Lorex LW2311 Digital Wireless Video Recording Solution

First, I actually own a small IT/Telecom company in northwest Arkansas, and install much more expensive systems for customers. These systems are way more complicated to set up, and usually require some training to be able to use.

This setup is actually as good as, if not better than some of those systems. It's also a fraction of the price of any of them. Good resolution, good frame rate, and VERY easy to setup and use. I actually ran power through my attic so I could mount this on the edge of my roof where I have a blind spot of the house (no windows or way to see out) and it still only took a couple hours to install and have up and running. Comes with a 2GB SD card which isn't really big enough, but an 8-16GB (which you can buy fairly cheap) is plenty. I've gotten over 3 days of motion detect recording onto 11GB, and that's with this camera being triggered by traffic on a semi-busy street. Also, to answer a few questions I've seen, and to elaborate on a few other reviews I've seen. I have this thing mounted on the side of my roof with nothing over it. As I said, I live in Arkansas, so it's been rained on, blown by strong wind, and went from sitting in 100+ degree weather this summer, to sitting in below freezing weather this winter, and the only thing I've had to do to it since I put it up was take a broom and wipe cobwebs and stuff off of the front of it now and then. It's been on and functioning since I bought it in May, it never gets turned off.

Here is a tip though. If you intend to set this up using a TV for the monitor, and an SD card to record, my review ends here.

If you want to get more out of this system search for iSpy software. It's free but with a subscription you get more features. I use the free version with this system, and have the receiver hooked up to a PC. The iSpy software allows you to record to your hard drive on your PC instead of having to use an SD card. It takes snapshots and provides much better motion detect recording than otherwise, since you can select actual areas in the camera's view that you want to motion detect while leaving others not to be worried about. Rather than using Skype which is actually kind of a pain, you can use iSpy on your own network to view from any PC in it, or you can purchase a subscription and view your cameras live from anywhere, even your smartphone, using a browser. I highly recommend checking out iSpy for any surveillance system since, from my experience, the software that comes with them is usually terrible. I've used iSpy for a while now even with other systems and always been a fan. There's a lot of other software out there too that's free, but I can't vouch for any of it. So for those of you who are looking at this system thinking it won't function as well as a more expensive DVR setup, there's how.

We had an issue with a pre-teen neighbor boy liking to destroy property for no apparent reason, so we looked into getting security cameras. I didn't know they were this affordable. It was important that there was a storage option included as we really didn't have a DVR or anything we could hook up to it. The picture is okay, it's not awesome but I didn't expect awesome at this price. The night vision is good, you can still see quite well. I like that it has a motion-save function so it doesn't fill up the SD card super quick.

Also, an important note... it says its meant for outdoors, which is what we wanted but when you open it up it says it can't be put in direct rain. Um.. isn't that what outdoors means? We put it under our overhang, hopefully that will suffice, we've only had it up about a week so far. I figure if you advertise something to be an outdoor product, one should expect for it to come in contact with direct rain.

If you need something small just to keep an eye out, this does the job. Don't expect it to be crystal clear, though.

**UPDATE AFTER USING IT FOR 4 MONTHS**

It's still working quite well! The motion sensor seems a little finicky, especially at night. It doesn't catch ALL motion ALL the time, but I'd say it catches it about 80% of the time. I think it's the way it's pointed or something... honestly, haven't investigated it thoroughly enough to determine the cause there. Also, a note about the weatherproof/no direct rain issue... it works just fine under our overhang, even in the rain/snow.. so I guess that means it's out of direct rain. :)

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Samll and light, easy setup, strong signal through the walls. But really not designed for outdoors for the following reasons:

1. Not wide-angle lens. I ended up monitoring a samll spot on my drive way.

2. It does not really sense movement (meaning it does not compare frames) and rely on the IR sensor, I have to get really close to the camera to trigger recording.

3. Because the short range (unless it's a larger object) and narrow field of view, by the time it starts recording, there's very little to be captured anymore.

