cheap USB camera?

[RROONNBB]

Anybody have a nice-but-cheap USB camera they can recommend? Figured I may as well hang a camera off the PC that's running BI, so as to keep an eye on the office where it's located. Currently have a webcam there but it has zero low-light or IR ability so I'm hoping to find something that's better for that. And by cheap I mean, like, 20-30 bucks or so.

 

[mat200]

Anybody have a nice-but-cheap USB camera they can recommend? Figured I may as well hang a camera off the PC that's running BI, so as to keep an eye on the office where it's located. Currently have a webcam there but it has zero low-light or IR ability so I'm hoping to find something that's better for that. And by cheap I mean, like, 20-30 bucks or so.

HI @RROONNBB

USB required? ( attached to PC? )
IR / lowlight required?
Cheap $20-30.

hmm... I don't think I have even seen decent webcams for that price point ( USB, no IR, cheap $20-30 ) unless it was on a crazy BF type deal..

 

[RROONNBB]

Yes, I was just wanting to do USB attached to the BI PC.
I don't need amazing low-light abilities since I've got an IR illuminator I can flood the room with.

But yes, I agree that its hard to find USB in that pricerange that's decent - which is why I'm asking I suppose.

Just seems strange that, for example, a WYZE camera (which has ok low-light even) can be had for $20 (https://www.wyze.com) but you can't find something with LESS capabilities (i.e. without any Wifi) for the same price. I guess, now that Wyze supports RTSP I'll just get another one of those but it just seems weird to stream something over WiFi when I could simply route through USB.

 

[mat200]

Yes, I was just wanting to do USB attached to the BI PC.
I don't need amazing low-light abilities since I've got an IR illuminator I can flood the room with.

But yes, I agree that its hard to find USB in that pricerange that's decent - which is why I'm asking I suppose.

Just seems strange that, for example, a WYZE camera (which has ok low-light even) can be had for $20 (https://www.wyze.com) but you can't find something with LESS capabilities (i.e. without any Wifi) for the same price. I guess, now that Wyze supports RTSP I'll just get another one of those but it just seems weird to stream something over WiFi when I could simply route through USB.

Hi @RROONNBB

A lot of product availability is due to consumer / user demand.. remember there's a lot of cool stuff someone makes that ends up not being a successful product because there is not enough demand to keep someone from making and selling them.

If you look you can sometimes find some good deals on IP PoE cameras in the under $30 price point ( older discontinued models typically - seen both Hikvision and Dahua OEM models go this last year for that price - of course those deals go very quickly .. )