Security Camera System Buying Guide NZ: What Powers the Hub Decides Everything

Four separate cameras is not a security system. It is four apps, four cards, four batteries and four things to remember.

A system is what you buy when the property has more places worth watching than you can keep in your head, and it solves three problems that individual cameras cannot. Everything lands in one place. The footage lives somewhere other than the camera, so a stolen camera does not take the evidence with it. And the whole thing is one purchase and one setup rather than four.

This guide covers all fifteen system products in the Securitylab New Zealand range, from a $332 four-camera WiFi kit to a $822 fully off-grid solar system, plus the drives that go in them.

Before you buy: filming your own property in New Zealand is lawful. Recording audio of a conversation you are not part of, or pointing a camera where someone reasonably expects privacy, is not, and both carry prison terms under the Crimes Act 1961. Full detail below.

Contents

What a System Does That Four Cameras Cannot

A home security camera system and a security camera system are the same purchase at different scales, and the reasons to buy one rather than four cameras are the same either way.

One place to look

Four individual cameras means four entries in an app, four notification streams and four separate timelines to scrub through when something happens. A system puts every camera on one recorder with one clock, so "what happened at 2am" is one search rather than four.

The footage survives the camera

This is the one that matters most and gets the least attention. A camera recording to its own microSD card holds the only copy of the evidence. Take the camera and you take the recording. A system writes to a recorder or hub somewhere else, usually indoors, so the footage of the theft outlives the thing that was stolen.

It costs less than the parts

Genuinely, and VIM-IPSYSCAM is the clearest example in the range. The system is $333 for four cameras and the hub. The same camera bought on its own is VIM-IPSOLAR3 at $111, so four of them alone is $440 before you add anything to tie them together. The system is cheaper than its own cameras and includes the hub.

One SIM instead of four

On the off-grid systems this is the whole commercial argument. Four separate 4G cameras is four SIMs and four monthly plans, permanently. VIM-SOL4WIFI2, VIM-SOL4WIFI2-C and VIM-SOL4WIFI4 put four cameras behind one SIM in the hub. One bill, forever, instead of four.

Two Vimel NVR security kits shown with their bullet and turret cameras

Three Ways to Build a Four Camera System

Same question as everywhere else in this range, asked once about the site rather than about each camera. What does the property already have?

1. Mains power and you can run cable: PoE

One network cable per camera carries both the data and the power. No batteries, no WiFi congestion, no dropouts, and the most reliable recording available at any price. VIM-S2WIFI, VIM-S3WIFI, VIM-S3WIFI-C and VIM-S3WIFI-B are built this way, on 5MP Sony Starvis sensors with 8TB of storage capacity behind them.

The cost is the cabling. Four runs through a ceiling or under a house is a day's work or a contractor's invoice. If the building is already wired or the runs are short, this is the best system money buys.

2. Mains power but no cabling: wireless to a hub

Cameras go where you want them and talk to the hub over WiFi, but still need a power point or a battery top-up. VIM-IPSYSCAM and VIM-SWIFI sit here. Far easier to install, at the cost of depending on a wireless link.

3. No power and no network: solar plus hub

Every camera carries its own solar panel and the hub carries the connection. VIM-SOL4WIFI, VIM-SOL4WIFI3, VIM-SOL4WIFI2, VIM-SOL4WIFI2-C and VIM-SOL4WIFI4. This is the only category that works on a bare paddock, and it is where the next section matters.

The Question Nobody Asks: What Powers the Hub

Every solar system here gives each of the four cameras its own panel. That part is easy to compare and every page says it.

The hub is the part that decides whether the system can actually go off grid, and no product page makes it clear.

