FOSCAM 3K 5MP Security Cameras Wireless Outdoor, 5GHz&2.4GHz WiFi Camera for Home Security, 120° FoV Outside Surveillance Cam, AI Human/Vehicle Detection, 66FT Color Night Vision, 120dB Siren, IP66

I'm going to say this is really a 4.5 star camera, but because I got it on sale and so far it's been mostly meeting my expectations I'm giving it 5 stars. Here's what I like about it. - Image quality during the day is outstanding. - Has a very large field of view. - Image quality at night using IR is very acceptable and slightly better when the spotlights are triggered during motion detection. - Motion detection is quite good. In fact it's light years ahead of the previous camera I had. The last camera would trigger an alert if a mosquito flew in front of it. This Foscam seems to be doing very good at detecting humans and vehicles. If you want more detection schemes (package, face, etc.) then you need to sign up for their cloud package. I don't need anything but human and vehicle detection and I'm happy as of now without the cloud package. - You can define areas where motion detection will take place and ignore areas where you don't want motion detection. For me I just use the entire field of view because I'm out in the country and don't need to define a specific area. - The Foscam app for iOS is rated very low on the app store. But my experience so far with the app does not warrant a low rating. I've had no issues with it, although there are some improvements I would like to see. I'll detail those below. - The camera was easy to install and easy to connect to my wireless network on 5G. - All the hardware you need for installation is included. - It supports RTSP streaming and is ONVIF compatible. - The sound to and from the microphone and speaker is pretty good for the device. - You can enable a siren when an alert is triggered, although I'll never use it because I don't need to scare the Amazon driver every time they bring a package. But someone may find a use for it if they don't expect there will ever be a person in the area and they want to try and scare someone away if they do show up. - The spotlights can also be enabled such that when motion is detected they will turn on at night to help light the scene. A couple recommendations for Foscam as improvements. - I've had a couple false detections for a human when there was no human in the field of view. If you can improve the detection algorithms this camera would be even better. But as I said above the detection on this camera is light years ahead of my previous camera. - I would like the Foscam app to be able to allow me to set a notification sound on my iPhone that is different from my other generic notification sounds. I think this can be done by the developer in the app. - Sometimes it takes too long to get an alert notification. I believe this setting can only go as low as one minute, meaning the camera will only send a notification every minute. So if the detect timer is at zero and it detects motion it won't send an alert until that timer reaches 1 minute. If it just so happens that the motion was detected and the timer was at 59 seconds then you get the alert very quickly. I would like the alert immediately no matter what. When motion is detected send an alert immediately. When motion is no longer detected then reset the detect algorithm. I don't care if I get a lot of alerts. But it would be nice to be able to set these values more granular than they allow. All and all this is a great camera for my use case and the price was excellent. The fact that I still get human and vehicle detection without having to use a cloud service is very nice. I'd recommend buying this if you're looking for a security camera that is in a fixed position.

The V5EP is an excellent POE security camera. If you don’t have an electrical outlet near the camera, it can be powered from a POE switch, or POE Ethernet power injector. It also has a port to connect a 12-volt DC power supply at the camera if you want to power it locally. Video resolution is excellent both day and night. The nighttime color video is very good with just the neighborhood ambient light, or you can use the onboard led white light for color images under any night light conditions. The camera has all the standard features you find on any Foscam camera as well as onboard “Smart AI”. The onboard “Smart AI” works with or without the Foscam cloud service and can accurately detect and identify humans and vehicles up to 60’ away from the camera. False alarms are almost non-existent. You can add the cloud service and also get additional detection alerts for pets and parcels. If you need to detect movement more than sixty feet from the camera you can turn off the human and vehicle detection and use the standard motion detection to detect vehicle motion up to 150’ feet or more away from the camera, but you will get more false alarms from windblown trees, as well as any animals or people walking closer to the camera. If this is a problem, you can use the “detection area” filter to mask out any movement in areas you are not concerned about. Overall, I am very happy with the camera. The video quality is great. It was easy to install and configure. And technical support has been great also.

I don’t typically write reviews, but these cameras are impressive. I have been using Foscam as my security camera of choice for over 10 years now. Over time I’ve seen a better quality product, better software, and better reliability of the cameras and systems. They are easy to setup and use and they also work with my Synology NAS where I back up the recordings. Whenever I had any issues or questions customer service has always been responsive and helpful. Majority of my cameras are indoors, but I decided on the new Foscam V5P after searching for a while since I wanted to upgrade our security outdoors as well. Most of my cameras are PTZ, but this is the first bullet I had and I was surprised how much I like it. I was able to mount and setup the new camera very easily via WiFi. I have all of my cameras setup of over WiFi so I’ve never used Ethernet in this case. I installed the V5P with the Foscam iPhone app. Just scan and it’s setup. The image quality is superb and its features overall cover most of the needs one has for their cameras. I like that these cameras are well built and at a reasonable cost. Would suggest everyone who hasn’t tried the Foscam cameras to give them a chance. They won’t regret it.

