Anyone who has been to the boot camp has seen Corey’s web cams in action and knows how good they are. If you are operating a community from any distance these are the best thing to come along since canned beer. I am having a system installed in my community and I wanted to give people an idea of the cost.
I have a bid for either 1 or 2 cams at a cost of $11, 372 or $17, 086. Outrageous you say? The price is high for two reasons:
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The cams are wireless and this is much more expensive than doing a system that can be hard wired together. The way my community is laid out, there is simply no practical way to connect everything. Plus I have no clubhouse or office in which to put the equipment. The DVR and base station will go inside of one of the resident’s shed (which is actually built better than my own home) and has to be inside of thermostatically controlled container. Luckily, the shed already has power and a phone line next to it. A wireless system and equipment that can stand up to the rigors of northeastern Ohio weather costs a lot.
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The cameras themselves are some of the best money can buy. They have a 360 degree field of view, panable and tiltable, zoom lense, low light, infrared sensor, programmable tracking, lifetime tech support, etc., etc. Much of their capabilities I frankly do not understand. Having cams that can do all this allows me to cover approx. 2/3 of the community in summer and 3/4 of it in winter with only 2 of them. The police will have access to the system as well as the archives. I also plan to use these as a marketing feature to attract retired people. I could have gotten away with much less expensive, fixed, cams but then I would have needed more of them to cover the place. It turned out to be pretty much of a wash cost-wise and with fewer cams I have less to maintain.
Without even having them installed yet, the mere knowledge of the cams has altered the park. Traffic to the two homes where I suspect drug dealing has pretty much stopped. The human garbage in the worst home is so upset over me “spying” on them they say they are going to hire an attorney (yeah, right) and sue me for invasion of privacy. However, the neighbors tell me they are much quieter and nicer than at any time of their residency.
As it turns out, this system is the one thing that is more costly in Ohio than in Silicon Valley where I live. It has taken me a while to find someone I think is competent enough to do a good job and there is not a lot of competition for this work.
If you want the technical info on the system or have suggestions, give me a yell.
Rolf