The camera works OK as a motion sensor camera, it's small enough to be hidden in day time, ah but the glowing Infra Red led lights beat the whole purpose of the hidden camera (not hidden anymore)The manual it's in well explained English, simple and detailed with some graphics to help you understand better the functionality of the device,
also what the other guy said about the 5 seconds trigger video it's TRUE, the manual states 2-3 seconds (Lie) it's actually 5-6 seconds after the cam has been triggered to record something
plus the glowing led lights, let me put it this way.
You open the door,
Motion sensor detects you right away(in half second IR led lights turn on) that doesn't mean the cam is recording.
you have now 4 seconds to close the door and the camera would record just an empty room for the time you set the camera to record
The camera works
Video Quality is good
FPS are smooth
Audio/Mic is good and clear
Trigger time is 5-6 seconds
Customizable settings are just a few:
Time recording:30,60,180/s
Video Resolution:640*480, 320*240
Video Quality FPS:10,15,30FPS
Time/date stamp on video
Indicator Green light On/Off while recording
Description of the camera on video I guess (in case you have several around the house to see to which camera corresponds selected video)
What it misses in the settings or should've been added too:
On/Off IR led lights
Select # of IR led lights to be activated on triggered cam: 0,1,2,4,6 or the whole 8,
(seriously, the 8 IR led lights give great illumination to the night vision camera(more than enough I would say), but they show to the intruder the camera location and what it is at first sight)
and that beats the whole purpose of the SPY/HIDDEN camera,
so,
NO, this is not a night vision "SPY" "HIDDEN" cam,
maybe a daytime spy cam or just a motion sensor night vision camera,
Battery Life is stated to last about 10 days,
Haven't get thru that yet, I'll review that Later
It works exactly as described. It's early days yet but it seems to be robust and well made to last a long time.
The short videos it creates are time stamped which is what I was looking for and can view something in absolute darkness.
The videos are a bit over exposed as they need to be to catch the tiniest of light sources. I don't intend to do anything
except keep track of animal movements at night so the videos are just fine for me.
The instructions are clear. But, they tend to assume that the reader is completely aware of what they are referring to.
In order to set the time and date stamp (which works very well) you need to create a small .txt file and transfer it into
the folder of the camera.
For those confused by this on a Windows machine (sorry can't speak to what is needed on Macs, . .) in the 'Accessories'
folder in the programs of the Start Menu, you should find 'Notepad'. This is what you would use to create the .txt file with the
current date & time. (The text you type in and save is completely spelled out in the instructions, . . .)
Once created and saved you drag and drop it into the camera folder after you have connected the camera to ]
your pc. That's all there is to it.
One note this may be tripping up some trying to set the time and date The time that needs to be set is based on a
24 hour clock (which most of the world uses, . .) as opposed to a 12 hour clock that we use in the States. So 5PM is
written as 17:00. This may be one of the reasons setting the time hasn't worked for others.
Buy SpygearGadgets Motion-Activated Camera with Night Vision and 10-Day Battery Life Now
I bought this camera to put into my car and everything works fine except the motion activation takes too long to activate. If you walk at a normal pace past my car then the activation is too slow to catch the motion. If you linger for more than 5 seconds, only then will it will catch the motion. I have an internal motion activation system in my house that senses motion instantly even in the dark. I guess I am used to INSTANT motion detection and this camera has 5 SECOND DELAYED motion detection. I was able to set the date very easily, the battery does last for over 50hrs continuous before recharging as promised and it does film in complete darkness.After seeing evidence of a rat, and no luck catching it, I decided to try using this camera to capture it on video, if not in a nice, baited trap.
Upon arrival of the camera, I was initially disappointed to not see any option for adjusting the sensitivity of the IR detector, as I had seen on other cameras advertised (I was worried that the factory adjustments wouldn't be sensitive enough to detect something as small as a rat). Oh well, I thought, I'll give it a try and if it doesn't work I can always throw it into the vast pile of other useless electronic junk that I seem to be addicted to buying off of the internet.
