Buying Discontinued Hikvision Bullet Cameras

D

dpcam

n3wb
Feb 6, 2024
6
1
NJ
Within the next year I plan to install a bunch of Andy turrets at my home.

I have a second location I am hoping to outfit on the cheap while still sticking to the recommended sensor size. So 4 or 8MP cameras with 1/1.8” sensors and IR. I am also looking for a smaller form factor (“mini”). Something less than 8” to keep the wife happy with the aesthetics! All for less than $175. I know, a tall order!

I found some Hikvision cameras that fit the bill and available here in the US. Specifically, these:
DS-2CD2086G2-IU
DS-2CD2047G2-LU (No IR on this one)
But they were recently added to the discontinued list (). Even if I increased my price point, the newer G2H or G3s are impossible to find.

So my question is, is it a terrible idea to buy a discontinued product?

I am also open to another brand but having trouble finding something with those specs.
 
dpcam said:
Within the next year I plan to install a bunch of Andy turrets at my home.

I have a second location I am hoping to outfit on the cheap while still sticking to the recommended sensor size. So 4 or 8MP cameras with 1/1.8” sensors and IR. I am also looking for a smaller form factor (“mini”). Something less than 8” to keep the wife happy with the aesthetics! All for less than $175. I know, a tall order!

I found some Hikvision cameras that fit the bill and available here in the US. Specifically, these:
DS-2CD2086G2-IU
DS-2CD2047G2-LU (No IR on this one)
But they were recently added to the discontinued list (connections hint). Even if I increased my price point, the newer G2H or G3s are impossible to find.

So my question is, is it a terrible idea to buy a discontinued product?

I am also open to another brand but having trouble finding something with those specs.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t consider discontinued automatically a dealbreaker, especially if you can get them at a good price. The bigger concerns would be firmware support, replacement availability, and how long you expect to run them. If the cameras are still receiving security updates and you can source a few spares, those Hikvision models seem like a reasonable option for a budget secondary location. Your size and sensor requirements definitely make the search a challenge!
 
If they are isolated from the Interwebs I don’t care too much about FW updates. I try NOT to update FW unless absolutely necessary or there is a functionality bug anyway.

I’m running a number of 5-8 year old cameras in multiple places mostly because many of the newer models offer no real image quality improvements (some worse) and the cameras are doing what I need them to do.

I’ve recently stocked up on some new but discontinued Dahua cameras for that reason
 
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I would say there is no downsides to getting discontinued stock. The industry has more or less seemingly stagnant. I haven't really noticed much improvement in the hardware and image quality. I would say it has gone downhill a little. The recent cameras I have seen they seem to have upped the resolution while keeping the same sensor size or kept the same resolution but made the sensors smaller while relying on AI (AISP) to try to improve the image quality digitally.
 
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