this camera works great especially at night when you need it the most IMHO. However i have found the camera light level flickers bright to dim to bright over and over again through out the day. Absent this it is especially good quality. (Posted on 11/16/12)

So many shining reviews of this product all written on the same day 7/4. It makes me wonder if someone from Foscam is beefing up the positive reviews? Just sayin..... (Posted on 8/15/12)

Good camera, little heavy but looks and feels like it will last for years. (Posted on 8/11/12)

I was skeptical, but this is a very nice inexpensive camera. The housing is solid, the camera and DDNS setup is very easy. It works very nicely with the iPhone. After messing around with Lorex DVR systems, the Foscam is a breath of fresh air for someone trying to be able to check in remotely. (Posted on 7/25/12)

got two technically identical cameras, one from Foscam. Installs quickly, however the picture is very grainy. (Posted on 7/16/12)

Amazingly, hardly anyone has negative things to say about this camera. And they all wanted to review on 7/4/11 (Posted on 7/10/12)

This unit is state of the art!
Just the straight facts ( a fantastic product , I have 2)

if you dont know how to install, SECURE wireless TCP/IP based devices, seek help!
but on the other hand, the manual is one of the best ive seen on , connecting rocket science. (im a retired electronics tech)
I recommend the D-Link DIR-655 router ! (vastly more flexible !)

before you buy?
learn how your router is configured. (if you dont know?, then dont buy anything)
1:find out your SSID ( a network device node name)
2:make sure its broadcasting the SSID. called "Visible" by D-link
next, you need your Encryption type

3: I USE WAP PSK + AES , my new router allows both WPA or WPA2 (auto) and TKIP and AES mode automatically.!!! D-LINK rules !
4: write down your Pre-shared key, use a long key with no spaces. (mine is 20 digits long) I mix lowercase and numbers.

so if you'd had printed out all that data on the Wireless network page, of said router ,then you'd already be ready.! (above poster didnt)

next RTM that is , on their web site, is 2 books. PDF's
connecting up
and
setting up the cam for ww. viewing.
it connects up, just like all fine wireless devices on a secure network. nothing new here.

but, it,s not a light bulb either.
hope that helps you get connected !
and btw ,there are hundreds of forums to help you do this. no need to go it alone.
and the price is like 1/10 price of the first units i used in commercial systems.
so its a great deal too. (Posted on 7/4/11)

State of the art hardware as well as software.
Great pictures, long range with Auto-Infrared at night.

Although the English in the manual is not the best, you definitely will be able to set up the camera, IF YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS STEP BY STEP.
Internet access gets more complicated for the average user, since one has to do "port-forwarding".
I recommend [...], click on your router and follow the steps. SHOULD be easy.

I also have the FI8918W Foscam FI8918W Wireless/Wired Pan & Tilt IP Camera with 8 Meter Night Vision and 3.6mm Lens (67° Viewing Angle) for indoors.

I installed IP Cam Viewer Lite ([...]) on my Sprint EVO 4G, easy setup; now I am able to monitor both cameras on my EVO.

In summary:
This camera as well as the FI8918W are highly recommended for the computer savvy. The average computer user should consider asking the neighbor's Computer Wiz Kid for help. (Posted on 7/4/11)

I have been looking for a weatherproof wireless camera for a long time and was surprised to find such a capable camera at such a low price. Was extremely easy to set up and access from the internet and my phone with the free Android App IP Cam Viewer Lite. It was also easy to set up the camera to send an email to me whenever it detects motion. The night vision was also much better than expected. You do need to have some basic understanding of your router/firewall and email server to set all of the features up but the examples are pretty good.

Overall the product was a pleasant surprise and I plan to order another one. My only concern is how long the camera will last in outdoor conditions. (Posted on 7/4/11)

Installation for this camera was done at 2 a.m. in just a few minutes. I currently use verizon fios' router, so I was a little unsure what the quality would be like without a namebrand router. The quality was great and the installation was a success. I just followed the directions, plugged the camera via ethernet cable into the router and let it set itself up. After it gave itself an IP address, all I really had to do was do some minor changes via the control address it gives you.
Connectivity was simple after that. I mounted it to the front patio area, and it automatically connected itself. The mounting is kind of weird. I'm unsure how it will hold up to the wind. The brackets are kind of flimsey and will move and the camera actually fell into my hands after mounting it up there. Just make sure it's as tight as it will go. Currently, we use IP Camera for android (thanks to one of the previous reviewers who wrote about it) and we love it. It is an easy app to install on any android device. And don't worry I-phone users, i'm sure there is something out there just like this app. The price, you can't beat, and other than a minor interference from the baby monitor, this camera was running in no time. I am planning on purchasing 8 more just like these!!!! (Posted on 7/4/11)

Like another reviewer, I'm very technical, but it still took a little while to figure this thing out. It took a little forum surfing. I never bothered with the provided software because I bought this camera for use with zoneminder. First thing to do is connect it with an ethernet cable. Check your router to see what IP address your DHCP server (typically a router function) gave to the camera. Go to that address in your PC browser. Login to the camera with push mode (not ActiveX). Login with userid admin (no password).

