A few months ago our house was broken into from a very brazen group of three robbers (punks) that backed their car into our driveway, jumped over the fence and smashed the back sliding door in order to gain entry. Luckily our home has an alarm so they quickly made their way through the house and out the front door without taking much. Our neighbor did witness the event but sadly only got to a brief description of the car and suspects. I decided it was time to take home security up a level and cover some key areas of the house with security cameras. After a lot of reading and studying, the Sharx line seemed to be a great way to start a system so I ordered one to try.When the camera arrived I followed the instructions for set up and everything went smoothly. As mentioned in other reviews the manual is very easy to follow and written in clear English. I had the camera configured and running on my wireless LAN system in about 20 minutes. With the picture quality and basic configuration all set up, the next step was being able to see the camera when I am away from home. I have AT&T Uverse for Internet service and the Sharx manual includes absolutely perfect instructions to configure the 2wire router so you can view the camera remotely via the Internet. Without the manual I probably would have been lost on this step but the manual made the process so simple! After this step my next test was viewing the camera on my iPhone Safari browser using the 3G network to confirm I had a WAN connection, and yes it worked perfectly. After the test I installed an app that a friend who has a handful of Axis cameras recommended called Live Cams and again everything worked perfectly. This is a great app for viewing IP cameras and worth the money ($1.99) if you have an iPhone or iPad.
It was time to have my camera record events (alarms as they are called). Setting your camera to record when there is motion is again very easy and the settings can be adjusted for more or less sensitive motion activation. Make sure on this step you expand your open browser window to see the settings. The default window size will not show the settings options unless you do this. Windows IE has a more graphical window to adjust these but it can still be done in any browser by typing numbers. Just remember that the lower the "Threshold" numbers the more sensitive and the higher the "Sensitivity" numbers the more sensitive. You can also block off areas that you do not want to cause the alarm to start recording in this same settings window. For example if you have a busy street in front of your house you can configure the camera to ignore motion in that section of the overall picture.
Another great option is email. I set the camera to send me an email if it detects motion and that works as expected, sending an email with a photo anytime it detects movement. Note that you can configure the settings to limit how often it sends an email so you don't fill your inbox when some bird, bug or dog for example is creating motion alarms on the camera. I have mine set to send an email no more then every 5 minutes.
After running the 3605 for almost two months without any issue I have now added a 3606 and a 2607 (for the interior). I plan to add two more 3606 cameras so I will have almost the entire exterior in view at anytime. I would really like to see Sharx come out with a Megapixel camera in the future but this current line up still has good quality.
My wife also has an iPhone and loves the fact she can check on the house and the dog from her phone at any time. She tells me she keeps an eye on the driveway from her work computer all the time and it makes her feel safer knowing what is going on at our house. The break-in really shook her up for a while, so her peace of mind is worth the cost alone.
Some of the key benefits of the Sharx camera for me:
-Because each camera can record to a MicroSD card built into the camera, it acts like its own DVR. Even if your home is broken into and everything taken, as long as they don't remove the cameras you will still have a record of the dirtbags.
-The camera uses very little wattage so it is easy on your electric bill.
-The picture is clear and sharp both day and night.
-The camera will work with a variety of browsers for configuring, monitoring and playing back recordings. I have tested it with Safari, IE and Firefox. Firefox with the Quicktime plug-in is my favorite and if you watch with the primary stream option you also can monitor live sound (creepy but good for eavesdropping).
-The camera works with both my Mac and Windows computers.
-The build quality seems decent and should last for many years.
-I have been in contact via email with customer support and there was a response within 4 hours.
I will be happy to respond if anyone has questions or comments.
Update [February 5, 2011] Just a quick note to say that the camera has still been working flawlessly, 24/7, for 6 months now. Outside operating temperatures have ranged from the 100 degrees to 13 degrees and it just keeps on working. I don't know why it has on again/off again availability on Amazon, as this is clearly the best outdoor wireless IP camera that they sell. However, apparently you can still order it directly from Sharx.
Update [August 16, 2011] Camera has been installed for over a year now and continues to work without a single issue. Has never had to be rebooted even once, recovers immediately from power failures, and continues to record directly to my ReadyNAS. I wish I could afford a half dozen of these! If there were any enhancement to made to them, pan & tilt would be awesome.I agree with the previous "five star" review. Let me add a few additional points.
1. The manual is excellent, and totally sufficient for installation, assuming a reasonable degree of computer and internet saavy. No doubt the manual was written by a native speaker of the English language. An index and table of contents would be useful additions.
2. Although I did not need Sharx tech support, other reviews elsewhere note that tech support is excellent. If you can set up a state of the art HD TV with surround sound and all the bells and whistles you'll likely have no problem setting up this unit.
3. The image quality (IQ) is outstanding, as well as the Depth of Field (sharp from front to back). I've set my unit to "record on alarm" (i.e., motion in the field of view) for a single still frame and a one minute video. Simply superb.
4. Upgrading to a 16 gig card is definitely worth the candle, as the DVR capacity is increased by a factor of four. New files automatically overwrite the old files once the card is full.
