Amcrest UltraHD 5MP Outdoor POE Camera 2592 x 1944p Bullet IP Security Camera, Outdoor IP67 Waterproof, 103° Viewing Angle, 2.8mm Lens, 98.4ft Night Vision, 5-Megapixel, IP5M-B1186EW-28MM (White)

On the plus side: 1) Very good image quality, good night vision and range of view 2) Inexpensive 3) Responsive tech support On the negative side: 1) After adding this model to two other Amcrest cameras already in use (one an identical 5 MP, the other an 8 MP), I found that the third camera kept dropping off my network every few days. Unplugging the POE cord and plugging it back in would get the camera back on line, but it would eventually drop off again. Eventually I replaced it with another manufacturer's 5 MP camera, which has worked fine. 2) Motion detection is WAY oversensitive, significantly more so than any other brand of camera I've used. This model comes with a default setting of 60 on a scale of 0-100. I figured that would be too sensitive so I reset it to 30 and got a ton of false alarms. I kept dialing it down, eventually to 1, but still got a slew of false alarms. I blotted out a lot of the field of view using the region setting tool, but there were still too many false alarms. 3) The Amcrest View Pro app has a lot of features and is relatively easy to use, but is glitchy in some respects. You can assign a name to each Amcrest camera, but with more than 2 cameras on the network the app would frequently assign the same name to two different cameras. When trying to exit the app you get a box asking you to tap OK if you really want to leave and Cancel if not - but neither allows you to exit (had to use the home button on my phone to do so). Overall it's a nice camera with limitations, deserving of 3.5 stars (which rounds to 4).

The picture quality is more than enough for me, and I even turn the resolution down a little to have more time stored on my nvr, but these cameras produce clear video at high or low settings. This camera definitely has a starlight image sensor as it continues to show perfectly clear color video until its completely dark outside. The nightmode (black and white with IR lights) is good but as this only has 2 IR lights it will probably only sufficiently illuminate 20-30 feet at night. The firmware for this is outstanding as well. It has HTML5 video playback when you access the camera directly through an internet browser (no plugin or flash is required). It has all the necessary settings that I was able to get the camera to communicate and work great with an outdated Grandstream NVR. So in other words it is very customizable and follows the onvif standards close enough to play well with other equipment. Amcrest is an American company but these cameras are made by companies in China that often are closely tied to the Chinese government. So I would advise using a firewall to prevent the cameras from accessing the internet. And use an NVR or NVR software like blue iris to view the video from cameras. Amcrest only releases a couple of firmwares per model which makes me believe that they spend a lot of time making sure their firmwares are stable and checking for any holes before distributing them. I don’t see the lack of firmware as an issue because their firmware are very stable and aren’t lacking any features. I cant speak to the long term quality which is often a problem with cheaper cameras, but in terms of hardware and features this will be the only camera I buy going forward.

The price and quality of this camera makes it a good deal compared to more expensive brands. You are going to get a higher resolution for a better price. The setup of this camera is straight forward: Plug it in, run the app to find the camera, add in to the app, and view. You can hook this up to a NVR or just a regular switch to view Live Video. The App for mobile devices is practically the same you will see across other brands, but seems a bit better, is easy to use, and setup. Follow the instructions Amcrest provides with the camera and Setup took no more than 30 mins to have live viewing on your phone and/or Computer. I tested the Power-over-Ethernet (POE) and the Power directly to the camera if your switch doesn’t have POE, both worked great. I have the Camera hooked up to a Network Video Recorder (not Amcrest brand) and it works great, which is a big plus if you are looking at switching brands. Great to see that Amcrest is ONIVF compliant. Only Con is the IR light is not the best for a large outdoor areas at night, if you are trying to illuminate a large area in dark hours try to find a model with more than 98ft IR Distance. Amcrest has models with 131 ft. and 164 ft. IR distances Pros: Price, image quality, ease of setup, ONIVF, need to buy Ethernet cable Cons: IR isn’t the best, Amcrest watermark on video.

