No Wires, No Fees, No Blind Spots - The Perfect Security Camera to Secure Our Acreage

Let me tell you two very short concerning experiences we had here at Sweet Valley Acres. The first happened when we were building. Our home was framed and we were living in the basement. A new home was being framed on the acreage beside us.

Bentley went off to work one day and shortly afterwards I heard the sound of a truck driving up our driveway and mens’ voices. I was so scared but I went out and let them know I was here. They were snooping around our house and when they saw me they ran to their truck and drove away. I recognized the truck from being at the neighbour’s house.

I was terrified and called Bentley right away. Bentley called their supervisor as he knew the company. The supervisor talked with his workers and said they were just curious! Oh come on! We all know that is not the truth, otherwise why would they run away?

The next unsettling incident happened three years ago. We were off floating down a river 3 hours from our home, when a delivery man backed up at the top of our driveway near our home and got his van hung up on a stone retaining wall.

We had this super old security camera up that could partially see the truck and the driver as he waited for a tow truck.

The problem was the security camera could only see a small snippet of the driveway so we couldn’t always see the driver as he wandered around our yard.

But the story gets worse.

The next day I was home alone and suddenly this rough looking man and woman drove up our driveway looking at our house. I was in my greenhouse wondering who they were. They were so busy looking at our house that they did not see me.

I ran out onto the driveway to show them I was there and they turned around abruptly and drove away as fast as they could.

I have no doubt that the delivery driver told that couple who I believe were thieves that there was a house with no one home and it would be easy pickings. Little did they know that almost always, one of us is home. It was a rare occurence for us all to be away but that was because we were enjoying a day out in nature as a family.

Those two situations brought to our attention that we truly needed a better security camera but as most people do, your try to make things work until they truly fall apart.

Table of Contents

Then came the push we needed to replace the old camera

As I said earlier, the camera we had was ok, but it did not track movement or even capture much of our driveway. Then one day I got notified that a subscription fee would be necessary. Now that is super annoying because I purchased it due to it not needing a subscription! This was the push that I needed.

Time to get a new camera

One of the biggest problems I faced with getting a new camera was that I wanted it to scan a large area that did not have power available and I did not want cords running around on the ground or up on the ceiling of our covered deck. Battery operated or solar powered was going to be my only option.

Here was my wish list:

track movement and notify me;
able to detect if it is a person, animal or vehicle because I am going to react differently if it is just an animal strolling through;
wide field of vision;
solar if possible; and
NO SUBSCRIPTION FEES!!!

We did our research and…

We, well really I should say Noah did the research and found a camera that:

has two cameras that can view 300 degrees wide and 26 feet away;
3K crystal clear imaging;
can see at night and in color;
uses AI detection so it tells you if the motion is caused by an animal, person or vehicle and the most fun part is that you can enter in your family members and instead of saying “person” it will say Bentley – so no need to check the camera if it alerting that it is just a family member or even a pet walking across the driveway;
is solar powered and it tracks the sun. It only needs 20 minutes of sun for 24 hours of operation;
the battery life is long and will last up to 150 days off of one charge;
has auto patrol with a timer so I can set it to patrol and scan the area at intervals just like a security guard would;
has a built in siren;
is fully waterproof so it can handle rain and snow;
has 512 GB of storage and you can search the recordings to certain events;
8x zoom which is so helpful in reading license plates or seeing faces up to 8 m away;
it has a speaker and microphone for two way communication; and
it has no subscription fees.

So what is this magnificent creature? It is the Baseus Security X1-Pro. I reached out to Baseus and they kindly gave me a camera to try out but the fact that they gave it to me will not affect my opinions.

You know that I care for all of my subscribers and will not steer you wrong.

If you would like to read up on all the technical aspects, just click here.

Let’s set it up

I am a visual learner so this visual guide of how to put it together is fantastic!

Visual instruction guide for Baseus Security X1 Pro

The first thing you should do is plug it in to give it a 100% pre-charge.

Here we are attaching the support for the solar panel to the mounting base.

Next we attached the solar panel to the support and the mounting base along with the support for the camera.

Next we inserted the mount into the back of the camera.

Then we inserted our tiny SD card into the appropriate slot.

Next we inserted the wire from solar panel into the camera.

Inserting wire from solar panel to camera

Here is how it looks when fully inserted. The plastic around the insertion points are necessary to keep the camera waterproof from rain and snow.

Don’t forget to remove the plastic from cameras.

This would be a good time to install the Baseus Security app on your phone. You can find it on the Google Play Store.

Below are all the steps you will take to set up the app.

Adding Device on Baseus App — Click “Add Device”

Selecting proper camera on Baseus app — Choose the right camera – X1 Pro Outdoor Dual Camera

Adding camera on Baseus App — Adding the camera to the right area

Syncing on Baseus App — Press Sync – see photo below of camera with blue lights lighting up in the middle

Naming camera on Baseus app — Choose a name for the camera

Formatting SD on Baseus app — This is where you format the SD card

The photo below shows how the camera will light up with the device is synced.

Choosing a location and attaching the camera

You will need to choose a location that you want scanned and then position the camera in such a way as to capture the area properly.

You will also need to make sure that the camera can connect to Wifi in this location.

You will also need to make sure the solar panel is not in a shady location. There is quite a long cable from the solar panel to the camera so if need be you can dismount the solar panel and support and place them in a sunnier location.

One of the things I love the best about the solar panel is that it tracks the sun. Isn’t that cool?

The area we chose was the portion of our driveway that is located near our home. This would be where thieves would come if they were wanting to rob us. The camera has 300 degree range so it captures the driveway just as it rounds a rock retaining wall about 40 feet from our house, then the whole driveway up to the parking area.

Now all you need to do is screw the base into the structure.

Attaching Baseus Security X1 Pro to fence

Here is how it looks on our lattice fence.

And from a distance, you can barely notice it so thieves probably won’t notice it. Most people have their security cameras right on their home, but this is a bit more of a sneaky, hidden spot.

Here is what the cameras capture. As you can see we have full coverage with no blind spots.

Security camera captures showing driveway and yard

Here is a how many different movements it caught during a short time.

This is capture from the early evening. It caught Bentley walking outside across our driveway. Good catch security camera!

Problem solved

I feel so much more secure having this camera scanning our driveway and yard. I am thrilled that it can track movement, be specific in what it sees (person, vehicle or animal), uses solar to power itself, has a siren on it and so many other features.

Living out in a remote area can feel scary and it isn’t just from potential thieves because we also have a lot of wildlife that frequent our area including cougar, bear, coyotes, deer, etc. I am sure we are going to be treated to some great nature shots and this will alert me to when I should not go outside while they are making their way across our property.

The Baseus Security X1 Pro truly solved many problems and has brought me peace of mind!