5. Obviously, my Sharx is setup in an outside location. The power-supply must be plugged into a weatherproof 115 VAC outlet within two or three feet of the unit's location. Durability is my only concern, but so far so good through high temperatures and rain storms. I will also update in several months on this issue. Assuming my durability tests are satisfactory, I also will be buying a second unit for additional coverage.
6. The nightime IR (infrared) works quite nicely as well.
All in all I'd rate this unit as a superior value.I originally bought a 2606, which I've been very pleased with, but Sharx definitely raised the bar with the 3605! It's everything the 2606 is, but with some huge enhancements:
Fully weatherproofed
Tremendous day/night performance. Thanks to a mechanical IR filter that slides in front of the cam, daylight color is perfect, while still offering outstanding nighttime vision. The array of IR LEDs illuminates well to around 100' away from my cam. And the ring of red lights looks menacing at night!
Even more firmware features than the 2606
I have had the 3605 mounted for 3 winter months, and so far there hasn't been any problems at all. I will say it is a little larger than I expected, but it's still perfect for tucking under a gutter, and I was impressed the case is metal and the entire unit feels incredibly solid. My only complaint would be that the included mount isn't very versatile. An additional ball joint at the cam would help a lot, but nevertheless, the fact a mount and a bag of hardware is even included is only looking a gift-horse in the mouth!
I was very pleased to find the Multi-Live software. It does a much better job of continuously monitoring the cameras than trying to use a browser. The browser works great, but the Multi-Live makes it even more convenient.
I understand networking isn't easy for people that haven't done it before, but Sharx has done everything they can do to make it as easy as possible. If you're familiar with network addressing you _definitely_ won't have any problems.
Since I didn't see it mentioned in the other reviews, I'd like to re-emphasize how important of a feature it is that this cam runs as a standalone server of it's own. For security, it's important that the data be uploaded to a remote site so that thugs can't simply destroy the camera or the DVR. All of Sharx's cams offer the ability to upload to email and FTP, while simultaneously recording to a _looping_ (so you don't have to keep clearing the card) on-board SD card, and now they'll even record to network attached storage. The motion-detection is the icing on the cake, so you can quickly scan the day's events without watching all of the video. There's even configurable interval snapshots, which has been amusing to string together to see a year's view from the cameras eye.
I'd also like to add that in my experience, support has been second to none. It is email-based, but they respond extremely quickly, and I appreciate that you can tell they actually KNOW the product. You don't have to deal with a call-center that has never seen the product and just reads through the script.
In summary, I did a lot of research before buying from Sharx, but I'm 100% convinced you absolutely cannot do any better for the money. Be prepared to have a lot of jealous friends!This camera arrived today. I purchased it based upon the user reviews, but wished there was a little more information to be found (i.e. a user manual download would have been great) so I thought I would add my own comments.
Build quality, packaging, etc. is excellent. The physical attributes of the camera are sound. However, it was unknown exactly how the camera was connected to the power source. I was about to have an exterior GFCI outlet installed on the eaves of my garage, but upon opening the package found that, although the camera is weatherproof, there is a 'junction box' between the camera and the power brick which is not. I was expecting to mount the camera and plug it directly into an exterior outlet. Now I will be mounting it and running the cable through the wall to an interior outlet so that the junction box and plug stay nice and dry. It would have been nice to know that ahead of time. It was interesting that these details were written on a separate note inside the box and not the manual. This makes me wonder if this was a recent design change.
Next to the setup. I have Verizon FIOS with their router wifi disabled, which then runs to a Netgear router acting as a wireless bridge. Needless to say the camera did not show up as a UPnP device, but it was fairly easy to find in the fios router network devices list and from there a simple next step to login and start configuring. I did note that the manual has to be read pretty carefully. Despite some text being labeled 'quickstart' my setup was NOT quick. I'm not a network geek, but can normally find settings if pointed in the right direction. The manual got me there in most cases, but I would think that you would need a GOOD working knowledge of network configuration and a SOLID understanding of how to find your way around your router. I would have a friend 'on call' if you're a novice in this area becuase I think the chances of getting stuck are highly likely. I did not have cause to email tech support, but there was some very reassuring text in the manual that basically says 'we won't let you fail'. A nice sentiment for sure.
I have not yet mounted the camera in it's final spot, but hand carried it to the location to try. The wireless bridge is about 20-30 feet away and the signal strength was good enough at that range. The quality of the picture looks very good in night mode and I think it will be just what I need to keep an eye on our back driveway.
Once past the initial setup, I've tinkered with some of the other settings such as alerts and email. Again, all look very comprehensive, but just not organized in the manual quite as well as they could be perhaps. It was good that the manual took me through a setup of a dynamic DNS name so that I can access the camera externally even if my fios router resets its IP address.
Overall, it took a bit longer than I expected to get setup, but I'm pleased with the intitial result and look forward to getting in place permanently and using some of the advanced features to keep an eye on things.
Hope this helps others in their decision.
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