5MP Security POE IP Camera Outdoor/Indoor, T5EP 3K Home Security Surveillance Cameras with 2-Way Talk, AI Detect Human/Vehicle,Color Night Vision, Spotlight, Compatible with Alexa IP66

As a retired Tech guy, I am always tinkering with LED lights or IP cameras, much to my wife's dismay. I had an Amcrest camera looking out on the side yard from a window, but the glare made it useless at night, so I purchased this FOSCAM camera to mount outside high up on the exterior wall of the house. The setup was very easy, with a voice confirmation over the internal speaker that it connected successfully. The other thing that was a nice touch was that the dongle had integrated link lights to visually confirm the connection. Because of the roof line and where I needed the camera to point, I purchased separately a universal mount. Not the camera's fault, just the way the house is set up. Very easy to mount with a few tapcons. 640x480 resolution, but very clear on both the computer and iPhone. It has a built in spotlight and color night vision, all great for the price point. All of that being said, I do have a sophisticated Ubiquity UniFi network in the house, with multiple switches, and all of the video is motion activated recording to a Synology Disk Station NAS, although you can record to an internal micro sd card. Getting it all configured requires a basic knowledge of networking. First of all this is NOT a wireless camera. It requires it to be powered via the ethernet port, which means that it must be plugged in to a POE switch, POE NVR, or using a power injector. In short, this is a wired ethernet device sitting on your network. Just know what the parameters are, and if the above description sounds complicated, FOSCAM has a number of cameras that will connect easily to the wifi in your house.

My wife is in the process of setting up a new business. In the past she has used NEST cameras to monitor the front desk, however with NEST's upcoming price increases she wanted an alternative, and also wanted a multiple camera system, which get expensive with NEST cameras. She needs to record 24x7 with 30–60-day retention and easy access to the video, and that can also get expensive with Cloud based services. For year I've used various Foscam Cameras recording to an Raspberri-Pi. The Pi runs 3 docket containers.: an FTP Server; a process that repackages the "mkv" files generated by the Foscam cameras into "mp4" format files and a Samba Server that exposes the mp4 files to Windows clients. Using a Pi and docker containers, makes it cheap to purchase, easy to install/upgrade and has zero ongoing costs. We purchased 4 T5EP cameras for interior use and 1 V8EP for the back door. All the cameras were easy to configure via Foscam's VMS software. The VMS software also allows to monitor the cameras in real-time from the front desk. This is the first time I've used PoE (Power over ethernet) cameras, it was very easy to place the cameras where I wanted them, since I only had to run an ethernet cable (I used a Netgear GS308EPP 8 Port Switch to supply power to the cameras). Using the VMS software it was very easy to configure the cameras to record to FTP Server. The cameras automatically switch files at 256MB, which appears to be approximately every 10 mins. Overall, we are very happy with performance, quality and ease of use of the camera. My only nitpick is I wish they came with a wider-angle lens would provide a better FOV. Picture quality is excellent. We have them configured to capture a still image when their internal detection detects a Human being which provides us with an easy-to-use index for the recorded video stream. Overall these latest Foscam cameras were cost effective, easy to install and configure thanks to Foscam's VMS software.

This is a great camera for home security. I was looking forward to receiving my Foscam T5EP. I have used other Foscam products in the past like their R2 wi-fi camera and have always found them to be high quality and function nicely. Everything arrived packaged well. I found the quick-start guide a little confusing, but I am used to installing these types of cams so I only used it as a reference. I would definitely suggest using the mounting template enclosed in the box. It will make the installation easy. I didn't use the enclosed mounting screws because they are on the short-side. The picture quality is excellent and I was very impressed by the minimal lag time between action and onscreen image. I would say overall this is an outstanding camera at a great price.