I have had 8 Blink Outdoor cameras running for just over 6 months. All the testing done will not answer the question of "Will my cameras still work properly without a paid subscription" until the free cloud trial period ends. According to my app the Plus Plan Trial has 30 days left. Everyone currently has a cloud subscription. They are either paying for it or they have a free trial subscription. The trial will end shortly. At that time, and only at that time, will we be able to determine if we are no longer able to record locally...access said recordings through the app...share recordings...etc. Up until then it is all speculation. There is too much misinformation being shared among users, potential users and customer service reps at this time. No one can say definitively what will happen once the trial period ends because EVERYONE is currently getting the full functionality of the system. We just have to remain patient and keep our collective fingers crossed.
So...my free trial ended 3 days ago and I have been living with local storage only. Does it work the way it did while on the free trial? Yes...and no. When motion is detected I still get an alert to my phone. Once the motion ends and the clip has been recorded to my thumb drive I can click on the video and view it in the app just the way I used to be able to do during the trial when the clip resided in the cloud. But there are a few differences. The video takes about twice as long to begin playing. This makes sense because what I believe is happening (but I have no proof) is that the clip is first uploaded to the cloud from the flash drive and then streamed to the app. The second thing that is different is that the clips in the list of clips no longer have a snapshot of the motion detected...just a large blue play icon. The third difference I have noticed is that each clip is no longer identified by the name of the camera and the name of your system. It now has a 9 digit number and the name of the camera. The 4th difference is that my clips do not seem to be in the order in which they were triggered. For instance...I have 8 cameras. If I walk in a circle around my house they used to appear in the list in the order in which I triggered them...cameras 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and then 8. Now they appear out of order. Plus, in several instances, I have noticed that an older clip from earlier in the day will appear again in the list, only this time as a more recent clip with the wrong time stamp and camera name. The 5th and final difference I noticed is that there is no longer any icon that indicates if the clip is new (hasn't yet been viewed). Another positive is that I can access the clips while away from home (not only while on the same wifi network as the cameras)...download said clips to my phone, and share them via messaging, email etc. All in all, I feel it is still rather feature rich despite not having to pay the subscription fee. Not bad
My subscription ended and won’t let me view usb storage even though it shows it being used. The only thing the app does is allow live view. It’s being replaced with a better system that provides far better programming per camera, video, non cloud storage and accessibility. Blink really is crap but easy to setup.
I can definitively say the local storage works for viewing from the app just like the cloud service. Got mine in February of this year. However with limited functionality. If you just want to view saved clips, works fine. Photo capture is not functional. Which means the time lapse I used to get every day while cameras are armed doesn’t work. A feature I didn’t need anyway. Free means you don’t have to pay for it- as long as you have a thumb drive. If not, you buy one, insert it into the module, format, if necessary, and you’re good to go. Woke up this morning to 2 saved clips that I was able to view on the app. This video is old info. Good luck!
I am trying to find an answer for this question everywhere. If I have some cameras, sync2, and no subscription. Can i view my saved clips remotely within the app (without my phone being on my home wifi)?
What memory USB do you use? How long does it take for it to get full? Also when it gets full does it erase the older videos first? And does it record only when there is motion detected? Thanks.
I recently setup my blink outdoor system with the sync module 2 and from what I can tell, you can indeed cancel the cloud service and continue to use the local storage. I searched extensively about this particular topic both within the app q&a, as well as other online resources including Amazon's page. This seems to be a common, and ever growing, misconception about the blink sync module 2. Also for anyone who has a blink mini, I can also confirm that it too will work with the local storage option that comes with the sync 2, although it is not necessary for the cloud option. Uninformed reviews like this are steering people away from an otherwise decent product at a good price.
The question is if I don't susbcribe to Blink cloud service after 31 Dec 2020 can I continue using the camera and store the recordings locally or is the plan must for storing the files locally as well? From what I understood from this video that it is necessary are you claiming otherwise?
@@PhilipDunphy you do not need to subscribe in order to store videos locally. The subscription is free for now and has recently been extended as well, but again, you do not need to subscribe to maintain local storage with the new outdoor camera system.
