Gentlen POE PTZ Camera Outdoor Security IP Dome Camera - HD 1080P with 3X Motorized Optical Zoom Pan and Tilt, Dome Style for Ceiling Installation (1080P)

I have tried several of the cheap Chinese surveillance cameras at around the £50 price point and have been very disappointed; the software/camera firmware mostly has been abysmal. I decided to try the next step up, i.e. this PTZ camera. I was a bit suspicious as I can't see what you get extra for the similar looking cameras for hundreds of pounds more, but I have not been disappointed; very pleased with this camera. The physical construction is excellent. It has a very solid aluminium body with a well engineered thread for screwing the two halves together. The software is OK, nothing to write home about and the web browser interface is pretty basic, but I don't use these. I have it set up using ONVIF on the Synology Surveillance Station and also on TinyCam (Android). Unlike most of the cheaper cameras which claim to support ONVIF, this one actually does! The full PTZ controls work fully in both apps and so far I haven't had any problems. Took considerably less time to set up too, as it does seem to work!The camera firmware has some security vulnerabilities, but nothing as bad as in all of the cheaper Chinese cameras I've come across (and probably many of the expensive makes too), so make sure you change default admin password at least. It has ONVIF guest access, so others on your network can watch the video stream without a user account. Not found how to turn this off yet. The MJPEG stream also seems accessible without authentication. Again this is all very common. I don't personally like the idea of devices on my network setting up P2P channels to the internet outside of my control (which is how all of the "watch live surveillance video from your phone wherever you are" functions work on all these kinds of cameras). This camera has a setting to turn off P2P connections. Can't 100% vouch for it, but shows the manufacturer is thinking more about security than most and I've certainly turned it off. (If you want remote access from a phone when away from your local network, set up your own VPN - much more secure).The picture quality is very good in daylight (colour) and not bad at night (B/W). The night vision range quoted in the advertising blurb is a bit hopeful (there's a surprise!), but still good.So in summary, a few rough edges on the overall experience that may be better on the cameras costing 2 or 3 times as much, but for reasons of value for money and a camera that actually seems to work, this is the first security camera I've experienced that I would buy more of rather than sending back.

For the price I think this is a great item, I managed to get it to work via POE using an injector which was quite cheap to buy. I have used it outside and so far no water ingress and no issues. When I went to install it I accidentally pulled some of the wire and sleeving from the back of the camera so be careful not to pull on the cable during install.You need to be fairly technical to be able to install, the camera was pre-configured to not use DHCP and to want an ip in a different range to my network, I had to re-configure my Windows IPv4 settings to be able to initially connect to the camera and re-IP it so that I could connect to it.The PTZ is great, the quality is definitely HD, the zoom is genuine optical, I think the camera browser UI is pretty good TBH but I have also set it up with Synology Surveillance station which works well and auto detects the type of camera if you search.

Updated this review to say the device was new after all it's just it would not power up when using:1) a 15.4w POE per port switch2) a 30w POE per port switchIt did power up using a 12v 1.5a PSU though but pointless as it's for a POE installation.POE camera POE not tested at the factory? You decide. Support failed to reply to support emails.

This is a great little camera, love everything about it and was easy to install. The picture is very sharp but the thing that I love the most is the degree that the camera turns. Would I recommend it, yes and with no problem.

Good value for money

Ordered 4, 1 worked. Sent all 4 back due to lack of confidence in their build quality

Could not get this camera to work