What cameras did you end up using? I'm looking for good recommendations.

Amcrest is pretty good as long as you get an ONVIF-compatible model. Their PoE cameras are better than their Wi-Fi models, but I found that their indoor Wi-Fi models are not bad. I haven't had any luck with their outdoor Wi-Fi models though.

For Wi-Fi outdoor, I've been trying Reolink. I actually have had one die and another one keeps resetting so I'm not sold.

I've heard Hikvision is good but they're more expensive and I haven't tried them yet. I also think they really care whether you buy it from an authorized retailer.

> It doesn’t ping me

Well that's a crucial requirement. Should ping by default. Even if you can turn it on, I don't trust that they really put that feature first if it's buried in the settings.

It may not be buried. I might have just turned it off. I always turn it off right away.

I consider pinging a major cause of paranoia (see NextDoor), an invasion of my community’s privacy, and honestly I live in a safe area and insurance covers everything anyway.

Synology's Security Station will 100% notify you.

https://www.synology.com/en-us/surveillance/feature/mobile

Synology + a cheap RTSP camera and it has all the features OP requires.