There’s no arguing that the price is stellar (especially if you get it with free shipping/handling). They feel solid in your hands, thanks to the aluminum construction, and the connector to the included 60′ cord seems fairly weather/water proof (I’m taping mine to be safe). The mounting bracket also allows for placement/pointing to your hearts content.

Cons:

Image quality isn’t going to blow you away, and it doesn’t help that I hooked it up to my HD set. If you’re looking for a camera with amazing night vision, this isn’t it. Don’t get me wrong, the IR LED’s work. The CCD (camera) works. Its just that there are too few LED’s and a lower sensitivity CCD. You can compensate for this with external IR illumination, but you’ll be lucky if you get a visible 10′ out of this unit by it self. Which may be fine for watching your front door, but falls short for your driveway or yards.

Overall:

Hey, for around [...] bucks you get a color daytime camera, nighttime IR/Night Vision camera, with a built-in mic and its weather proof. Sure, you can’t see far at night with just this unit, but there is no limit to how much external IR illumination you can run.
Rating: 3 / 5

Likes:

- Good construction, it feels well made

- Lots of cable. 60′ that come with the camera gets me to most places in the barn

- Mounting hardware (including screws) comes standard too

- Day time picture looks clear and crisp even through my IP Video Server which dumbs the quality down for internet.

Dislikes:

- Night vision? HA What night vision? I mounted one camera 10′ off the ground in a corner and it can’t make out an animal in the stall!

- Viewing angle – The camera in the stall 10′ up can’t see the walls at all, all corners are missing in the view, it only sees what’s in the center of the stall and that object takes up the whole frame. Totally useless for the application I was hoping for. The one I have mounted outside looking towards my pasture is 33′ from my fence gate. What do I see in the camera? I only see my 10′ gate it takes up the whole view at 33′ away! If you want to see anything you are going to mount it on a telephone pole 1 mile away I swear.

- Mounting – Trying to get the camera to stay in the position you want it to is a headache. It does eventually stay once you swear at it a few times.

Summary: It appears these cameras are only good for day time use mounted up really really really high so you can see anything. Unless, you wanted to observe a single spot up close in really good detail. If you are planning in using these as a night time camera consider also purchasing a IR flashlight to help light up the area even more. Personally, I think I just wasted my $ I would have rated it lower if the day time picture wasn’t so clear and it didn’t come with everything you needed to just plug it in and go.
Rating: 2 / 5

Well once I figured out how to run the old VCR, setting it up was a breeze. Now where to locate it? I didn’t trust putting it within any reach of the neighbor, so I set it up running from my TV in an upstairs bedroom. At first, I just sat it in the window, and it worked fine except at night, because of the screen on the window. I now have it mounted on the outside of the window, and it works just fine at night. I don’t like reviewing six hours of tape when I am away from home…….boring. When I am at home, I just speak into the microphone and mention the date and time.

The sound and picture is great. The only negative comments I have is that the green grass looks like dead brown grass, and it is difficult to lock in place. (Maybe it is my muscle capacity.)

I spent plenty of time trying to figure out what kind of security camera to buy, and how to record what I was seeing. So far, I am pleased with my decision.

Rating: 4 / 5