@@LtDan-ni5rw Sounds to me like local storage does not work on the blink XT2, only on the newer XT . I have 5 XT2 and 1 XT on my system which i purchased 6/15/2020.The main reason i bought this system was the NO Monthly FEE.If all this is true Amazon screwed me on this.Anyone with the older XT2 should have free cloud storage , nowhere it stated there would be a cloud fee added later when i purchased these
@@ddatoka that is correct. If you had purchased your xt system prior to April you would retain the free online storage but there is no option for local storage on the xt system at all. That means if you purchased an xt camera system after April your only option is the subscription. This is not the case with the new blink outdoor system though.
@@LtDan-ni5rw Thanks for your response, I now have official mail from them on this which combined with other SoMe posts is like this. The whole camera system is based on cloud, both in new blink cameras and older XT/XT2 the camera uploads all clips to cloud and users in new blink system have an option to download the recording to view on PC via the sync module 2 (which is exclusive to new cameras) therefore, the older XT/XT2 will continue to have cloud storage for now but new blink users will have to subscribe to cloud service for any recording functionality. The Blink support team (through their cryptic response) has confirmed that if you don't pay you only get motion notification after which you can open the app and locally record the instance, which to me serves no helpful purpose, if the camera is not recording anything on it's own them what good is it.
why are you posting on this when you don't know for sure what it does? That to me in irresponsible. I can see if you set it up tried it out for yourself and then did your contradiction/analysis with READING the description and talking to the reps. But just reading it to us when you don't know how it actually works is a complete waste of time.
Your comment is the waste of time. Did you watch the video? He did mention that the description on the box and website are not clear and he even posted screen shots of his conversation with the reps.. And there is no way to currently test this functionality because they force the cloud storage feature on you until the end of the year so we wont know until it expires.
I just got off the phone with blink. As I too just installed a 3 camera kit. I got different information. What he said to me was that without a subscription you cannot view your clips that are stored on the cloud. But they will download once a day so you can use a computer to see them. The FAQ on the blink site actually says that you can see the local storage clips on the app....so there seems to be lots of conflicting info. The tech support guy at blink didn’t seem to know much...
Here’s the deal and it is confirmed. After much testing, first and foremost even if you did not have the blink sync 2 usb storage you can share a video clip that you want, from your app, to yourself in email from the app thus saving it to yourself especially if you have unlimited email capacity. ( duh ) Going further, as the app will allow you to simply do that, I have noticed you can simply send it to your storage device known as the blink sync 2 USB connection. You do not need a cloud service. So listening to Third World countries is stupid. all of the directions are pretty clear in what was already noted on the box. If you pay for the cloud service you are only paying for them to store your clips on their side, that’s all. Not having the service means you can share your link either with yourself to email or to the blink sync 2 device USB connection. Furthermore the checklist that does not have a check next to live video and others only means that you cannot watch a live video that is on your USB from your app. That’s all it’s there on your USB. But furthermore it’s still on your app until you put it on your USB. That’s the confusion that people are overthinking. It only means that if you wanted to watch the video that was saved you can watch it on your app but once it goes to the USB it’s just stored there until you watch it on your computer. The benefit of paying for a service is so you can watch all your clips on the cloud without going to your phone and loading up your phones memory and or waiting to put it on your computer. It’s just a luxury payment for your Immediate access if it has gone to the cloud and you haven’t taken it off your phone.
"It's just a luxury payment" Nope, it's a gimmick that Amazon hopes will induce you to pay for the cloud service. Please don't be a sycophant for Amazon or Bezos.
I have a single camera and free cloud service. I understand they are ending that for new purchases. Your video just saved me $350 because I was going to buy a 5 camera set today. Instead I’ll be buying a wired camera system with local storage. They are about to piss off people with misleading “free” claims.
I feel like I was lied to. We bought 5 and we’re going to add 2 more when we realized now they’re braking advantage of everyone by making us buy the subscription. Then if you have 2 people in house hold you have to subscribe for both to view the recordings.
Yeah... this is dead wrong. I bought the 3 camera in November 2020 from Amazon Canada and there is no problem with local storage on a USB drive plugged into the hub, and no subscription is required. It even states in the documentation that no subscription is required. And there is no issue with saving the files to your local storage or Google Drive. There's a few other details in this video that aren't correct... this is not an accurate review at all and not really fair to anyone.
