Am I wasting my time with Amcrest/Foscam?

[rnatalli]

Amcrest has some decent hardware because many are based on Dahua, but overpriced and you basically have Foscam customer service. Might as well get Dahua right out of the gate.

 

[kirbymurphy]

Amcrest has some decent hardware because many are based on Dahua, but overpriced and you basically have Foscam customer service. Might as well get Dahua right out of the gate.

If they made the Amcrest cam I bought last year, that's enough reason to avoid them. In fact I bought two of the and both were junk and failed in a short time. Both went back to Amazon.

A Foscam lasted about 30 days before the wifi stopped. A Pyle arrived unable to see the router SSID. An Amcrest died quickly. Two Hikvision DS-2CD2032F-IW IP cams work fine after a year. $112 at the time. The one on wifi has had to be reset only twice in a year, the hardwired (same model) has to be reset about twice a month. Go figure, would have thought the opposite.

 

[SamSpade]

Watching this thread...

 

[Camit]

Watching this thread...

Lol you don't have to post to watch a thread....

Scoll to the top of the page on the right side there is a watch thread link

 

[typo]

I have two Amcrest ProHD's connected thru wifi bridges to my main router. Connecting thru wifi to my router just wasn't stable enough a connection. I have no complaints about them. One "died" during a heavy storm (I know they aren't rated for outdoor use). But I resurrected it after rinsing the board and letting it dry. I like that it has onboard microsd storage as well, so I have some redundancy for clips that way.

 

[t84a]

I have dozens of Foscam and Amcrest cameras around the country with no major issues. I don't use support so I'm sure it's crap. For what they cost, I think they're perfectly fine.

 

[fenderman]

I have dozens of Foscam and Amcrest cameras around the country with no major issues. I don't use support so I'm sure it's crap. For what they cost, I think they're perfectly fine.

Foscams are garbage and amcrest is simply rebranded dahua that is overpriced and with limited form factors for suckers..

 

[Mike.in.Minnesota]

Its important to note, that the same distributor out of texas, foscam.us, that stopped supporting the foscam cameras you purchased from them is now selling Amcrest. So buyer beware.

Yup. After the 'split' foscam.us is no longer an option. I contacted the manufacturer in China and negotiated a lower price. I've found them to be very helpful.

 

[fenderman]

Yup. After the 'split' foscam.us is no longer an option. I contacted the manufacturer in China and negotiated a lower price. I've found them to be very helpful.

Foscam is garbage at any price..

 

[Mike.in.Minnesota]

Compared to the higher quality cameras, yes.
In a few years I may invest in a few high quality cams with heated/cooled enclosures with higher res, ir, & optical zoom. But until I can justify the cost, these will do.

I've ordered and reviewed 6 different mfg ptz cameras of this type and price range (including Amcrest). If you think Foscam is garbage... wow, these are even worse. I sent all back, but one - that I just threw away. (The enemy of my enemy is my friend).

The other issue that I don't see mentioned is the difference between Foscam.china and foscam.us. foscam.us had their own firmware that they developed that was different than foscam.china's firmware for the same cameras! This introduced big issues, and bricked one of my older 18w cameras, and caused 2 others to loose functionality. I now go exclusively with Foscam.china, and have gotten great results with the 26p's. The 18W's were garbage. The 26p's much less so.

foscam.us had made a contract with the mfg in china long ago for exclusive rights to sell their cameras in the US. Well, that contract expired and the mfg started selling in the US. Foscam.us got pissed off and, well, the rest is history. And in my opinion, good riddance.

-->Flame free post<--
the comments in the post is the opinions of the poster.

 

[fenderman]

Compared to the higher quality cameras, yes.
In a few years I may invest in a few high quality cams with heated/cooled enclosures with higher res, ir, & optical zoom. But until I can justify the cost, these will do.

I've ordered and reviewed 6 different mfg ptz cameras of this type and price range (including Amcrest). If you think Foscam is garbage... wow, these are even worse. I sent all back, but one - that I just threw away. (The enemy of my enemy is my friend).

The other issue that I don't see mentioned is the difference between Foscam.china and foscam.us. foscam.us had their own firmware that they developed that was different than foscam.china's firmware for the same cameras! This introduced big issues, and bricked one of my older 18w cameras, and caused 2 others to loose functionality. I now go exclusively with Foscam.china, and have gotten great results with the 26p's. The 18W's were garbage. The 26p's much less so.

foscam.us had made a contract with the mfg in china long ago for exclusive rights to sell their cameras in the US. Well, that contract expired and the mfg started selling in the US. Foscam.us got pissed off and, well, the rest is history. And in my opinion, good riddance.

-->Flame free post<--
the comments in the post is the opinions of the poster.

There are much better options even at that price...

 

[t84a]

Yup. After the 'split' foscam.us is no longer an option. I contacted the manufacturer in China and negotiated a lower price. I've found them to be very helpful.

Hey Mike, I sent you a PM.

 

[bashis]

Foscam is garbage at any price..

Agree, and childish attempts to obscure 'sensitive' strings in their binaries
PoC/deobfuscate-foscam.py at master · mcw0/PoC · GitHub

 

[Matt L.]

I have to admit I have not read the whole thread but stopped using foSCAM for flashing video referenced by OP. I had two in a row from ChinaMazon that had bad CMOS sensors or something. The ol axiom fits well here: you get what you pay for. I can't pay much so I choose dependability. A shitload of Megapixels is gonna fill your harddrive and bring a good system to it's knees for very few benifets. All those MP with a tiny lens? Possible, but the pixels won't be sharp. Low MTF.

 

[SamSpade]

My 2cents...

A little more than a year ago I deployed more camera's than I really needed. 14 total.

4 Bullets,
9 Dome
1 4x optical PTZ Dome

All are POE. All are set to 15fps. All are set to 1920 x 1080 (2MP/HD) except the PTZ is at 4MP. Recording to BI 24/7/365. All cameras are Amcrest. Not one single issue with any one of them. Overall, I'm happy with my setup. I would do it again, and I would recommend them to a friend. Your mileage may vary.

sam

 

[fenderman]

My 2cents...

A little more than a year ago I deployed more camera's than I really needed. 14 total.

4 Bullets,
9 Dome
1 4x optical PTZ Dome

All are POE. All are set to 15fps. All are set to 1920 x 1080 (2MP/HD) except the PTZ is at 4MP. Recording to BI 24/7/365. All cameras are Amcrest. Not one single issue with any one of them. Overall, I'm happy with my setup. I would do it again, and I would recommend them to a friend. Your mileage may vary.

sam

Amcrest makes no cameras or nvrs... All they do is Rebrand dahua and charge you a premium.... More importantly however they don't offer some of the best dahia cameras like the star lights or the turret form factors... So it's not surprising that you don't have any issues because dahua builds quality cams but only a sucker would buy from amcrest... Add the fact that amcrest is run by the same guys who used to distribute Foscam in the US and scoot over lots of people you're way better off buying danua

 

[SamSpade]

Amcrest makes no cameras or nvrs... All they do is Rebrand dahua and charge you a premium.... More importantly however they don't offer some of the best dahia cameras like the star lights or the turret form factors... So it's not surprising that you don't have any issues because dahua builds quality cams but only a sucker would buy from amcrest... Add the fact that amcrest is run by the same guys who used to distribute Foscam in the US and scoot over lots of people you're way better off buying danua

Thanks for calling me a sucker.

 

[fenderman]

Thanks for calling me a sucker.

anytime.