A very disappointing camera considering the price. I returned it the next day after testing to get my money back.

I am again reminded that most IP type cameras (ones that don't require a computer) are only suited for surveillance purposes. Other than the Stardot NetCam, none of the IP cameras I have either tried, or had reliable sources tell me about, are capable of functioning like the standard Webcam which these pages are about. The major reason is they cannot overwrite an image on a server with a single file name. They all are either only capable of streaming directly from the camera, or the stored images each have individual file names designed for storage. To have a webcam in the sense of what most of you are looking for, the camera either has to be able to update an image file, or connect to an Instant Messenger program.

As for daytime or evening use, the images are rather poor in comparison to all the other cameras listed here. The color saturation is very weak, and without the infrared turned on, low light imagery is unusable. The quality was so disappointing, I didn't have the patience to run through all the settings for different image sizes. So I took all the test shots in 640x480 resolution and resized them for the lighting comparison page.

I believe this camera is best suited for night surveillance at close range. Using the built-in infrared sight source the camera does pretty well in total darkness up to about 15 feet. Beyond that night shots are questionable.

Sample images showing how this camera performs under different lighting conditions

See a 640x480 image taken under plenty of light

Pluses
• No computer required

Minuses
• Poor quality image
• Not compatible with IM programs
• Very expensive for the quality