@@VypaSoupClothing yep. The features are that you clips are stored on the USB that you plug into the module, and can view them on your phone. To email them or for long term storage, you would plug the USB into your computer and move the clip just like any media file.
I read all 76 comments. Moral of the story never call Blink Support!! I plugged in a 256Gb flash drive and hope it will get daily backups after the New Year.
@@Zanewv I have verified my 256Gb saves motion clips. Main difference when I went off trial plan it doesn’t save live clips, but that’s fine. Motion clips are most important and could use iOS screen recording to save live clips.
There is so much misinformation out there about blink cameras and the storage it pretty irresponsible for blink/amazon to be so misleading. I just spoke to a rep at blink who told me that with local storage you don’t need cloud subscription but you can only see live view from app and that you would have to put flash drive in your computer to see recordings which is useless. She also told me that if you have xt2 you would loss cloud storage if subscribed after 4/15/20 when I questioned that she sent me info direct from website which contradicts what she was saying. Unfortunately it seems blink provides no training to these employees and calling them to verify anything is a Fruitless effort.
It says on their websites specifically the XT2 outdoor cameras WILL NOT save to local storage. I have to agree with the channel owner, pretty much useless, and agree very easy to set up. Got this for xmas so no real loss for me, will get another better option.
Until they change that.. Capitalists will be capitalists... and Amazon along with basically all others are. Even Samsung is now trying to kill off self repair, and small repair shops. In some countries certified "apple" repair shops are not found for hundreds of miles.. along with their extravagant repair costs.
If you bought your xt2 system prior to April of 2020, then you will continue to enjoy free cloud storage for the time being. You can also add a blink outdoor unit to your old sync module and enjoy the same benefits assuming your old system was purchased prior to April 2020.
It would be great if these cameras had local storage and access without a subscription. But that will never happen. Everyone needs to understand that any camera that you can access over the internet from anywhere that also sends you alerts from anywhere is going to have a monthly fee. Storage is not free, servers are not free and the software behind it is not free. You could always set up your own home nas server with your own drives and use Linux with some open source security camera software to control it. You will have no monthly fees, but you will be paying for the storage server, drives, and electricity to power everything. All of the maintenance and setup will be on you, finding compatible cameras will be on you. 24/7 recording at high quality takes quite a lot of storage and drives that are constantly being over written will need to be replaced more often. What if someone steals your NAS? If you don't have automatic cloud backups, which also has a monthly fee, your recordings are gone. If you already have the knowledge and equipment required then setting up your own custom camera system can be fine, but it will not be free. There are also complete camera systems that offer this functionality but they can be very expensive. When you consider the full cost of a comprehensive security camera system a $10 monthly fee is really a bargain.
NOTHINGS FREE-On that statement i will say BUT Amazon stated at my time of purchase of the XT2 cameras -FREE CLOUD STORAGE-( Nothing about till 2021)That's why these Blinks became so popular
um, they DO have FREE local storage, with no subscription. I am doing it. I also have access to view or delete pre-recorded clips or live views all from the app on my phone....with no fee and no subscription. The setup to do this is very straightforward and included in the instructions.
@@dswickrn As far as I know, Blink has moved to a subscription based service for all new customers. Existing accounts have been grandfathered in for now.
Nothing is free? Storage is not free, servers are not free? Well I'm not getting a bill from Goggle for my free Google Drive storage? And I access that from anywhere on the internet? I can't prove it but I think they use servers for this feature? So if this Amazon service is not free, someone needs to write a program that will upload all the images and video to Google Drive or Dropbox to get around the fee. There you go. Best regards.
Why in this day in age If they are asking for a subscription Are we not allowed these features : 4k video High quality audio Extended recording ???? 2021 and amazon no less
I have the new Blink Outdoor, and I have free local storage. It is very straightforward to set up this way. Never had a subscription, only local storage, it works just fine. This might have been true for the older XT2 system.
Blink is a rip off! All this subscription bases services are driving people nuts! They will no longer see me as a customer and I will not recommend product.