Assuming you want to run this thing wirelessly, go to the wireless lan setting section and scan twice (yes twice) for available networks. When you see yours, click on it to auto-fill the fields. Type in your key and click submit. While the camera is resetting, unplug the ethernet cable from the camera. Roughly 30 seconds later, the camera will have requested and received a new (and different) IP address from your router/DHCP-sever. Find that new address from your router interface and go to it in your browser to make sure it works. Now you can (finally) reserve that IP address in your router DHCP section so that whenever the camera (after being power cycled) requests a new IP address, the router will always give it the same one (based on the mac address). You can only do that AFTER you switch to wireless mode. If you do it before (while you are hard-wired), you will never get wireless to work. You will want to "DHCP-reserve" the IP address so that you can port-forward to it from the outside. Otherwise the camera IP address might move on you if you take a power hit (making port-forwarding dicey).

As far as image goes, it's great - both daytime and nightime. (Much better than the D-Link DCS-930L simply because of better optics - The DCS-930L is indoor only and is much smaller though). The image is fixed and a bit zoomed, but that might be perfect for your application. You can replace the lens (saw it done in a youtube video) if you want a more fisheye effect. As I mentioned above, I have no idea how good the supplied software is since I don't use it. Zoneminder does all my motion detection and notification for me.

If you're serious about monitoring, you should get a couple of UPSs to keep your PC and cameras running in case of power glitches. Of course, a generator will be necessary for more than about 30 minutes of power outage. (Posted on 7/4/11)

First of all, I just have to say; you need to actually look at the dimensions of this baby. I really expected it to be much small, but then, what would I be able to tell from a picture of just the camera?

As others have said, the pigtail on this thing is VERY cumbersome. The Ethernet cable/Rest switch/Power leads make securing this camera a challenge. I will try to post some pics to give you an idea...

I of course refuse to use the windows software, so this review is for Linux or Mac users.

Once you unwrap the camra and get it set up someplace inside, connect the Ethernet cable to your switch or router then check the DHCP log for the new device. Open Firefox and put that IP into your browser location field. The camera will display a login screen. If you do not get the login screen for that IP, you might need to push the rest button and wait about 1-minute for the camera to reset. Then refresh your browser. Ignore the ActiveX portion at the top and select the Login button at the bottom of the display. You will get a login popup. Enter "admin" for the userid and lease the password blank. This will get you to the device status. You will also see the "Live Video" and "Device Management" tabs which you can Read The Fun Manual for.

One BIG gotcha that took a while and some googling. You can thank me later. The camera works great inside and the night vision is amazing with the Eye of Sauron LEDs shining brightly, but when you take it out into the sunlight, the live image goes totally white. On the "Live Video" page, find the "Mode" button, click on the pulldown selector and select "Outdoor". Poophtah! You have an image again. You may need to adjust the brightness and contrast a bit.

It won't do wireless and wired at the same time. Set up the wireless, unplug the wire, and reset the camera. If you leave the wire attached, it just seems to disable it.

An annoyance: the camera seems to always have a component of IR sensitivity. If you want true colors, don't even bother. Warm colors seem to work, but blues and greens are washed out to a night-vision look. For me, I can deal with it because I plan to enjoy the night vision component for watching deer and raccoons around my LakeShack.

Pros:
Good price
good nightvision
Fairly good resolution
Works with Firefox and Linux
Works with my MiniCam Android App. (You'll need to set up dynamic DNS and a port pass-through on your router...google it)
Supposedly works with ZoneMinder on Linux...Hope to try that.
I tested the FTP portion and it worked fine. (Wish it would let me change the names it uploads like Trendnet cameras)
live video without ActiveX

Cons:
Really big! It won't be discrete
IR LEDs are very red in the dark. Again not discrete
Mounting bracket is barely usable.
Poor color rendering
VERY narrow field of view. Good for distance, not great for covering a wide area close to the building.
Did I say it was big?
Power supply is one of those wall-ticks and it gets really hot.

