Hikvision vs Hilook

[cjallen1]

Im looking for a 6 camera system . Ive been looking on ebay and there are plenty of kits that supply everything. A lot say they are Hikvision but then turn out to be Hilook which I believe is a Hikvision OEM brand. They also do not come with hikvision cameras and are Hizone who i havent heard of. Am I ok going with these lower brands?

Any recommendations at all. AM I ok to go with the Hilook. Im a homeowner whos sick of the crap quality of my Ring cams so anything will be an upgrade though I still want the app alerts.

 

[Dan]

Hi @cjallen1

HiLook is Hikvision's more basic consumer range, which is aimed at small business & residential customers.

I've never heard of Hizone; that sounds like it could be a Hikvision OEM/rebadged brand.

The risk of purchasing OEM products is that they can often be missing some features that the non-OEM versions have or some of the features that they do support don't work properly.

You can also sometimes run into issues locating firmware for OEM products.

One other thing to mention, we warn against buying brands like Hikvision/HiLook from marketplaces like Amazon or eBay because there is always a risk that products being sold as UK stock are actually Chinese 'grey' imports, which will be using Chinese language firmware and won't support UK firmware.

We would recommend looking at the HiLook UK website, searching specific model numbers online, and look for authorised HiLook resellers/installers selling those models.

 

[cjallen1]

Thakns for the detailed reply, will have a look at the website.

 

[cjallen1]

Would you recommend Reolink?

 

[Dan]

Hi @cjallen1

We've never sold Reolink, so I can't advise on the current quality of their product range.

Maybe search some of the Reolink model numbers online to see if there are written or video reviews of them.

 

[samicctv]

Im looking for a 6 camera system . Ive been looking on ebay and there are plenty of kits that supply everything. A lot say they are Hikvision but then turn out to be Hilook which I believe is a Hikvision OEM brand. They also do not come with hikvision cameras and are Hizone who i havent heard of. Am I ok going with these lower brands?

Any recommendations at all. AM I ok to go with the Hilook. Im a homeowner whos sick of the crap quality of my Ring cams so anything will be an upgrade though I still want the app alerts.

Hi! I recommend you to buy Uniview (UNV) products. for IP Cameras (not AHD) it's really better than Hikvision or Dahua. even basic products has some good features. all cameras support IP67 and many Dome cameras with IK10 (even economy series) and also a lot of software features. new products also support excellent color image at night. i don't know from which country you are, but i'm sure you can find a dealer in your region.

 

[cjallen1]

Thanks I'll have a good look at them. I've still not purchased yet as I've been away.

I'm based in the UK.