It will overwrite, either when it gets full, or after a pre-determined time that you can set (1 week, 2 weeks, etc.). Also, you do not have to put the USB in your computer to erase it. I can view recorded clips and delete them from the app on my phone, I do it all the time. I can also record live views, watch it again later, and delete it, all from the app on my phone, without moving the USB. If I want to do something different with the clip, like email it or something, then I have to put the USB in my laptop.
WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO PAY (EVEN 50 CENTS) TO STORE VIDEOS OR PHOTOS. That is a scam by Amazon to squeeze a few more bucks out of people. I am offended and pissed off that Amazon would do that. They are not hurting for money. They are making millions, gouging people for 10 bucks per month is unnecessary and unethical
Today is the first day my subscription ended and the camera's are all junk...By the time it connects to live view there is nothing to see so I don't know if it was a cat or a person setting it off...So far USB stick is doing nothing
This is a crappy camera system. You can't view clips remotely unless you subscribe their post 30-day trial period. The night vision is horrible and viewing live is also horrible.
I have had this product for about 2 months . Amazon needs to re-engineer this one its a piece of crap. not only is the motion sensing crap its lets water into the case I now have water droplets on the inside of the lens. I have this camera in a high motion area so any headlights sets off the motion. the design is so poor on this camera that any rain we have clouds up the lens and you cant see images. my camera records about 200 - 300 recordings every 2 days which is why I have to change battery's every 2. Dont buy this product spend the extra money on an arlo which comes with rechargeable batteries the way this camera goes through the batteries in a month you will have paid more than the arlo costs.
We had more then 30 days of there free storage,so unknowingly thought the blink system was the cats ass. Now it’s just ass. Local storage is useless and they force you to get a storage plan.
Shooker!!! Thank you for this video, I was just about to order this product. Now I change my mind. What a shame, I was holding out for this new one for the option of FREE local storage. Deal breaker!
I have the new blink outdoor cameras with the sync module 2 and I can confirm that you can indeed cancel the cloud service, which is free until 2021, and continue to use FREE local storage option. You will however need to purchase your own thumb drive. I will note that most literature states that it can take up to a 64gb drive while the app states up to 256gb. I don't really plan on testing the size limit anytime soon so I cannot confirm.
@@Konservative83 as of right now, if you cancel your subscription you will notice no real change other than access to cloud storage. The rest of the system, including the mobile app, will all function normally. There is a small possibility, I'm only speculating, that moving forward without a subscription may result in reduced access to the app and some of those features. Knowing what I know now, I would still recommend going forward with the purchase. The system is pretty good, easy to setup, and is priced right. Most of the issues surrounding this system is the complete lack of knowledge from their customer support staff, which I understand was not an issue prior to Amazon's purchase of Blink.
I have had 8 Blink Outdoor cameras running for just over 6 months. All the testing done will not answer the question of "Will my cameras still work properly without a paid subscription" until the free cloud trial period ends. According to my app the Plus Plan Trial has 30 days left. Everyone currently has a cloud subscription. They are either paying for it or they have a free trial subscription. The trial will end shortly. At that time, and only at that time, will we be able to determine if we are no longer able to record locally...access said recordings through the app...share recordings...etc. Up until then it is all speculation. There is too much misinformation being shared among users, potential users and customer service reps at this time. No one can say definitively what will happen once the trial period ends because EVERYONE is currently getting the full functionality of the system. We just have to remain patient and keep our collective fingers crossed.
So...my free trial ended 3 days ago and I have been living with local storage only. Does it work the way it did while on the free trial? Yes...and no. When motion is detected I still get an alert to my phone. Once the motion ends and the clip has been recorded to my thumb drive I can click on the video and view it in the app just the way I used to be able to do during the trial when the clip resided in the cloud. But there are a few differences. The video takes about twice as long to begin playing. This makes sense because what I believe is happening (but I have no proof) is that the clip is first uploaded to the cloud from the flash drive and then streamed to the app. The second thing that is different is that the clips in the list of clips no longer have a snapshot of the motion detected...just a large blue play icon. The third difference I have noticed is that each clip is no longer identified by the name of the camera and the name of your system. It now has a 9 digit number and the name of the camera. The 4th difference is that my clips do not seem to be in the order in which they were triggered. For instance...I have 8 cameras. If I walk in a circle around my house they used to appear in the list in the order in which I triggered them...cameras 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and then 8. Now they appear out of order. Plus, in several instances, I have noticed that an older clip from earlier in the day will appear again in the list, only this time as a more recent clip with the wrong time stamp and camera name. The 5th and final difference I noticed is that there is no longer any icon that indicates if the clip is new (hasn't yet been viewed). Another positive is that I can access the clips while away from home (not only while on the same wifi network as the cameras)...download said clips to my phone, and share them via messaging, email etc. All in all, I feel it is still rather feature rich despite not having to pay the subscription fee. Not bad
thank you!
