OK so really not really a bike question, but its the bikes that are prompting the need.

I'm looking for a simple security camera. Doesn't even need to take video or be linked up to a LAN or anything as such.. Snapshots onto an SD card activated via movement is more than sufficient.

Just so i can leave my garage open and not feel anxious. At least if one of my bikes did ever disappear, then i'd have a photo of the person that took it and a much better chance at retrieving.

I live in a very safe gated community.. But you know, there are always risks. There have been a small couple of incidents in the past. Opportunists. Please don't say, just keep the garage closed. That's not what I'm asking for. For example, my wife arrives home an hour earlier than me, so she pulls the car in the garage, and then leaves the garage door up until I get home... Then I like to eat some food then perhaps go out for a ride.. Opening and closing the garage door so many times puts a lot of wear on the mechanism.

I just am looking for that little extra security and peace of mind.

Can anyone recommend a decent device ?

Thanks in advance.

This ought to be interesting...

With a security camera, you may be able to ID the thief but you'll still have to recover the bike.

I use a long cable and padlock that I got at Lowe's or Home Depot.

https://www.dropcam.com

Not to burst your bubble, but in my area I have seen a lot of security camera shots on the news, and few if any arrests based on them, whether a bank or whatever... the commonality is that usually the crime involves armed robbery.

So, basically, if you get a good picture, the chances of getting the police, or local tv stations to take the theft seriously would be the next step after getting the good shot. That is likely to be hard if you try to convince them of the public good for finding the person who stole your bicycle from an open garage.

I had someone break-in to my car in order to steal some of the contents. My window was smashed out to gain entry. This was several years ago, but I couldn't even get the police to show up.

Compared to locking up your bicycle(s), a camera is utterly useless. It doesn't ensure that there will be no theft, but the protection provided by locking your garage is orders of magnitude better than a camera. My guess is that the main difference a camera will make in a case like yours is that the thieves will potentially get your bicycle and a bonus camera.

If it contributes to you're peace of mind, OK, but I'm not seeing how a camera as described is really going to do anything material for you. Perhaps if there's a conspicuous security camera it might serve as a deterrence, but after the fact it's not going to do much, unless it's someone recognizable to you, like one of your neighbors or something. It's way better to put effort/expense into not getting it stolen in the first place than trying to recover it after it is.

If you must keep the bike in the garage and the garage door open perhaps you can arrange it so that the bike is out of sight from passers by. A decent lock would also be a very good idea. My garage doors are on the side of the house and the house is on a hill set back a good distance from the road so it's not possible to see into the garage from the road. Even with that, I keep the best bikes in the house rather than the garage, and keep the garage door closed most of the time anyway.

Admit it, you just want to find out who's been sneaking in your back door while you're out for a ride.

You could post a sign "hidden video in place"
or something like that.
A camera-even video-won't prevent theft
and the recovery rate on stolen goods-even with video-is very very low.

However if you suspect the neighbor's kid-yeah it would work.
Show video to dad- he make good your loss.
Any video-motion activated and with low light capability will work to identify "Johnny from down the block"
I'm guessing that is what you have in mind-neighbor kids gone "bad"
Make sure you post a SIGN- "protected by video"
and CONCEAL IT of course
The sign-prominently displayed -might work as well as an actual video-cheaper and less work also.

I know you said not to say, "just close the garage door", but seriously, if something does happen to be stolen, the cop's going to ask you why the garage door is open and the wear prevention response isn't going to look very good on your part, regardless of the quality of your surveillance devices. Heck, your home owners' insurance may not even cover your losses if the door isn't secured.

Basically, what Little Darwin said. In fact, I'm still waiting for the Lansing Township police to find the iPod that was stolen out of my Kia 7 years ago.

