systems. This is my first Night Owl. Not terribly impressed. Pros. Easy set up. Can use existing older wiring. Initial system set-up was pretty quick. Android software was easy to setup. 16 channel capable. Small DVR. Easy to adjust cameras with minimal tools. Low light and resolution are descent. Cons. Cameras are plastic. Did not like that I had to enter my phone number to verify the system and software. No VGA out. Overall if you are looking for a simple budget system this will work. But there are other systems out there that I are better in my opinion. I am border line on recommending this as there are other systems that are better. With that in mind I am inclined to not recommend this product. If the price was substantially lower compared to quality then I would recommend it, but I think if you cough up a little bit more you can get a better system for the money. Sorry Night Owl.

I’ve had the chance to install and work with a variety of wireless camera systems, but the Night Owl 16 channel, 4 camera 1080p DVR system is my first wired install and test. To sum it up, a powered and wired system produces more reliability and stability than a wireless one. Setup of the system was relatively easy – you just have to learn how to manage the wires. Take extra care to make your installation neat and tidy. Label the cables and cameras – even make a diagram of the ports and connectivity on larger camera systems. You’ll appreciate that later. The included 60 foot cables were nice, but you’ll likely need to buy additional cables to be able to effectively connect all your cameras and hide the wires unless they are all only a room away. I tested the cameras before full install – highly recommended. All cameras worked successfully on my 4 camera system. I’ve heard stories of others having issues with the camera’s out of the box – I didn’t experience these problems. The first thing I noticed was the USB mouse supplied with the system was cheap and didn’t work well. I simply replaced it with a wired USB mouse I had a home and that worked much better. Night Owl should consider supplying a better mouse. The camera did produce a very crisp and clean image – perhaps better than many I’ve tried before! However, Night Owl claims to have color night vision (documentation states there must be some ambient light source), but in my testing even with ample ambient light, I only received monochrome images. Those images were clear – just only in black in white. When I added room overhead lighting, the did switch to full color mode. Getting into the DP2 system starts with a decent logon screen, but the menu system and operational screen remind me of the early DOS menu system. Although functional, it would be worth it if Night Owl created a modern application look and feel that was less “intimidating” for novice users. One thing I wanted to setup right away was a “schedule” of when to detect motion and record, and when not to. Typically I set my solutions to detect motion and record from 9pm to 6am. In research my option, I did not find a schedule to accommodate this. The Night Owl DP2 system has two options here: Continuous Recording or Timelapse Recording. Digging deeper, timelapse mode records 1 Frame per second (FSP), and upon detection of an event (motion or human), records the set at full FPS for the duration of the event, then switches back to timelapse mode. Kinda neat, really. Cell phone notification in my iPhone worked well. Simply download the Night Owl Protect app, log in and you have access to your DVR and all it’s records and real time action. Quality depends on your internet connection, of course. There are too many advanced features to list, so you can dig through the manual before you buy if you are interested in the ability to adjust the images, set recording zones, set record rate and quality, etc. Overall – this is a budget friendly wired monitoring system. Be prepared to buy additional cameras, cables and accessories as once you get it setup – you’ll want more!

I bought my night owl Cameras after doing extensive research and three years later, i an still content and have never experienced any issues. In fact, I plan to buy two Night owl Dome Cameras to to my existing Recorder.

Love these cameras! This is our second set. We had the last ones for about 8-9 years before there started to be a little bit of quality issues but we also wanted to upgrade to a bigger capacity and more cameras. They were easy to install and have been great so far. An additional feature we like and didn’t have before is the motion spot lights on them. They’re budget friendly and have a mobile app so you can view and control them from anywhere.

i love my cameras, however get the support that you need is terrible from the nightowl company

We put this up for a rental property we are renovating to keep an eye on things. Definition is great, we are able to see what is happening around the property in real time. I would recommend this setup.

So happy with upgraded purchase video and sound are amazing

I love them, had them going on two years still work like the first day i installed them!!!