GoKawiilPrime Day update: You don't have to spend a fortune on home security with the Prime Day bargains in full swing right now. This bundle offer includes two Blink Outdoor 4 cameras and a video doorbell, and Prime members can pick it up for just $45 right now. That's a whopping 76% discount and saves you $145 compared to the usual price. You can also pick up just the camera for $28 -- over $50 off.
CNET's key takeaways
The Blink Outdoor 4 security camera
The Blink Outdoor 4 is one of the more affordable cams, and it is often 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 has 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, and I was 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 the use of any wireless camera with a rechargeable battery, like Ring or Nest. 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 inconvenient 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.
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