Background: I have owned the following surveillance camera brands: Reolink, Kasa, Foscam, Zmodo and Wansview. I'm a photographer and greatly care about image quality. ***Disclaimer: I was contacted by Foscam test and review this camera, I was reimbursed for the purchase of the camera. In no way was I directed to add bias to my review. This is my second camera review for them. Camera: The camera was boxed in a nice secure package, lots of foam around it. At this price point, I was surprised to find that the camera housing is made out of metal! Comparable cameras made by other companies are made out of plastic and not ready for harsh weather conditions. It also has an optional ethernet port which is a must if you want a quick high quality connection. Set up: Connecting the camera to Wifi this time around was a much quicker and easier. I ran into trouble with a previous model. However it seems as though Foscam has fixed that issue. I used the QR code method. Image Quality: The image quality is very good, its not oversaturated and the image is very sharp. The frame rate is much better than some other brands cameras at the same price point. I'm very pleased with the FOV (Field of View) I can get everything I want to see in the image. Infrared works very well at night. Cons: The ethernet port doesn't have a full cap on it so I had to tape it up. I cant find on the app how to use the spotlight. Tips: When installing make sure you attach the antenna and remove the protective light film before you mount the camera otherwise you will have to do it on a ladder. Overall: If you are looking for an inexpensive camera that has a metal housing, great image quality, and quick set up then this is the camera for you. I like it so much, I'm buying another.

I was skeptical that this 5MP camera would be very good, but I was wrong! This is good for basic users and advanced users as well. I'll explain, so this may be a long review. I prefer hardwired (non-wifi) cameras for many reasons. They don't slow down my wifi, more reliable, and better image due to more bandwidth. However, the most difficult part of setup is getting an ethernet cable to your location. If you have a POE switch or injector, you only need that one cable. Adding a POE injector is easy but would increase your cost a tad. The camera does have a DC input connection, but the camera doesn't come with a power supply. POE is so much easier anyway. Please look up POE or POE injectors if you are not familiar with the terms. I have a POE switch and ran the cable under the siding. The RJ45 connection to the camera is typical, and a bit bulky to hide under the siding but my install turned out just fine. I do like that the camera connector has connection and activity LED's on it so you can see if the camera has power/connectivity. Now that it's installed, setup was easy with the app. For basic users the app is great and gives some nice options. The camera is very usable without paying for the Foscam cloud service. It has some basic motion and/or sound detection, and after setting up email settings in it's setup, it will email you alerts. I use Gmail, and set it up using SMTP settings with an app password. Google "gmail app password" and gmail SMTP setup if you need help. If you pay for the Foscam Cloud Service (there is usually a 30 day free trial), you'll have many more options for intelligent detection (packages, vehicles, animals, people, etc). I personally don't need the cloud services as I'm running a PC with Blue Iris software that does all the features I want. Blue Iris involves a bunch more set up though. What I like about this camera is that I can have both Blue Iris running and if that fails, I can enable the built in features of the camera and still get alerts via emails directly from the camera. I don't typically use the Foscam app because it accesses the camera through their servers. I prefer a direct control (I actually have another app that can access it directly, but that again is a whole different way of doing things requires more advanced setup). I do find myself using the Foscam app more often because it is actually very easy and quicker than going through my Blue Iris app and you can access many Foscam cameras from their app (even those at different locations). Foscam does provide PC and Mac software (Foscam VMS) as well, but I found for my more advanced setup (i.e. Blue Iris) I needed the phone app to setup all the advanced settings properly. My one dislike is that this camera does not have a built in web-server so that you can set it up using a direct IP address connection to it with a web browser. At first this slowed down my setup, but once I realized the app worked best for setup, I was up and running in my advanced configuration. And it's been working great. One more thing, firmware updates are very easy as well. This is important to me as Foscam has been around for a while and provide updates now and again for their products. The app actually has an indicator on it too when a firmware update is available. Other features... I've never had good luck with my other cameras using two-way audio, but these Foscam cameras work pretty well, especially with a hardwired connection. This camera also has a built in alarm sound that can be enabled manually or set to go off during motion/sound detection. Another interesting feature is that even though the camera works in complete darkness with it's IR LED's, you can turn on a "floodlight" to turn on a white LED to illuminate the area a bit. I wouldn't call it a "floodlight," but it's bright enough to illuminate my deck if I needed a light on back there. Final thoughts.... I miss the direct web server set up on this camera, but that's the worst of it. It's a great high definition camera with some pretty awesome features. I very impressed with the quality and ease of use, both for basic cloud use or advanced user setup!

