Over the past year I have done a lot of work with network IP cameras including high-end commercial models from Axis Communications; mid-range units from Panasonic and budget cameras from Foscam. I have worked extensively with three Foscam camera models - FI8918W Pan/Tilt, FI8909W-NA fixed camera and the FI8904W fixed outdoor model. All of these cameras were purchased directly from China rather than from Amazon, because Amazon did not offer them when I made my purchases, however, Amazon's price is very good and I would purchase any future units from them.
The Foscam cameras are made by Foscam Intelligent Technologies Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen, China. Their website is often down, apparently due to China's pervasive interference with its Internet service. Despite this, Foscam's support via email is quite responsive considering the time difference.
These cameras have proven reliable after months of service both indoors and outdoors. All of the camera models have been installed outdoors in semi-protected locations, such as under a building eve and the model FI8904W has weathered a less protected location where only the rear of the camera was shielded from rain. Note: only the front of the FI8904W is water resistant, despite what the brochure says.
These cameras are consumer grade with a small sensor and a plastic lens. Display resolution is modest at 640 x 480 Pixels (300k Pixels). They are adequate for general observation and surveillance and are especially good for monitoring a home interior. You can test drive a Foscam FI8918W camera installed in Russia at this link: [] Login using Server Push Mode as user demo and a password of demo. You can fully control the pan/tilt. Personally, I recommend that you never use the ActiveX mode - it is, in my opinion, buggy.
All of the Foscam cameras come with infrared LEDs built-in the camera face. This enables night vision in black & white. The FI8904W model is particularly good at seeing in the dark, given its large array of infrared LEDs. The manufacturer claims 20 meters of visibility. I can say that a pitch black 20x20 foot room will appear as if the room lights are on in the FI8904W 's video.
The builtin software enables multiple cameras to be linked through its built-in web page, creating a single monitoring center for multiple cameras. A demonstration of this feature can be seen on YouTube at:[]
One issue is that to save cost, Foscam cameras lack the switchable infrared filter found in more expensive IP network cameras. As a result, the colors of images and videos will not be true, primarily concerning the color green. Plant foliage will appear gray. Given the camera's security goal, this isn't a big issue to me.
All Foscam cameras have built-in software supporting a motion detector feature that can be scheduled by day of week and time of day, in fifteen minute increments. When active, detected motion will cause six time stamped (in the filename) still photographs of what caused the motion to be emailed to the email address of your choice. It supports access to smtp mail servers, such as Yahoo but not SSL servers, such as Gmail.
Lastly, configuring any network IP camera, not just Foscam, is not plug and play and Foscam's little instruction booklet is minimal. Help exists on Internet forums like [] Genuine Foscam Fi8908w Wireless Ip Camera Network with Pan & Tilt,night Vision,2 Way Audio,black
I've had it for about a week so far and bought it to really monitor my dog's behavior while I'm away. The infrared beam is excellent especially now with the dark winters. In fact the beam reaches pretty far and the picture at 640x480 looks very clear.
I had a Compro IP60 stationary camera before and one thing I really liked about it was I could point my Blackberry to an RTSP address and it'll stream right to the phone (when it worked that is). With the Foscam it seems I'm dependent on purchasing an IP camera program. Two I saw in the app store cost $15 or more but I tested out Total Control which is $6 for a 4 camera version. It seemed to work and has options to pan the camera but my experiences showed my camera just moving on its own with me having no control whatsoever, even connected via wi-fi on the same network. Because of that I won't try to pan it at all since you'll just wind up staring at a wall.
The audio is incredibly clear, although only available with IE, and with minimal lag. The Compro IP60's audio has a lot of lag and there's a lot of clicking sounds, like relays going off inside, before and after which is pretty annoying so I was happy this didn't have any of that.
I read a lot of reviews about this before getting it and I'll just say that if you're technically inclined and can read the words on the web GUI, you don't even really need any instructional book at all whatsoever. I had the thing set up and going just by looking over all the settings. It's actually all quite simple so jump right in.
The other complaint people listed was ActiveX crashing a lot with Win7 64bit. Mine crashed often too but one day when I had it in compatibility mode it seemed to work perfectly. Today though it's crashing again. Kind of sucks since it's so inconsistent. Hopefully a web UI update will fix this soon.
Currently I'm using a Synology DS409 with its Surveillance Station to record video but it doesn't fully support the 918 yet. I can pan and tilt and all but there is no audio.
Overall it's pretty nice. I intend to buy a second one so I can monitor more areas in my condo. The infrared beam only turns on when it gets dark so you don't have to worry about wasting energy. Even in the night though you have the option of turning it off altogether. All in all pretty nice but due to lack of HTTPS, and the fact I leave it on all the time, I don't port forward to it but instead use an SSH server to connect to and then tunnel to the camera. Now all my data is encrypted with an incredibly complex passphrase.
The one feature I wish it had was some sort of pan limit settings for the patrol. It will scan side to side or up and down but all the way to the ends. I wish it had numbers displayed for its pan location and somewhere you can enter in a min and max range. I really don't need it to patrol the two walls I have, since it goes 300degrees, just down the two hallways. It's like limiting sticks for a machine gunner position. There's just a lot of wasted motion when it goes well beyond where it really needs to go.
And yes, my dog is freaked out by it when it moves and I fear I'll have video of her attacking it some day but that'd be worth the $92. - Security Camera - Network Camera - Webcam - Ip Camera'
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