You have already gotten a lot of good info. But I would like to add some shit from a different perspective.
I, like a lot of folks here, started out with some WIFI cams. Maybe 6-8 LaView 2MP pan/tilt cams using the LaView app. They only recorded on motion. But the motion was actually pretty good. They have the ability to connect with ethernet cables but not POE, so one still has to run a wall wort connection. I had a couple pointing out the front door side windows, two in the garage, two inside pointed at the front door, one inside pointed at the back door, and one in the living room. This was back in 2018. Then I came across IPCAMTALK, got
BlueIris up and running and had these cams all recording 24/7 to BI. They were constantly dropping off the network and restarting, so I changed most of them to hardwired via ethernet. Then I started buying Dahua cams from Andy. Over time I built a good little network, even doing LPR.
As time went on, I replaced most of those cams with Dahua POE cams. But I still have two of them hardwired inside and two WIFI inside. The WIFI cams were always resetting or marked no signal for quite a lot of time each day. Finally my ISP's router shit the bed and they shipped a replacement that has much better signal. Now those two cams only reset a couple of times a week but are never offline for long. But the video and audio are not that good, even for the hardwired ones. I have plans to replace them all, but they are low priority. Also, the LaView app no longer works.
Then my daughter passed away in our house back in September and we were away. I kick myself for not replacing those inside cams. There was important footage (to me anyways) that just is not as clear as I would like. And the audio is hard to hear. And the video skips/jumps right when I really needed them to be perfect. Two of them are WIFI since there is no easy way to get ethernet cables to them, but running a USB connection to a wall outlet was simple. But one of the WIFI cams caught some very important footage and thankfully it did not go offline then.
I have a Class A diesel pusher motorcoach that was broken into at the storage yard a few years ago. Did not have any cams in there so bummer. I now have some WIFI cams from Wyze that I am very happy with. One points to the door and does a very good job of alerting on motion. The quality is very good as when the door opens, the lights come on and the cam is right there five feet from your face. I get great shots of myself coming and going. I had three of their battery cams that I would mount outside when parked at the storage yard and they record on motion. They have IR and white LEDs that can be set to come on with motion. The shutter reacts quite fast. Twice I caught folks approaching the coach at night and both times they backed off when the lights came on. I since moved out of that storage yard. I have mounted one on the ladder on the back of the coach for when we are parked during travel so that I can look at the pickup connected to the coach at night when I hear something. Those battery ones last for a few months since they only record on motion. Never had any dropouts since the WIFI connection is just feet away inside the coach and is connected via cellular.
I would not use WIFI cams as the only cams for surveillance. But they can be appropriate in specific use cases as long as you understand the limitations.
