Amazon October Prime Day deal: Amazon's Prime Big Deals Days event officially starts Tuesday, Oct. 7, but we're already seeing big savings that you can take advantage of right now, including on this Blink Outdoor 4 security camera, which is down to just $70. That's a massive 61% discount on a device that typically lists at $180 and is the winner of a CNET Editors' Choice award.
CNET's key takeaways
The Blink's Outdoor 4 security camera comes with lithium AA batteries that lasted me well over a year, unlike competitor cameras that need frequent recharging as often as every month.
The Blink Outdoor 4 is one of the more affordable cams, and it can often be found on sale.
The Blink app is limited to Alexa support only, meaning you cannot connect with Google, Apple or other third-party smart platforms.
Blink's Outdoor 4 cam came with a big promise when I first started reviewing it: Lithium AA batteries that could last for two years without needing to be replaced. That's a ridiculously long time for a wireless security camera, which usually have batteries that need recharging every few months. I started out skeptical, but Blink's cam stayed operational on my fence, not just for a few months but season after season while I waited, increasingly impressed.
While my Blink Outdoor 4 model didn't quite reach the full two years that Blink rates its wireless camera batteries at, a year and a half far surpasses any wireless camera with a rechargeable battery like Ring or Nest use. In my experience, those rechargeable batteries tend to last several months at the most before you need to bring them in for a recharge or switch them out with a new battery pack.
That recharging gets annoying during cold winters or for wireless cameras that are posted out of reach and require a ladder to switch batteries out. And if your cams activate all the time, batteries run out even faster. I don't mind leaning out to grab the video doorbell for a quick recharge, but for other outdoor cameras it turns into an unwanted -- and random -- task.
Blink, meanwhile, promises long-lasting batteries that you replace, not recharge, when the time comes. Those new batteries cost $4 to $5, which works out to about 22 cents a month for the convenience of not bothering about it. I've found that to be a particularly helpful option for an outdoor camera I can set up and leave to do its job -- giving me one less thing to worry about.
My experience with the Blink Outdoor 4
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