Foscam FI8918W Wireless/Wired Pan & Tilt IP Camera with 8 Meter Night Vision and 2.8mm Lens (70 Viewing Angle) - Black NEWEST MODEL (replaces the FI8908W)

I feel compelled to write this review to bump up the average score, as some of the less glowing reviews reflect limitations of IP cameras in general and not specific flaws of this product which, for the price, is excellent.

Like any IP device it takes some initial configuration. If, like me, you have some experience of this then instructions and installation CD can be bypassed. I had the device connected via ethernet, looked up the IP address on my router, logged onto the camera and got the wireless going in less than 5 minutes. With prior CCTV experience I found the web interface to be limited but functional. I used this to do the initial wireless set up and, importantly, set up a static LAN IP address for the camera. This is crucial to avoid future problems connecting to the camera after power outages for either your router or camera.

Now. I can see that many people are struggling with connecting remotely to the camera, i.e. not from over the local network but from outside your home/workplace. For this you need to have a suitable port number set up on the camera and this same port number "forwarded" on your router and assigned to the relevant IP address. Then you need the external IP address for your connection to your internet provider. You will then be able to log on to your router using a combination of this IP address and port number so, for example: Your external IP might be 87.125.65.88(this number completely fictional) and you use port number 173. You would then type 87.125.65.88:173 into your browser from outside your home and voila! There are numerous guides for this on the internet and once you master this for the first time, setup of similar devices will become much easier. Bear in mind that most ADSL connections use dynamic IPs so when your router loses power or connection, it will not have the same external IP when it reconnects. The easiest option is to ask your provider for a static IP. If this is not possible, you need to use a dynamic DNS server. You can find these with a Google search.

I didn't even bother all that though. My primary purpose for this camera was to use it with a piece of iPhone/iPad software called iCam. You install a program on your MAC or PC called iCam Source which lets you connect to and control IP and webcams among your home devices. Using the app on iPad or iPhone you can then connect to up to 64 cameras running from a range of computers and devices from anywhere without the need to worry about port forwarding, IP addresses etc. The iCam Source software allows you to configure motion recording and, beautifully, notification alerts to your iPhone and iPad. This works brilliantly and gives you immediate notice whenever a motion event is triggered on a specific device. It even allows you to control Pan and Tilt functions on this camera. The app costs around £2 and complements this camera perfectly. I'm sure there are similar apps to do the same thing.

Finally I must comment on the value of the product. I install profesisonal grade CCTV and have played with a lot of expensive kit. When I saw that an IP camera with built in wireless AND pan and tilt functions AND infra red capability available for around £70 I was expecting the build quality and image quality to be atrocious. I couldn't have been more wrong. Whilst the image quality isn't great, it is adequate for home and office protection purposes. The pan and tilt works very well for the price too. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that the IR capability of the device matches some much more expensive kit, I'm talking non-IP cameras costing 4 or 5 times more than this. The build quality, although not what I would call robust, also surpassed expectations and is adequate.

In conclusion, this camera excels in no particular area except one - affordability. For the price I can't see anything beating it for functionality. I now intend to buy a few more for home use and this will save me significant money on the professional grade equipment I was intending to use.

I've got 4 of these cams now. It took me many hours to work out how to fully set them up. The basic set up as a wired camera was easy. The camera was recognised quickly and I set up an administrator account to access the features.

Unfortunately the full manual is out of date as is the manual from the Foscam download site. After some hassle I managed to get the presets, email and ftp working. I've managed to get the camera to send emails on motion detect. However the biggest problem is that I can't get it up upload video on alarm. The "Alarm Service Settings" page is very confusing. Nowhere does the documentation describe the parameters "Motion Detect Sensibility" or "Motion Compensation". Then there is the mysterious parameter "Upload Image on Alarm". If I tick it it asks me to specify "Upload Interval (Seconds)". If I set that at a number it generates a couple of minutes of still pictures to my ftp site. It I set it at 1 second interval it generates about 50 images. But I don't want stills, I want video uploaded. I can record and display video when I am at the console. However, whatever I do I cannot cajole it to upload videos on alarm activation (only stills).

The cameras work fine apart from this one set-up problem. If only I can get this last thing working I'd give the product 5 stars. I can't get support from Amazon and Foscam tell me I must get support from the seller.

This is my third type IP cam. My first was in the early days of IP cams and very poor video quality. My next purchase which was a Panasonic BL-C131. The Panasonic was good but cost 2.5 times the price of the Foscam when purchased - no longer made and so I can't comment on pricing of its current equivalent. It makes the Foscam, although far from perfect, but good value for money. I simply could not justify buying multiple Panasonic IP cams for what was only a hobby usage.

The Foscam is a lot bulkier but not heavy. Comes with a mount if you don't want to leave it freestanding. Only quirk is that colour balance is way off - some greens (like tree foliage) are more like red and so I suspect that this is something to do with the IR capability messing it up when used in day time. May need to get some support advice on this.

Setup was easy. Docs are poor (at least the quick start guide that comes in the box) but then I have set up IP cams before. Maybe some people forget that a wireless cam has to be setup first as a wired cam. Then you can access the settings to enter your wireless SSID and key. Then you disconnect the Ethernet cable and voila you are wireless. You install the application they provide on the 8cm CD in the box. Then you have to find where your PC has placed a new icon on your desktop called IP Camera Tool. Open that and it will find your IP cam listed and it should have been given an IP address by your router. Double click on the camera IP address and you will get the login window in which you get a choice of ActiveX for IE or another means for other browsers. I tried the ActiveX route. One nuisance is that there is an authentication which requires you enter a username and password every time. Next problem is that the short installation guide does not tell what the default username and password is. You have to look at the full docs on the CD. The answer is username of admin and a blank password. You will get the normal Windows "do you want to allow installation of this control etc et5c". Say yes and you will see your camera output. Click on Administrator settings to do the serious stuff (and first priority is to set up wireless)

The range of movement is great. The specs quote this precisely but basically short of trying to look under the camera you can look anywhere! There are vertical and horizontal "patrol" settings and so you can have the camera scan the environment like a security camera.

Other great feature is that you can turn on a ring of IR leds around the lens and you have night vision. Works in total darkness. The IR leds can be turned on or off through the software. But it may be at the cost of normal colours during the day.

Have not looked into how you record images from the camera and upload to an FTP site. I have accessed the camera from mobile devices (e.g. iPhone and Android) and those allow you to embed the authentication into the settings and so no entering user names and passwords each time! So I have the camera output showing as a widget on an Android screen. Neat.

There appears to be swappable lenses (quite cheap) and so I may try that (although the site selling them has in small print that this invalidates the warranty!).

Price is very good on Amazon.

Loses out for poor docs, the forced authentication each time for access via a PC browser and the colour balance.

*** Update. Sorry to say I like this device less and less over time. The focus is not very sharp, the colour balance is not fixable - it is a feature. Although has good low light abilities, it is useless at night if placed to look out of a window - all you get are reflections. Great range of movement and if you want an IR camera not near a window. Bottom line would not buy another much as I had thought after a day or so. My Panasonic has much better image quality and colour balance.