Reolink 4K PTZ PoE Home Security Camera Outdoor with Spotlights, Person/Vehicle/Pet Detection, 5X Optical Zoom, 360° Pan 90° Tilt Color Night Vision, Auto Tracking, Two-Way Audio, RLC-823A

Product Information

The RLC-823A 16X is more suitable for rural areas with more open land, while the RLC-823A is recommended for suburban or urban areas where a larger field of view and spotlight are more important.

Now the zoom is quite incredible. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect (no videos of it so far). It was able to clearly capture two mailbox’s and a stop sign with street names on top in both Medium and Clear settings. Low was able to see the first mailbox, but the further one it was not readable. The optical zoom capability is the main difference between the RLC-823A 16X and the standard RLC-823A. The RLC-823A 16X has a 16X optical zoom, while the RLC-823A has a 5X optical zoom. That being said, if you need a high-zoom lens, then you will struggle to find a better option than the Reolink RLC-823A 16X. First thing I noticed was the lower field of view. It’s almost like always being zoomed in on 1.5x-2x. I have a lot of comparative views between my patrol points on the 823a and 823a 16x. It was a little disappointing, however I use this mainly as a patrolling camera, which just means more preset points. The mount holes are just a little too snug to push screws straight through, you can kind of do it at an angle however. Since you can’t push them on straight, I would recommend doing one screw first and then once that one is secure and screwed in, screw in the others.

I am James, a UK-based tech enthusiast and the creative mind behind Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Passionate about all things technology, my expertise spans from computers and networking, to mobile, wearables, and smart home devices. The focusing seems to be a lot better on this camera as well. I haven’t had the same issues as I had on the 823a (taking several seconds to actually focus and give a clear view). Physically the cameras are nearly identical with the exception of the antennas for the wireless version as well as power delivery. I personally would never use the wireless version and in all cases recommend the PoE version. Patrol is spotty occasionally. If you plan to watch this away from home on a tablet or your phone, be prepared to see freezing frames and lag occasionally. Movement takes a lot bandwidth when not connected to the same internet.

Unlike most of the recent Reolink cameras, this doesn’t switch to colour night vision when. I assume this is because the illumination wouldn’t be adequate enough for colour footage with such a high zoom. Do not point the camera towards a glass window. Or, it may result in poor image performance due to the window glare from infrared LEDs, ambient lights or status lights. To access your footage or view your camera feed, you’ll need the Reolink smartphone app. Thankfully, this is free, and it installs in about a minute. Once you’ve got it installed, you can pair your phone with your camera, and start tinkering around. So, what can you do inside the app?

The camera may work in extremely cold conditions as low as -25°C as it will produce heat when powering on. You may power on the camera indoors for a few minutes before installing it outdoors. If I rotate the camera to focus down my garden path, it is perhaps a bit too dark to have the IR off. But again, with it on, there is some reflection. IR On IR Off Additionally, I capped the live feed and recording to 10 fps. This was able to reduce my CPU usage to about half of what it was compared to using the main stream for everything. The substream is a fraction of the main stream’s bandwidth. Mount on the 16x is easier to install than the original, but may be a little bit more work to put together.

For comparison here are some pictures from my older models. Still quite good but I can see a difference in quality. Optical Zoom testing Before zoom Zoom Optimizing NVR resources The blue poker tool is to pop open the Micro SD card cover, and to push the Micro SD card in. (Screws do not fall out like original RLC-823a) I am an Android guy so I only have experience with the Android version of its mobile app. I found the app to be easy to use and can’t recall any notable issues in the couple of years I have been using it. All settings are done through the app and easy to figure out. Remote access just works. I didn’t have to do anything special like open ports to make it work. Person and vehicle detection: This indoor/outdoor camera can distinguish people and cars from other objects.

In addition to that, you also get a 5x optical zoom. This is superior to a cheap “digital zoom,” which doesn’t actually show you any extra detail. With an optical zoom, the lens is doing the zooming, not the photo receptors. You’re getting added detail, which is the entire point of zooming in in the first place. The housing and camera are tough enough to withstand most outdoor conditions. The whole unit has a weather-resistance rating of IP66. The first 6 indicates the maximum possible level of dust resistance. Even ultra-fine particles won’t get inside the housing and damage the internal components. The second 6 indicates that the camera can withstand a steady stream of water. That’s far more water resistance than is required simply to stand up to rain. In fact, you can safely hose the RLC-823A down when it needs to be cleaned. There’s no need to get up on a ladder and delicately wash it down. Overall, I would highly recommend the 823a or 823a 16x depending on your living situation. If you are in the suburbs or urban areas, I would recommend the 823a as you probably need the bigger FOV and spotlight. If you live in a rural area, I would recommend the 823a 16x as it would probably have far more uses on more open land. The FOV alone is kind of big deal with how much it is reduced in the new camera. Thankfully with the floodlight Reolink is releasing, I can at least make up for the colored night mode issue, but I’m hoping that there may be a firmware update to fix the FOV, but if this is standard, at least everyone will know what to expect. To make the camera work, you need to use the PoE Switch (IEEE 802.3at, 48V Active) or DC Power (DC 12.0V⎓2A, <24W) to power on the camera. As impressive as it is, I’d say the 16x zoom makes this quite a niche camera compared to many of the other Reolink cameras. The narrow FoV limits appeal the appeal somewhat, and you need enough space to take advantage of that 16x zoom.