TL/DR: Good for the price, great for night vision, works without Windows and Internet Exploder. (Posted on 7/4/11)

I'm a 54 year old grandma, and if I can install this camera, anyone can! I think it's the router setup that is driving people crazy, and I highly recommend the DLink DIR-655 router for those of us who are router challenged -- I've had a terrible time in the past trying to set up a wireless router manually, it's just so complicated, so I did some research and bought the DLink DIR-655 router, which I highly recommend if you are going to install this camera. The DLink is a very easy router to use, it has a setup wizard which virtually does all the hard parts for you. When you install the camera, the first thing you should do is use the little cd that comes with it -- it has a quick start guide that you can pop up, which makes installation a lot more easy than trying to read the tiny instructions in the miniature manual that comes with it (I need reading glasses to read it). I followed the quick start guide directions exactly, and had the camera set up and working in less than 15 minutes, a LOT less time than I had anticipated! The software that comes with the program makes it easy to adjust the camera to any settings you wish. We bought ours in order to keep an eye on an owl box that my husband put up last summer -- it is being checked out by a potential tenant and we have been asked by the State DEP to keep an eye on things and report to them what happens. I'm very happy with this camera -- there are a couple of videos on youtube you can also check out, one on how easy it is to install, and another showing the video quality of the camera. (Posted on 7/4/11)

I ordered this outdoor IP camera to use as a webcam for a wireless weather station. I was concerned at the reviews stating that it was hard to set up to work with the computer and internet. That's the furthest from the truth, it was simple! If you follow the instructions which I agree are of very small print, it connects very easily with the computer. The video is of good quality, the alarm and email functions work very well and again were easy to set up.

Two negatives, first the hardware they give you to install it outside is very small and flimsy. It does not hold the camera securely enough and I do not trust it for outside installation. I will need to figure out another way to mount. Second the electrical wire is very short and is not rated for outside use. It will require an extension cord unless you can mount it next to an electrical outlet. I'm not sure why the camera comes with that type of electrical cord. Another thing that will need to be worked on.

All in all for the price it's a great camera except for the items I mentioned. (Posted on 7/4/11)

I have 6 other network cameras in my house. They all have been running for literally years with no issue.For some reason it falls off the network (it's wireless, as is another camera that's rock solid). The viewing angle is much more narrow than I was expecting. Kinda bummed. Can't use for my original purpose. Not really sure what I will do with it. Daytime colors are off. Night time is great. (Posted on 7/4/11)

This camera works as advertised and in fact the outdoor durability and the IR night vision are better than I expected. I currently have the camera outside overlooking my back yard, exposed to the elements. It has fared well in rain and snow. We have had a few sub freezing days without ill effect to the camera's operation. The software for the camera is PC based and I use mostly Mac's and Linux. This is not an issue as the camera has a built in web server that is accessible via a browser. Through that interface one may configure the camera as needed. I'd definitely recommend this as an outdoor wireless webcam and I will probably buy a second one. (Posted on 7/4/11)

As said before on other reviews, the mounting hardware could be better.
The lens is not 12mm it's 8mm. In my case it was fine. Night vision is good at 30 feet out.
The GUI is okay, could be better, but good enough and easy to figure out.
Configuration is not bad, although it could be tricky for none tech types. If you follow the direction you'll be fine. I had it up and running in less then five minutes, and running with wireless G.

Overall this is a good product. Would buy another. (Posted on 7/4/11)

I've never used a camera before so this was new to me. After reading the reviews and thinking "what did I get myself into" - everything turned out OK, for my intended use which was to basically monitor the weather. Actually setting it up, software-wise, worked fine. The instructions are hard to follow, but...when I plugged everything in, it worked. Since it was late fall and the weather had already turned here, I decided to keep it indoors. The manual gives operating temps which don't confine to my area...where we sometimes can get well below 0. Ive read some reviews where the temp doesn't seem to bother the operation. Maybe this spring I will try to get it outside. Inside looking out a window is ok, but at night the IR lights reflect back off the glass and u get the "flying saucer" for an image...until dawn when suddenly, poof, u have an image again. The image quality is fine for my use...I didn't intend to have anything super high-speed for $100. The cabling does have its drawbacks...its not a weatherproof connection so u only have about 3 ft of cable u can have outside. Id say its the weakest part of the camera. Even for wireless u still need the cable hooked up (for power) - so Im not really sure what the purpose of wireless even is, unless they have some sort of weather-proof extension cable. But...for the price, it does fine. Here is a link to the camera so u can see for yourself what it looks like:

[...]

