Zmodo Reviews 212

Bought my first Zmodo camera 4 years ago (the Mini), and was very happy with quality and customer support. In fact so much so that I bought more to secure both homes. Have at least 8 of them. But as time went by had more and more problems. In fact had 3 different Pivots and had to have them all replaced. Bad issues with all of them.

Also have 3 720 PTs and had image quality issues along with night vision issues. They seem to work fine at first then after issuing awhile issues start.

Have 2 1080 PTs and while image quality is good, I have had issues with them going offline. When they do have to unplug and plug back in to get them back on line. This is a real concern since the whole point of having them is for peace of mind. But that goes away when you check cameras while away and can’t access some of them. Another feature I liked about this one was the ability to use door and window sensors. Well that didn’t last long either. At first loved this feature and even bought more sensors. But after awhile the sensors started to fail. Zmodo was good about replacing them but with failure after failure knew there was an issue. Called customer support and they replaced them. And you guessed it they failed too. So at this point it only made sense that it might be a server issue so called again and was told it was and was being addressed. That’s understandable so waited about a month and still now working. So called back. And was told no record of server issue, but could replace them. So some were replaced and they worked for a few days, then same issue. Next call said working on issue. Next call said no issues but could replace again. So we did and did not work from day one. Anyway waited a month or so for next call back as still not working. Was told it was probably the batteries. Explained that app showed all batteries still very strong. Zmodo response was the app isn’t accurate on battery level (really). And I would have to replace batteries before they could do anything. Knew that wasn’t the case. How could 14 batteries go dead at same time. But replaced batteries in 2 of them and you guessed it still didn’t work.

Now Doorbell doesn’t work either. Have replaced cameras and doorbell in one home with Ring and they work GREAT.

DO NOT BUY ZMODO!!!!

DONT BUY, DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY. Dosen't work most of the time, and app sucks for Zmodo and almost impossible to set up. Save your self the headache and a BUY WEIRD system.

I have been hearing weird sounds coming from camera and it doesn't pick up footage. I unplugged the camera, however it was still showing live video of my child this is weird. These issues have been going on for a few weeks. Do not buy these camera no privacy at all. If your a parent never leave camera watch your children. These predators need to be in jail. This footage I watch with camera unplug but still showing live video of my child.

An absolute disaster of a company every part of it has failed including support. The app on the phone does not allow you to connect multiple devices and crashes. The desktop login does not allow you to login and does not recognize your username even though you are a premium subscriber.
The customer support crashes when you switch Wi-Fi networks and takes five minutes to respond and does not allow you to upload more than one picture when they ask you for screenshots of the cameras.
Every part of this system is a failure.

Cameras and equipment are very good quality and relatively easy(ish) to set up HOWEVER... be aware their cloud subscription is VERY predatory. they charge by device not household. SO if you have 4 cameras thats 4 subscriptions per month or year. which btw is 50-100 per year per piece of equipment. Absolutely predatory in practice and unethical of a company.

TWO YEARS AGO I HAD A SURVEILLANCE DVR GO BAD THEY GAVE ME THE WORST TIME TRYING TO RETURN IT UNDER WARRANTY UNTIL I GAVE UP. I RAISED SO MUCH HELL WITH EBAY UNTIL THE BOUGHT ME ANOTHER SYSTEM WHICH AGAIN WITHIN THE 2 YEAR WARRANTY IS NOW BAD AND THEY REFUSE TO GIVE ME AN RMA NUMBER IF I CANNOT DO A SCREENSHOT? THIS IS THE CHEAPEST CHINESE MADE CRAP SYSTEMS AND WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I'VE EVER SEEN PERIOR.ID NOT SUGGEST THAT ANYONE BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY.

No customer service. Thank you

ZERO customer service!!!!! Purchase a different brand.....

I wish I could give them a lower score! Minus 100 stars would be about right! This company is HORRIBLE! Customer service is non-existant! Three weeks to get an email back asking questions that were stated in original email. They gave me the run around for three more weeks before saying there is nothing they could do for me. As for the security camera system, it is JUNK! After the install it worked for almost one month before the NVR stopped powering up. They won't help and I can't just go buy another NVR since their damn cameras are propriotary. I will NEVER buy anything made by zmodo. STAY AWAY!!!!

