I have a bunch of 12 series Mobotix cameras around my house from a former life, but I am now ready to yank that and replace them. Since I was shopping on a budget, I thought it might be fun to make a bit of a game out of it.
Let's just say you have the cabling done and you are only buying cameras and SD cards. No NVR, nothing else... just cameras.
You have to buy 6 cameras and also must have a minimum of 3 outdoor cameras too. Your budget is as close to $1000 as possible. Go!
The problem I see with your scenario is that there are very few decentralized surveillance VMS solutions.
Mobotix and Axis's Camera Companion are the only 2 large players in this space that I am aware of.
If going IP.
QNV-6010R for domes under eve or QNO-6010R bullets. Way more reliable SD storage then the cheaper cams, support up to 128GB, HTML5 for easy web access. Solid Windows and Mobile app.
If you were a friend or relative within driving distance, go to Costco or Sam's and I don't know anything about the cheap stuff.
I am not worried about monitoring that much. If I need to view something I can just connect to the camera and look. There will be no monitoring of these. I was actually looking at the Axis M2025, but I would have to buy them a few at a time. For what I need they would surely do the job, and I would not have to worry about Chinese nonsense.
I forgot all about the Samsung camera, I will have to give those a look!
6 total cameras, right? Are you getting the hookup from your distributor? I wonder if you can write it off tax wise.
What features are you looking for? Do you need motorized lenses?
What overall MP and what pixel density at what distances? What kind of angles are you trying to cover?
More than likely I am buying them at cost from my old employer, depending on what I go with. Nothing fancy required for these, just fixed 2.8 lenses. I may use a varifocal in the back yard, but it is not that big of a deal. 2MP is plenty, anything more is a bonus.
Well considering I work for a distributor for OEM Dahua stuff. $1000 would not be extremely prohibitive if I were buying it for myself.
I even have access to the costs so...if I were really trying to get my employee discount worth, I would spend a little more and get those new 8MP motorized turrets with True WDR....
More than likely I am buying them at cost from my old employer, depending on what I go with. Nothing fancy required for these, just fixed 2.8 lenses. I may use a varifocal in the back yard, but it is not that big of a deal. 2MP is plenty, anything more is a bonus.
Using the IPVM Camera Finder, I was unable to find any models that match your criteria (as I understand it)
Non-Chinese (or OEM)
~$125 each
Onboard Storage
IP based
Now, if you opened that up to Hikvision and Dahua models, you would have a few units to choose from. My favorite is the Hikvision DS-2CD2125FWD-I, which is a Darkfighter ultra low light model with 2MP, fixed lens (2.8, 4, 6, or 8mm), MicroSD slot (up to 128GB), and should be in the neighborhood of your budget. It is also outdoor rated, but can also be used indoors too. In addition, it also has 120dB true WDR, H264+ and H265+, and 100ft of IR in the case that the ultra low light isn't enough to get the shot you need.
The only reason I would entertain other models is if you wanted a higher resolution imager. Then I would look at the DS-2CD2142FWD-IS model, which won't be as good in low light, but has everything else above.
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