Ordered these so we could have a baby monitor for our newborn and our 2-year-old in her "big girl room." Never used anything from "Foscam" before so had no expectations going in. Quality of materials was surprisingly good, these cameras are sturdy and feel like they will last (not like flimsy cheap junk.)Setup was simple. I have been setup and maintained networks for quite some time, so I didn't bother with the user manual and can't comment on how well they walk you through the setup, but if you have setup your own wireless router before then you can figure out the setup on these pretty easily. The included disc will discover the IP addresses of the cameras automatically when you connect them which will let you log into their respective control panels and then you're either up and running with default settings, or have it customized in mere minutes. If you can setup port forwarding and DDNS you can access these from anywhere in the world via the internet (or smartphone) which is really nice.
I was surprised at the amount of features built into these. I don't use many of them, but am glad to know they exist. When these retire from being nanny cams they will make great security with motion detection and the ability to email out snapshots to alert you anytime/anywhere to let you know they see something, then you know to log in and watch your live feed.
Motor operation is smooth and silent, you cannot hear these cameras move. (the iPad app I use to monitor/control mine is loud when they move, the mic picks up the motor noise, but someone in range of the camera will never hear them moving.)
Video quality is acceptable for monitoring anything you need, these aren't for shooting home movies. The infrared lights work amazingly well. I expected the light to be a spot light in the center of the camera view, but was impressed that they light up the entire room (in our kids bedrooms not sure how large of a room will continue to get these results.) Audio quality is low, but was a bonus feature I was not expecting. It is nice to have 2-way communication built right in.
Others have complained that it didn't come with an extra antenna. I don't know what they're looking for in the package, the description on the item I bought says it has a 9dbi antenna. It doesn't say it comes with an EXTRA 9dbi antenna. You get two cameras, and there are two antenna in the package. You attach them and you're done. That is the 9dbi antenna that is advertised with the camera and I am getting excellent range and signal strength with them.
Overall I'm pleased with this product, and on my recommendation my father-in-law is installing them as security cameras for his lake cabin and using some of the other features that I don't need. If either of us have any major issues I will update this review.
Using the Active X IE multidevice function, I monitor four cameras now: two outside and two inside. I turned the motion sensing function down to sensitiivity 2 and eliminated most false alarms. The function emails me snapshots of the motion alert as well as taking a 1 minute avi.
Outside IR night vision is very good for the price. The inside cameras pan and tilt functions are used to take candid snapshots of our lazy cats and turtles.
For 300 dollars or so I have 360 view of the outside of my house and am able to view the main living area from anywhere. Great product for the price. I cancelled my ADT contract which was 600 a year.
Save 11% Off
No comments:
Post a Comment