My subscription ended and won’t let me view usb storage even though it shows it being used. The only thing the app does is allow live view. It’s being replaced with a better system that provides far better programming per camera, video, non cloud storage and accessibility. Blink really is crap but easy to setup.
a trick: watch series at Flixzone. Me and my gf have been using them for watching loads of movies recently.
@Forest Braylen yea, been watching on Flixzone for years myself :D
I can definitively say the local storage works for viewing from the app just like the cloud service. Got mine in February of this year. However with limited functionality. If you just want to view saved clips, works fine. Photo capture is not functional. Which means the time lapse I used to get every day while cameras are armed doesn’t work. A feature I didn’t need anyway. Free means you don’t have to pay for it- as long as you have a thumb drive. If not, you buy one, insert it into the module, format, if necessary, and you’re good to go. Woke up this morning to 2 saved clips that I was able to view on the app. This video is old info. Good luck!
I am trying to find an answer for this question everywhere. If I have some cameras, sync2, and no subscription. Can i view my saved clips remotely within the app (without my phone being on my home wifi)?
@@altf4thc yes you can, done it many a time while I was away from my home WiFi.
What memory USB do you use? How long does it take for it to get full? Also when it gets full does it erase the older videos first? And does it record only when there is motion detected? Thanks.
I recently setup my blink outdoor system with the sync module 2 and from what I can tell, you can indeed cancel the cloud service and continue to use the local storage. I searched extensively about this particular topic both within the app q&a, as well as other online resources including Amazon's page. This seems to be a common, and ever growing, misconception about the blink sync module 2. Also for anyone who has a blink mini, I can also confirm that it too will work with the local storage option that comes with the sync 2, although it is not necessary for the cloud option. Uninformed reviews like this are steering people away from an otherwise decent product at a good price.
The question is if I don't susbcribe to Blink cloud service after 31 Dec 2020 can I continue using the camera and store the recordings locally or is the plan must for storing the files locally as well? From what I understood from this video that it is necessary are you claiming otherwise?
@@PhilipDunphy you do not need to subscribe in order to store videos locally. The subscription is free for now and has recently been extended as well, but again, you do not need to subscribe to maintain local storage with the new outdoor camera system.
@@LtDan-ni5rw Sounds to me like local storage does not work on the blink XT2, only on the newer XT . I have 5 XT2 and 1 XT on my system which i purchased 6/15/2020.The main reason i bought this system was the NO Monthly FEE.If all this is true Amazon screwed me on this.Anyone with the older XT2 should have free cloud storage , nowhere it stated there would be a cloud fee added later when i purchased these
@@ddatoka that is correct. If you had purchased your xt system prior to April you would retain the free online storage but there is no option for local storage on the xt system at all. That means if you purchased an xt camera system after April your only option is the subscription. This is not the case with the new blink outdoor system though.
@@LtDan-ni5rw Thanks for your response, I now have official mail from them on this which combined with other SoMe posts is like this. The whole camera system is based on cloud, both in new blink cameras and older XT/XT2 the camera uploads all clips to cloud and users in new blink system have an option to download the recording to view on PC via the sync module 2 (which is exclusive to new cameras) therefore, the older XT/XT2 will continue to have cloud storage for now but new blink users will have to subscribe to cloud service for any recording functionality. The Blink support team (through their cryptic response) has confirmed that if you don't pay you only get motion notification after which you can open the app and locally record the instance, which to me serves no helpful purpose, if the camera is not recording anything on it's own them what good is it.
why are you posting on this when you don't know for sure what it does? That to me in irresponsible. I can see if you set it up tried it out for yourself and then did your contradiction/analysis with READING the description and talking to the reps. But just reading it to us when you don't know how it actually works is a complete waste of time.