NOTE: a few days after posting the below I'm getting tons of junk mail to the email acct I used to register here. The acct was not used and dormant for many years with no junk. This trustpilot.com place is the only time I used it and they sold me out... This is why I create and use accounts like that. So fyi...
I could go on an on about all the shortcomings and problems with Zmodo. Customer service is non-existent btw. Of the three cams that still work I now use them to view a water pressure gauge, a thermometer, and one to see if my AC is blowing while I'm at work. That's pretty much all they're good for. If you have any real needs, like security, forget it. When they were outside I could walk past two of them, then drive past three of them to go to work, after I come home after there are no alerts caused by that. Sure one, sometimes two of them would catch me, but on avg no. Isn't that they're main function in life? At night the bugs are attracted to the LED's and they would all trigger constantly so I'd have to silence my phone at dusk. Spiders love to make webs over the lens and the LED's light that up so bright you can barely see anything else, then the slightest breeze moves the web and triggers it. So I have to leave the NV off, or I get so many alerts I have to silence my phone. Either of those choices makes the cams useless at night. Plus they all need a daily cleaning to get the webs off. Now that they're only used indoors the bug problem is solved, but if you really need to see whatever it is then you need more than one Zmodo cam since you never know when one will stop working. I've since bought Reolink which took a tiny fraction of the time to get connected to wifi, and reliability is 10x better. Reolink are also made in china so compared to a real security camera they also suck, but day and night better than Zmodo. I have a lot of friends and co-workers with various cam systems and any who tried Zmodo regretted it.
I also tried using the PC app instead so I could simply see my outdoor cams at a glance, but the cams drop out constantly! It gets worse; it simply freezes the last frame so it appears to be working, but you notice when the image is daylight and now it's night. So even if you use them for viewing only they're useless.
My friend bought them too and all the same issues, but get this: I can SEE HIS CAMS with my laptop or tablet via the PC app! Yes his cams were password protected, and yes I double checked, but the PC app bypasses that! The password works to keep me out when using my phone, just not via a PC. He has one cam, of 8, that still works and I can still see it. So don't put a cam in your bedroom! His last surviving cam is pointed at his driveway about 50' away and it rarely triggers on cars/people, but he has the same bug and spider problem triggering it.
I came here to today because I can't even log into the Zmodo app at all. That happens now and then but usually only for a few min, but it's been many hours now.

Once again the JUNK APP IS DOWN, its either this ,slow loading or the app freezes then shuts off , waste of money on the cameras and cloud service !!

Always going down waste of money

My Zmodo camera goes offline every single day. It was a gift and I’ve had it a year. Cannot connect tonight with the company online and i’ve worked all day trying to reconnect the camera. Horrible product do not waste your money.

Terrible app, does not load in situations you seriously need it to. I'm switching systems enough is enough

It’s not looking good for zmodo. The wireless camera that we’ve been waiting over a year for still isn’t ready and now they are having internet issues which keeps everyone locked out. I’m thinking about switching to something else.

This is their response to the problems tonight
We are currently experiencing an internet outage in our area through Comcast and our services our down at the moment. We apologize for any inconvenience but have been informed that the issue should be resolved by 10pm cst this evening.

Hardware is ok, the application and website are poor. Uses outdated web technology (SQL Server 2006, Flash) with no frills http access even if you buy their storage. Flash will be gone soon so what then? The camera cannot be used on typical security systems so there is no other way to connect/use. For a cheap fun webcam this may work ok but for a 24/7 security camera Do Not Buy.

Today's site down...
Error 504 Ray ID: 5113deafaf35b9a4 • 2019-09-04 23:51:10 UTC
Gateway time-out
There has been an error processing your request
SQLSTATE[08004] [1040] Too many connections

There has been an error processing your request
SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 2006 MySQL server has gone away

