**Item: **Foscam Pan/Tilt Wireless IP Camera
Price: $69.99
Shipping Options: $5 Standard
Condition: New
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I have four of these. They work so well! They have a decent picture… you can connect to them remotely on a laptop or whatever… and along with an app, you can view them on your smartphone or tablet.
I just want to know if it’s worth it to get this exact model, or worth it to get a better version of foscam. Or something else entirely!
Let’s watch this in action [youtube=mBvYOs4hlL8][/youtube]
I have 3 of these cameras in my house. I use 2 in the babies’ rooms and one in the living room. I can keep an eye on everything in my house when I am away. Love them.
The foscam app for the iPad is my favorite because the 2-way audio works great. I also use ipCamViewer and it works well, but the 2-way audio isn’t very clear (I use this on my android phone).
This is also a great price. The lowest I got mine for was $62.99 from Amazon at Christmas a couple years ago. The others were at this price, I believe.
The new ones are quite a bit more expensive. So if you are looking for quality, go for the new ones… If you are looking for quantity go for the i8s
Well that was helpful. Thank you!
NO HD…booo
For this price, no way. There is a 720p version for about double the price and that’s a relative bargain compared to other ones out there. I have 2 of these plus 3 older version with no IR filter. They’re good for what they do, which is close up surveillance. Don’t expect to make out things that happen a street over. I got one each in my kids’ rooms, plus one right over the entrance, and two in the back. I can see people approaching my front door. I can see if the kids are sleeping soundly or not. And that’s pretty much all I want.
just wanted to say this camera rocks. we bought one to use as a baby monitor. but since the baby sleeps in our room, i mostly use it to confuse the dog when i’m at work. it also works great to tell the dog to knock it off when he’s actin’ a fool.
Does anyone know if the IR LED’s cause glare on windows? I’m thinking of mounting one inside my porch looking out the front of my house through the window towards by front steps. The porch light would not be on so it would be quite dark out there. In other words, would it work mounted inside to look outside?
I use 8 of these to monitor my business and home. Not simple to set up, but quite a value once you get them working.
In a nutshell you need to use the included software to assign each one to a specific port of your router. In your router software you need to set up port forwarding so that port is open to outside traffic and is viewable from a remote location. Using a hosting service such as dyndns.org (which allows you one free host), or no-ip.org, you can view the port/camera from outside your network. Also if your IP is dynamic, which it commonly is, you need to install an update client that will update your IP to the hosting service as it shifts.
Paid hosting services start around $15/year. You can also subscribe to services that constantly record all video like a hard drive would. Update clients are free as well as port checker tools that verify that port is viewable from outside the network.
Note that one host name can view all the cameras, i.e., if your host is myname.dyndns.org, your cameras can be myname.dyndns,org:85 (port 85), then myname.dyndns.org:86 and so on.
Finally to view the cameras on your mobile device there are many apps available. I like Foscam Pro on my iPad and iPhone as it allows you to view the cameras within your network as well as outside. Many apps only allow viewing from outside your network. Foscam Pro also allows easy access to the camera settings which can be set to email you as well as record stills or video upon motion. Another nice feature is that the camera settings file can be emailed so that you don’t need to enter the same information on different devices. The software also has working sound (2-way), camera position presets, IR on/off, exposure/resolution control, and image flip/mirror for upright viewing regardless of mounting arrangement.
These are not a good substitute for a dedicated surveillance system with a hard drive, but great for live monitoring and checking on your home (or kids) while away. The video quality is acceptable, but the motion is often stop and go.
Sometimes power outages and general gremlins will mess with mine and reassigning a different port will get them working again. I’ve gone through the process enough that I can set up a new camera in 10 minutes.
As long as you don’t expect HD quality video and know the limitations of these cameras, they can be quite useful. Once you conquer the learning curve you will be pleased with the value and utility. $70 is a fair price and about what I bought mine for on Amazon some time ago.
No-ip has been supported with foscam since the last major firmware upgrade. It is free, like dyndns used to be.
I just installed one of these (hd model) last week after having a bad feeling about our babysitter (that we have used for a year). While at work Saturday I logged in for the very first time and caught her being extremely verbally abusive to my two young children. While it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to see - and excruciatingly agonizing being 25 miles away - I’m glad did it (and feel horribly guilty that I didn’t sooner) and my boys don’t ever have to deal with her again. I even told her about it so she knew it was there. A disgustingly vile cruel two faced woman.
Regarding hd: streaming online to my phone was not that responsive in hd particularly panning and tilting so I dropped the resolution down to 640x480. If you’re doing local recording HD is definitely nice but if your primary goal is just checking in from your phone the resolution here is plenty good enough.
Two way audio is a great feature as well as the ir cut filter.
Edit: just ordered another. Never again.
Curious as to how these cameras perform outside, on the porch or side of the house?
IR is quite bright and can wash out the image when subjects are near. It will reflect off windows and probably won’t work for your application.
You would be better off mounting it outside. They make weather proof housings but those run as much as the camera. Better to get the outdoor version which is slightly more.