Your comment is the waste of time. Did you watch the video? He did mention that the description on the box and website are not clear and he even posted screen shots of his conversation with the reps.. And there is no way to currently test this functionality because they force the cloud storage feature on you until the end of the year so we wont know until it expires.
@@timens4317 so duh then u wait and dont put that in the title. Click bait and deceiving. Like i said waste of time
I just got off the phone with blink. As I too just installed a 3 camera kit. I got different information.
What he said to me was that without a subscription you cannot view your clips that are stored on the cloud. But they will download once a day so you can use a computer to see them.
The FAQ on the blink site actually says that you can see the local storage clips on the app....so there seems to be lots of conflicting info.
The tech support guy at blink didn’t seem to know much...
He can't justify gouging by the Amazon company
If you have the newest module you can view clips, but there are no thumbnails.
Here’s the deal and it is confirmed. After much testing, first and foremost even if you did not have the blink sync 2 usb storage you can share a video clip that you want, from your app, to yourself in email from the app thus saving it to yourself especially if you have unlimited email capacity. ( duh ) Going further, as the app will allow you to simply do that, I have noticed you can simply send it to your storage device known as the blink sync 2 USB connection. You do not need a cloud service. So listening to Third World countries is stupid. all of the directions are pretty clear in what was already noted on the box. If you pay for the cloud service you are only paying for them to store your clips on their side, that’s all. Not having the service means you can share your link either with yourself to email or to the blink sync 2 device USB connection. Furthermore the checklist that does not have a check next to live video and others only means that you cannot watch a live video that is on your USB from your app. That’s all it’s there on your USB. But furthermore it’s still on your app until you put it on your USB. That’s the confusion that people are overthinking. It only means that if you wanted to watch the video that was saved you can watch it on your app but once it goes to the USB it’s just stored there until you watch it on your computer. The benefit of paying for a service is so you can watch all your clips on the cloud without going to your phone and loading up your phones memory and or waiting to put it on your computer. It’s just a luxury payment for your Immediate access if it has gone to the cloud and you haven’t taken it off your phone.
"It's just a luxury payment" Nope, it's a gimmick that
Amazon hopes will induce you to pay for the cloud service. Please don't be a sycophant for Amazon or Bezos.
I have a single camera and free cloud service. I understand they are ending that for new purchases. Your video just saved me $350 because I was going to buy a 5 camera set today. Instead I’ll be buying a wired camera system with local storage. They are about to piss off people with misleading “free” claims.
I feel like I was lied to. We bought 5 and we’re going to add 2 more when we realized now they’re braking advantage of everyone by making us buy the subscription. Then if you have 2 people in house hold you have to subscribe for both to view the recordings.
From what I see in other videos, local storage is free and can be viewed from the app. So if that is true, who is telling a lie?
Yeah... this is dead wrong. I bought the 3 camera in November 2020 from Amazon Canada and there is no problem with local storage on a USB drive plugged into the hub, and no subscription is required. It even states in the documentation that no subscription is required. And there is no issue with saving the files to your local storage or Google Drive. There's a few other details in this video that aren't correct... this is not an accurate review at all and not really fair to anyone.
The local storage issue is a deal breaker for me. Thanks for your info
Something like false advertising.
Yes, you can have FREE local storage with USB flashdrives, no subscription needed. I have it.
Why? If you have the sync module 2 it's fine.
@@dswickrn so this outdoor version can operate without the $3 or $10 subscription? If so, what are the features for the free plan
@@VypaSoupClothing yep. The features are that you clips are stored on the USB that you plug into the module, and can view them on your phone. To email them or for long term storage, you would plug the USB into your computer and move the clip just like any media file.
I’m happy that I just bought it today. Now we can see it with the app.
I read all 76 comments. Moral of the story never call Blink Support!! I plugged in a 256Gb flash drive and hope it will get daily backups after the New Year.
64gb is the max
@@Zanewv I have verified my 256Gb saves motion clips. Main difference when I went off trial plan it doesn’t save live clips, but that’s fine. Motion clips are most important and could use iOS screen recording to save live clips.
