Every time I go on vacation, I haul out my collection of Blink Mini Pan-Tilt cameras and set them up around my house. Each plugs into an outlet with a tiny power brick that fits anywhere, and thanks to the diminutive size, the PTZ camera also fits on any shelf or dresser.
Since it’s just $23 for the rest of the day today, July 11, I can grab a few more to ensure I see every nook and cranny of my home while I’m away. That’s $23 out the door, no subscription needed or strings to pull, and no garbage or hassles, and no worrying about someone spying on me since I only set them up when I’m away.
If you’ve got any other Blink cameras, these will tie right in with them in the Blink app, letting you monitor everything from one handy dashboard. Blink cameras don’t require a subscription to work, and you can even pick up a Blink Sync Module to configure local storage on an SD card.
As I’ve said in the past, I never recommend leaving cameras set up in your home while you’re in it. It’s a horrible security risk if anyone ever gains access to your account, but these cameras are so small and so easy to set up that it’s never a hassle to pull them out when I want to use them.
It’s worth noting that this camera is only designed for indoor use. It’s not weather-rated at all, so it’s definitely going to break if it gets soaked in a rainstorm or baked in the summer heat. Blink sells other cameras that are made for outdoor use. I actually have several of them in my chicken coop, and they do a great job of monitoring the temperature there and in the outdoor rabbit hutch we have.
Overall, I love Blink and use it for almost all my smart home cameras. It’s especially handy that I can keep the footage on local SD cards and not have to pay for cloud storage, although that option is great for people who would rather skip the hassle of dealing with swapping out SD cards or changing video sources.