  • VIM-SOL4WIFI2, VIM-SOL4WIFI2-C and VIM-SOL4WIFI4 have solar powered hubs. A literal panel on the hub itself, plus a single SIM for the connection. Nothing in the system needs mains. These go on a bare site with no building, no power and no internet.
  • VIM-SOL4WIFI3 has a conventional indoor hub that needs a socket. The four cameras are off grid; the hub is not. Its advantage is reach, at up to 500 metres in open ground, so the hub can sit in a house or shed a long way from the cameras.
  • VIM-SOL4WIFI runs a base station that needs power too.

So the buying question is simple: is there a building on the site? If yes, the indoor-hub systems are cheaper and reach further. If the site is genuinely bare, only the solar-hub systems will work, and paying $723 to $824 for one is not a premium, it is the requirement.

Vimel solar PTZ camera system shown with its solar panels and NVR kit

Quick Picks

Best value in the range: VIM-IPSYSCAM, $333

Four 2K cameras and a WiFi 6 dual-band four-channel hub for less than the four cameras cost separately. Each camera runs up to 180 days per charge on motion-triggered recording, human detection fires a siren and a floodlight rather than just recording, two-way audio on every unit, and footage saves to cards in the hub and in the cameras with no subscription. For a house with four places worth watching, this is the one.

Do not buy this one if the site has no WiFi. The hub joins your existing network.

Best fully off-grid system: VIM-SOL4WIFI4, $824

Four cameras, each with two lenses, a 120 degree wide angle plus an 8mm PTZ, so every camera holds the overview while it zooms. Own solar panel per camera, solar powered hub, one SIM for the lot. Nothing in the system needs mains or an existing network. Top of the range and the most capable thing here.

Do not buy this one if there is a building with power on site. You are paying for a solar hub you do not need.

Best for a long, spread out property: VIM-SOL4WIFI3, $445

A hub rated to 500 metres in open ground, where an ordinary wireless camera gives up past 100. Four black bullet cameras, each on its own solar panel, reaching back to a hub indoors. This is the answer to the lifestyle block problem: the house, the shed, the gate and the back boundary all covered without trenching a cable to any of them.

Do not buy this one if there is no building to put the hub in. The hub needs a socket.

Best image quality: VIM-S3WIFI, $667

5MP at 2616 x 1964 on 1/2.8 inch Sony Starvis sensors, four 802.3af PoE ports, 25 metre infrared, IP66, and support for up to 8TB of storage. If you can run cable, nothing wireless in this guide competes on picture or reliability, and the Starvis sensor is the reason: it is built for low light, which is when security footage actually has to work.

Do not buy this one if you are not prepared to run four network cables.

Best discreet rural install: VIM-SOL4WIFI2-C, $767

The same four PTZ cameras, four panels and solar hub as VIM-SOL4WIFI2, in camouflage instead of white. On a bush block, a shelter belt or a boundary fence, a white camera announces itself from fifty metres and a camo one does not.

Do not buy this one if you want the camera seen. On a yard or a shopfront, visible cameras are half the deterrent.

Solar Systems, For Sites With Nothing

Five systems, and they separate on two things: what powers the hub, and what the cameras are.

The camera bodies matter more than the price gap suggests. Bullet cameras on VIM-SOL4WIFI and VIM-SOL4WIFI3 are fixed: aimed once, watching one arc, nothing to fail mechanically. PTZ cameras on VIM-SOL4WIFI2 and VIM-SOL4WIFI2-C pan, tilt and zoom from the app, so one camera covers a yard, but a PTZ is only ever recording where it is currently pointing. Dual lens cameras on VIM-SOL4WIFI4 solve that: the 120 degree wide lens keeps recording the whole scene while the 8mm PTZ lens moves. Four cameras, eight lenses.

On a site where you care about what happened rather than only about what you were watching, that is worth more than the extra hundred dollars looks.

