Print This Page
Customers most agreed on the following attributes:
from FORT PAYNE, AL. on 7/25/2008
THIS PRODUCT IS VERY EASY TO INSTALL....BUT LACKS THE QUALITY TO BE USED AS EVIDENCE IN A COURT OF LAW, THE IMAGES ARE MUCKED UP BY THE 4 LINES THAT ARE CONSTANTLY FLICKERING (WEATHER IT BE ON LIVE OR RECORDING).I HAVE DONE MYSELF A GREAT MISHAP BY PURCHASING THIS.IF YOU ARE GOING TO GET A SECURITY SYSTEM DO NOT GET THIS ONE....
I put it on my pourch ... and in my bedroom.
I would recommend the product. We've installed ours for security/anti vandalism purposes. Clarity is great! Great buy for the money. Watch out criminals!!!
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
Remember the puzzle books with drawings asking "What's wrong with this picture?" In the case of the Radio Shack 49-1059 "Night Hawk" surveillance camera, they should ask "What's RIGHT with this picture?" (pun intended)As a long-experienced professional, graduate (Northwestern University, 1966) Electrical Engineer, I might even be qualified to answer that question. :-)My 49-1059 has been running non-stop since December 1, 2005, when someone bashed in my car windshield in our apartment parking lot. This is the ONLY good news about this product. I long ago gave up 24/7 video recording of it, due to VCR wear-and-tear, and tape-loading logistics.To get my "Night Hawk" to work reliably I had to affix the receiver to the inside wall, with 3M double-side foam tape, just behind the camera on the outside wall. Much farther than that, and it went into never-land. The printed specified transmission distance is nonsense. It operates on 2.4 gigahertz, the frequency used by all microwave ovens, so when you or a neighbor turns on the microwave, the picture and sound are totally scrambled. The video resolution is quite low, obviously worse than the printed specs. It's probably great for watching your baby from a couple meters from her crib in the next room, but in my opinion would be worthless for your apartment parking lot, private driveway, back yard, etc. since faces can't be identified. The built-in infrared LEDs around the lens do work at night, but only up to a couple of meters from the camera. Beyond that, even a harvest moon at its peak in a cloudless sky doesn't cut it. Because this is a full-color-PLUS-infrared camera, the basic design has to compromise color accuracy. This could be minimized beyond "basics" with clever circuitry -- but not in THIS camera. One serious shortcoming: The audio output voltage is a non-USA-standard value. This may be a difference in international standards. It's way too high or loud for a USA "MIC" input jack, and way too low or soft for a USA "LINE" input jack. My electronics catch-all junkbox had a preamp that could span the gap -- but does yours? If not you'll need one somehow so you can hear the sound. This is NOT trivial! For actual surveillance, with a mediocre picture, it may well be only the subject's voice that distinctly identifies him or her. This camera has NO automatic gain control (AGC) or "contrast" auto-adjust. On cloudy, rainy days with heavy overcast, the image is mostly a big fuzzy "blob" with hardly any details to it. On brilliant sunny days with no clouds, the darker objects are jet black, and the brightest highlights in the picture are blinding, or what engineers call "whiter-than-white." It appears that there is NO white-clip circuit in this product. It would take only seconds for such an overly-bright picture (OR AN ACCURATE DIGITAL RECORDING OF IT) to thoroughly burn it into some Plasma HDTV screens for keeps and permanently ruin the actual TV screen. There is NO excuse for this! This cam has an automatic brightness control but it is NOT analog (continuous) as it should be. Instead the maker chose three or four bit (one out of eight or 16) fixed digital brightness settings only. That is, the cam does NOT smoothly follow changes in scene brightness. Instead it "snaps" suddenly to the next higher or lower fixed brightness value, and is painfully slow to do it. For example at sunset, when the entire picture is fast heading toward various shades of dark gray and black, it finally "snaps" to an overly bright image, which then fades nearly to black, before it "snaps" to the next brighter pre-set value, etc. etc. until it fades out for good. Both audio and video are brought out of the 2.4 GHz receiver on, of all things, a single 3-wire 3/32" (micro) stereo-type jack. Not a universal, sane 1/8" stereo jack, which would fit in this receiver with room to spare, but an itty bitty 3/32" jack. The short, flimsy cable included in the package for this A/V connection is unshielded, or may as well be. It picks up enough 60-Hz audio hum and video "crawling" as to be completely unusable anywhere near other electrical equipment. The only recourse is to buy an adapter to plug in a 1/8" plug heavily-shielded stereo cable (common commodity item). Tandy's #274-373 adapter will do it, but its high price is exceeded only by its extra-long length and fragility. So if you accidentally bump this delicate plug-in kluge, it will always break right where the adapter plug enters the Swann receiver jack, requiring a profe$$ional repair. This week this [$] camera is again on sale for [$]. Now that you know what it's REALLY like, would you fork over $100 -- or $50 -- or $25 -- or "none of the above?"
