Save up for a camcorder instead..
Written: May 08 '01 (Updated Dec 23 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Tiny, optional battery pack along with wireless nature opens up possibilities.
Cons: Expensive for what you get, low light picture quality nonexistant.
The Bottom Line: Cheap (Comparatively), relatively good picture quality in high lighting conditions, but suffers from alot of "Quirks" that make it a questionable decision for anything except it's Gizmo factor.
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| pepper99's Full Review: X10 XCam Anywhere |
Unless the small size of the XCam is a big plus, this probably isn't the camera for you.. Although the prices (Via www.x10.com) have come down dramatically since this item first started being reviewed here at Epinions, the Xcam system is still just what I would consider a "Toy", and not necessarily a "Surveilance Device" as it's often sold as.
The model I have has a surprisingly good picture in bright lighting conditions.. However, this is the camera's greatest downfall - it requires a LOT of light, and if the light dissapears, so does the picture - completely.
However, X10 recently addressed this issue with X10's "Night" camera (I beleive they call it the Night Owl or something along that line), so if picture quality in the darkness is an issue, you may want to look at this alternative. The original models are still being sold, however.
On earlier models, the camera was not able to be focused either, which was a major issue. As well, this has been addressed, and I beleive X10 no longer sells the non-focusable models.
Build quality isn't spectacular. Although durable enough to survive mounting and aiming, this is certainly not a camera that you would ever let your kids touch.
The signal is transmitted in a wireless fashion to a receiver which you can connect to your television (or VCR) via a coaxial cable output. As long as the antenna's on both the transmitter (Camera) and the receiver are aimed towards each other, picture quality remains good, but obstacles such as walls, floors, etc signifigantly lower the functional range between devices, as does distance between the units, obviously. As well, any disturbances in the signal path (Such as someone walking by) can mess up the picture momentarilly.
If all your looking for is a gizmo to play with, or perhaps a really simple surveilance camera to watch over your backyard to catch those pesky kids destroying your flower garden on video, then the Xcam might be a choice worth looking at, but if your looking into serious usages such as security surveilance or home video's, save the cash and look at equipment tailored to these functions.
Thank you for reading my review - I would greatly appreciate it if you could take a second to click on a rating button below! This helps me with feedback as to the quality of my reviews.
Thanks!
Regards;
Mark
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
pepper99
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Member: Mark Morissette
Location: Canada
Reviews written: 55
Trusted by: 8 members
About Me:
30-something married guy with 2 kids.
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