Same price at PBtech as well, but I have $20 birthday coupon to make it even cheaper :)
https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/CCTAMZ4828/Blink-Outdoor-4-…
Link to the Video Door Bell With Sync Module
https://www.noelleeming.co.nz/search?q=blink+video+doorbell+…
The doorbell chimes and you also get a chime on your phone and any Alexa device that you have
Do people rate these cameras? Seems remarkably cheap and I see from a quick browse on Reddit that local storage seems worse (feature wise) than the subscription they want you to buy. Any local experience?
They're so so, I won't recommend if not for their prices. They're outdoor cameras, it's hard to compare, many outdoor cameras do not perform as well as the indoor ones. I'd prefer a cheap indoor Tapo by the windows if it's possible.
I agree - I have Tapo inside and these Blink ones outside. When these blink items are on sale the price / benefit is pretty good if you know the limits.
Slow to activate when there is activity, there is a delay which makes it not as useful for me.
That's the case for all battery cameras since they are being so stingy with the power use to give a long battery life. I can walk past my ring ones and nothing happens often. If I stand there for 10 seconds then it will realise and alert me.
They don't work through glass. Other than that fine
I got the 4 Pack + Doorbell for $80 and its 100% worth it and i would highly recommend if they are on special, mine has lasted 6+ months on the batteries they came with and i just added a $10 64gb usb for local storage. The local storage only takes 2-3 seconds longer to load locally than from the cloud and the only real downside is the having to wait out your selected record time so you don't overwrite the save.
I didn’t get what you meant by the downside, like overwriting the save.
Without the subscription you lose the feature of being able to view the notification live and save the recording at the same time. So you wait lets say 10 seconds after you get the notification or whatever you have set your record time to so it can save to the local storage and then you click the notification to view the live.
Worth noting you need the Sync Module 2 (square one) if you dont want to pay a sub (you lose a few features like the AI detection without the sub, worth reading into if it matters to you, theres a lot of conversation on the pros and cons).
Also check amazon.com.au, I signed up for free prime (use an aussie address to sign up) and got an email offer shortly after of $20AUD for 2xOutdoor Camera 2K+ (latest model) + sync module (cloud), there are also early prime day deals (some sold out but might restock when prime day starts).
Ended up getting the doorbell, Outdoor 4, Sync Module 2, 2xWeather resistant power adapters, and 2xMini 2K+ for $76AUD from 2 of the bundles (mostly just for the power adapters and sync module coz the sync module by itself was going to cost ~$50…)
The NL listing say Sync Module 2 is included.
I’m gonna to say the same, the one selling on Amazon is 2K while this one is FHD only for a similar price
The cameras come with sync module 2.
Hi guys, I mentioned in the forum discussion earlier this week that I have been working on a project that attempts to restore much of the functionality of the subscription plan, without a subscription, namely object detection, image thumbnail generation and cloud backup.
It uses a $30 Raspberry Pi Zero 2W, directly connected to the Blink module via its USB port, which masquerades as a USB flash drive, courtesy of the Pi's OTG gadget mode.
I've just published it on Github here https://github.com/felixfurtak1/blink-gadget. Fairly happy with it at the moment, but it is a work in progress.
It's hard to get Zero 2Ws - they're on backorder at PB Tech at the moment, stock due around November. Buy you can get them from overseas if you pay a little more. I also have it working on a Pi 4 but had to make a special cable for that.
Happy to answer any questions if anyone is interested doing this project themselves.
Cheers Cheapies :)
That is impressive
I would buy it direct from you once completed.
Very nice, thanks for the motivation to also investigate using the Rock 4 from this deal for the same purpose. Managed to get it working successfully, gave up trying to do it manually and just threw Mimo v2.5 at it for a few hours and we got it eventually. More or less the same schematic as yours, but took a lot of (profanity) around with the port configs. Since this is a much more powerful board that the Pi Zero, I'm going to see what sort of cool shit can be done with the files locally, will report back. Happy to upload some sort of guidance if anyone else got a Rock board.
Nice. I was looking at clone boards but wasn't sure if the OTG would function in the same way. Interested to know how you did it.
I chose the zero because of the low power consumption, but it does have very limited RAM. I had a Pi 4 lying around and that is much faster at object detection, so Rock 4 sounds perfect.
Yes. I guess we had the same idea. Annoyingly, I found that after I'd written all my code. My implementation does object detection, but he has a better project logo 😊
I have this and got it cheaper than this but I would recommend Tapo instead of Blink cause the app is really slow, it takes a while for the live feed to load, tapo works with SD card for local storage and the app is wayyy better in my opinion. Hope this helps!
how to mount the doorbell and the cameras?
want to find a drill free solution :) cheers.
3m double sided tape - put it on every flat surface of the back plate - mines been on there since that last sale - in the harsh Otago rain, shine, snow, ice you made it - still holding on strong - this one is the best which is the one i used https://www.bunnings.co.nz/scotch-mount-2-5cm-x-1-5m-extreme…
I've got these and pretty happy with them.
Just changed the batteries and had to get the lithium ones. Absolutely worth it. Normal rechargeables lasting a day and a half. Lithium lasts up to 2 years
Just changed the batteries and had to get the lithium ones. Absolutely worth it. Normal rechargeables lasting a day and a half. Lithium lasts up to 2 years
Are you serious, or just exaggerating?
Lithium literally lasts nearly 500 times longer than a standard re-chargeable?
The problem is that NiMh rechargeables have voltage of 1.2V. Lithium is more like 1.6V.
The Blink cameras are pretty much designed to work with just Lithium primary batteries which is a little bit annoying.
You could use cheap alkaline but they wouldn't last as long. Also Lithium cells work better at lower temperatures than NiMh / alkalines.
However, you can use rechargeable 1.5V Lithiums. I use XTAR AA cells (PB Tech sells them - they're pretty good). These have a regulator chip inside that adapts the native 3.7V of a rechargable lithium cell down to a nice constant 1.5V. They also drop slowly in voltage when they near the end of their charge to give you some warning that they are running out. There is a nice review of XTAR batteries here: https://goughlui.com/2025/08/27/review-teardown-xtar-1-5v-aa… They are pretty much perfect for low current outdoor applications that need 1.5V like Blink cameras and door locks
Cool - thanks :-)
Beware there is no chime. You can buy a blink mini to work as a chime though which is what I did.