First day here with an IP camera I'll probably throw away

[DennisT]

Thank you for taking me onboard. Wife bought a LEFUN IP camera last year. 720 I believe it is. She wanted it to watch the pets in the house when we were out running around. No need for nation-wide access or fancy stuff. I got it out today and discovered that it's required app is apparently a pay-per-month requirement for this camera to work or be any good whatsoever. Being retired, we have to watch every penny. And camera would only be for occasional use. So unless someone on this forum knows different, I see this thing as a waste of money because we cannot afford another monthly payment for an occasional use device.
For what she wants, Bing comes to mind.
Anyway, I appreciate being here and will do some on-forum searches and read for a while. See what I can learn; maybe there's a better option.
Dennis

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

Wifi one is not really a good choice for security camera. Normally we call it Toy cameras here.
Make some watching here, you will find some professional ones.

 

[dudemaar]

Welcome . This camera gets recommended a lot here, specially for your situation. You can add SD card to it for free recording without subscription.

Amcrest 2MP WiFi Security Camera Pan/Tilt White IP2M-841W-V3

HIGH PERFORMANCE, REAL-TIME, TRUE HD – Experience magnificent full-HD 1080P video at 30fps with enhanced low light capability utilizing the image sensor and Ambarella chipset. Extra-wide 90° viewing angle, as well as remote pan and tilt, allows you to cover more ground and keep more of what...

amcrest.com

 

[DennisT]

dudemaar, thank you. Am looking that over. I can see this group will be very helpful.
I guess before I really pitch it into the garbage can, is there ANY use whatsoever for this LEFUN 720 camera???? I mean, stand alone without external junk or pay subscriptions?
Then we'll move on with the subject.

 

[bigredfish]

Welcome . This camera gets recommended a lot here, specially for your situation. You can add SD card to it for free recording without subscription.

Amcrest 2MP WiFi Security Camera Pan/Tilt White IP2M-841W-V3

HIGH PERFORMANCE, REAL-TIME, TRUE HD – Experience magnificent full-HD 1080P video at 30fps with enhanced low light capability utilizing the image sensor and Ambarella chipset. Extra-wide 90° viewing angle, as well as remote pan and tilt, allows you to cover more ground and keep more of what...

amcrest.com

^^^^^
get this and move on

 

[TonyR]

dudemaar, thank you. Am looking that over. I can see this group will be very helpful.
I guess before I really pitch it into the garbage can, is there ANY use whatsoever for this LEFUN 720 camera???? I mean, stand alone without external junk or pay subscriptions?
Then we'll move on with the subject.

Their Website offers no support, no info on that camera and is so boogered up even their own menu for "wireless" cams comes back not found. Their own link to their amazon store is bad as well....a big nothing burger.

ISPYCONNECT has a huge listing of RTSP URL's for literally thousands of IP cams but not nothing for "Lefun".

As we would say in Naval Air "float check it".....if it floats, keep it...if it sinks...well, you know.

 

[Michael Diehl]

Stay away from WIFI cams. Not saying that all are bad, but now in the news is that crooks are starting to use Wi-Fi jammers to disable the cameras...

 

[The Automation Guy]

Before making recommendations on what will or won't work, please read the OP. He is looking for a single interior camera to check in occasionally on pets. That's it......

PS - I agree that the suggested Amcrest model would work great for this use case. It's available on Amazon for about $40 USD currently.