Micro Innovations Webcam Plus IC200C (USB)

My husband purchased this webcam 2 weeks ago so that faraway relatives could see our 3 year old in action. In these past 2 weeks we have had to return it 2x and now we'll be returning it for our 3rd time.Camera #1 - as we were installing the webcam and reading the manual, we realized that we were missing a key component - the audio connector. What good is a webcam with a built-in microphone if you can't connect the microphone?? Image quality was fine, though - we weren't expecting it to be crystal clear, given the cost of it, but it was decent. I wrote to Micro Innovations' support and was told to bring it back to the store to exchange it for...Camera #2 - this one had the audio connector. Great! Not. The image quality was so poor and when we fiddled with the settings, it just got worse. In other words, this webcam was defective! So, back to a different store location in a different area of the state for...Camera #3 - we, in our rush, forgot to check it out before we left the store with it. We were also thinking that there was no way a 3rd such camera would be defective. Got home only to find that it was missing the audio connector! Image quality is similar to what it was in Camera #1. I wrote to the support department again and this time I was told that the newer versions (what newer version? there was nothing in the box or manual that indicated it was a "newer version" and the manual still talked about hooking up an "audio connector") didn't have audio connectors so it was okay. Okay! That means the first one we had was okay too! Yay! What a waste of time! And not only that, the sound quality is horrible - there's this incessant beeping noise in the background no matter how far away from the speakers we put it, though the cord only goes so far. Don't know if we have it hooked up right (though how much room for error is there when all you have to do is plug it into the USB port?) or if this is yet another defective camera.If only we could get rid of that incessant beeping in the background - we've tried troubleshooting and even called the support dept. at Micro Innovations to help and the support guy was unable to figure out what was going on, this would be a decent webcam, initial problems aside. The software included is fine for our needs, as is the video quality.

I bought this webcam at Staples for 30 dollars with a 10 dollar rebate. It's more or less pretty good in the right light and isn't terrible, but it isn't awesome either. It's basically what you pay for.

TOTAL steaming pile of writhing maggot infested... matter. Might work good if I were color blind, the image quality was trash. I actually bought this from [a local retailer]. The disappointment of having purchased this horrid product and the general horror of [local stores] inability to keep decent products on the shelf has led me to boycott their store. Why do these companies insult us by producing this kind of product and why does circuit city insult us by selling it? I just boxed it and I'm returning it tomorrow!

This is a nice little camera with tons of problems on installing if your OS is XP professional. Try to find solutions at their web site is a waste of time as the FAQ sections consists of mere three entries, none related to the webcam.Finally, once that you are upgrading or trying to upgrade the drivers, here comes a warning: "IT IS RECOMMENDED NOT TO INSTALL THE CAMERA BEFORE INSTALLING THE DRIVERS."I am not impressed with the technical support from this company