FosCam FI8918W Wireless IP Web Cam

This review is from: Foscam FI8918W Wireless/Wired Pan & Tilt IP Camera with 8 Meter Night Vision and 3.6mm Lens (67° Viewing Angle) - Black NEWEST MODEL (replaces the FI8908W)

Summary: Overall this camera does everything well, and for the price, nothing comes close.

Setup was quick and painless. I plugged the camera into my router with the included cable and after checking my router settings for the IP address, I could access the camera straight from a browser. On the settings page I only modified the username/password, adjusted the pan/tilt speed and added my wireless settings. There are a lot of other options, but these are the basics to get up and running and allow placement of the camera anywhere within range of your wireless router with only the power adapter.

The picture is clear and works in all light conditions from total darkness to daylight. The IR is very useful in both of my toddlers rooms at night. The wide angle allows me to see a lot and with the pan/tilt I can see everything.

We have iPhones and we use an app called "Foscam Surveillance". It works well with these cameras (including the pan/tilt function) and is only $5. We can also access these cameras from outside our home over the internet either from a browser on say my computer at work or using the app on my iPhone. My husband set that up, send me a message and I will see if I can have him post some instructions on how to do that. It's great for checking on the kids when they are with the sitter or knowing that our home is safe when we are gone on the weekends. The peace of mind has been priceless for us.

My husband and I already had a few of the previous model, the Foscam FI8908W. Although not a giant leap, there are some definite improvements that make this a worthwhile upgrade. Some improvements are:
1.) Increased pan/tilt range and speed settings (fast is nice when following a running child!)
2.) Slightly improved look and smaller size
3.) Replaced the activity light on the front of the camera with an additional IR LED
4.) The onboard speaker and microphone have much clearer sound than the old model and are accompanied by additional audio input and output jacks on the back to allow an external speaker and/or microphone.
5.) Ability to turn off the IR LEDs from the web interface

Copied review from Amazon.com

I bought this camera so I could see who was coming up my drive whilst sat at my computer. I also purchased an outdoor enclosure. Likes. It is cheap, and relativly easy to set up. Dislikes. 1) Picture quality is poor. Colour rendition is APPAULING! Green appears as PINK! 2) You wont get a picture easily with Internet Explorer without installing active X, yet Firefox works straight away! 3) The alarm feature will not work when you computer is off, EVEN if you have a network hard drive! 4) I NEVER could get email snapshot to work! 5) Alarm set up will not work with W7, so I have to use my XP computer for this. 6)The built in IR does not work if camera is in an outdoor enclosure, it just reflects back! Even with the glass removed, night time range is useless. You need an external IR beam. You need to buy one with at least 48 LEDs, or several smaller ones. 7) You can only record ONE minute of alarm video. You should be able to alter this! After all, it is saving files on MY computer! 8) REGULARLY goes off line, despite being wired, (not wireless.) SUMMARY: A nice play thing camera for the money. Should not be considered for seruious uses. Cheers Mario www.jawaczech.co.uk

I bought this camera to monitor outside territory near my house while i'm at work.

pros: easy setup; pan/tilt; excellent night view, even without IR highlight if there's a bit of light; replaceable lens; manual focus; acessible from the Internet - but i have my own VPN, so i don't need this feature at all; works with Zoneminder; can be controlled through html. f.e., i can put commands in my crontab to switch camera between "night" and "day" mode.

cons: awful built-in microphone quiality, but, if you don't use it, never mind; a little bit hard wi-fi setup, i spent a week trying to understand, how must it be turned on, and only then i realized, that access point should not hide SSID. there's a CD with software for Windows, but my computer is running Linux, so i even did not open it.
exposure issue. camera is completely overexposed at daytime if not set to "outside" mode, and completely blind at night, if not set at "50 Hz" or "60 Hz" mode. there's a workaround using cron, but better there would be autoexposure. stock lens is not very good.

in comparsion with other network cams used by me, such as D-Link DCS-910 and same, Foscam is much better, because of better sensivity and pan/tilt control. if there be zoom, it would be the very best cam for it's money. will buy more.

Great ip wireless camera, very good quality, great price. The best ip camera that I buy. The best system for monitoring home, office etc.

Needed a cheap but good quality camera, and found it. Better than most others for about the same price.