All computers/networks are different. Maybe I got lucky who knows! For me, and the price, it was worth it - nothing happens at night here anyway!!

Cheers! (Posted on 7/4/11)

Bought this camera for an entry level outside security cam. Wanted the narrow angle for an alley way. Lens at 22deg is perfect. Camera is big. Solid. Mount supplied does the job, but thats about it- dont expect it to win any fashion awards. Setup was easy and smooth, but i have a bunch of these cameras so i knew what to expect. IR emitter at night is very bright and benefits from the smaller angle lense to light up everything. Only complaints would be the size of the camera, the mount, and the fact that when the IR trips on or off because of daylight - it registers a motion-alarm. I guess the positive to that, is i get to study the axis-tilt of the earth as the notifications get later or earlier as the seasons change :-) Otherwise, for the price, this is a good camera that does its job-- just dont expect much. (Posted on 7/4/11)

Full of features, very easy to setup (not sure why so many people had so many issues.) I will say that I am an computer consultant so I'm sure that plays a role as to why this was so easy for me to setup because I do a lot of these things on a normal basis anyway. That said, I still think it's fairly simple if you just follow the directions.

You plug it in with the RJ45 cable (cat5) and power it on, you install the camera ip tool and it finds the camera on the network for you, you then put that ip address into your browser of choice and then login. From there it's just customizing it how you want. I set it up with wireless and it sits roughly 60 feet away from my router. The picture is near real time (30 fps) very surprised on the quality and speed of the video. One thing to watch out for is you may not pick up the camera with your wireless router if you have a wireless G or N router. It seems to operate on wireless B (has a further distance but not as fast as G) I just went into the wireless settings on my router and told it to use mixed mode or B&G mode.

I have it setup with motion detection and to email me with pictures, which works very well. I'm keeping tabs on it from work as I'm typing this through my browser and I was testing the positioning with a free app on my Droid X.

Can't go wrong with this camera, I will be purchasing more soon. (Posted on 7/4/11)

I purchased this item through another retailer for less but have to say that it does work well. The documentation is horrid and could use some help but anyone with basic knowledge of networking and computers should be able to get this working within an hour. (Posted on 7/4/11)

If you want an item that networks itself, has excellent support, and works immediately by simply running a cd than you are going to spend several hundred dollars. This was about 100 bucks, it's waterproof, color, has night vision, and is wireless. I would like to see someone find a camera containing these features for a price that is even in the ballpark......that's what I thought. This device was very simple to set up and install. I used sensr.net as an ftp server which I would recommend to anyone that has never messed with configuring a ddns service for remote access as the site explains exactly how to configure this device to it .Here is the link. [...]
I use that site to monitor my camera remotely. Once this thing is up and running it works great. This is not HD and the night vision is not perfect but it definitely gets the job done for budget surveillance. I can't believe the number of whiners reviews for this product.....Want something simple with training wheels and someone to hold your hand during the installation? Go spend 500 bucks! Anyway, great product for the price (Posted on 7/4/11)

Yes, wireless setup will be difficult if you're not familiar with that sort of thing.

If you've ever gone into your router settings to set something up, you won't have any trouble.

The picture quality is great (both day & night)
Haven't had any problems out of it in the heavy winds and rain other than it moving a little bit in high winds.

I was concerned about buying the mjpeg instead of the H.264 which would be better, but considering the price and quality, I'm pleased with this one. (Posted on 7/4/11)

First off. I purchased one of these cameras to make sure it meet my needs before getting another and then finally 4 more. I have a total of 6 cameras protecting my property and am using the blueiris software to record and manage the cameras. It is the best software but this review is not for the software ,which is excellent, but for the camera.

Camera construction:
Robust. Perfect for outdoors. In fact all my cameras are outdoors but under overhanging eves. The shell is waterproof and cord out of the camera is waterproof as well.

Wiring the cameras:
These are wireless cameras but i will inform you that you will have to run a wire of some sort as these cameras will need wired power. so i went ahead and wired the cameras via ethernet as well since i had to run power. one suggestion is you can use what i did and run cat6 for the ethernet and POWER. that is if you are technically inclined. I used 4 wires for the ethernet (orange, orange white, green, green white) and the blue and blue white for power and the brown and brown white for ground. I physically cut the power cord that comes with the cameras in half and soldered one end to the ethernet cable extra wires and the other end. the cameras are really low wattage so you can easily get away with this. I ran 40 feet of cable this way and the cameras work fine.

Software on the cameras:
If you get a real foscam then the software built in to the cameras is very good and will do everything you want to do except record video stream. The cameras will do time delay snapshots but for advanced features such as stream captures etc i recommend blue iris software. Make sure you get real foscams as there are unofficial clones with a different interface.