There is so much misinformation out there about blink cameras and the storage it pretty irresponsible for blink/amazon to be so misleading. I just spoke to a rep at blink who told me that with local storage you don’t need cloud subscription but you can only see live view from app and that you would have to put flash drive in your computer to see recordings which is useless. She also told me that if you have xt2 you would loss cloud storage if subscribed after 4/15/20 when I questioned that she sent me info direct from website which contradicts what she was saying. Unfortunately it seems blink provides no training to these employees and calling them to verify anything is a Fruitless effort.
Yea I've seen so many conflicting comments.. They really are not doing a good job communicating or are purposely being vague
i have the indoor version, i dont mind the cloud storage but i wish they were more clear about what local storage means..
Iteans videos are stored locally via flash drive, very simple and easy to comprehend.
It says on their websites specifically the XT2 outdoor cameras WILL NOT save to local storage. I have to agree with the channel owner, pretty much useless, and agree very easy to set up. Got this for xmas so no real loss for me, will get another better option.
So basically if you bought the XT2 one you're golden. NO FEE!
Until they change that.. Capitalists will be capitalists... and Amazon along with basically all others are. Even Samsung is now trying to kill off self repair, and small repair shops. In some countries certified "apple" repair shops are not found for hundreds of miles.. along with their extravagant repair costs.
If you bought your xt2 system prior to April of 2020, then you will continue to enjoy free cloud storage for the time being. You can also add a blink outdoor unit to your old sync module and enjoy the same benefits assuming your old system was purchased prior to April 2020.
Or just get the sync module 2 and still have no fee.....
It would be great if these cameras had local storage and access without a subscription. But that will never happen. Everyone needs to understand that any camera that you can access over the internet from anywhere that also sends you alerts from anywhere is going to have a monthly fee. Storage is not free, servers are not free and the software behind it is not free. You could always set up your own home nas server with your own drives and use Linux with some open source security camera software to control it. You will have no monthly fees, but you will be paying for the storage server, drives, and electricity to power everything. All of the maintenance and setup will be on you, finding compatible cameras will be on you. 24/7 recording at high quality takes quite a lot of storage and drives that are constantly being over written will need to be replaced more often. What if someone steals your NAS? If you don't have automatic cloud backups, which also has a monthly fee, your recordings are gone. If you already have the knowledge and equipment required then setting up your own custom camera system can be fine, but it will not be free. There are also complete camera systems that offer this functionality but they can be very expensive. When you consider the full cost of a comprehensive security camera system a $10 monthly fee is really a bargain.
NOTHINGS FREE-On that statement i will say BUT Amazon stated at my time of purchase of the XT2 cameras -FREE CLOUD STORAGE-( Nothing about till 2021)That's why these Blinks became so popular
@@ddatoka Yes, they should have been more forthcoming about the cloud storage and the local storage. However, if it sounds too good to be true........
um, they DO have FREE local storage, with no subscription. I am doing it. I also have access to view or delete pre-recorded clips or live views all from the app on my phone....with no fee and no subscription. The setup to do this is very straightforward and included in the instructions.
@@dswickrn As far as I know, Blink has moved to a subscription based service for all new customers. Existing accounts have been grandfathered in for now.
Nothing is free? Storage is not free, servers are not free? Well I'm not getting a bill from Goggle for my free Google Drive storage? And I access that from anywhere on the internet? I can't prove it but I think they use servers for this feature? So if this Amazon service is not free, someone needs to write a program that will upload all the images and video to Google Drive or Dropbox to get around the fee. There you go. Best regards.
Why in this day in age
If they are asking for a subscription
Are we not allowed these features :
4k video
High quality audio
Extended recording
????
2021 and amazon no less
No local storage? Thanks so much just saved me some $$...order cancelled.
same!
I have the new Blink Outdoor, and I have free local storage. It is very straightforward to set up this way. Never had a subscription, only local storage, it works just fine. This might have been true for the older XT2 system.
If there is a clip I want to save, I just send it to my Facebook and put on the "only me" privacy.
Great! Now Amazon AND Facebook have copies of your video.
This thing says I can opt out of the cloud and do the usb but it doesn’t allow me to do that.
