Top positive review
1 people found this helpful
VERY pleased with image quality AND reliablity
By Huyer on Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2013
I use SKJM's iCam software on my iPhone and their iCamsource software on my Mac desktop. I had a few inside cameras, but had never done an outdoor install. After a car was vandalized, I wanted a camera over the driveway. For some reason, users on the SKJM forum gave this camera mixed reviews so I was nervous to try it. However, I have been completely happy with it. It has better color quality and sharpness than my older Airlink AICN500W cameras and is just as reliable. This item is under the eave of our high roof. We drilled a hole through the outer paneling of the house so the cable could go into the attic. NOTE: The cable that comes out of this camera is power, ethernet, and reset cable all in ONE. I think this is for weatherproofing purposes. This is important because when you drill a hole to put this cable into your house, you'll need to drill a pretty large hole -- like a 1" opening or so. You can't just cut this cable and splice it inside OR take it off the camera easily. This wasn't a problem for us. We just ran the cable into the attic and then filled the rest of the hole around the cable with clear silicon. The camera plugs into a regular indoor outlet. We ran a new outlet in the garage. I see you can also buy power adapter extension cable directly from the company. See what you're more comfortable with doing. We use ours wirelessly, and it has been flawless. Image quality is good and the wireless connection has remained strong. SETUP is a bit of a pain. Not in the sense that something went wrong and I had to spend hours trying to figure something out, but more in the sense that the interface is pretty basic. If you have trouble setting an IP address, installing software that needs special configuration, or setting up port forwarding on your router, this camera will make you crazy. However, if these are do-able in your book, you'll be all set. The website for setting up wireless connection on the camera was very basic. You needed to wire directly into the camera first to set it up for wired access. Perhaps there is a utility on the CD included to do all this, but I prefer to stay away from automated setup wizards. I did all of this on my 10.8 Mac using Safari. We have had some rain and the item has continued to work just fine. It is somewhat protected by the eve of the house, but it seemed well built to deal with the elements. The body is all metal. The view angle is smaller than I expected, but I don't do a lot of work with cameras so I didn't have a good visualization of how it would work. The item is about 16" in the air and only shows our two-car-width driveway and about 3' on either side. I tested the night vision capabilities while the item was indoors. It worked really well. Not sure how well it works outdoors, because we installed a security light right by the camera. The night vision is completely automatic -- it turns on and off on its own. Unlike some other cameras, there is not a setting to disable the night vision IR illumination.
Top critical review
I like Foscam, but..
By Des Moines, IA Rug Hooker on Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2014
Originally I was looking at Cameras and I have several of the Foscam, they work and are not all that expensive. In fact buying from Amazon, they were almost $ 20 less that the special sale from the company. I had inquired and was reading reviews from Amazon and must have put it in my cart, so when it arrived, I was surprised. I open the box and find out several things that I didn't like. The back of the camera doesn't show what is hooked on to the cord, it has a whopping big ethernet plug, a long cable with a reset button and the power cord all tied together. Remember this is a wireless outdoor security camera. I could see the ethernet for maybe running it wired or using it to update the camera firmware , but the reset button for the camera was a bit much. So I call Foscam, they say, that the stuff has to stay connected, can't remove it. They suggest I mount a weather/water proof box on the wall where the wires will be going unless I can cut a hole in the wall or room to run the cables in. I then ask, ok., the power cord, it is a bit short. You folks sell for the indoor cameras an power cord extension, does it work with this camera, sorry, nope. So here I have a security camera with a whopping long reset /ethernet extension, a short power cord . Not going to work.. so I contacted Amazon and they are letting me return it . It is on the UPS truck as we speak going to the return place. Gut feeling. Foscam missed the boat with their cameras, it seems that having an outside ground fault plug at a lower level, no extension cord and although I didn't mention it a not much confidence it would last in an Iowa winter bracket that this rather heavy camera that comes with it. All of this I could figure out, the electrical box, check, but not being able to run the electricity to the camera and considering that the camera has been on the market for many years, the company being unable to provide a solution to the electrical issue, gives them a whopping 2 stars, maybe for you it might be fine, you might be able to cut a hole in the sofit, run in the cables in your attic, conduit out a plug in and make that work without the worry of the wall wort getting hot , unable to cool and fry your building. On the other side, Foscam is a good company with it's indoors and security software updates.
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