REOLINK RLK16-800B8 review

The verdict in one line

Best large CCTV system

Channels

16

Cameras included

8 bullet, 4K / 8MP

Storage

4 TB HDD

Cabling

PoE

Recording

24/7 continuous

Fee needed

No

Buy it if

A large property, a small business, or anywhere eight cameras is the starting point rather than the ceiling.

Look elsewhere if

A normal house. Four cameras and the eight-channel system cost less than half this.

Is the REOLINK RLK16-800B8 worth it?

Drawn for this site. Not a product photo.

Eight 4K cameras on a sixteen-channel recorder with a 4 TB drive fitted, which leaves room to double the camera count later without replacing anything.

Person, vehicle and animal detection runs on the recorder rather than in a cloud, which is what keeps a system this size from generating alerts nobody reads. Remote access and playback work through the free app with no plan attached.

Eight cable runs is a real installation. If you are not doing it yourself, get the quote before buying the kit, because on a property large enough to need eight cameras the labour can approach the hardware cost.

Sixteen channels, eight cameras, and a lot of cable

The kit fills half of a sixteen-channel recorder: eight 4K bullet cameras, a 4 TB drive already fitted, and room for eight more cameras later. The listing says the recorder expands to 16 TB and records continuously or on motion.

Two notes from the listing deserve attention before buying. The cameras only work with a REOLINK PoE recorder, so this is a closed system, and they do not work with Alexa or other smart-home displays. That is normal for proper CCTV and the reason it keeps recording without anyone's cloud. It also means eight cable runs: price the install before comparing this with a wireless kit.

What it costs to keep running

Plan fees for the REOLINK RLK16-800B8 over five years: $0, because it keeps its own footage; the hard drive is already fitted in the recorder.

The REOLINK RLK16-800B8's 4 TB drive holds about 12 days of continuous 4K from all 8 cameras before it starts overwriting the oldest footage. Recording on motion instead stretches that to more than a year.

Different card or recording mode? The storage calculator uses the same assumptions.

If this is not the one

• Lorex U-Series 8Ch 4KBest CCTV system for a lived-in room
• REOLINK RLK8-800D4Best CCTV system for continuous recording
• Tapo C560WSBest 4K pan-tilt camera for the money

Head to head

• REOLINK RLK16-800B8 vs REOLINK RLK8-800D4Side by side
• REOLINK RLK16-800B8 vs Lorex U-Series 8Ch 4KSide by side