CTRONICS 3MP Solar Security Camera Wireless Outdoor WiFi, PTZ Surveillacne Camera Battery-Powered for Home Security, 360° View, Spotlight Color Night Vision, PIR Human Detection, 2-Way Audio (White)

Overall I am happy with this purchase. The quality of the camera recordings is good. I am still experimenting with the best location to place the camera to get good nighttime recordings. The camera has the option to record sound.Solar charged batteries: I have the camera in the sun and the solar panels keep the battery charged. I have AA’s installed as a backup, but so far they haven’t been needed.You can view the camera feed and recordings from your phone at home or away, and no subscription service is required. There is a detailed log that tracks all camera activities such as Network Wake Up, Normal Standby, and Alarm Recordings. Most of this is system information and there is no additional information except for the Alarm Recordings, which are captured videos.When viewing the live camera feed options are available to immediately take photos and/or videos. Only during the live camera feed can photos be captured. Alarm Triggers will only capture videos. Also, during live viewing there is an ability to have a conversation. It is a little tricky since only one person can be talking at a time, but it is doable.There are two storage areas, one for Photos and one for Videos. All recorded videos are stored by date and time (military) and stored in the Online area of the SD card. Videos can be downloaded into the Local area of the SD card. Captured photos are immediately placed into the Local area. From the Local area photos/videos can then be downloaded to the Photos software on a phone or tablet. This seems redundant but I have a trail camera and the process is the same.NOTE1: There is no ability to delete files from the Online area of the SD card other than choosing the Format SD Card option in the SD Card Settings. The camera performs Loop Recording, which keeps recording photos and videos until all space has been used, then it will overwrite the oldest files. Downloaded files to the Local area of the SD card can be selectively deleted within the software.NOTE2: When performing the Format SD Card action, it will only delete the logs and recorded videos in the Online Area. If photos/videos are downloaded to the Local area these will not be deleted during the Format SD Card.Now that I have used this camera and know its quality, I am considering another camera, and it will definitely be a Ctronics.The software:The manual that comes with the camera explains the install process perfectly. Getting the camera on-line was quite easy.The software takes a bit of getting used to, but once you understand the process for viewing recordings, saving them, sending them to the photos app on the iPhone, it all seems quite easy now. Some trial and error and a little patience will give you good results. During experimentation there will be many photos/videos recorded. Using the Format SD Card option is a good way to eliminate all the tests. NOTE3: The software can monitor up to four cameras.Customer service:I had an issue when adding the software to a second device. I had changed the password and the 2nd device would not recognize the new password. I sent a message to Ctronics using their website. I got a very prompt response and we had a few email exchanges where Ctronics gave me detailed steps to fix the problem. All is working now with the software on 3 devices. 5 stars for customer service.

I live in an apartment building and my indoor security camera wouldn't work to monitor the parking lot outside my window at night as I got the dreaded reflection issue. So I was offered this opportunity to try out this camera in exchange for an honest review. I welcomed the opportunity as this product has a solar panel which is useful as I do not have a power supply on the outside of the building. The setup was easy if you methodically follow the instructions and take a matter of minutes. For the physical install, I was drilling into some pretty tough fascia trim and I would recommend using stainless or other outdoor screws as the screws included are a soft metal that can be easily stripped. Once you have the mounting base up, it's super simple to mount the camera and panel. Suggest also installing the solar panel on the unit before climbing up the ladder - just makes it easier to get the cable connected. Just don't tighten the panel down because once you mount the camera, you'll want to swivel the panel and angle it to maximize its exposure to direct sunlight. Once you're satisfied with placement, then you tighten it down. I didn't realize there would be a pan and tilt function that you access by swiping the screen on the app while you are viewing the image. That is a nice feature! The image in both day and night are clear. You can add an SD card for capturing images and video. The camera can be easily removed to bring it inside to charge. I haven't had to do this yet as the solar panel does the trick. I have it in a location that gets sun directly for the first half of the day and then ambient exposure. The camera charge did get pretty low during a couple of days of very overcast weather but it never turned off. I'm going to keep watching it and tweaking the positioning of the panel. Very satisfied so far!

This camera is not effective as a security Camera, you may only use it for monitoring. When I newly bought this camera, I like the video quality so much that I went and bought a second one, but after using it for over a month I found out that it hardly capture motion, thereby not protecting my property, a truck can drive right into my driveway and this camera will not capture it, neighbors walking their dog will stop right in front of my house and the camera will miss it, I gave it a one star because of it's great video resolution. I got so frustrated with this camera that I went and bought another brand (DEKCO), this camera is much cheaper but does a great work and doesn't miss any motion; it also have a siren that goes off at night. It will capture any motion and send me an alert as it is suppose to, but the Ctronics camera will not detect the same intruder and they are both in front of my house monitoring the same area. I can't return the 2 Ctronics cameras back because they are past the 30 days return limit, so I will just use them for monitoring because the good video quality. The DEKCO camera is so effective that I bought another one for my backyard.