If your network is too secure or if your blood pressure is too low, this camera is for you. It does work with Blue Iris after much cussing and frustration. What you need to know is: set the onvif discovery port to 888 before clicking "find". Oh, there is no http web interface. That would be too convenient. You must sign up for the foscam app, connect it to the cloud, update it, scan the QR code generated on your phone with the camera's screen, let it listen to and transmit the secret "modem" sound coming from your phone, etc while it exfiltrates all of your phone and network settings, wifi password, inventories all of the other devices on your lan, and transmits gps coordinates. I'm sure it is fully secure! (sarcasm). Once you get done with that process, you can set the username and password (to anything but admin, that's not allowed) and then you are a few steps away from being able to throw it in the trash can (I mean add it to Blue Iris) after you enable the NVR and ONVIF options. For some reason if you go to the trouble to put it on an isolated VLAN (which oh my, you should) then you will be unable to make any changes to other settings, like the date/time, WDR, spotlight, audio settings (did I mention the camera talks whenever it does pretty much anything? Yeah, you will want to silence that, unless you want it shouting things randomly when it reboots, at all hours, outdoors, or wherever you have installed it). So it is a good idea to disable the date/time display if using it with Blue Iris, and use the Blue Iris one instead.. One less reason to have to manually reconnect it later. Be sure to save your foscam username/password so you don't lose access to your camera should the need arise at a later time, or you'll be stuck taking it down and undoing the screws to access the reset button. Again, no web interface. After you're all done, be sure to uninstall the foscam app so that your communications and whereabouts are not transmitted to .. wherever this thing goes, probably well out of the reach of US jurisdiction and law. If the whole preceding process doesn't make you wary of this "security device" and its advertisements/cloud dependencies, then the typos and clunky dysfunctional app should put that issue to rest, as it is probably a much better persistent rootkit than camera management software to begin with. In fact, at this point, you should probably snap the phone in half and throw it over a bridge into deep swift moving water just for good measure. Enjoy the video quality though, subsidized by "we need a clear image of invading your privacy" quality electronics. No it's not full color night vision, there's no such thing, but with a porch light on, you'll probably like it. The big boys pull this trick off but that's more than $45 Pros: it is relatively cheap and supports 5ghz wifi; raises your blood pressure if it is medically too low Cons: no POE (not that you need it), no web interface, and a train wreck to configure or secure

I recently purchased the VP5 camera to use outdoors aimed at my tool shed, a common target of theft in suburban america. While I have a Blink setup for doorbell and general perimeter camera duties, Ive histrically had foscam cameras for indoors. In my opinion, the foscam cameras are in a class above the Blink. I have four older foscam cameras which have served me very well as nursery / nanny cams, as well as general protection. These cameras have helped my wife and I raise two children, allowing us to keep an eye on them while on the couch, cooking dinner, out in the yard, or otherwise occupied. My wife leaves the house early, and will often remotely watch the morning routine where I get the kids ready for school before heading off to work as well. Its been very helpful when I forget an article of clothing or a backpack, and my wife will shoot me a text to gently remind me. These cameras have proven themselves indispensible over the years, and I have high expectations for the VP5 as well. The setup is certainly different from the old way. The app will generate a QR code you can show to the camera in order to configure the wifi settings. No more web configuration is necessary, nor available. The build quality seems pretty solid. My old cameras were built like a tank, and this one seems up to the same level. Hopefully its enough to withstand the elements outdoors. The alarm settings are app driven, similar to my other cameras. The recording clips are stored on an SD card located below a waterproof door on the camera body. There are options to add cloud recording and storage. It looks like you can also run a software VMS on a local PC, or possibly a hardware NVR if you wanted. My older cameras have the option for FTP based alarm recording, which helps keep the alarm recordings safely off site. The new camera does not appear to support FTP, pushing the upsell towards the cloud service or NVR. Everone needs to decide for themselves how important offsite storage is. Picture quality is fantastic, light years beyond the older cameras. I'm amazed how far I can pinch zoom in on the app. And night vision seems to be fantastic and close range, and adequate further out. Time will tell how this camera holds up exposed to the elements. But if the longevity is anything like my older foscam cameras, it should provide many years of bulletproof service.

I’ve bought about a dozen Foscam cameras over the past few years for homes in both the US and overseas. I love them because I can use them anywhere in the world and so long as I have an internet connection, the cameras work perfectly. In addition, the few times I’ve needed technical support, I was able to get answers by email in 24 hours or less that always solved any issue I was having. Let’s talk about this V5EP camera, the latest one I’ve added to my stable of Foscam units. This camera is incredible. Setup is the easiest of any of the cameras I’ve purchased. Using the POE feature, I simply attached a network cable from the POE port on my router and it was up and running in less than a minute. The camera adds in some new features that I love. First of all, the AI for detecting humans or vehicles is built right into the camera. No need to subscribe to the cloud service to get his feature any more. The built-in detection works far quicker and easier than that available on the cloud service. The camera also adds in a built-in siren and built-in floodlights, so upon a detection, the siren immediately goes off, and if it’s dark, and the detection is activated by the IR lens, the flood lights immediately illuminate so you can get a clear, color image of what was detected. I like to put SD cards in my cameras, so you can immediately look at the video of what the camera sees and then download it for safekeeping if needed. Foscam has also done a number of upgrades to their application over the last 2 years that really make it fast and simple to use. I use the app on both my phone and my tablet and the imagery is stunning. I’ve looked at a number of other cameras over the years, but for the price and features, nothing comes close to the Foscam products. I highly recommend them for your home or business.