Reolink RLC 410 1440p PoE IP Camera Review

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I was contacted by Reolink a month or so ago with the prospect of checking out their latest PoE camera solution. I have never heard of Reolink, but digging around, I found their website. The IP camera that was being offered up to me for review was the RLC-410, a 1440p solution that would surely blow away any camera I have tested to date... or would it? Let's see.

The Reolink RLC 410 is a PoE capable IP camera that features a 1/3" CMOS sensor that is capable of delivering crisp images at a resolution of 2560x1440. Video compression is handled via H.264 while additional features such as night vision and 36 IR LEDs ensure this camera gets a nice 100 foot of night vision range. As with most IP camera solutions, the Reolink device does have its own set of applications, both to set up the device and manage your cameras. Software for these is available on iOS, Android, Windows and OS X.

The MSRP of the Reolink RLC-410 comes in at $74.99 with a two-year warranty.

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Packaging for the Reolink is quite simple. We have a simple brown box with a sticker holding all the info.

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The scope of delivery is complete with a power adapter, Ethernet cable, mounting screws, and software.

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The camera itself isn't much bigger than the Foscam units I have seen a lot of over the past few months. This camera does have a full suite of adjustability via the Allen head screws.

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On the bottom edge, there is a sticker that holds all the model and login information.

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As you can see above, the Reolink has a full array of IR LEDs.

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On the connectivity side, a breakout cable is used to extend the Ethernet, power input and reset buttons away from the camera.

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Diving into the software, the right side is where we will start adding this camera.

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The process ended up being rather simple with the scan feature pretty much detecting and adding all relevant info to have the camera connected.

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Once you have the camera setup, you can access the device settings straight from the NVR software. As you can see, there are quite a few options.

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In the device settings, I made sure the resolution was at its highest 1440p setting and increased the bit rate to 6144k. Framerate is locked at 30fps. After going through all the settings and exploring the camera a little, I switched on the camera, and we have the image above to talk about.

Like I said in the opening words, I have had this camera for quite a while, and initially, I had this camera setup outside with a good run CAT6 but for some reason, I just couldn't get it to fire up on my network. It was until I brought it inside and hooked it directly to my PoE switch with a three foot CAT5e cable that it showed up. This could certainly represent a number of issues ranging from bad cabling to not enough power being pushed over PoE. With that said before we go any further, I would like to commend Reolink on the solid build quality of this camera; I'd say it's a bit more rugged than many solutions I have tested.

On the performance side of things, this is not a terrible solution by any means, but I was expecting better image quality, especially when this unit touts 1440p resolution. I have 720p cameras on my network that feature much better clarity. Then again it could just be the lighting but if you notice in the image I shared above, on the edges, you can see that distortion where the blacks get digital corruption, that should be there if this camera was 1440p, even on a 4K monitor.

In closing, I did enjoy the build quality and even the software with its ease of use and simple setup routines, but the camera itself just isn't up to par on the whole.