SKU Price Cameras Camera power Hub Resolution What sets it apart
VIM-SOL4WIFI $445 4 bullet Own panel each Base station, needs power 2K (2304x1296), 3MP PIR human, floodlight, two-way audio. HDD to 5TB or 128GB card View
VIM-SOL4WIFI3 $445 4 bullet, black Own panel each Indoor hub, mains 2K 500m hub range in open ground. The long-range one View
VIM-SOL4WIFI2 $723 4 PTZ, white Own panel each SOLAR HUB, single SIM 2K Fully off grid. Nothing on site needs mains View
VIM-SOL4WIFI2-C $767 4 PTZ, camouflage Own panel each SOLAR HUB, single SIM 2K Same system in camo for a discreet rural install View
VIM-SOL4WIFI4 $824 4 dual lens, black Own panel each SOLAR HUB, single SIM 2K per lens 120° wide plus 8mm PTZ on every camera. Top of the range View

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Why solar systems suit New Zealand sites

The winter numbers that govern every solar camera govern these too. Face each panel north, tilt it steeply at roughly your latitude plus 15 degrees, and check for shade at the low winter sun angle rather than at midday in summer. Four panels means four chances to get that wrong. The solar security cameras guide has the full regional tables.

NVR and Hub Systems, For Sites With Power

Six systems, splitting into wired and wireless.

The wired PoE kits

VIM-S2WIFI, VIM-S3WIFI, VIM-S3WIFI-C and VIM-S3WIFI-B run one network cable per camera carrying data and power together. There is no battery to age, no wireless link to drop and no charging schedule. The 5MP Sony Starvis sensor across this range is the real difference from the wireless kits: it is designed for low light, and low light is when security footage has to earn its keep.

All four support up to 8TB of storage, which at 5MP across four channels is genuinely months of continuous recording.

The wireless kits

VIM-IPSYSCAM and VIM-SWIFI skip the cabling. IPSYSCAM runs a WiFi 6 dual-band hub with battery cameras quoted at 180 days per charge, and adds an active response: human detection triggers a siren and a floodlight rather than simply recording. SWIFI is a wireless NVR with 2MP cameras, a colour floodlight, 30 metre infrared and IP66 housings, on 12V power per camera and up to 2TB of storage.

Vimel NVR kit shown with its hard drive and bullet and turret cameras

SKU Price Cameras Recorder Resolution Notes
VIM-IPSYSCAM $333 4 wireless WiFi 6 dual-band hub, 4 channel 2K (4MP) per camera 180-day battery per camera, siren and floodlight, cards in hub and cameras View
VIM-SWIFI $556 4 wireless Wireless NVR 2.0MP Colour floodlight plus 30m infrared, IP66, 12V per camera, HDD to 2TB View
VIM-S2WIFI $593 4 wired 4 channel PoE NVR 5MP Sony Starvis 3.6mm fixed, 25m infrared, HDD to 8TB View
VIM-S3WIFI $667 4 wired 4 port PoE NVR, 802.3af 5MP (2616x1964) Sony Starvis 3.6mm fixed, 25m infrared, IP66, HDD to 8TB View
VIM-S3WIFI-C $667 4 wired PoE NVR 2K The alternative camera bodies on the same platform View
VIM-S3WIFI-B $723 4 wired PoE NVR 5MP The DIY build of the same platform View

Storage, and the Part Every Kit Leaves Out

None of the NVR systems include a hard drive. This catches people every time. You buy a $667 four-camera system, wire it in, and discover the recorder has nothing to record onto.

Two things decide which drive you need.

Form factor first

3.5 inch drives go in desktop-size NVR chassis. 2.5 inch drives go in the compact ones. They are not interchangeable, so check the recorder before ordering.

Then capacity

Rough planning, four channels running continuously: 1TB holds somewhere around a week or two at 2MP, less at 5MP. 2TB roughly doubles it. If the system is motion-triggered rather than continuous, multiply generously. If you need thirty days of continuous 5MP for insurance or compliance, the 8TB ceiling on the PoE kits is there for a reason and you should fill more of it than these four drives allow.

