Review on 🏠 Amcrest 1080P WiFi Security Camera: Advanced Indoor Pan/Tilt Wireless IP Camera IP2M-841W (White) by Steven Pankey

I've been using Amcrest 720 for a few months and recently added 1080. Both cameras performed well and do their job well. These cameras offer a very good solution for home surveillance or do-it-yourself surveillance and the feature set is very impressive (especially considering the price). The cameras are packaged very well and come with a bracket (if you want to mount them on the wall). , a fairly long power cord, an ethernet cable (which I didn't need for the wireless setup), a software CD, and instructions. The instructions are well written and very easy to follow. In terms of installation, some reviewers report problems or complain about software confusion (more on software below), but in my experience, the initial installation was straightforward. You have several options. The most common include a wired setup (use the included Ethernet cable to connect to your router) or a wireless setup (over WiFi). I used the WiFi setup for both cameras with the Android app. The process is to simply add the device to the app and scan the QR code (printed on the base of the camera) with the app (or enter the serial number manually), then name the device, your WiFi credentials for the device specify and you're done. As for the software, I found it a bit confusing to understand my options when I first got to know the camera. Here's what you have:* Lite and Pro versions for Android mobile devices. I installed and used the Lite and Pro versions and they both work fine. However, the Pro version gives you some additional features (one of them is push notifications, so you get notifications on your mobile phone about events like motion detection). The Pro version was not free in the past, so two apps. But since it's free now, the Pro version is a better choice. * Amcrest IP Config - This application allows you to configure many settings of your camera including ports, basic video surveillance settings, video encoding settings (quality) for your main stream and sub-stream (the camera can record in two separate streams, giving you the flexibility to monitor with one stream and record with another) and firmware updates. You can also launch a browser-based configuration tool with the IP configuration tool for even more settings and functions. Although multiple browsers are supported, I use Chrome and Chrome requires the Amcrest app (free from the Chrome App Store) to be installed. Just install the ActiveX plug-in in IE when viewing the camera's IP address for the first time. The browser-based configuration tool (Chrome app or IE) contains many configuration options and the user interface is very user-friendly. This is my preferred method for monitoring, configuring, and playback/viewing. * Amcrest Surveillance Pro - This app includes most of the same features as IP Config and browser apps (like the Chrome app). I started with this app when I set up my first camera, and while it has all the necessary features and allows you to configure events and other settings, the interface is really non-intuitive. You must spend some time to get the most out of this tool. From what I understand, Amcrest is developing a new application which would be welcome.* PC-NVR is a software (PC) NVR application that allows you to store video on your computer. I don't use this feature.* You can also use other apps (most of them support Amcrest (Foscam) cameras. Blue iris is a popular choice. Other options are also available for the mobile app (like the TinyCam monitor, which works well). Storage, at the moment I only store to SD cards in each camera. From the documentation I've seen, the largest capacity is 32 GB, so that's what I have in every camera. By default, this' writes in a loop, so the oldest files are deleted when disk space is low. You can set this up if you'd rather be notified when space is full (rather than being overwritten). You also have a choice of NAS or FTP. Amcrest offers free cloud storage for one camera, but this only comes with 4 hours of storage (only 4 hours, not 4 hours of recorded video, so it's really of very limited value). So if you need cloud storage and don't want to pay for an Amcrest cloud service subscription, you need an FTP server. Unfortunately, cloud storage is not supported by Dropbox, Google Drive and others (you need a cloud storage solution with FTP capability). You have many configuration options for recording, including motion detection, audio detection, and various alerts (video hacking, SD card error, network error, camera masking, etc.). Motion detection works really well and is easy to set up (allowing you to set motion detection zones and adjust sensitivity as needed to avoid false alarms). The cameras also include night vision and this works pretty well (even in a very dark room or room). A note about mobile app push notifications (a feature that allows you to receive notifications based on events such as motion detection). Until recently, there were problems with the reliable operation of push notifications. I'm having some issues but just recently the Android app was updated to fix this issue and push notifications are working great since the update. If you have a problem, simply remove and re-add the camera to the mobile app, then enable/save the push notifications option again. Finally, something for support. I only had to contact Amcrest once (for a simple issue I had to resolve myself) and found them very responsive and helpful. Their tech support rep (Alex) quickly resolved the issue. like motion detection). Until recently, there were problems with the reliable operation of push notifications. I'm having some issues but just recently the Android app was updated to fix this issue and push notifications are working great since the update. If you have a problem, simply remove and re-add the camera to the mobile app, then enable/save the push notifications option again. Finally, about support. I only had to contact Amcrest once (for a simple issue I had to resolve myself) and found them very responsive and helpful. Their tech support rep (Alex) quickly resolved the issue. like motion detection). Until recently, there were problems with the reliable operation of push notifications. I'm having some issues but just recently the Android app was updated to fix this issue and push notifications are working great since the update. If you have a problem, simply remove and re-add the camera to the mobile app, then enable/save the push notifications option again. Finally, something for support. I've only had to contact Amcrest once (for a simple issue that I had to solve myself) and found them to be very responsive and helpful. Their tech support rep (Alex) quickly resolved the issue. and push notifications are working great since the update. if you have a problem just remove the camera and add it back to the mobile app, then enable/save the push notifications option again. Finally, something for support. I only had to contact Amcrest once (for a simple issue I had to resolve myself) and found them very responsive and helpful. Their tech support rep (Alex) quickly resolved the issue. and push notifications are working great since the update. If you have a problem, simply remove and re-add the camera to the mobile app, then enable/save the push notifications option again. Finally, something for support. I've only had to contact Amcrest once (for a simple problem, which I had to solve myself) and found them very responsive and helpful. Their tech support rep (Alex) quickly resolved the issue.