4. The IR sensor does not seems to be pointing at the same area the camera is pointing to, but it's not adjustable (it's triggered by cars going by, which is not seen by the camera).

5. It only captures "after" the trigger point, unlike the Logitech 700e that I also installed, which record 5 seconds before the trigger and 5 seconds after the trigger. (If you wonder, this can be done by continuously retaining the last 5 seconds of video, if there's a trigger, this "history" becomes part of the recording).

These shortcomings is not a problem if I only do continuous recording or remote viewing. In this case, my only complaint is the picture quality on the TV. 640x480 video should look better than what I see.

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I just received this system and after reviewing the manual and inspecting the equipment I've decided to return it. NOTE: I did not install it or plug it into power.

It came nicely packaged and looks like it would be a good purchase for a small business with one room to observe or for installation on a front porch.

I will return it for several reasons:

1. It is designed primarily to be used with a television monitor as a stand-alone system. There IS a way to hook it up to your computer via a supplied USB cable, but you need to use Skype & their supplied software. After reviewing the instructions, I decided the system is too restrictive. Another reviewer suggested using iSpy software instead of the supplied software to increase its capabilities, which may work for you. I researched the iSpy service and it is $8/month for full remote access. I decided I did not have the time to investigate that option any further.

2. The camera appears to have a built in microphone AND speaker, but there are no instructions on how to use a speaker. A diagram in the manual labels a speaker on the camera but there are no inputs for a microphone on the base. The manual even states "speaker for two way audio" but there are no other references to that in the entire manual. I don't have the time to figure out if it actually has that capability or not.

3. The manual states that motion activated recording will only work within 21 feet of the camera. I need a camera that will be activated by motion further away. This is the main reason I am returning it.

If this last limitation were clearly stated in the "item description" I would not have purchased it. Thus, 2 stars for having to purchase it to determine its capabilities and for time therein wasted.

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Honestly, I should have known better -these systems are extremely complex -to expect anything but abysmal performance from this product at a cost of $170 US D.

To make things worse, Lorex has chosen to build their products in China. The Chinese have the capability of making a quality product but the company in charge of manufacturing the item has to closely ride herd on their engineering and quality control down to the sub-component level or the customer ends up getting a piece of garbage like the Lorex LW 2311.

The images produced are very small, picture quality is atrocious, objects at virtually any distance are so blurry that positive identification of a particular individual, for example, would not be possible. The motion detection range (20 feet at best, despite their claim) is so limited it is useless. I had the unit aimed at our elevated back deck and walked directly next to the deck on the grass within the camera view but since my head was about a foot further away from the deck surface, the motion detection did not trigger even with the sensitivity set to 90%. Set any higher sensitivity, which does not necessarily increase the range, and the unit will start recording if a gnat flies by. I am not an entomologist.

Add all this to the fact the unit looks cheap and flimsy and the receiver starting acting erratically. When I powered the receiver on it would sometimes go through its diagnostics and sometimes not it would sometimes recognize the camera and sometimes not. My experience is when a complex product has intermittent problems when brand new, it's only down hill rapidly from there you won't be waiting long.

The final straw was the receiver would not respond to either the remote control OR the input buttons directly on the receiver itself. I called Lorex tech support who put me in an electronic queue and then an Indian gentleman, Marish, called me back about an hour later only to explain HE was not tech support, his job was only to ask what the issue was. Tech support would call me back. That was 48 hours ago and no call.

Bottom line, I deemed the product defective and I'm returning it for a refund what a huge waste of time: buying, setting up, testing, trouble shooting and now... returning. Anyway, it's always a craps shoot when buying electronics that you may get a bad sample but as I stated earlier the likelihood goes way, way up with Chinese products that are not stringently engineered and manufactured.

The harsh reality is in order to get a good, reliable system capable of reasonably good quality images; A. it will not be wireless and B. you will have to spend in the order of $ 5-600.00 or more to get one.

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