( 8 reviews )
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Posted: Aug 31 2008
I have several of these Camera's setup and have used other cheaper wirless camera's. It is worth the extra money to go with a quality camera which doesn't lockup and continues to operate. I am very satisfied with Axis, I only with there security software would run on a mac. I have 5 of these in my house, mainly as a nanny camera. I am very happy all the way, very configurable and the wireless is amazingly reliable. I was very skeptical at first, now I would recommend any Axis camera's to anyone who needs them.
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Posted: Apr 2 2008
Axis has done a very impressive job with these cameras. These things are thoroughly designed. Technically oriented friends are amazed when they see this thing and find out that it is not just a webcam, but a wireless video server that can support ten streams. The back end functions are very sophisticated and user-configurable. I would hazard a guess that even though this is at the low-end of Axis optical resolution, the software/firmware is the same as higher end cameras. You can buy a similar resolution camera for less, but I doubt it is going to have the back office capabilities that this one has. On a Mac WiFi LAN, the camera appears automatically in Safari's Bonjour menu. It can operate on a closed, WPA2 WiFi network. Configuration is done by a browser, so it is platform independent. It has many options for video streaming and website configuration. The Axiscam.net dynamic IP service works very well. I found, as per suggestions from others, that using a very high port number (port forwarding on my router, try 9000), solves connection issues for outsiders. The camera has its own motion detection (i.e., you can have it decide if the image has changed and then tell it to send an image somewhere) or you can pair it with software running elsewhere. For Macs there is a very good program called Evocam that I would be using if I were using this as a security camera (Evocam monitors the images for motion). As others have noted, the audio quality is not very high and the screw-clamp mount is flimsy. The camera is also best for indoors, though you could get away with aiming it out a window. I may purchase more of these.
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( 1 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Feb 26 2008
I have purchased quite a few Axis products and have never had to use them for support. I recently went to upgrade the firmware and the firmware update bricked the camera. I went to Axis for support and they essentially were useless. Even though all indications were ok for the firmware upgrade the camera was no longer working (the camera worked 100% before). I contacted Axis for troubleshooting on the issue and they did not read the steps I went through before contacting them; i.e., they didn't bother to take the time to even read the trouble ticket before responding. Their response? reboot/reset to factory settings. I replied I had done that and they replied they could no longer assist me because I bought the camera too long ago. Well, Axis still supports the camera version on their website by issuing patches and firmware. However, apparently, if you use them, you use them at your own peril. They will provide zero support if anything goes wrong applying "their" firmware patch to fix bugs they initially had in their product. Axis makes a good camera, but if it breaks, count on just purchasing another one; and never, never apply any firmware or software upgrades if the camera is in working order.