SKU Price Form factor Capacity Fits
HDD-WD1TB $111 3.5" 1TB Desktop-size NVR chassis View
HDD-WD1TB-2.5 $144 2.5" 1TB Compact NVR chassis View
HDD-WD2B-3.5 $166 3.5" 2TB Desktop-size NVR chassis View
HDD-WD2TB-2.5 $222 2.5" 2TB Compact NVR chassis View

Buy a surveillance drive, not a desktop one. These run 24 hours a day writing continuously, which is a workload ordinary desktop drives are not built for. A drive spec'd for surveillance is designed to be written to constantly and to fail gracefully rather than suddenly.

The solar systems handle storage differently: VIM-SOL4WIFI takes a drive of up to 5TB or a 128GB microSD card, and VIM-IPSYSCAM uses cards in both the hub and each camera, so footage exists in two places.

What Actually Triggers an Alert

"Motion detection" covers a wide range of behaviour and the differences decide how many useless notifications you get. The ladder, roughly in order of how much they filter:

  • PIR motion. Detects a moving heat source. Cheap, low power, and the baseline on every camera here. Struggles on a hot afternoon when the background approaches body temperature.
  • Human detection. On-device AI that decides whether the moving thing is a person before it sends anything. This is the difference between a phone that buzzes at every possum and one that buzzes when it matters, and it is standard across the WiFi and 4G ranges.
  • Human and vehicle detection. Two classes, separately. The larger 4G cameras with big solar panels carry this, and on a farm gate or a construction entrance the distinction between "a person arrived" and "a vehicle arrived" is genuinely useful.
  • Auto-tracking. The PTZ head follows the detected subject across the frame. Impressive on a large open site, and the wrong setting on a tight suburban boundary, for reasons in the legal section below.
  • Sound detection. Rarer, and indoor rather than perimeter. The indoor camera that carries it also separates a baby's cry from a general bang, which is a different job from watching a driveway. Covered in the WiFi cameras guide.
  • Package detection. Specific to the doorbell, and it fires separately from person alerts when a parcel is left at the door.

Every system in this guide sends alerts to a phone app. What varies is how well it decides what is worth telling you about, and that, not resolution, is what determines whether people keep notifications switched on after the first fortnight.

Mistakes That Cause Returns

Not buying a hard drive

The NVR kits do not include one. Order the drive with the system.

Buying the wrong drive form factor

3.5 inch and 2.5 inch are not interchangeable. Check the chassis.

Assuming a solar system means nothing needs power

Only VIM-SOL4WIFI2, VIM-SOL4WIFI2-C and VIM-SOL4WIFI4 have solar hubs. The other two need a socket for the hub.

Buying PoE without being willing to run cable

The PoE kits are the best systems here and they are useless in the box if the four cable runs never happen.

Putting the recorder somewhere obvious

The entire point of a recorder is that it is not the camera. Putting the NVR on a shelf by the front door hands a burglar both the cameras and the footage. Put it somewhere that is not the first place anyone looks.

Mounting all four cameras at head height

Two and a half to three metres, angled down. High enough to be out of reach, low enough to put faces in frame rather than the tops of heads.

Covering four angles of the same thing

Four cameras on the front of a house is one camera's worth of information. Walk the property and pick the four places somebody would actually enter.

Leaving default passwords on the recorder

A recorder holding footage of identifiable people is personal information on your network. Change the password, update the firmware, and do not expose the NVR to the internet without knowing what you are doing.

Key Specs Explained

NVR

Network Video Recorder. The box the cameras record to. It holds the drive, runs the timeline and serves the app.

PoE

Power over Ethernet. One cable carries data and power to each camera. 802.3af is the standard the PoE kits here use. It is the most reliable way to install a camera and the only one that needs no battery and no wireless link.

Channels

How many cameras the recorder accepts. Every system here is four channel.

Sony Starvis

A sensor family built for low light. It is the reason the 5MP PoE kits hold detail after dark that a nominally similar sensor would lose, and low light is when security cameras have to work.

