IPEVO Ziggi-HD High-Definition USB Document Camera (Discontinued and Upgraded to IPEVO V4K)

Let me add to the voluminous chorus of raves. I, too, am an educator; currently at a university and a community college, where I teach composition and ESL. The community college is cash-strapped, so they do not have fully loaded "smart rooms," only "semi-loaded," you might say (hook-ups for your lap-top and a ceiling-mounted projector in the newer buildings only). I'd bought a used overhead projector that I was lugging around everywhere, and was cranking out transparencies to use with it (another expense). I thought there had to be a better way, but I certainly couldn't afford an ELMO, and they're too big and bulky anyway. I found this IPEVO on Amazon and am so grateful to the reviewers--mostly educators--who convinced me to buy it. The price is SO RIGHT for what you get. Let me say that I teach at three sites off-campus that all have ELMOs and big document cameras. NO WAY do they produce the kind of CLARITY of image as this IPEVO. Sure, if you move a paper or book, your motion kind of stutters as projected on the screen, but that's only for a second. What I'm projecting--papers and book pages--is stationery. It's easy to adjust and focus. I use it with an old Lenovo Idea Pad, about 10", with just Windows XP--works like a charm. The little laptop and the IPEVO are so lightweight, I can tote them in a little bag, and walk into my classroom like a lady. Totally easy to install the software and set up. I'm not exactly a tech geek and it was a cinch for me to set up and use. It is so wonderfully designed--they even have a little notch at the back of the adjustable arm to hold the wire. Although the carrying case is expensive (as opposed to the IPEVO itself, which is economical relative to its function), it is an absolute must-have for transporting this. Don't hesitate to buy the case if you get this. I've had mine now since January and used it all spring semester to great effect. My students are so happy I'm not using that old OHP any longer!

I bought this little camera to replace a larger older model of an RCA document camera which is about 20 years old. This little camera works great and is basically a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) camera. I do live drawing demonstrations and this camera seems to capture the images and can take photo shots of the image as I develop it. It automatically saves it to your laptop or computer too so you have a progressive image record of what you are demonstrating if you need that capability. I gave it Five Stars because I appreciate the simplicity of it, the portability of it, and the fact that the software and technical aspect is simple, easy to work with. It does however have a bit of lag, slightly behind your movement but that is not a serious issue for me.I cannot give it stars for what it does NOT have but I will say that I wish it had manual zoom features (it has click-zoom features I believe which increase by percentages) that I could softly fine zoom. Another feature that may help is a light a appendage which would help.In order to solve the need for a light to work with this item (since I am demonstrating in a dark room), I purchased a small portable light called a "Flexible Dual Head Music Stand Light" by Certain Way, ASIN: B00GVJ8F88 from the Amazon Market place and this little light, along with this document camera seems to work well and do the trick for my needs.

I purchased this to record short (5-10 minutes) video lectures for a college class I'm teaching. The camera works great - I'm able to record the creation of my lecture notes in a very natural way - pen on paper - as I always have and can talk students through what I'm writing as I go. The video quality is very good so that a normal 8.5"x11" page of notes shows up just fine writing at normal size. I record with QuickTime and export at 480i which gives file sizes of about 5 MB / minute - not too bad.However, I have found the built in microphone to be more-or-less useless. The audio quality is comparable to what I get when I record through my desktop display's built in microphone or the microphone built into my laptop, despite the fact that when I'm recording the device is right up close to me. The sound is distorted and echo-y and has lots of background hum. So when recording my lectures I use a head set for the audio and this device for the video. That combination works just fine.So: 4-stars for video, 3-stars for audio, 4-stars overall for a very good device for the price.