Sending Foscam R2 back to the pit from which it emerged

[revbilly]

I'm a cheap old retired guy. I don't have a lot of cash to spend on my webcams. I used HooToos for years until they wore out, then switched to Foscam and wore a couple of those out. So I had a little faith in Foscam when I ordered the R2, but it's been a time wasting failure. It works, except when it doesn't, for no particular reason. So I'm sending this POS back, and I need to find a new indoor PT webcam I can rely on.

During my troubleshooting I saw a lot of complaints about Foscam and Amcrest that reinforce my thoughts about switching brands. What brands should I look at for basic indoor wireless webcams with pan and tilt under $100?

 

[Mike]

Foscam makes really awful products, a lot of us learned the hard way about 6 years ago.

Do some reading on the forum, Dahua & Hikvision are the 2 most popular brands. I don't think you're going to get a decent wifi ptz camera for under $100, at least not that I know of, but you should consider a couple of Hikvision Cubes with 2.8mm lenses. They will give you a large FOV and much better quality and reliability over foscam

 

[VorlonFrog]

https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-IP2M-841-Wireless-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B01MXEX7HI is actually a Dahua in Amcrest labeling. I put one upstairs in my hallway a few weeks ago to replace an aging Foscam C2 that always ran too darned hot anyway. The price is right, too. If you prefer it in black plastic instead of white: https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-IP2M-841-Wireless-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B01LYN0CZP

 

[TonyR]

I have installed 4 of these, the 720p Amcrest model IPM-721 for $50 (+ $15 for white). All have operated flawlessly for over 3 years now at an office and a tanning salon lobby.

The bigger brother AmcrestIP2M-841is 1080p and $60.

They're both re-branded Dahuas and offer wired/wireless, 2 way audio, SD card, P/T and digital zoom, ONVIF & Blue Iris compatible. Available in white, black and silver.

They stream well via RTSP to VLC and BI.

 

[Whoaru99]

Thanks for the info on the Amcrest 841s. Gonna try a pair of the refurbs through Amazon.

Gonna try them wireless on a dedicated router-turned-AP. If that doesn't pan out well then I can make use of PoE splitters to run them that way.

 

[TonyR]

Thanks for the info on the Amcrest 841s. Gonna try a pair of the refurbs through Amazon.

Gonna try them wireless on a dedicated router-turned-AP. If that doesn't pan out well then I can make use of PoE splitters to run them that way.

FWIW, the IP2M-841E models with the "E" suffix here are, in fact, POE. Not sure if a refurb is available though.

 

[Whoaru99]

I didn't see any "E" refurbs.

Refurb 841, or even new 841 for that matter, plus TP Link PoE splitter was less total $ than a new 841E. Certainly the E model would be a cleaner install than 841+ PoE splitter where that matters.

 

[Whoaru99]

Arrived today. Not bad, not bad at all, although it did take me a little while to figure out how to configure static IPs for the WiFi.

Ordered two, one seems like it has a bit of a cockeyed image and more barrel distortion. Tomorrow I'll probably swap the locations of the two and see if that has anything to do with it. The one does have a view of more stuff with vertical lines/edges so that may just be exacerbating what is normal.