Review on ENSTER Surveillance Floodlights Intelligent Detection by Robert Capers

Okay, so you see I'm relatively new to IP cameras. I have a wired CCTV system and just wanted to add something a little more... active to it. So ever since I got interested in PTZ cameras, I've tried a few different ones that have kept going up in price, trying to find one that doesn't suck. All were either of terrible quality or raised terrible safety concerns or both. But each incremental increase in $ seemed to make things a little bit better, so I hoped that by spending a lot more money I'd get a lot more...better things? The first thing I found was that, like most cheaper cameras, the web server runs Flash. WHY? So I contacted the seller to ask him about it and if he will update the firmware. In doing so, I browsed their store page and found a seemingly identical camera with seemingly identical features that only costs $60. So I have one more question for you. According to the answer, the reason this camera is $90 is because it has a 5GHz chip. I have to believe the vendor that this is a reasonable price for this feature, but it's not what I wanted. Given the inconveniences I had with cheaper cameras, I wanted MORE CAMERA. I wanted the motion detection to be at least a little smarter so my camera wouldn't stumble while tracking snow or flying insects and sending me dozens of notifications. I wanted durability and a certain amount of predictable behavior. I wanted smooth, fast, and quiet servos. And I get some of it, sort of, but it still hurts me to think that I could get so many cameras for $30 less. Because to be honest, I don't see any advantage in the 5GHz band. It doesn't seem to improve image quality or UI responsiveness. However, this reduces the distance I can place the camera from the router and thus limits placement versatility. So I won't use it. Maybe I'm missing something subtle. But if it's so subtle I can't tell it apart, I still don't want to spend $30 on it. For example, I'd rather pay extra for more responsiveness when tracking a person. Or even more vendor responsiveness. Some. conspicuous or practical. Incidentally, the seller shrugged off the firmware issue and said it didn't matter since most people would just use the phone app. I don't think it matters because whether people use the app or not, it's still running on a web server with outdated and highly vulnerable software. Then there's sort of a principle that I don't have that functionality that someone thought was important enough to put in the device, so I feel a bit cheated. This server is an easy-to-use interface with much more detailed controls and settings than the app. So since I can't uninstall it, it would be nice if it works properly. Bottom line, this camera is a little better than the junk I would have wished for back in the day. And I'm still learning cryptic acronyms and scratching my head over poorly documented software, so maybe it's better than it looks. But with the proposed application, it does not have enough sensitivity. Even at these high settings, the human form isn't captured until it fills at least half the frame. And because panning is so slow (even compared to cheaper cameras), it barely has time to react before the subject disappears completely from the frame. Admittedly, this is still a better situation than I've had with cheaper cameras. Admittedly, I also screwed up by not including the word "5Ghz" in the product description and perhaps not knowing how much 5Ghz chips cost (although I doubt the average consumer is aware of this, so I'll give myself a break on this check). But the bottom line is that the situation remains unsatisfactory. If I had been smart enough to find and buy one for $60 instead, I would probably have been satisfied with relatively better performance. Anyway, unless you have a specific need for a 5GHz connection (or know something that I don't know is useful), I don't recommend this article. Also recommend $60. I mean, if it's the same camera without a 5GHz chip, it's most likely running the same firmware running a web server with outdated and highly vulnerable embedded software. The seller and/or manufacturer doesn't care, so what else doesn't they care about, I wonder?