Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Foscam FI8910W White Wireless IP Cameras 2-pack

Foscam FI8910W White Wireless IP Cameras 2-packI bought a single FI8910W to test it out and then followed up with this bundle. I tried everything from TrendNet to Panasonic and other, less known brands. Panasonics are great, but way too expensive. Foscam does everything I need it to do for a fraction of the price. I am also planning on getting their exterior cameras as well. Easy to set up and use, they come with mounting hardware. I use all my cameras in the house (4) via a wireless connection and never an issue in speed or reliabily. One issue that I am noticing is that once in a while the camera will reset itself and I find it pointing up in he ceiling. Fortunately their iPod/iPad/iPhone software is great and I can point the camera where I need from anywhere in the world. Don't get me wrong, these are not the best cameras on he market and I am hesitant to give any product 5 stars, but for the price, you simply cannot do any better.

The video quality is really good. I've showed it to a couple people who have immediately purchased it after seeing the quality and features at such a low price.

The iPhone app is also great and takes advantage of all the features of the cameras (was more than worth the additional 5.99)

Just keep in mind that 'wireless' means you don't have to have network cables attached to it, and not that you don't have to still plug them into a wall socket for power.

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This is an outstanding product. Networked to my wireless router, the remote tilt/pan camera allows me to keep in touch with my "kids" (two Shih Tzus) that must remain locked in my kitchen while I am at work. It's great to be able to actually "talk" to them via the built-in speaker/mic via my iPhone. Picture quality is excellent on the iPhone. Not so great on a big screen, but what do you want for a 100 bucks!

Read Best Reviews of Foscam FI8910W White Wireless IP Cameras 2-pack Here

I was a little hesitant at first to purchase "budget" wireless IP cameras, as I've heard/read many horror stories, and noticed there are some people on Amazon remarking that many of the positive Foscam reviews are bogus. But I decided to take a chance on these, after reading a favorable tech review.

So far, I've found that the cameras are easy to setup, and work pretty much as advertised. My home network setup consists of a DSL gateway modem, a Linksys main router, and 2 Linksys bridge-repeaters (created from older wireless routers), all flashed with DD-WRT.

There is a small trick or two that you need to keep in mind during setup, and knowing this can make the process much less frustrating. Here are some tips, less all the excruciating detail, which you might find useful:

1. Plug the camera into your ROUTER using an ethernet patch cable do NOT plug it into your desktop or laptop computer.

2. Install the IP Camera tool from the included disk or download it from the Foscam site () FIRST! There are versions for Windows and Mac.

3. Start the IP Camera tool, give it a few moments, and it should find the camera. Click the link in the popup window, and your admin screen to the camera interface should load in a browser.

4. From here you can setup the features of your camera. I found that one easy way is to use the UPnP (universal plug and play). This worked very well for me. Using UPnP, should aid in identifying your camera to your router.

5. I don't see any reason why you should NOT set a static *internal* IP address, and I think the DHCP option is kind of ridiculous. Having a static internal IP will allow you to ALWAYS find your Foscams when connected to your home network make a bookmark. With DHCP, these internal IP numbers can change.

6. If you are installing the two camera (or more) set, decide on unique PORT NUMBERS for each camera. You will be connecting remotely to your home network through a single IP address (a public, external one), so having a port number for each will make it easier to connect to the right camera and for forwarding.

7. Port forwarding I think a lot of people get confused on this step, but it is essential if you want to operate and view the cameras from outside your home or business. On my setup, I did forwarding for the relevant camera ports I selected on my DSL gateway, and main router. Doing the same on repeaters will probably be a good idea as well, if you have them.

8. Once you *think* you have the ports forwarded correctly, use an online tool like "canyouseeme" () to verify. Basically, navigate to the site with your web browser while on your home or business network, and it will pre-populate the IP address field of your home network (the external public one) in the correct field. Enter each port number and hit the test button. This will tell you if the port is truly open.

9. When you test your camera for internal network viewing (using the internal IP address you setup in the beginning), remember to concatenate the port numbers for each camera. So if your camera's internal IPs are something like 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.3, with port numbers of 8090 and 8091 respectively, you would enter: 192.168.0.2:8090 and 192.168.0.3:8091 in your browser URL bar.

10. For testing REMOTE camera operation, don't try to do it inside your home network, as it will probably hang on you, since you are coming FROM the same IP address your are trying to connect TO. Use a connection outside your home using the external IP address (determined from canyouseeme or other), with the port numbers concatenated onto the end for each respective camera. OR, if you have something like a VPN, connect to that, so the address you are coming FROM is different than your actual home IP address.

PROS:

Good picture, reliable panning motion, decent reception and range, IR for night vision, presets (excellent), included mounting arm/bracket, and price.

CONS:

No zoom or built in record functionality in the included software.

Overall, I think this is a really nice setup for the price, and should tick the boxes for the average person.

No zoom

Update #1: I've been using two of these for about 3 months now, and they still haven't disappointed me. I purchased the Blue Iris software package from Foscam LCC here on Amazon, and that is by far the best solution for multi-camera real-time monitoring, as well as recording. Mine are setup to record short clips based on motion, and they have been working pretty much flawlessly. We decided to expand our security and I was happy enough to order a second set of two.

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Camera itself works as expected while on a 10baseT connection.

wireless did not work at all.

turns out its a known issue with latest firmware version. research on the web revealed numerous customers with same issue.

after a week of not hearing back from their support I had no choice but to return the set.

How can product be release without a basic QA feature test???

that is enough for me to not recommend this product.

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