HooToo IP Camera, Silver (HT-IP212)

Techie with lots of network and IP Camera experience... camera appears to be very similar to one from Foscam... except it did not work out of the box. Ran several IP Camera finder software programs, including the one provided with it and the one on HOO 2 website. Nothing found the camera... but did find my other 5 IP cameras from Foscam. Sending this one back to Amazon. Unfortunately, I wasted an afternoon trying to troubleshoot this brick. Spend the extra $15 for the Foscam and get something that works out of the box.<<UPDATE - July 2014>>Upon posting my product review and returning the camera to Amazon for a refund, I was contacted by the vendor and offered a free replacement due to my negative experience with their product. After agreeing to give their product another try, the replacement unit was sent directly from the vendor and arrived in a few days. The second unit worked out of the box with none of the configuration problems encountered previously. For that reason I have revised my rating from One Star up to Three Stars. I have had this camera installed at a cabin in the New Mexico mountains since May 2014 and it has worked flawlessly. However, if you are looking for good colors in the video (this is not important for my surveillance needs), the lack of an IR filter in this camera will leave you disappointed. The range of the IR LEDs is quite limited, around 20 ft, so the night illumination is not all that great. I opted to use a separate IR LED unit to provide lighting which improves the night picture and reduced the bugs that tend to hover around / obscure the camera lens and set off the motion detection. I am not all that pleased with the software as it does not support robust password configurations (does not accept special key characters in the password) and is a bit klunky compared to the Foscam software configuration interface. Given that this camera was provided to me at no cost, I can't complain. Since it meets my needs for monitoring the cabin, I will likely purchase one to provide coverage in another location at the cabin.

I did a ton of research debating the different outdoor IP cameras on the market, and end-up choosing this model. I have 4 IP camera in and outside the home with motion detection setup on each using ftp to load images to a server. I'll start with the bad, but since I gave this camera 5 stars the bad isn't actually that bad. I'm the type of person who like to make sure the firmware is the latest version before I get started. If you're like me you'll notice version 41 is the latest version on hootoo website, while version 49 is on the camera. Don't attempt to put the old version 41 on. If you try like me, you'll need to load the cd that comes with the camera to get the firmware back to a workable version (I couldn't find it online). However, during this process I called HooToo (Sunvalleytek) office to see if they could help. I was surprised to have someone immediately answer the phone and quickly get my issues resolved. They even offered to RMA my product at no charge even though it was just a firmware update. I've been so please with the company and the camera and company that I just ordered another. Thanks to Winnie & Raymond at Sunvalleytek to give me the confidence in their company. The other thing that made me hesitant about buying it was; it wasn't an amazon prime item. I get spoiled with the 2 day shipping. You'll be happy to know that Sunvalleytek sends their items USPS 2 day priority (that was a pleasant surprise).As far as the camera, I read reviews saying the camera is bigger than people expected. I guess that made me expect something bigger. The camera is 6" long and about 3" in diameter. It's in an all metal housing with a 2ft pigtail where you plug in the network cable (if needed) and power. It has a nice 6dbi antenna which give me great reception even outside the home (my router is in the basement). It comes with a mount. The mount can be used as a free stand on a shelf or used with the rotating arms mount on a wall. The mount like the camera is all metal, and is actually very good. It even came with it's own allen wrench to tighten.The picture is far superior to my other cameras. The night vision has no troubles and is crystal clear. I happy using this camera day or night. The ftp, motion detection, and port forwarding all work as expected, and I can see my camera with very little setup from outside the home network. Plus I never have any wireless connectivity issues.The setup:I thought not going with foscam was going to make the setup more difficult, but that wasn't the case.1) Plug the camera into power and network over CatV.2) Open the IPCam tool. The great thing about the tool is it actually don't make you install it, very small exe to do what it needs to do. This is just used to get/set the IP address. If you look at your router you can also determine what IP your camera is using assuming your on the 192.168.1.x subnet mask. I used this tool to set the static IP address. I also used it to set a different port number so I can see it from outside my home network.3) Go to the IP address in your browser to finish the setup.4) This is where you add it to your wireless network. One gotcha is I had to scan twice for any networks to show up.5) This should be it for a basic setup. If you want to see you camera from outside you network make sure to setup your router with port forwarding.I will note on the ftp setup I kept trying to run the test to insure it was working and it kept failing. I think the buttons are out of order, so make sure you "submit" before testing.Overall, good camera, good customer service, and a great price. I don't know why I wait so long to buy my first camera from them. At least I didn't hesitate before buying the second.

REVISED REVIEWThe product seller let me keep the camera, where it sat for many months until my dog required me to get a camera to keep an eye on him when away from home. I pulled out the HooToo and called their 800 #. I am changing my review greatly. First off, I was sent the correct model. I don't know what I saw to make me say I didn't. It was too long ago.I have a Macbook. Honestly, JUST CALL THEM. They will have you install a small, free program that lets them access your computer. THey stayed on the phone with me the entire time, and they got it all set up. Save yourself the aggravation! Just call them and have them set it up. It's free, and truly excellent service. Now I love the camera!ORIGINAL REVIEWHands down, the worst instructions I have ever seen/read/followed in my life.And yet, I'm technically competent enough that I got it mostly set up. Except one tiny bugaboo... it couldn't find my WLAN. I tried *everything* including changing my WLAN encryption.I wrote to HooToo. They said reset and try again. I did. Nothing.I just noticed, I received IP212F, yet I ordered 212.I suspect this was refurbished camera packaged as new - there is the residue of a sticker on the back. I am returning it.Having said all this, had it connected to Wifi, I would have kept it. I loved the email snapshots of my feet in my office walking back and forth to the camera every time I had to disconnect from Ethernet to see if wireless was working. It never was, but now I have about 30 emails of my feet in motion.