First the good - these cameras are very well built and feel reassuringly solid. No plastic crap here. The picture (eventually) is very good, both in normal and low light. The only thing in the reviews I read before buying these that gave me pause was that some people seemed to be having a difficult time getting them pointed in the right direction. No problems there at all - the mounting has a full range of motion. My only hardware gripe is that there doesn't appear to be a way to remove the pigtail for the power cable if you aren't using POE. Now the bad. TLDR, don't buy these if you want fast and/or easy set-up. These have a web interface, but it rejects traffic until you've changed the password on the camera. The RTSP streams are also unavailable using the default credentials. The "Quick Start Guide" it came with and manufacturer website refers to this as "IP configuration", but as far as I can tell that's not what it is - all it's doing is having you set password. The first thing I did when I plugged in the camera was find the address my router assigned to it via DHCP and open it in a website. I'm doing a Frigate install and have no intention of using an untrusted phone app. Nope, 403 error. So I pull out the quick start guide and it's almost completely useless because everything is a short description of the thing you want to do followed by a web link. I found the section for "Local Desktop Access Using A Web Browser", which says "we recommend using Internet Explorer" (HUGE red flag), lists a bunch of other browsers it claims compatibility with, and points you to a website for setup instructions. The link leads to a manual for their desktop software, which I have even less intent to use than the phone app. After trawling around their website for over an hour I gradually came to the determination that the only way to configure this camera was to install their software. This is SUPER sketchy when their browser recommendation was deprecated by Microsoft in 2016. So I go to the download page and it's available for Windows 7 (IKR?) and Mac OS. I use neither of those, so I had to spin up a Windows VM on the network (probably a good idea anyway for software like this) and install the thing. No cameras detected. So I spend another half hour checking cabling, firewall and network settings, and every other thing I can think of that would affect connectivity. Nothing. So after all of this, I FINALLY break down and install the phone app, figuring I can just delete it when I'm done setting the camera up. Run the camera scan in the phone app. No cameras detected. Next, I figured I'd make sure the hardware itself was working and connected in PTP mode, which worked instantly and had me change the password when I connected. So I scanned for cameras over the network again. No cameras detected (while I can literally see myself messing with the thing over the PTP feed). At this point I was intending to return it, so I went back to the desktop to start that process and figured I'd check the IP in the browser one last time beforehand. This time it asked for credentials, and when I gave the password I set up over PTP it gave me a feed. I don't know if these shipped with old firmware or what's going on, but none of the setup is documented well, very little of it actually works, and it's definitely not what I'd describe as plug and play.

These are my initial thoughts after getting it setup and working with my NVR (PorConnect A800+), but not installed. I got this camera to replace an AvertX camera that bit the dust after a disappointing short almost 6 years in use. The AvertX system from Costco came with 4K HD POE cameras (8MP). This system has been great, but in the last year 2 of the cameras have died and one more seems a bit on the way out. The replacement cameras from AvertX are $280. So, I hadn’t replaced those cameras immediately until I looked into my choices as I wasn’t really eager to spend $600 for three cameras. This camera feels real solid as far as weight goes, equivalent to the AvertX cameras that came with my system. The camera housing is metal. The mount is plastic. A couple things to note, that I have discovered as part of setting this up in my house for later installation outdoors: 1. This is not a 4K camera and the ratio is different. The ratio with my Avertx cameras is 16:9 (3840 x 2160) like true HD. This camera is 4:3 (2592 x 1944). 2. It is a little tricky to get the password changed. The AvertX software would not connect directly to the camera. I had to connect the camera Ethernet cable to my switch and then power the power injector dongle with a 30-year-old wall wart Radio Shack AC Adapter (Cat No 273-1662) set to 12V that had multiple connectors one of which actually fit the dongle. With that setup, I was able to use the Amcrest recommended network config tool (Amcrest_ConfigTool_Eng_V3.20.10.T.180715) to get the IP address of the camera and put that in my Chrome browser to directly connect to it. Once this was accomplished, I could actually change the default user ID and password. There are a lot of other settings in there as well, many of which are not accessible from within my AvertX user interface to the camera. 3. Since this is not an AvertX camera, it appears I do not have the ability to change many of the settings of the camera using their software. See the pictures showing what is available with the AvertX camera vs. the Amcrest camera. Also, note that the AvertX camera capture has a Connect Directly to Camera link while the Amcrest does not. 4. So far, I have not been able to figure out how to connect directly to the Amcrest camera while it is connected to my AvertX NVR. I have not tried any of the phone apps that Amcrest mentions in their documentation. So far, I have had to do the process in #2 to connect directly. For an almost $250 price savings (after taxes) over the AvertX camera, I am happy so far. It looks like I am giving up some setup conveniences for that savings and we’ll only know if it is worth it once 5 or 6 years have elapsed, to see if this one lasts as long. There are 4 AvertX cameras left and one of those has already changed as far as video quality goes. It may be on its last legs although the first two to die just quit without warning. The Phoenix desert heat has got to be brutal on these things. If this one works out over the next few months, I will probably feel more comfortable splurging for the Amcrest 4K version of this one (IP8M-2496EW-AI-V3) which seems to be regularly priced at about $100. I’ll update this review with my longer term findings after a few months.