Using the factory settings for video capture time (30sec), I mounted the camera on a tripod, in our kitchen, and aimed it in the vicinity of where we've been seeing evidence (droppings, puffballs of fiberglass insulation, etc). I turned the unit on at 11pm and went to bed not expecting much.
After waking up the next day, I went about my business, not being overly excited about the camera; still convinced that it couldn't possibly be sensitive enough to detect a rat. I finally got around to retrieving the camera and attaching it to my PC with the included video cable (BTW, my unit did not come with a memory card, and had to purchase a 4GB one from Best Buy for $13 + tax. Be sure to buy one from Amazon as the price can't be beat).
Anyway, after attaching it to my PC, I opened up the camera's folder, and there were 15 videos, ranging in time from 30 sec to 90sec. Could the camera have actually caught one of the little son-of-a-guns?, I wondered? With anticipation, I opened up the very first video file and was pleasantly startled to see what I saw. There it was in all it's tiny glory, skittering around my kitchen floor, thumbing it's wiggly little nose up at me!
Based on my new-found knowledge of his whereabouts, I'm in the process of putting together a party for my little friend a party from which he'll hopefully never return!
Want SpygearGadgets Motion-Activated Camera with Night Vision and 10-Day Battery Life Discount?
I've been using this for a few weeks to watch for people snooping around my work cubicle after hours. So far I'm fairly impressed the device works as advertised.Pros:
Excellent battery life, I have left it unattended for several days at a time.
There is a tripod mount on the back of unit, but I haven't tried it yet.
Very small package does not look overly conspicuous.
Included rubber stand allows for easy positioning
Incredibly easy to use once configured just turn the switch "on" when you want it active.
The night vision, while I have only tested it once, is surprisingly pretty good.
Cons (mostly already covered)
The instructions are not very clear.
The field of view is not very wide I'm only able to capture about 1/2 of the area in my cubicle.
When in pitch dark, the IR LED's light up for the night vision to work. The IR's are not invisible they emit some low red light, which to me was clearly visible in a mostly dark room this makes it somewhat conspicuous in the dark.
There is a definite delay in time to start recording. This is the price for long battery life the device is in "standby" until it detects motion, so there's a delay for things to get rolling. Typically a person is fully in frame by the time recording starts. I don't think it's a big deal personally, but expect the first 2-4 seconds of an "event" to be missed.
Connecting it to my PC is rather flaky using the built-in USB port. I usually remove the microSD card and use a separate microSD reader to access the stored videos.
And here is a rough setup guide that may help those who struggle with the included directions:
1) Acquire a microSD card that is at least rated as "Class 6" I bought a 16 gig one from a different online site. It is NOT included.
2) You must be able to access this microSD card as a drive on a Windows PC either by following the included directions for activating the "removable storage" on the camera, or the much easier method use a microSD USB reader. Many microSD cards come with a reader.
3) The camera comes with a small CD containing a setup executable (.exe) file. You must copy this setup file to the microSD card. Do NOT launch the setup program from the CD copy it to the microSD card, and then put the CD away you won't need it anymore.
4) From the microSD card, launch the setup program that you just copied. Here you will set resolution, frame rate, and date/time. Click the "save" button.
5) The program will instruct you to reboot the camera. If you are using an external card reader, take the card out and put it into the camera remove the battery cover and gently pull the battery aside to expose the microSD slot. If you are not, then disconnect the camera from the USB cable and thrn it "Off".
6) Wait a few seconds, then, turn the camera switch to "On". Set it somewhere, dance around in front of it, whatever, to test it. I would recommend running it for several minutes, some of that time spent moving in front of it, and some of that time spent out of the field of view, to give it a thorough test. The camera generally will NOT save the video it is CURRENTLY recording, so if you just turn it on, move around, and turn it off, the camera will not save any videos. You must allow it to reset to standby at least once for it to write the video to the card.
7) Turn the camera off and move the microSD card to your reader (or, follow the directions to put the camera in mass storage mode). Open the "VIDEOS" folder on your SD card. There should be folders sorted by date, and then videos within for each motion detection, the file name being the timestamp. Make sure you can play them.
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