Amcrest UltraHD 5MP Outdoor POE Camera 2592 x 1944p Bullet IP Security Camera, Outdoor IP67 Waterproof, 103° Viewing Angle, 2.8mm Lens, 98.4ft Night Vision, 5-Megapixel, IP5M-B1186EW-28MM (White)

My first impressions opening the box were good. The actual device feels solid and of good quality. It feels well made. The mounting bracket and the camera unit are made of metal. It came with some small papers for getting started as well as a reminder to change the default password (good to see this suggested right away for security). Mounting hardware was included as well as a waterproof enclosure for the ethernet plug.There are a few options for how you can set it up depending on your needs. I wanted to use it with my existing 3rd party app so I did a manual setup. I logged into the web interface, was prompted to set a new password for security purposes (good on them for forcing this), and was immediately shown a realtime live view of the camera. The web interface is an insane upgrade from my previous cameras that required Windows and Internet Explorer. It's clean, fast, and works with modern browsers cross-platform. I was especially impressed with how low-latency the video is.From other reviews I read I was hopeful for good video quality but I was pretty blown away. It's completely dark out yet this thing's sensor is sensitive enough to be lit up enough to look like it's dawn. With a little bit of light pollution bouncing off some clouds tonight it's able to operate at night in full color. When it's even darker its night vision infrared lights illuminate the area really well, much better than my older cameras. I've attached a comparison picture of my old vs this new camera, installed just a couple feet apart, taken at the same time tonight. About 15 minutes later it got a little darker and it switched to nightvision mode (also shown). The nightvision is so sharp and bright too.Overall I'm pretty impressed by the quality I got for a great price. Both the hardware and software are well beyond my other cameras. I'm probably going to be replacing a bunch of cameras soon and this camera and/or the 4K version are my top contenders most likely. I'm very happy with this so far.

These are my initial thoughts after getting it setup and working with my NVR (PorConnect A800+), but not installed.I got this camera to replace an AvertX camera that bit the dust after a disappointing short almost 6 years in use. The AvertX system from Costco came with 4K HD POE cameras (8MP). This system has been great, but in the last year 2 of the cameras have died and one more seems a bit on the way out. The replacement cameras from AvertX are $280. So, I hadn’t replaced those cameras immediately until I looked into my choices as I wasn’t really eager to spend $600 for three cameras.This camera feels real solid as far as weight goes, equivalent to the AvertX cameras that came with my system. The camera housing is metal. The mount is plastic. A couple things to note, that I have discovered as part of setting this up in my house for later installation outdoors:1. This is not a 4K camera and the ratio is different. The ratio with my Avertx cameras is 16:9 (3840 x 2160) like true HD. This camera is 4:3 (2592 x 1944).2. It is a little tricky to get the password changed. The AvertX software would not connect directly to the camera. I had to connect the camera Ethernet cable to my switch and then power the power injector dongle with a 30-year-old wall wart Radio Shack AC Adapter (Cat No 273-1662) set to 12V that had multiple connectors one of which actually fit the dongle. With that setup, I was able to use the Amcrest recommended network config tool (Amcrest_ConfigTool_Eng_V3.20.10.T.180715) to get the IP address of the camera and put that in my Chrome browser to directly connect to it. Once this was accomplished, I could actually change the default user ID and password. There are a lot of other settings in there as well, many of which are not accessible from within my AvertX user interface to the camera.3. Since this is not an AvertX camera, it appears I do not have the ability to change many of the settings of the camera using their software. See the pictures showing what is available with the AvertX camera vs. the Amcrest camera. Also, note that the AvertX camera capture has a Connect Directly to Camera link while the Amcrest does not.4. So far, I have not been able to figure out how to connect directly to the Amcrest camera while it is connected to my AvertX NVR. I have not tried any of the phone apps that Amcrest mentions in their documentation. So far, I have had to do the process in #2 to connect directly.For an almost $250 price savings (after taxes) over the AvertX camera, I am happy so far. It looks like I am giving up some setup conveniences for that savings and we’ll only know if it is worth it once 5 or 6 years have elapsed, to see if this one lasts as long. There are 4 AvertX cameras left and one of those has already changed as far as video quality goes. It may be on its last legs although the first two to die just quit without warning. The Phoenix desert heat has got to be brutal on these things. If this one works out over the next few months, I will probably feel more comfortable splurging for the Amcrest 4K version of this one (IP8M-2496EW-AI-V3) which seems to be regularly priced at about $100.I’ll update this review with my longer term findings after a few months.

On the plus side:1) Very good image quality, good night vision and range of view2) Inexpensive3) Responsive tech supportOn the negative side:1) After adding this model to two other Amcrest cameras already in use (one an identical 5 MP, the other an 8 MP), I found that the third camera kept dropping off my network every few days. Unplugging the POE cord and plugging it back in would get the camera back on line, but it would eventually drop off again. Eventually I replaced it with another manufacturer's 5 MP camera, which has worked fine.2) Motion detection is WAY oversensitive, significantly more so than any other brand of camera I've used. This model comes with a default setting of 60 on a scale of 0-100. I figured that would be too sensitive so I reset it to 30 and got a ton of false alarms. I kept dialing it down, eventually to 1, but still got a slew of false alarms. I blotted out a lot of the field of view using the region setting tool, but there were still too many false alarms.3) The Amcrest View Pro app has a lot of features and is relatively easy to use, but is glitchy in some respects. You can assign a name to each Amcrest camera, but with more than 2 cameras on the network the app would frequently assign the same name to two different cameras. When trying to exit the app you get a box asking you to tap OK if you really want to leave and Cancel if not - but neither allows you to exit (had to use the home button on my phone to do so).Overall it's a nice camera with limitations, deserving of 3.5 stars (which rounds to 4).

I’m actually very surprised how well these work. The night time image is way better than my old cameras, very good image quality day and night! The ir light really lights up the areas I’m trying to see. I added a external ir floodlight and it’s as good at night as it is in the day