Trace:
#0 /opt/webroot/manage/lib/Varien/Db/Statement/Pdo/Mysql.php(110): Zend_Db_Statement_Pdo->_execute(Array)
#1 /opt/webroot/manage/lib/Zend/Db/Statement.php(300): Varien_Db_Statement_Pdo_Mysql->_execute(Array)
#2 /opt/webroot/manage/lib/Zend/Db/Adapter/Abstract.php(479): Zend_Db_Statement->execute(Array)
#3 /opt/webroot/manage/lib/Zend/Db/Adapter/Pdo/Abstract.php(238): Zend_Db_Adapter_Abstract->query('SELECT `ep_core...', Array)
#4 /opt/webroot/manage/lib/Varien/Db/Adapter/Pdo/Mysql.php(390): Zend_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Abstract->query('SELECT `ep_core...', Array)
#5 /opt/webroot/manage/lib/Zend/Db/Adapter/Abstract.php(734): Varien_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Mysql->query(Object(Varien_Db_Select), Array)
#6 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Resource/Url/Rewrite.php(151): Zend_Db_Adapter_Abstract->fetchAll(Object(Varien_Db_Select), Array)
#7 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Url/Rewrite.php(100): Mage_Core_Model_Resource_Url_Rewrite->loadByRequestPath(Object(EPComm_Core_Model_Url_Rewrite), Array)
#8 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Url/Rewrite.php(229): Mage_Core_Model_Url_Rewrite->loadByRequestPath(Array)
#9 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/local/EPComm/Core/Model/Url/Rewrite.php(12): Mage_Core_Model_Url_Rewrite->rewrite(NULL, NULL)
#10 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Controller/Varien/Front.php(166): EPComm_Core_Model_Url_Rewrite->rewrite()
#11 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/App.php(347): Mage_Core_Controller_Varien_Front->dispatch()
#12 /opt/webroot/manage/app/Mage.php(640): Mage_Core_Model_App->run(Array)
#13 /opt/webroot/meshare/index.php(62): Mage::run('meshare_view', 'store')
#14 {main}

Trace:
#0 /opt/webroot/manage/lib/Zend/Db/Adapter/Pdo/Mysql.php(96): Zend_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Abstract->_connect()
#1 /opt/webroot/manage/lib/Varien/Db/Adapter/Pdo/Mysql.php(300): Zend_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Mysql->_connect()
#2 /opt/webroot/manage/lib/Zend/Db/Adapter/Abstract.php(459): Varien_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Mysql->_connect()
#3 /opt/webroot/manage/lib/Zend/Db/Adapter/Pdo/Abstract.php(238): Zend_Db_Adapter_Abstract->query('SET NAMES utf8', Array)
#4 /opt/webroot/manage/lib/Varien/Db/Adapter/Pdo/Mysql.php(390): Zend_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Abstract->query('SET NAMES utf8', Array)
#5 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Resource.php(169): Varien_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Mysql->query('SET NAMES utf8')
#6 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Resource.php(110): Mage_Core_Model_Resource->_newConnection('pdo_mysql', Object(Mage_Core_Model_Config_Element))
#7 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Resource/Db/Abstract.php(320): Mage_Core_Model_Resource->getConnection('core_read')
#8 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Resource/Db/Abstract.php(335): Mage_Core_Model_Resource_Db_Abstract->_getConnection('read')
#9 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Resource/Db/Abstract.php(355): Mage_Core_Model_Resource_Db_Abstract->_getReadAdapter()
#10 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Resource/Db/Collection/Abstract.php(134): Mage_Core_Model_Resource_Db_Abstract->getReadConnection()
#11 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Config.php(1350): Mage_Core_Model_Resource_Db_Collection_Abstract->__construct(Object(Mage_Core_Model_Resource_Website))
#12 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Config.php(1386): Mage_Core_Model_Config->getModelInstance('core_resource/w...', Object(Mage_Core_Model_Resource_Website))
#13 /opt/webroot/manage/app/Mage.php(460): Mage_Core_Model_Config->getResourceModelInstance('core/website_co...', Object(Mage_Core_Model_Resource_Website))
#14 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Abstract.php(208): Mage::getResourceModel('core/website_co...', Object(Mage_Core_Model_Resource_Website))
#15 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Abstract.php(213): Mage_Core_Model_Abstract->getResourceCollection()
#16 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/App.php(598): Mage_Core_Model_Abstract->getCollection()
#17 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/App.php(456): Mage_Core_Model_App->_initStores()
#18 /opt/webroot/manage/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/App.php(342): Mage_Core_Model_App->_initCurrentStore('zmodo_store_vie...', 'store')
#19 /opt/webroot/manage/app/Mage.php(640): Mage_Core_Model_App->run(Array)
#20 /opt/webroot/zmodo_store/index.php(38): Mage::run('zmodo_store_vie...', 'store')
#21 {main}

Cloud is down
Cameras are down
Not official notification had been send
Avoid this company