1. Compare the cost of the wear and tear of the mechanism/door to how much it would take to replace your bike(s).

2. Should you decide to ignore the conventional wisdom of keeping the garage door shut, for my peace of mind make sure that you/your wife have all of the other doors to the house locked when you're out for your post meal ride or whenever she's home alone. Home invasions are on the rise in my area and I gladly put my family's safety over my own inconvenience.

Wouldn't it be easier AND more secure to simply close the garage door? Camera or no, why tell the world what's there for the taking?

I don't get it. I ride around and see open doors facing the street all over. I call it window shopping for thieves.

BTW- if it's a convenience thing, you could close the door and leave the key or automatic opener remote under a bush.

In my locale the overwhelmingly vast majority of burglaries occur either as a result of dealing drugs out of the house or leaving the garage doors open. Further, cameras are remarkably unhelpful in locating the burglars or recovering the stolen property. Just saying.

[QUOTE=no1mad;17199455]1. Compare the cost of the wear and tear of the mechanism/door to how much it would take to replace your bike(s).

The majority of garage door openers will last for many years with little to no maintenance. Mine is over ten years old, lifts a heavy eighteen foot door, and has never given any problems with only an occasional lube.

Go to Cabelas.com and look at game cameras. Most of them are infrared and work in total darkness, come full colour and all battery operated, can withstand cold and use sd card for memory. Most have video as well as picture settings. Will do what you need no problem.

Depends on how interested your local PD is in recovering stolen bikes. My Ti cross bike was stolen from our parking garage by a pro who used power tools to go through a Krypto Fugget U lock and a heavy chain. There were two cameras in the garage plus he would've had to pass two more leaving. Cops took a report and that was all.

You 2 must be lazy . . . why leave garage door open?
Do you leave your front door wide open? Your car doors open or unlocked? Your wallet on front seat of car?
You are a burglary waiting to happen!

Not really, originally from a city, so street smart enough to know never leave things on show.. HOWEVER, at home, we live in a gated community, with a 24/7 security guard. Many residents of our community have their garage doors opened for an extended period of time and nothing ever happens. It's nice to live in a safe community where crime very rarely ever happens.. However, if it did, i'd like a snapshot of the shiester ! Hence the simplistic camera recommendation. When I lived in a city, my bikes were chained and i made sure no-one was following me before i pulled into my garage.. Here, i'll happily leave the garage door open, but the house locked. But if something did go missing it would be nice to have something to go back too.

Just answering the question. Here's a simple solution that saves the video to a PC or laptop wirelessly.

WiFi Enabled - Surveillance Cameras - Surveillance Equipment - Home Security & Video Surveillance - Electrical*at The Home Depot

Here's another with motion detection. https://www.amazon.com/TENVIS-JPT3815...2815683&sr=1-1

This

Just close the garage door, really, just close it.

Opening and closing the garage door can wear out the mechanism. I just had to replace the opener on one of our garage doors after 16 years of daily multiple uses. The replacement cost $140 at Home Depot and took an hour to install. If that is too burdensome, you can always operate the door manually.

For piece of mind just get a game cam at any Walmart or sporting good store.

You can use a car dashcam like the Panorama IIs. Dash cams have many features that work well for home security: Motion detection, looping recording, wide angle lens, etc...the Panorama is pricey but works great. I have used them for a variety of things and not just in my car. For less money, look at the Mobius or Mini803's. They are so many really cheap cameras out there but the Panorama is really nice. It runs and runs and runs and has really good video quality. You could mount up in the rafters somewhere and cover the whole garage.

I don't live in a gated community but it was pretty safe. Many neighbors left their garage open like yours. I did also and never had a problem in 20 years there. The only incident in the neighborhood involved a young guy on drugs who walked into a garage and tried stealing tools. So if you feel that safe and secure, don't change. If your bike is stolen, that's what insurance is for.

Will it slam the door shut and flood the garage with tear gas too?

may be you can carry a second garage door opener on you.

I see, on TV, they have Garage door openers that close, remotely with a Cell Phone App.