Please update your video. Usb can store save videos
Blink is a rip off! All this subscription bases services are driving people nuts! They will no longer see me as a customer and I will not recommend product.
What about the 7200 seconds of free storage in the hub? Can you access those free online without subscription?
I didnt have to pay for a subscription .. I have had my blinks since last summer.. not a full year but no charge
Yea buy a thumb drive.
Very decent overview/review.
Thanks for video it helped me out a lot.
Do you know if the local USB flash drive storage will auto-overwrite or will you have to manually put it in your computer to free up space?
It will overwrite, either when it gets full, or after a pre-determined time that you can set (1 week, 2 weeks, etc.). Also, you do not have to put the USB in your computer to erase it. I can view recorded clips and delete them from the app on my phone, I do it all the time. I can also record live views, watch it again later, and delete it, all from the app on my phone, without moving the USB. If I want to do something different with the clip, like email it or something, then I have to put the USB in my laptop.
Great review, having to pay for a subscription service unfortunately makes it a non-starter!
WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO PAY (EVEN 50 CENTS) TO STORE VIDEOS OR PHOTOS. That is a scam by Amazon to squeeze a few more bucks out of people. I am offended and pissed off that Amazon would do that. They are not hurting for money. They are making millions, gouging people for 10 bucks per month is unnecessary and unethical
Very interesting, but congrats on half a k subscirbers!
Today is the first day my subscription ended and the camera's are all junk...By the time it connects to live view there is nothing to see so I don't know if it was a cat or a person setting it off...So far USB stick is doing nothing
This is a crappy camera system. You can't view clips remotely unless you subscribe their post 30-day trial period. The night vision is horrible and viewing live is also horrible.
Have a look: support.blinkforhome.com/indoor-outdoor/local-storage-faq
Can you be in another place while this recorded
I have had this product for about 2 months . Amazon needs to re-engineer this one its a piece of crap. not only is the motion sensing crap its lets water into the case I now have water droplets on the inside of the lens. I have this camera in a high motion area so any headlights sets off the motion. the design is so poor on this camera that any rain we have clouds up the lens and you cant see images. my camera records about 200 - 300 recordings every 2 days which is why I have to change battery's every 2. Dont buy this product spend the extra money on an arlo which comes with rechargeable batteries the way this camera goes through the batteries in a month you will have paid more than the arlo costs.
Laughs in XT2
oof thats gona piss off a lot people if true
So, local storage means you can store it in your garage... ))
More like storing it in the trash for me.
If you dont want cloud service clips are stored on the USB drive, I have 3 cameras.
The best review without putting icing on it. Thanks for the truth about this camera. Happy 2021.
You are indeed correct. You need the cloud. The cameras record to the cloud and not USB.
We had more then 30 days of there free storage,so unknowingly thought the blink system was the cats ass. Now it’s just ass. Local storage is useless and they force you to get a storage plan.
Doesn't even make a great baby monitor. Would never trust it as a security system.
Shooker!!! Thank you for this video, I was just about to order this product. Now I change my mind. What a shame, I was holding out for this new one for the option of FREE local storage. Deal breaker!
I have the new blink outdoor cameras with the sync module 2 and I can confirm that you can indeed cancel the cloud service, which is free until 2021, and continue to use FREE local storage option. You will however need to purchase your own thumb drive. I will note that most literature states that it can take up to a 64gb drive while the app states up to 256gb. I don't really plan on testing the size limit anytime soon so I cannot confirm.
@@LtDan-ni5rw Yeah, shame on Amazon for trying to scam people by a) not selling a sync module with the camera amd b) their stupid misleading wording
@@squirt4059 the sync module 2 comes with the outdoor camera system.
@@Konservative83 as of right now, if you cancel your subscription you will notice no real change other than access to cloud storage. The rest of the system, including the mobile app, will all function normally. There is a small possibility, I'm only speculating, that moving forward without a subscription may result in reduced access to the app and some of those features. Knowing what I know now, I would still recommend going forward with the purchase. The system is pretty good, easy to setup, and is priced right. Most of the issues surrounding this system is the complete lack of knowledge from their customer support staff, which I understand was not an issue prior to Amazon's purchase of Blink.
you talk to fast