Home monitoring devices are the hot topic recently no matter it is crowd funding website, geeky technology website, or technology news website you are watching. Among all the recently popped out cool things, SpotCam caught our attention for its unique offer – continuous cloud full time recording for free.
This may seem to be normal for people who are not familiar with home video monitoring industry, but actually it is a very bold offer.
For a long time manufacturer offer SD card, NAS recording, or event clips recording based on pre-defined triggering condition. All of them comes with limitations of some sort and make those solutions not ideal. Continuous cloud recording, on the other hand, may be the best solution for home users but always come with a monthly subscription fee; Dropcam is the most well-known manufacturers of this type.
Now, this new entrant, SpotCam, promise to provide continuous cloud full time recording for free, and this could be a game changer.
Specifications
- Dimensions:
Body 4.8cm(1.89″) × 14.8cm(5.83″)
Weight: 198g(6.37oz)
Power Input: 12V1A
Video: Up to 720P HD(1280×720) at 30 frame/sec
Streaming: H.264 encoding
Field of View: 110 degrees (diagonal)
Audio: Speaker and microphone
Night Vision: 12 High-power IR LEDs
Installation
The camera build is solid and placement is easy, it can stand on the bracket or mount on the wall or ceiling with wall mount kit. Setup of the SpotCam is also a simple process though it did take me a few tries to get everything to work properly. The idea is that you switch modes on the camera — first making it a hotspot of sorts to connect to your phone — then switch it back once your Wi-Fi is setup correctly. It’s not a very intense process at all, overall it is quite easy and quick to start viewing the video.
Video Quality
As far as the camera’s video quality, it is a 720p ( 1280 x 720 ) at 30 frames-per-second (fps) and delivered a good video image. Lighting is important and this camera provides day/night capability where it will automatically switch to black and white mode in low-light conditions to keep the 30fps 720p quality video. This is a nice feature when using the camera as a baby monitor in a dark room.
SpotCam has incredible low light sensitivity being able to go as low as 0 lux with the built-in infrared (IR) illumination. From what we see in the night, SpotCam probably provides the best image quality among all home monitoring cameras so far.
Alerts
SpotCam support alerts for two types of event, they are motion event and sound event. You can configure the camera to send an email to alert you whenever the camera detects motion, sound, and/or goes offline. You can also adjust the motion sensitivity and a motion mask as well as the sound sensitivity.
When you do get the email alert, you are told which camera detected which kind of alert at what time and a snapshot of the image is included in the email. A nice way to see that it’s just the kids home from school.
Two Way Audio
You will be surprised how many times you will use the two-way microphone option, which is a feature you find on some higher end video management systems. One way audio is common and this is a very nice touch for this solution.
Cloud Storage
Here comes the reason why SpotCam is different. Your SpotCam cloud account comes with free 24-hour cloud storage for full time continuous recording, it recycles automatically so you always get to keep the latest 24 hours video on the cloud. The best part is SpotCam system allows you to export footage you want to keep and save to local hard drive or youtube, you don’t have to worry about missing important moments after 24 hours. If you wish to upgrade that retention, SpotCam gives you 3-day, 7-day, and 30-day storage options that require monthly subscription fee, and this fee is much lower compare to other cloud solutions in the market.
Best Choice Out There
There are many other good designs that we can go on for hours, but simply put, if you are looking for a good quality home wi-fi security camera to keep an eye on things then you owe it to yourself to check out the SpotCam. At US$149.00 MSRP it is by far the best choice for a cloud home monitoring camera.