This is a great camera to monitor in low light situations. I purchased it to monitor my car at night to deter vandals from doing future damage to it. With a flood light in my back yard where I keep my car at night this camera works great! It's small enough to fit in tight spots and was easily set up.
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I use this product for personal use. Just to see who is outside my door, and to keep a eye on my four kids playing outside. So I bought 4 wireless to put around the outside of my house and the range is to little that the signal was to weak. In my case I wouldn't go wirless again. I don't mind going thru all the work of running the wires.
This is used to catch the theives stealing out of our freezer. They could just ask but they don't, so this is what they get. We had it set up in a snap! Easy. No complaints really. The night time vision pic is a little fuzzy but not too fuzzy for me to be upset for the money I spent. You would like this if you buy it!!
The battery snap was missing from the package so only the supplied power adapter could be used to power the remote camera. A second package in the store was also missing a battery snap. This product was returned because an AC power source was not available at the camera location. The RadioShack web site clearly states that a bat tery snap is included - but it's not.
from South Carolina on 2/18/2008
The camera setup was easy although I did have some trouble with the audio. I emailed Swann tech support and they told me there is a small switch located on the cable that runs from the camera to turn the audio on/off. After that, Our 2.4 Ghz phone kept interfering with the picture causing lines in it. After unplugging the phone the lines went away. After trying it outside, the night vision is very limited in the distance that I needed. It wasnt what I was looking for.
from Boca Raton, FL on 2/7/2008
going to use to record sleep studies. i have restless leg syndrome and need to monitor my activity at night.
from Springfield, MO on 1/24/2008
This camera and receiver work very well. Has good clairty day and night. Easy to set up.
This worked great right out of the box. I read the directions and had it going in about 30 minutes. I bought two because I needed two receivers for my application. In the last six months it has been exposed to tempertures ranging from + 100 to below freezing without a problem. The person I hooked it up for lives alone and now feels secure.
from Los Angeles, CA. on 12/23/2007
I took back the first unit because the receiver didn't power up. It also looked like the unit had already been opened. [...]gave me the money back and I bought a new unit at another store. I tried all four channels and none of them worked well enough to use. The packaging said it would work to 300+ feet but no way through walls and 150 feet away in the city. This may be great in the country, but I would not recommend for the city.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Roanoke Va. on 10/5/2007
I have had one for two days now, and it seems to be losing color,(more like black and white picture).I get interference from the neighbors microwave, but it seems to be a good camera for the money. I am skeptical as to how durable it is in weather, since it is supposed to be an outside camera.I have it mounted under the eaves of the roof, not in direct moisture. It has been my experience with other types of outdoor cameras[...], that they do not last very long outdoors as they represented to be. Time will tell about this brand.
