BlinkSync Module XR (newest model) — System hub for all Blink devices, go up to 400 feet from your home with extended range for Outdoor 4

I recently began raising chickens, and I was so worried about them when they started to live in the coop and not under our watchful eye in their brooder. I searched for the best way to run internet out to the coop, a workaround was this extender for the Blink camera. I was thrilled. I read all the reviews before making this purchase. Like always, the reviews were mixed on how far the signal would reach. it was on sale for Memorial Day, so I just decided to give it a try. The camera that was bundled with it was not shipping at the same time and wouldn't arrive for weeks. So I took one of my newer Blink Cameras down in another area and paired it with this booster when it arrived. My Coop is about 200 feet from my house, and inside the coop, the camera is crystal clear! Full color with Audio. It's great! Another amazing feature is that Blink Cameras have an internal thermometer to alert you if the temperatures are too extreme, as they are battery-operated. Now I can use this feature to easily check the temperature in my coop as well as watch the chickens. I've had this for about 10 days now and its amazing. The quality is great. Other reviewers made mention that this only works with the Blink 4 series which is the newest cameras, I have not tested that and I should mention in order to use Blink Cameras you do have to pay a monthly or annual subscription. It is $10 a month to use an unlimited amount of cameras / cloud storage.

The Blink Sync Modules are control hubs for the cameras and doorbells in your Blink camera system. For customers without a subscription, they are capable of providing local storage when a compatible memory device is added. The Sync Module XR is Blink's 3rd generation hub, offering the same functionality as the Sync Module 2 but using MicroSD storage and a USB-C power connector instead of the older USB-A thumb drive and micro power connector. It is slightly larger than the older model, but there is no USB thumb drive sticking out, and the overall look is sleeker with an all-white body. The operational change over the previous model is the addition of the Extended Range (XR) mode that works with Blink's Outdoor 4 cameras.My installation spans two residences and includes a mix of Blink doorbells, Mini, Mini 2, wired floodlight and Outdoor 4 cameras. In all cases, my 19 cameras were within strong WiFi range of my routers. I've had no problems with connectivity with any of the cameras or Sync Module 2's. When the Sync Module XR was announced (previously called the Sync Module Pro) I became very interested in its ability to connect with Outdoor 4 cameras beyond WiFi range. Would it allow me to position a camera further out on my property, facing the house? To find out, I purchased the XR and another Outdoor 4 camera. I mounted the camera to the bottom of my mailbox, about 120 feet from the Sync Module XR. Setup screen clearly shows that the WiFi signal is too weak for a reliable connection. But in the XR mode, I get a full signal. It's nice to have a broader perspective view of my yard and driveway.The Sync Module XR does limit the number of cameras connected in the XR mode to two. For cameras in the WiFi mode, you can have up to 10--same as the other Sync Modules. The website also mentions that you are limited to 2 Sync Module XRs per account but no limit to the older models. This could be a consideration if you are planning a more extensive system like mine. Like the Sync Module 2, you must remove the drive to access the clip files stored on the drive either as primary or backup. I find it easier to remove a thumb drive than a MicroSD card, so this may be a consideration in choosing which model to purchase.Bottom line is that the Blink Sync modules are required if you are using the Battery powered cameras giving them up to 2 year battery life with default settings. Either model will work well, but the XR has the ability to greatly extend the range for up to 2 Outdoor 4 cameras.

This worked great to boost my WiFi out to my unattached garage camera. without it we just got a notification when a person or vehicle passed the driveway but it did not record a video.

I have multiple Blink Sync Module 2 units set up in multiple locations. There are a couple places where the Blink Outdoor 4 cameras can sometimes have difficulty recording video (it either starts to record and abruptly stops or fails to record anything at all). Blink support was not of much assistance other than suggesting I should either move the Wi-Fi access points or move the cameras, neither of which are viable options due to the house layouts I'm dealing with.My thought was to add a Sync Module XR and use it to connect to these problematic cameras. It worked, but there are some limitations that you need to be aware of.The differences between the Sync Module 2 and Sync Module XR are:1) for local storage the XR uses a microSD card instead of USB flash drive, but the limit of 256 GB is the same2) the XR is slightly larger than the Sync Module 23) the XR is all white while the Sync Module 2 has a black top surface with white sides4) the XR unit has dimmer LED indicators than the Sync Module 25) the XR uses a USB-C connector port for power instead of USB micro6) the XR offers an optional "Extended Range" mode for Blink Outdoor 4 cameras (with limitations, see below) and it still has the same 10 camera limit as the Sync Module 2The new Extended Range mode the module offers is currently only available for Blink Outdoor 4 cameras. When you have one of these cameras connected to the unit, the Blink app will give you the option of changing the connection network for the selected camera from Wi-Fi (default) to Extended Range and Extended Range Plus.By default, all Blink cameras use Wi-Fi for connect and the Sync Module 2.Communication network types with the Sync Module XR:Default = Wi-Fi, the camera must be in range of your Wi-Fi network to function. Supports the full 10 camera limit and all video quality options.XR = Extended Range, the camera connects to the Sync Module XR at a range up to 250 ft. Supports a maximum of 2 cameras in XR mode and video quality is limited to Standard (cannot use Best).XR+ = Extended Range Plus, the camera connects to the Sync Module XR at a range up to 400 ft. Supports a maximum of 1 camera in XR+ mode and video quality is limited to Save (cannot use Standard or Best).Within the app, if a camera is using one of the Extended Range modes the camera view will show an XR or XR+ in the upper-right corner.On top of the above limitations, your Blink account can only support up to 2 Sync Module XRs that are communicating using Extended Range modes. That means at most you can have 4 cameras using XR mode and only 2 cameras using XR+ mode per account. You can still have up to the maximum of 10 Sync Modules total per account, regardless of whether they are Sync Module 2 or XR.I have not tested the XR+ mode, but I am currently using the XR mode on cameras at a distance of about 150 ft from the Sync Module XR and the cameras have no issues connecting and recording events, whereas with Wi-Fi they were unreliable.Overall, it's a decent upgrade if, and only if, you need the extra range feature and you only need it for a very limited number of cameras (4 or 2 at most, depending on XR / XR+ mode). Otherwise, there's no benefit over the Sync Module 2.