FOSCAM 3K 5MP Security Camera Indoor/Outdoor, 2.4g & 5g WiFi Magnetic Mini Dog/Cat/Pet/Baby Camera, Smart Motion Detection, 20X Zoom, 2-Way Audio, Night Vision, Home Monitor Work with Alexa & Google

Great easy LAN setup. Claims Indoor/Outdoor… but the manual says only use inside?
This claims to be for indoor or outdoor use, but under safety precautions in the manual it says to only use it indoors… Looking at the vents in the top of the device the internal circuit boards are plainly visible, so it definitely lacks protection from the elements. It also gets quite warm to the touch on top while in use- I wouldn’t want it in direct sunlight on a warm summer day. In addition, the USB power brick and cord are also not very weather friendly, and their combined length is too much to fit under an outdoor socket cover like a typical wall adapter would.What I did like was the Ethernet port for LAN setup and configuration. You will need to download their Windows (or Mac) client software to set it up that way, but going that route was SO much easier than struggling to use an app to teach the device a WiFi network before being able to access it, as with most WiFi cameras. Once it is set up via Lan you can give it a WiFi network from there, and it just works- easy and like it should. You can also use this as a wired camera without WiFi over LAN, if you want to.By default this uses some pretty weird port settings, like 88 rather than the usual 554. I changed those around a few times getting it all figured out, and had to reset with the reset switch when I got locked out twice, but there’s a lot to configure and I liked being able to choose my own settings for almost everything. For those looking to stream this over RTSP, such as with VLC, the address you need isn’t given in the manual, I had to look it up with ODM, it’s:rtsp://ADMIN:PASSWORD@IPADDRESS:PORT/videoMainwhere ADMIN & PASSWORD are the administrator name/password you setup when setting up the camera, IPADDRESS is the IP address of the camera on your network, and PORT is the port you have set for http access. ONVIF works with 3rd party NVR systems well if you enable the setting and have that setup, just use the administrator/password and the ONVIF port you chose in settings and it shows up like any other camera. I did have issues with it not reconnecting after a reboot and needing to be re-enabled with its own software before reconnecting with my NVR, but it does okay -IF- you disable DHCP and keep it on a *STATIC* IP-address in it’s own settings and in your network- it had a frustrating habit of grabbing a new one every ten minutes until I bound it to a static one and it worked fine after that.The reset switch & microSD card are plainly accessible on the device body, which I didn’t like, and the whole thing is light and fragile feeling. Though the magnetic base is quite strong, I definitely prefer the screw holes you can access by twisting the bottom cover of the base to reveal better. The videos on the microSD card are in .fmv format, and will not play without using software to covert them first. The management app for PC is technically an NVR software, though, it can capture the stream to your PC in .MP4 format without even needing a microSD card -or- cloud. I wanted to use it with other cameras I own over ONVIF, but had mixed results, with some cameras working and others never connecting. In the end I’d say it works well with its own camera, but not others.The image quality is great, you will want to enable WDR under settings to get the best color depth, especially in night vision mode where WDR really brings out the contrast between shadows more clearly. Night vision switching is fast and the night mode clarity is sharp & detailed, even in full darkness. Do note though that this lacks a spotlight for activating when it detects motion at night, a feature I like for my outdoor cameras and wish this had.Overall this is a nice camera, with an Ethernet port for easy LAN setup, but it does have noteworthy flaws. The main issue for me, though, is that this definitely isn’t for outdoor use, at least not where there’s even a chance of rain/sun/dust attacking it. For a quick camera to stick up under a fully covered porch, or inside, it does the job and actually does it well, but for a real outdoor camera to rely on for your home there are far sturdier, and actually weatherproof options available.

okay camera but image is lacking
Product being reviewed: FOSCAM 3K 5MP Security Camera Indoor/Outdoor, 2.4g & 5g WiFi Magnetic Mini Dog/Cat/Pet/Baby Camera, Smart Motion Detection, 20X Zoom, 2-Way Audio, Night Vision, Home Monitor Work with Alexa & GoogleThis is the Foscam C5M. I’ve had Foscam cameras before and they’re usually okay. I tend to prefer other brands, but I wanted to give this one a chance because it has an ethernet port. I have great WiFi, but I want my security cameras to be PoE or at least ethernet so the connection is more reliable and there won’t be interference issues.The setup on this camera is a little disappointing. There is a landing page if you go to the IP address of the camera, but it says it’s disabled for security and you have to either use their mobile app or the Windows app. I chose to use the mobile app, which is okay but not great. It said there was a firmware update, I chose to do it, then it froze at 5%. I closed the app and reopened it and it then said it was up to date even though the version was the same. It also makes it seem like you have to provide your WiFi credentials, but you don’t if you have ethernet.I run Blue Iris, so I enabled ONVIF in the app, then was able to find it with my BI server with relative ease. To be clear, even though the Amazon listing doesn’t state it, this camera does support ONVIF and RTSP. I changed the camera name and password in the app. After connecting it to BI, I also blocked it in my router from accessing the internet for security purposes.The style of this camera is similar to those from Tapo. The Foscam is larger and the stand is less secure in my opinion- more likely to tip over. It has a magnetic base in case you have a metal object you want to mount it to and feels secure enough to trust it.Image quality is a little disappointing. With it claiming 5MP, I was hoping for better clarity than it provides. I guess that may come down to the specific sensor Foscam used being a cheaper one. With WDR off, the image is too dark, and with WDR on, the image is too bright. There is also a lack of detail on the image that shouldn’t be the case. I don’t know if it’s going to replace the Tapo camera I already have since the Foscam image quality is slightly worse.Overall, this is an okay camera. It’s nice to have ethernet but the sensor quality is lacking in my opinion. But depending on what you have to compare it to, you may notice an improvement. The price is also higher than the competition, so take that into consideration too.