The "Mole" by Astak is very misleading. First, it is not simple to install, (it has a known quirk for not recognizing certian alpha/numeric characters in your wireless router account) second the camera has bright red led lights on it which make it nearly impossible to hide from anyone who enters the room (like a burglar). And finally and perhaps most important there is zero support from the company who makes it,- Astak, Inc. The have a phone number which in not manned by a live person at anytime, and no one from the company has ever returned my calls or emails for tech support or general questions. Astak's phone message system sounds a bit like a child's toy, which makes me question the validity of the company all together. It appears that viewing your camera image on the web will be an added charge, information that you are only given once you purchase and install the camera. I am returning my unit, I would rather spend more on a unit from a reputable company.
In a Word: Awful.
In a Sentence: This camera had so much promise, I wanted to like it, it looks really cool, but ultimately it disconnects so regularly from my wireless network that I can't count on it to be my eyes and ears when I am not home.
In a Paragraph: Straight out of the box this camera is aesthetically pleasing to look at, and it does setup fairly quickly straight out of the box. However, the more you use the software the more you'll hate it. The con's far out weigh any benefits that I would like to focus on. If you plan on mounting this camera to look outside, say through your kitchen window to monitor your vehicles say at night time, then you have to manually turn off the night vision, otherwise you will see nothing but brightness from the infrared light reflecting off the glass back at the camera lens. Even if you do turn off the camera's infrared lights, you will quickly see that the camera can't see much going on at all, the images becomes milky, grainy and the quality of the camera is made very apparent. This is fairly typical of cameras in the $200 range, but I will say that TrendNet does make a wireless N IP camera of which I also own ($150 range), and the night viewing aspect is by far 1000% better than that of this camera. Now I could go to the trouble of setting up and independent infrared system that turns on at night time that I could point towards areas of interest, but this requires more money and time and this is not something I feel anyone should have to do. The idea of remote viewing and controlling this camera via an iPhone is neat concept but the reality of it this in reality is a joke, the image is blurry, it doesn't move very fast and you will have the feeling that your suffering from technological hype that can't match your expectations to any degree of satisfaction. Bottom-line this is a camera that needs refinement, the makers would do well to read my constructive review and make changes that allow for the technologies that they have hyped to meet up with our ever increasing expectations.
Comparison: This camera is like expecting Windows 7 but instead they shipped you Windows Vista without any service packs updates.
Conclusion: Keep looking for something else, depending on your needs, this camera for outdoor viewing is a total nightmare. The camera disconnects from my network at least 3 times per week, and the bottom line is this is not a camera you can depend on to be a second set of eyes and ears for you when your not at home.
Read more about Astak Pan/Tilt Night Vision IP Network Camera, Black Review...
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