The Fujikam (Vimtag) FI-361 HD is an affordable cloud camera that you can remotely control from your smartphone anywhere that you can connect to internet. You can record video, pan, tilt and digitally zoom to see what is happening in your home when you’re not there. This unit can be set up anywhere you can get a WiFi signal in your home. It works with a free app that you download on your smartphone so that you can control the camera remotely.
The actual installation process of the set up usually only took me a few minutes – it was fairly straightforward and I didn’t have to recruit the services of my more technologically savvy friends. I plugged the camera into my router using the supplied Ethernet cable. Then I downloaded the app on my iPhone. I basically followed the instructions on the app to set up my account, and then the camera and the WiFi connection. Once the setup process was complete, I was able to unplug the Ethernet cable and I plugged the unit in near the front door area. From what I understand, this unit works with Apple (iOS 5.0 or later) and Android (OS 2.1 or later) devices but doesn’t work with Windows phones or blackberries. On the plus side, the camera can be operated a Mac or PC by logging into your account through an internet browser. While I placed the camera on a shelf, you can fix it to the wall or ceiling by using the mounting bracket. A special note is that if the unit is installed upside down, you will need to rotate the image in the settings section of the app. In all honesty, I didn’t think the installation and usage guides were in a very good English translation, but since there were pictures and it was fairly obvious, it wasn’t an issue.
The vision during the day is color and by night it is black and white. The camera’s view is 60–70 degrees and it can pan to give you a 320 degree vision which means you can see most of the room if it is placed in the center of it. The tilt feature allows for 120 degrees. While the unit does not have an actual zoom, it has a digital zoom where you can pinch the screen and increase the size but watch pixelation issues. There’s a two-way microphone and speaker that will allow you to speak to anyone that is in your home from your phone.
The Fujikam (Vimtag) FI-361 HD is designed to be used indoors and is not waterproof. I pointed the camera outdoors through a window but at night the IR lights reflect back off the window so that video is useless. Next time I will light the outside area and leave the night vision off so I can get coverage of the outdoors.
The video recorded by the camera can only be stored locally on an SD card which you must purchase separately. The camera can take up to a 32 GB card. The cloud refers to the fact that you monitor and control the camera on your phone via their servers not where the video is stored. The slot for the card is at the back of the camera and it can be a bit awkward to get the card in fully and you may need something thing to push it in to click in to place. It records the video on a loop where when the card is full it overwrites the oldest video and so on. It has room for about 60 hours of video and it then records over on a loop. The video is recorded in MP4 format so can be viewed through other video players. The recording has the advantage that your video is not stored online which does present privacy issues in the event of unauthorized access through someone hacking the storage. However, having it stored locally in the camera means that if someone does break in and the camera is stolen they take the recorded video with them.
The unit can be set up to notify as many people as you want when it detects movement by way of push notification only to the App. The App needs to be running on your phone. You can then look at a snapshot of the event or recorded video when you’ve set it up. it doesn’t send emails or text messages. There are 2 types of passwords – there is the admin password and guest password. The admin password is used for changing the settings and viewing the cameras and the guest allows you to only monitor the video.
Your account is secured by bank security encryption to keep your data and access to your camera safe. Your video is stored on a SD card. You do need to ensure you use secure passwords to prevent unauthorized access to your camera. You can have multiple users set up on the account but only 3 people can view the camera at one time. The Fujikam (Vimtag) FI-361 HD cameras can be situated in multiple locations so you can have them at your vacation home as well as your home, there just needs to be WiFi
Some of the features of the Fujikam (Vimtag) FI-361 HD include:
• Remote Live Video Streaming Via Smart Phone, Tablet, PC
• Remote Pan and Tilt, Motion Detection Alert
• Video Recording To SD Card, Digital Zoom
• Real Plug And play 5 Minute Setup, Night Vision,
• 2 Way Voice, HD 1280 X 720 Clear Image Quality
One of the drawbacks is that if you are trying to be inconspicuous with your security, this is not the camera for you. Another issue was the fact that I had a bit of trouble getting the camera to respond when I tried to move the camera and control audio. I would bet that could easily be fixed on the app with an update or something.
I received this product without cost through my relationship with Tomoson in exchange for my honest review and unbiased opinion.
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