Bullet, PTZ and dual lens

A bullet is a fixed cylinder, aimed once, watching one arc. A PTZ pans, tilts and zooms from the app but only records where it is currently pointing. A dual lens camera runs a fixed wide lens and a moving one together, so it keeps the overview while it zooms.

IP ratings

First digit dust, second water. IP66 resists powerful water jets and suits an exposed New Zealand wall. IP67 adds temporary immersion.

Solar hub

A hub with its own panel, so the connection point does not need mains. It is what separates a system that can go on a bare paddock from one that needs a building.

Single SIM

One cellular connection in the hub serving all four cameras, instead of a SIM and a monthly plan per camera.

Choose by Property

Standard house, four angles

VIM-IPSYSCAM. Front door, driveway, back door, side gate, on the WiFi you already have, for less than the cameras cost separately.

House being renovated or newly built

VIM-S3WIFI or VIM-S2WIFI. If the walls are open, run the cable. You will never get a better chance and PoE is the best system here.

Lifestyle block with a house and outbuildings

VIM-SOL4WIFI3. The hub goes in the house, the cameras go on the sheds and the gate up to 500 metres away, and nothing gets trenched.

Farm or bush block with no building

VIM-SOL4WIFI2 or VIM-SOL4WIFI4. Solar hub, one SIM, nothing needing mains anywhere in the system.

Discreet rural or bush install

VIM-SOL4WIFI2-C in camouflage.

Construction site over a long build

VIM-SOL4WIFI4. Dual lenses hold the wide view while the PTZ follows, the whole system moves as the site changes shape, and signage at every entrance handles the Privacy Act obligation.

Small business or shopfront

VIM-S3WIFI for the picture quality and the 8TB retention, with the recorder somewhere staff-only. Signage at every entrance, and staff consulted before installation.

You already have an alarm hub

VIM-SECC at $77 is not a system. It is a single wire-free camera that pairs with an alarm hub and sends an alarm to it on detection, so it extends an alarm you already own rather than replacing it. The alarm systems guide covers the hubs, sensors and detectors it works with.

Just one or two angles

Do not buy a system. Two individual cameras from the WiFi range or the 4G range will cost less and do the job.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do these systems include a hard drive?

The NVR kits do not. Order a drive with the system, matching the form factor to the recorder chassis. The solar systems use cards or a drive depending on the model.

Do I need internet for a security system to record?

No. Recording is local to the NVR or hub. Internet is what gives you live view, alerts and remote access. Lose the connection and the system keeps recording; you just cannot watch it from elsewhere until it returns.

Is there a subscription?

No. Every system here records locally with no ongoing fee. Cloud storage is optional on some models.

Can I add more cameras later?

Up to the channel count, which is four on every system in this guide. Beyond that you need a larger recorder.

How many days of footage will I get?

Very roughly, 1TB holds a week or two of continuous four-channel recording at 2MP and less at 5MP, with 2TB about double. Motion-triggered recording stretches it a long way further.

What is the difference between PoE and wireless?

PoE runs one cable per camera carrying data and power, which is the most reliable install available and needs no battery. Wireless is far easier to fit and depends on a radio link holding up.

Which systems work with no power on site at all?

Only the ones with a solar hub: VIM-SOL4WIFI2, VIM-SOL4WIFI2-C and VIM-SOL4WIFI4. The others need a socket for the hub even though the cameras are solar.

Does each camera need its own SIM?

Not on these systems. The off-grid ones run one SIM in the hub for all four cameras, which is the main reason to buy a system rather than four separate 4G cameras.

How far can the cameras be from the hub?

VIM-SOL4WIFI3 is rated to 500 metres in open ground. The WiFi 6 hub systems work over a normal household range. Obstructions cut all of these figures, so test before mounting.

Will I get an alert for every possum?

Not with human detection switched on, which is standard across these systems. It decides whether the moving thing is a person before it sends anything.

Can I view all four cameras at once?

Yes. That is the point of a four channel recorder, and it works in the app as well as on a connected screen.

