Swann Night Hawk 2.4 GHz Wireless Outdoor Security System

My neighborhood has had some nighttime vandalism, so I wanted to install a security camera. However, the neighborhood association forbids "architectural modifications", and you can't just slap a camera on the front of your home. This camera, with its compact size, seemed like the solution. I removed its base, leaving just a two-inch-long cylinder, and set it on a ledge outside a window with a putty cradle to hold it in place. I taped (should caulk) shut the little screw holes left by removal of the base. The cord from the power adapter is narrow and flexible, and the window shut over it easily. The camera is inconspicuous and has made it through many rains with no problem. See the customer image captioned, "Windowsill installation".

The camera's daylight picture is acceptable. You even have the option of running it off a 9V battery. I have detected no interference from my wireless router or cordless phones.

Now for the bad news. The camera's maximum infrared range is nine feet, so it is not designed for watching your yard at night. You can compensate for this with some strong lighting attached to a motion detector. However, at night the camera's infrared LEDs reflect off the camera's front window as a white, fuzzy halo that blurs the top of the picture. (Poor design, IMO.) Swann should have included a switch to optionally turn the LEDs off.

All in all, considering it as a learning experience, it was not a bad starter camera. However, I think that my next camera will simply be a long-range indoor camera looking through a window, aided by a motion-activated floodlight.

2/19/07 update: After a year of operation night vision remains poor, although it is somewhat improved by a motion-activated floodlight that I installed. I also attached a motion-sensing DVR, and it operates normally with this camera because I have put the receiver right up against the window next to the camera, so the picture is stable. (Again, see the customer image captioned, "Windowsill installation".)

12/30/10 update: The transmission from the camera to the receiver is the weak link, as pointed out by the first comment on this review. It gradually deteriorated over the years; it became sensitive to the position of the receiver, then even the window blind, and now it no longer records reliably. I wonder if the camera itself, or its antenna, deterioriated because of sitting in the weather. I liked this setup while it lasted because it gave better pictures than my WiLife setup.

Pro's:

+Easy to setup, only took 2 minutes.

+Compact size

Con's:

-Poor picture quality.

-Very poor sound.

-Interference from everything even after diabling the wireless network, unplugging the cordless phones, and shutting off the baby monitor, we still had a jumping lines and static.

If you live in a remote area without neighbors, have no microwave, cordless phone, or wireless network, then this is the camera for you; otherwise, search elsewhere.

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I have 4 cameras and the receiver set to loop. The receiver cycles each camera in a loop for ~5 seconds, or you can manually select a single camera. Each camera has a 60 degree viewing angle. I put 3 of the cameras in a cluster with one pointing left, one center and one pointing right so I have a 180 degree view (The 4th to a different location). Otherwise, the 60 degree view is not very wide and a lot will be missed. The video is so-so. The audio is, well, worthless. But, for the cost vs a commercial high end camera system, it's about a 4th of the cost. The video is not really too bad in a well lighted area without interference and close to the receiver. The interference from a PC router (2.4GHz), a microwave (completely messes it up), a cordless phone running 2.4GHz or anything else seems to interfear with these cameras quite easily. Still again, for a budget security solution, it's not too bad. The warranty is only for 1 year. The camera features say it is for outdoor use. Hmmm,,, Well the cameras are not for direct sunlight (no hood), direct rain or snow (maybe ok for a drop or two). It needs to be under a cover. Oh, and the cameras will run on a provided 9 volt battery. Why did the manufacture waste the time? Sure it will run on the battery for 30 minutes. Com'on. The cameras come each with an AC adapter to provide power. The AC adapter has a line about 6 feet long. So think about how you will get power to the AC adpaters and then about 6 feet to reach the camera. The receiver is capable of seeing 4 cameras one-at-a-time. It is selectable for one-at-a-time (1,2,3 or 4) or it will loop through all four (all four whether there are one or four). The 5 second cycle seems like a long time from camera 1 to camera 4. That's a 15 second blackout. I went outside, walked to the truck and back in and the cameras never saw me because it musta been in the 15 second blackout period. The nighttime feature using the infrared is ok for a closeup. Sony makes an infrared day/night camera with 48 LEDs. It can see 100 feet in total darkness. But.... it cost 4-6 times as much. So, if you need something for security and something on a budget, these are not bad. I think they would make good indoor nanny cams (local viewing, no IP from the cams themselves). The indoor picture was not bad at all. Also, I am recording everyhing to a PC via a video PCI card. I have a WD external 320GB hard drive running through high speed USB for storage. The hard drive comes with a FAT32 filesystem. You'll need to reformat the hard drive to NTFS which takes about 5 hours depending upon your PC, the disk and the I/O. The recording video file (MPEG) is set to (Hmmm,, was it either standard play or long play? I don't rember.) eats up about 1.5 Giga Bytes per hour of disk space. So a 320GB hard drive will last about 9 days acording to the software b4 cycling. Also, I noticed many heavy duty intensive software programs like games, will cause the recording to stop. Probably due to the PC's inability to receive and process video, record the video and run the intensive app all at the same time (Pentium IV 2.8). One more note. If you plan on using the video for security and plan on using captured video for court, the cops say there are certain minimum video qualities you must meet.

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I recently purchased this camera from a local Radio Shack and paid considerably more than Amazon has it listed for. I needed something fast as my Christmas lights had been vandalized twice that week. I got this camera because it had night vision and was small enough to be undetected. I hooked the camera up and ran it that night. Well needless to say they got me again and the camera missed the whole thing. There was so much interference you couldn't even see the picture through the lines. I called the company TWICE and got the same interference story. I even moved the receiver to several different rooms with different televisions and vcr's, changed the frequency and unplugged everything wireless in the house and still the same picture. Beware don't waste your money on this product. This one is going back to the store today. I would have given it less than one star, but one was the least you could give.

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This product has no range and everything interfereres with the signal. Overall,

a worthless product.

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