Amcrest 4MP ProHD Indoor WiFi, Security IP Camera with Pan/Tilt, Two-Way Audio, Night Vision, Remote Viewing, 4-Megapixel @30FPS, Wide 90° FOV, IP4M-1041B (Black)

I previously purchased another brand advertised as an indoor/outdoor camera, but had multiple issues after setup and wasn’t able to get reliable support from the manufacturer.My wife has been pushing me to get a replacement and since I’ve had positive experiences with other Amcrest products I own, I decided to give this one a shot. I was hesitant at first because the overall rating isn’t great (4* at the time of my review), but I am so glad I decided to get this one. This review will probably get a bit lengthily, so I’ll add a tldr at the end if you want to skip to it.Before I break everything down READ THIS IF YOU PLAN TO USE WIFI: You will need the included Ethernet cable and your router before you can connect to WiFi. Had I read the instructions before I started setting this camera up, I would have saved time by not installing it in the wall first, rooms away from my router.I read dozens of reviews before making this purchase, and one consistent complaint was the lack of instructions. I can’t say that I agree with most users here; I found the instructions very thorough in terms of actually turning the camera on and setting it up for the first time. I connected via WiFi, but there are detailed instructions for mobile and Ethernet as well. The back of the quick start guide also has links to alternative access methods and physical installation guides. Is absolutely every manual for each setup/installation method included in the box? No, but links to everything are provided in the Quick Start Guide and we’re all ordering this from a computer or mobile device anyway, so why not save the paper and use the links? But I digress…First off, everything came packaged nicely and was well organized. This isn’t something that will necessarily increase my rating, but would definitely count against it if I received a box with a jumbled mess.I found the physical installation itself to be very straight forward, but as mentioned, there is a link in the included guide to help with setup if needed. I ultimately installed the camera on my wall, as you can see in the picture, but there are also rubber feet on the bottom if you just want to set it on a different surface in your home. Note that this device cannot be set up level on vaulted ceilings without purchasing a separate bracket or mounting plate due to the angle of the ceiling. If you have flat ceilings, or choose to install on the wall like I did, it will install just fine with the included hardware. The included USB to micro SD cable is very long and had no problem reaching my wall outlet from the mounting position just under my ceiling, so that was also a plus.I mounted the camera before I connected it to WiFi, which was a mistake, but it was easy to unscrew from the bracket and take into my office where my router is to connect with the included Ethernet cable. The Quick Start Guide does a great job of walking you through the steps to get the camera connected, and once I had the app downloaded and entered my WiFi credentials, I was able to bring the camera back into my living room and operate it with no problems.When it comes to using the camera and app, I recommend going through the tutorial that pops up when you first log in. If you skipped it by mistake (like I did), you can access it again from the main menu. There are A LOT of features, and even after going through the tutorial and playing around with them, it’s easy to get lost or forget what function is “hidden” behind another icon menu. That said, all the functions and features seem to work exactly as they should.I did find the tracking feature a bit quirky at first, but this was my fault and not an inherent issue with the device. When I first tried tracking with the camera, it kept wanting to pan up to my ceiling fan (which was on at the time). Even when waving to the camera and walking around, it would start to follow me, then immediately go back to the fan. As soon as I turned the blades off, it tracked me perfectly. There’s also an option to set the tracking sensitivity, but the standard settings worked well once the fan was off, so I didn’t play around with them.Another thing I really like is HD mode. I attached pictures to my review of Standard Definition “SD” and High Definition “HD.” I only pictured a small section of the room the camera captured for privacy reasons, but there is still a big difference.Accessing, operating, and recoding the camera from the phone app works really well, even if the menu options themselves are a bit clunky. The privacy mode is also nice to have when it’s just my wife and I at home and we don’t want to feel like we’re being watched or recorded. I did not test desktop access because I don’t plan to use it.If there’s one negative I could give the device itself, it’s that it’s pretty big and conspicuous. I didn’t purchase this to be a hidden camera or anything, but it would be nice if it was a bit smaller, or was at least all white and didn’t have the black “Amcrest” logo printed across the front.tldr; I am very impressed with this camera, both from a function standpoint and the price point. Having mobile access and control, as well as the ability to record, were must haves for me, and this device delivers. The camera could be a bit more discreet, and navigating the app can be a bit unintuitive in some instances, but this thing is packed with features and everything works exactly as advertised. Overall, this was a great purchase for an indoor security camera.

