Avaak Vue Personal Video Network Review

I've always been a fan of webcams and have been somewhat dissapointed with the performance and easy of use of home webcam systems. I recently installed a Linksys/Cisco Wireless-G camera and was struck by the difficulty in its setup, and further dissapointed with the lack of range from my Ruckus access point. Fortunately, there is tremendous control provided by the Linksys system which allowed me to throttle back the data rate manually and the reliability has been high since then. Here's a live view of the Linksys system looking out towards the front of my house across the street.

Setup and Installation

I was anxious to try the new Avaak Vue system as they have tackled the location problem by using battery operated cameras. The system works by removing much of the "home hobbyist" aspect of the linksys system. The linksys system uses the server software in the camera to essentially host the live feed. For example, in the link above I've had my router assign a fixed IP address to the camera, and I've opened a port (2000) for the feed. Not hard to do, but in addition to the other steps is a bit too much to expect users to do. The Vue system does all of this for you for $20/year service cost.

The setup was very simple. Included in the box are: a central access point host and transformer, 2 cameras, 4 magnetic camera mounts, mounting hardware and an ethernet cable. The setup took minutes. I installed the system and used a ethernet jack on the ground floor of our home in my office and planned to put two cameras - one by the front door and one looking out back at the pool. Well, the range was too far, which surprised me as everything else (computers, devices) all seem to work at this range. All I can conclude is that the system attempts to balance between image quality and battery life, and that tradeoff requires the system be physically close together. I find it amusing that vendors included the range in "Line of site" terms. I suppose that's like using MPG to compare cars ("comparison purposes only") as I can tell you it's only 75', but includes a couple walls, and that's too far. I moved the Vue Gateway upstairs , which is close and goes through one less wall and that worked. I then registered with Vue and can look at both cameras online.

I installed the camera using one of the mag mounts on a window in the front of my home. The camera is so small and unobtrusive (see photo) that I concluded that nobody would actually notice it. Moreover I put it up so high that I sincerely doubt it.

Performance

View from the front door vuecam

The image is acceptable. It's not as good as the LInksys, but I was impressed considering the battery operation. One of the highlights of this system is the novel mounting "half dome" magnetic mounts that allow you to move around the cameras to where you want them.They claim the camera will last a year on one battery, but that assumes that you only use the camera 10 min per day. This is a use case of, for example, checking the front door while you're at home, or, checking to see who's out using your pool. With no motion detector there's a lack of utility as a security system. You can set a schedule to have it record by I no idea what to schedule. Perhaps if there was a way to trigger it remotely (for example, if a single motion detector could trigger a script to open the Vue website, wake up the camera, and record for 1 min) it would have more value. The website also was a bit sluggish to use, but is basically friendly. finally, they need to have some mobile app (Android, iPhone, Blackberry, etc) to allow a user to operate the sysetem while on the go.


I'd recommend this camera for anybody who is not comfortable with the complexity of the linksys system, or would like a quick and easy system to install and use.