from Westminster, Md on 6/30/2007
I think people expect too much for their money. Cameras in this price range are not going to provide the best picture. Also, wireless is wireless, and wireless will never provide the clarity and reception of wired systems. As with anything wireless these require some amount of positioning in order to get the best consistant reception. I currently have three of these cameras and am planning to add the fourth. I've used these for about a year now, and after I got them all positioned correctly I love them! I have the receiver wired to my LCD TV and to my computer to record 24/7. The viewing angle is more than sufficient, the color is fine, the reception is as good as can be expected, the low light performance is outstanding - pretty much these are all you'll need for simple monitoring/recording. I have not experienced ANY interference from my wireless router, wireless alarm system, wireless phones, or cell phones. Bottom line is - they work and work well.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I got this camera for a foaling stall in our barn. It is about 225 ft. away from the house. I have two cameras hooked up and this one works well. The other one has a good picture but it sounds fuzzy. The other on is the one without night vision. It is great for not having to go out to the barn non-stop. We will be able to see our mare have the baby very easily.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Interfered with my wireless home network, knocking 4 laptops off internet. The camera picture was also fluttering, with horizontal bars flickering on and off. My Swann DVR's motion detection would never stop recording for this camera. A wired camera had a great picture, and the motion detection for it was OK. I think the wireless network was the cause of my problems, but I tried all 4 channels for the Night hawk camera, with no picture improvement.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
I bought this for my horse farm. I placed them in the mares' birthing stalls, hoping to be able to watch them from my house. All I got was static and feedback. The instructions weren't very clear, and the camera just did not live up to expectations.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
This will not work properly if you have a 2.4ghz device in your home - ie, a 802.11a/b/g wireless network, which most people have! It will seem to work at first, but then you'll notice your PCs won't be able to locate your network. BEWARE!!!
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Go this today to use as security for the theifs in neiborhood!LUV IT!Neibor has one and i also pick up his signal,,hehe so now i have 2 points of security! TY
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Works just as advertised. The 11 IR LEDs produce enough light to see a person up to 12 feet away in total darkness. Got a good signal up to about 200 feet outside the house. Bought it so my bed-ridden mom could see what was going on outside the house. Good sound. The Mic works as good as any tape recorder's does. Microwave oven makes some noise in the signal when it is on, but not bad. Over all I am very happy with this unit.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Well its not really a color picture more black and white and the infored does not work that good at nite and to use it with the 9 volt battery ,it lasts about 8 hours .because of no outlet close to plug it in and the sales clerk talked me it to a charger and batteries but did not say I would be changing the batteries twice a day I'm thinking it may be returned
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Never worked right. Picture has static interferance all of the time (transmiting 40 feet). Don't use your 2.4 G phone or you will lose all reception. After 1 day picture brightness has gone to half. I suspect the auto gain circuit died. I'm taking mine back and going with a wired set up. Also, 60 deg is a quite limited view angle not suficient for a driveway security system IMHO.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
The picture quality isn't clear, became a black and white pic w/ a lot of lines after awhile. Was very easy to set up. had to get my money back though.
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
Got this to catch newspaper thief. I LOVE this little camera!! Infrared doesn't work well at long distance, but a little artificial lighting helps a lot. Was VERY easy to set up even though instructions weren't very thorough.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
Works great! For the money, couldn't belive the clairity and the night vision. Draw back is, it will only play back one camera at a time or all 4 cameras sequetially. I have 2 cameras so 50% of the recorded images are blank.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
This product was amazing. The quality of video at day and night was outstanding. This was a great investment to protect my assetts.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Very Good quality during night and day vision.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from CC on 2/13/2006
It worked in Radion Shack but when I got it home it could not get a good picture due to some type of interference. Great concept though
[2 of 2 customers found this review helpful]
I HAVE OTHER CAMERAS THAT ARE IN THE 500.00 AND UP PRICE RANGE AND ARE WIRED, BUT FOR THE MONEY THIS CAMERA BEING WIRELESS IS A VERY GOOD DEAL, IT CAUGHT TWO PEOPLE BREAKING INTO OUR CAR AND IT HELPED THE POLICE IN MAKING AND ARREST.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Purchased product from Store, first time cam didn't work,second works , but low quality, too much interference on all channels,infra-red has no way to turn off if not needed,no single cams available to make this a 4 cam system