This is a cheap, no frills webcam. I bought it specifically because it WAS so cheap and because I wanted a simple webcam to put on my desk at work to act as a spy to see who was going around stealing things off people's desks after hours and I wanted it to be cheap in case what they stole next was my camera.
I think its mere presense did the job of deterrent. It did catch some people eyeballing it suspiciously before wandering off, but neither it nor anything from my desk ever disappeared again.
That said, here's my breakdown:
Included software: Very good. Comes with software "motion detection" which is what I use to record movement around my desk, but also has time lapse and photo modes in addition to actually just being a webcam. There's also some way of setting up the camera to monitor it remotely but the firewall at the office was blocking that function so I haven't tried it.
Camera quality: "Sufficient". Not great. The camera seems to have minor "fits" that will throw glitches on screen once in a great while. This isn't really noticable until you use motion detection. The motion detection function would frequently capture an image of a blank wall doing nothing very exciting and it took me a while to realize that what sets off the motion detection is sometimes just "noise" which I presume to be a result of a poor quality camera. Like it gets a moment of static which trips the motion detection software and it ends up recording a short stint of absolutely nothing happening. (Edit: I was able to greatly reduce the incidence of this by turning off the automatic light settings. Turns out, at some point the software decides that the lighting is too light or too dark and makes an adjustment, which cause enough of a picture change to trigger the motion detector... setting it to manual removed about 75% of the "noise" hits I was getting.)
It would also be nice if the motion capture had a small 1 or 2 second buffer so that it will always record the event that tripped it. As it is, sometimes it will also trigger from something going by fast enough that the software gets tripped but doesn't start recording fast enough to catch what tripped it.
The camera's max resolution is pretty low, as well, though I guess that's about on par for web cams. On the bright side, you can record quite a lot of time without taking up a lot of drive space but on the other hand, it's going to be low quality stuff.
Still, not bad for the price. I'm happy enough with it. The plastic stand is nice, too, giving you a decent chance of finding a place to set it or hook it (the bottom "leg" you see in the picture can swing out to act as a claw if need be, e.g., to place on top of a monitor or cubical wall...)
I might even be tempted to call it "5 stars, relative to other cameras you could get for this cheap" but I'll leave it at 4 stars, mainly for those glitches that interfere with motion capture.
You can certainly find a better web cam out there, but if you're looking for something cheap and sufficient, this one will probably do the job.
Average Rating:
Brand: Creative Labs
Model: 73VF004000000
Product Description:
The stylish WebCam Instant is the basic web cam that not only looks great but delivers outstanding performance. The WebCam Instant captures video at a maximum resolution of 640x480. You can also take 640x480 resolution photos, perfect for web posting, e-mails, and digital postcards. The intuitive design of the built-in three-way base allows you to place it almost anywhere, such as any flat surface, flat panel and notebook displays. The WebCam Instant's sleek design and glossy white finish makes it an attractive PC companion that looks great on your home computer.
Features:
- 352 x 288 (CIF) CMOS sensor
- Video and still image capture at up to 640 x 480 (software enhanced)
- USB 1.1 connection
- Flexible three-way base sits on flat surfaces and attaches to a flat panel or notebook displays
- Works with Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger, and other instant messenger services
Available at Amazon
List Price: USD 39.99
Lowest Used Price: USD 10.50
Lowest New Price: USD 22.99
Customer Reviews
Not for Vista! OK on XP, Marginal Picture Quality
There are much better available, avoid this "Creative Webcam" unless you are getting it cheap and are only installing it on an XP PC. It does not work on Vista.
It did install fairly quickly on my XP PCs (we have 3 of these webcams) and performs well enough for video chatting. The picture quality is just OK, nothing special. The included software is also OK and does what you expect it to do.
Not recommended.
truly value for money.
Has worked well. simple...effective and great value for the money. Got another one for my sis as well. She has had no complaints as well.
Good buy!
Used this product for the past 2 years without any issues. I got it for then. Its no good for desktop PCs, but a great buy for laptops. The video quality is very decent.