The camera picture quality:
Here is where the camera is both a blessing and a curse. Curse first. The cameras during the daytime show everything as washed out. Grass is white and not green. Trees are a purple hue. But you can see and makeout everything fine. At night everything is of course white as well but the camera has extremely good night vision. The infrared LEDS are so good that if you switch out lenses to a smaller focal you will get a "hot spot" or "ghost ring" of overbright led power. there is a solution for this, see the next section on lenses. Blessing, the camera does night vision perfect and daytime good. what other camera for 100$ has this cameras abilities and build quality? Can you get a better quality camera for daytime..YES. This washed out look is inherent to any IR cameras as the way the infrared filters work. So a camera that doesnt have night vision will look very good during the day but dont let that fool you that this is an inferior camera. Do robbers come during the day? Some do i guess.

Lenses:
The 12mm lense is unusable for me. the quality of the lense is excellent but 12mm shows you a 10 foot by 10 foot area 100 feet down the block. Not good for home surveillance. But good for a radio tower or traffic camera.
You can use CCTV lenses. they just unscrew. lenses are cheap on amazon or ebay. Figure out the focal length you need using online calculator. Im using 1 8mm lense 2 6mm lenses, and 3 2.8mm lenses.
To avoid the ghosting from the overbright LEDs when using smaller lenses....use wax paper. yes the stuff you cook with. cut a ring out that fits over the leds and cut the center section out for the lense and install behind the glass. this filters the infrared, or blurs it if you will, and produces a good night vision without the hotspot.

Networking setup:
The camera is a nightmare. im a IT guy and hate to admit i had a bit of trouble with it. I have it using wired ethernet with wireless as a backup. Im using gmx for my email setup as that provider works with the foscam software for email. I have my cameras accessible over the internet. i suggest you get one camera, dont mount it and configure it in front of your computer and test to make sure its working on your network before mounting it. once you figure out how to network one of the cameras the others are a simple cut and paste and change a few settings such as IP address if you use a static like i did.

Summary:
Almost all the cameras shortcomings can be overcome. the cost of the camera is exceptional for what you get. the networking setup is where most people fail the camera or give it low reviews. its not really the fact that the camera is the problem. there is just alot of configuring to do...email alerts, ftp, web access, wired dhcp static or dynamic, wireless setup and security...etc.
These cameras are alot of bang for the buck. Dont regret my purchases 1%. (Posted on 7/4/11)

State of the art hardware as well as software.
Great pictures, long range with Auto-Infrared at night.

Although the English in the manual is not the best, you definitely will be able to set up the camera, IF YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS STEP BY STEP.
Internet access gets more complicated for the average user, since one has to do "port-forwarding".
I recommend [...], click on your router and follow the steps. SHOULD be easy.

I also have the FI8918W Foscam FI8918W Wireless/Wired Pan & Tilt IP Camera with 8 Meter Night Vision and 3.6mm Lens (67° Viewing Angle) for indoors.

I installed IP Cam Viewer Lite ([...]) on my Sprint EVO 4G, easy setup; now I am able to monitor both cameras on my EVO.

In summary:
This camera as well as the FI8918W are highly recommended for the computer savvy. The average computer user should consider asking the neighbor's Computer Wiz Kid for help. (Posted on 7/4/11)

I have had experiences with other IP cameras, and am happy with the features and performance compared to the price. Unfortunately, the motion detection settings need some improving. In the current firmware version 11.25.2.30, there are no means to limit the field of view for the motion detection. I might be able to live with it if the camera wasn’t uploading five pictures every time motion was detected. So, I hope this issue can be resolved in a future firmware update. When I checked the foscam website, the latest firmware for this camera had a smaller version number than the one already installed (11.15.2.17). (Posted on 6/23/11)

Colors are washed out ! I could maybe live with the washed out colors, but "white trees and grass" are unacceptable ! (Posted on 6/3/11)

I was looking for a camera system that I could install myself and keep an eye on my home. I needed something that I could use my laptop, iPhone and iPad. These camera's do have there limitation but for the price you just can not beat them. They do have some brightness issue but there are some tricks to get past those problems. Check the forums. I have 9 cameras installed and will soon upgrade to the Blue Iris software in order to add more camera's. I do have a couple of the Foscam indoor camera's to keep an eye on my dogs. (Posted on 5/27/11)

It was very disappointing to me when I tried this cam. It has a lot of features but they didn't work well. Read the forum for all it's problems. (Posted on 5/5/11)