Replaced a similar Amcrest camera bought in 2013 that stopped working...it had been through lots and lots of power outages over the years. The new one connected relatively easily for this 88 yr old woman. I am able to connect with it to check my living room when I am away. Gives me peace of mind again.

Be sure to read all the way to the bottom as that is where I put the best part of the review.I bought this cam because it came the closest to what I was looking for and I really like Amcrest's user software when logging directly into the cam via a web browser using the cams IP address.Pro's- User interface software via its IP address in a browser. Pretty much everything is customizable and there are a lot of settings to play with- It integrates well with my Synology Surveilance System and DS Cam on my phone- Two ways to connect to it, via WiFi (2.4 only) or Ethernet- Long power cord, USB-A to Micro USB- If you buy the black color, it will not reflect itself when looking out a window at night- Its rotation degrees are plenty good enough, both vertical and horizontal- 4 user selectable zone motion detection with each zone having its own sensitivity and threshold settings. Fantastic feature.Con's- Its footprint is too big. Ok, you need room for the motors, gearing, electronics, etc but a smaller footprint would provide for a more flexible location to put it- Cannot connect via 5Ghz WiFi. Why is this important? Look at the next bullet- This cam has the ability to rotate when tracking motion but I believe the 2.4 Ghz WiFi band is too slow thereby causing quite a lag in the cams rotation and by then it has lost the moving object. I don't have Ethernet in the location the cam is in, maybe that would work better. Still, if you're going to design a WiFi chip, why not put a 5Ghz chip in so you have a choice as to which band you connect with, all WiFi access points have both.- It has Pan and Tilt but no Zoom, sorta strange that it doesn't have Zoom which is really a feature I wanted- It doesn't come in a 2.8mm lense, only 4mm which causes you to want to rotate it more often and when connected via 2.4Ghz WiFi, its laggy and over shoots- It audio is a bit sketchy, like when you have a poor cell connection and people keep saying, can you hear me now because the audio is cutting out - there are a lot of dropouts. Could be due to the 2.4Ghz WiFi???However, I have personally found Amcrests Tech Support to be very good, I know people complain about their support but that has not been my experience over many years of Amcrest ownership ….especially considering this is a rather low priced consumer product. I needed to contact them on this camera and they responded well within 24hrs. Each subsequent message I would send them would get a reply mostly the same day. The tech I worked with, I had worked with earlier in the year with another one of my Amcrest cams and I have to say I was very pleased. I can live with this cameras shortcomings but only due to the excellent support they have given me.Ok, so why did I rate this only four stars and not five? It’s due to the cameras shortcomings as listed in the Cons. If this “product” review was a support review, it would have received five stars.

May not be a problem if you rely on cloud storage, but I'm not a cloud storage guy and prefer to keep any footage recorded locally on the sdcard. The camera fails to save video recordings if your ISP has an outage. This means the camera is still on, but if you internet goes down, no recordings locally to the sdcard.I have custom rules in my firewall that allow the camera out only ntp protocol to set the time. It cannot go anywhere else. Time and remotely viewing live footage over my network appliance's built in VPN capability are the only reason it has any wan connection.Support is less than helpful with illogical answer such as: "Since it's a wifi camera, it requires wifi to record, even to the sdcard."The camera also supports and ethernet connection, so using their same logic, it's an "ethernet camera" and requires an ethernet connection to work. In reality, it's an internet camera, and requires an internet connection to even do what a camera is supposed to do: record.I have other outdoor ptz cameras that record back to an NVR. They also have an sdcard option and will record to the sdcard regardless of "internet". I picked this camera up as an easy option for keeping an eye on my dog that stays inside my house while I'm at work. If something happens while I'm gone and the internet goes down, I have no recording of it, lol.Off to find a camera that, well, records.