Is a system better than four separate cameras?

For four locations, yes, on every axis: one app, one timeline, footage stored away from the camera, one SIM instead of four, and usually less money. For one or two locations, no.

Filming your own property is straightforward. Filming beyond its boundary is where the obligations start. The same law applies nationwide with no regional variation.

Your own land. Recording your own driveway, yard, sheds and boundary is lawful, and the Privacy Act 2020 largely does not reach purely domestic collection. That exemption falls away where a recording would be highly offensive to an ordinary reasonable person, so it protects a camera watching your gate and does not protect one aimed at a neighbour's windows.

Four cameras reach further than one. A system covers more of the boundary by design, so it is more likely to capture a neighbour's property, a footpath or a shared driveway. Set each camera's field of view deliberately rather than accepting whatever the bracket gave you. Filming a person where they reasonably expect privacy is an offence under sections 216G to 216N of the Crimes Act 1961, carrying up to three years.

Auto-tracking needs particular care. A PTZ camera that follows a detected person is, by design, capable of following them off your property. On a tight section use fixed presets. On a large site set the tracking limits so the camera returns home rather than tracking to the boundary and holding there.

Recording as a business. A shop, an office, a farm, a construction company or a body corporate is an organisation for Privacy Act 2020 purposes. That means a lawful purpose, collection that is not unreasonably intrusive, people generally being aware it is happening, secure storage and a retention limit. Signage at every entrance is the practical way to handle awareness. A system with a recorder makes the retention limit a real setting you have to choose rather than an abstraction.

Workers on site. Cameras that record staff change conditions of work. Consult before installing, explain the purpose, and put in writing what is recorded, who can view it and how long it is kept. Section 4 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 imposes a duty of good faith.

Public areas. A camera covering a footpath, a laneway or a car park is collecting information about people who have no relationship with you. Keep the purpose narrow, the retention short, sign it clearly, and do not point it further than the purpose requires.

Audio. Most of these cameras have two-way audio. Under section 216B of the Crimes Act 1961, recording a private conversation you are not part of carries up to two years, and an unattended camera is never a party to a conversation. Use two-way audio to speak to someone, not to listen to them, and switch audio recording off if you do not need it.

Rental properties. A landlord cannot install cameras that record inside a tenanted dwelling. Cameras covering shared or common areas need to be disclosed to tenants. Section 38 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 protects a tenant's quiet enjoyment.

Monitoring a person. The Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment came into force on 26 May 2026. Watching and recording a person are specified acts, and a pattern of them carries up to five years. A tracking camera aimed at where a particular individual comes and goes is that conduct, whatever the camera was sold for.

Securing the recorder. An NVR holding weeks of footage of identifiable people is a concentrated store of personal information. Principle 5 of the Privacy Act 2020 requires reasonable security safeguards. Change the default password, keep the firmware current, and think carefully before exposing the recorder to the internet.

Retention. A four channel recorder with a large drive will hold footage for months by default. Under the Privacy Act you should not keep personal information longer than you need it. Set a retention period that matches your actual purpose and let the recorder overwrite.

Publishing footage. Do not post recordings of identifiable people or plates online. Even lawfully captured footage can engage the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 once published. Send it to the police.

Using footage later. Keep the original unedited, check the recorder's clock, and note the camera positions. Improperly obtained evidence can be excluded under section 30 of the Evidence Act 2006.

Installation safety. Cameras go up at height and solar panels act as sails. Use the mounts the system is designed for, over-engineer fixings on exposed sites, and if the install involves working at height, near overhead lines or with mains wiring, get someone qualified to do it.

This guide is general product information for New Zealand customers and is not legal advice. If you are installing cameras across a workplace or covering public space, get advice specific to your situation.

Vimel wireless NVR system and solar PTZ camera system shown side by side

A system is the answer for four locations. These guides cover the individual cameras that fill in around it.

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Last reviewed August 2026.

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