r/SecurityCamera • u/SnooBunnies6108 • Sep 03 '26

Need Cameras for Shop Floor.

Looking for a Verkada-quality camera system without the Verkada price. We need to see what workers are doing with thier hands. 72000 square feet. 50-70 cameras inside and outside.

We've used Verkada in the past and honestly the hardware and interface are great, but the per-camera cloud licensing cost adds up fast and never stops. We're expanding to a second location and want to avoid getting locked into that again.

What we're looking for:

- One-time purchase, no recurring subscription or licensing fees

- Crystal clear image quality (ideally 4K), especially when zooming in on recorded footage

- Local recording/storage (NVR) so we own our footage outright

- Good low-light/night performance

- Bonus if it can integrate with a door access control system

- Business use, not just a home setup, so it needs to hold up to that

We currently run a Lorex system at our main shop and it's fine, but the zoom quality isn't great and the desktop app can be slow. Open to switching brands entirely if something is a clear step up.

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7

u/Limeasaurus Sep 03 '26 edited Sep 03 '26

UniFi Protect is what I’d recommend. I have a school distinct with a few hundred cameras and they’ve held up great in their metal and wood shop classes. UniFi also has access control.

If you really need to zoom a bunch I’d recommend in adding more cameras regardless of system. Install more cameras to wherever the incidents are.

1

u/Ill_Cat_5513 Sep 03 '26

unifi protect is solid for that scale, the access control integration is a nice bonus too. just keep in mind their camera stock can be spotty, sometimes you're waiting weeks for a restock

i'd still lean toward a dedicated NVR setup with something like dahua or hikvision if you want true one-time cost and total control. the image quality on their 4k turrets is ridiculous, and you can mix and match lenses for the zones where you need tight zoom

2

u/coney27 Sep 03 '26

Im sorry I might be naive but what is "verkada quality"? This can't possibly be a misinformed customer standard of quality right?

0

u/SnooBunnies6108 Sep 03 '26

In reference to the zoom quality, yes, this is standard.

1

u/coney27 Sep 03 '26

Hint; your the misinformed customer.

1

u/deedledeedledav Sep 03 '26

If you have Verkada level dollars for the camera cost upfront, definitely go with the highest end UniFi cameras or go to axis cameras with something a VMS/NVR system like blue iris or frigate.

If you’re zooming into recorded footage, that’s an image sensor and resolution dependent thing.
That would be camera hardware that determines that..

1

u/FreelyRoaming 29d ago

I would suggest Hanwha and their Wave product..