Customer Reviews

Astak Wireless IP Network Camera, Night Vision, 2-Way Audio, 802.11b/g, Motion Detection, You can View it from your iPhone and Upload your video to YouTube Directly.

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

No way to secure the camera video/images. Only the main page is authenticated. The mobile page is NOT secured/authenticated.
Camera exposes your wifi security key in plain text.
Camera exposes your youtube username and password in plain text.
If this camera is hooked up to the internet then anyone that knows where to look can access your security settings, change any setting on the camera, view your camera, and control your camera.

There are other issues with this camera but given the above issues they are not even relevant.

Incase anyone is interested about what runs this camera:

Operating System is Linux (or some Unix variant)

Streams using VLC Media Player ([...])

Web Server is thttpd ([...])

Introduction

I purchased the Astak Mole camera to try one out; it is my first IP camera ever, so keep that in mind. After performing a lot of research on IP cameras, I realized the main issues with them were dropping of wireless connections and night vision performance. I am only using a wired ethernet connection, but the night vision performance is somewhat important; the camera is intended for use in my children's bedrooms at night.

Before I found the Mole at a warehouse club with a great return policy, the top candidate for use in the kid's rooms was the Foscam FI8908W (aka cam0011), since the night vision performance was listed as 0.5 Lux. The Foscam is much cheaper than this unit, but it was a no-brainer for me to try out the mole, given the no-hassle return policy.

Camera Setup

I did not use the YOICS service or the setup CD. I am fairly tech-oriented, but also found some instructions on the internet and a youtube video on how to set it up manually, which gave me a confidence boost! Basically, you plug in the camera to your network and locate the IP address assigned by the DHCP server. Next, you log in directly to the camera's web page for setup. I am only using wired, not wireless.

Night Vision

I have noticed upon researching the mole camera (after purchase), that the Lux specifications for the night vision are not listed anywhere that I could find. My testing thus far (in a completely darkened kitchen) reveals pretty good night vision performance at up to ten feet away. I did not test further than that, as the kids' rooms are not that big, but want to try it outside also, by setting it near a window.

Audio Performance

The audio performance seemed good to me when testing in our kitchen. This is an important attribute for me, given the intended use.

Motion Detection

The built-in motion detection seems to be really sensitive, but I did not try playing with the default settings. Motion detection is not too important for me, so I did not invest a lot of time in trying to improve it from the default settings.

Browser Performance

I tested out the camera's web interface on Internet Explorer 7 (Windows XP) via a wireless (N) laptop and a wired desktop. I also tested it out on Safari (Snow Leopard) via an iMac with a wired gigabit connection. Interestingly, Safari did not perform as well when viewing the camera live feed; the audio/video was delayed and the camera's response to commands (pan/tilt) was slow. IE7 worked much better in this regard. It did seem to freeze when left on overnight (requiring a page refresh), but I only think this happened on IE when using the wireless laptop.

Conclusion

Overall, I think this is a pretty nice camera (for my first IP camera), and think I will keep it; I can return it at any time. I will do some more testing before trying it out in the kid's rooms at night. The IE freezing issue may a problem, but that may be an issue with my wireless laptop. My monitoring plan for multiple moles is (eventually) to utilize DVR software, so it remains to be seen how the mole will work with the DVR software I purchase.

This camera is a winner. Unboxed it, followed the quick start guide (hook up the network cable BEFORE the power cord) and installed software for initial setup. Worked perfectly, created user site and then stepped us through the wireless setup too, if desired. Unplug the network cable and the power cable, move camera to where you want it and plug in the power again. Tell the setup software to find the camera and that is it! Works beautifully with amazing video and connection speed. You can hook up a set of speakers to it and turn on the microphone that is built in for 2 way conversations (if desired) to the area you are monitoring. Pan and tilt worked great and with user defined HOME setting that brings the camera back to center on what ever area is most important to you. This camera really works great and watches the entire livingroom / dining area easily. The infrared works surprisingly well since I have had other infrared illuminated cameras with so-so results. Shop around for the price before buying. Great system. Highly recommended. It will be great to watch the house when I want to from out of state when needed.

We bought this to use as a baby monitor, mostly on our Droid X Android phones. I installed using the IP address assigned to it by the router, as I didn't want to install their software. Installation was fairly easy, aside from the unit not finding any wireless networks (I had to enter the info manaullyl). At first, I really liked the camera after using it in Internet Explorer (as recommended), but was disappointed that the audio didn't work in Firefox, Chrome, Opera, etc. The deal-breaker, however, was that we are not able to get any audio on our Droids, making it nearly useless as a baby monitor. I even tried installing IP Cam Viewer Pro, which operated it beautifully and has a much better interface than the browser, but again, no sound.

The box and display at Costco gave no indication of it's limitations, even touting it's ability to work on Android, iPhone, etc. That is misleading and false advertising. With proper support, this could be a really nice little camera, but until it plays nice with other browsers and software, Astak is going to be getting a lot of these units returned.

In order to record video, you need to turn off UAC on your Windows computer. It actually says that in the FAQ. Ha. Nope, I needed to take it back to the store.

I bought one from costco. Spend little bit time with vendor support. Made wireless connection worked just for one and half day. Then after I powered the camera off then wireless stop working. No matter what I do I cannot make wireless connection work. It works with wired connection. I am returning it tomorrow. Support is good and helpful. and product feature are also good. Just wireless connection is sucks. Do not buy it.

mk

Device failed to connect to wireless. After hours of troubleshooting it is going back into the box and back to the retailer.

Also, I agree with the above security issues. Too risky. How would you like someone peering into your living room without your knowledge.

Absolutely terrible... Plugged it in, and it showed up as registered already, so we couldn't register it. And guess what? You MUST register it for it to work. Clicked on the link for the "24/7" customer support... guess what? It was closed for the holidays... How is that 24/7?

Sent a message to support. Never heard back.

Now a week later, tried again and finally got their support. A clearly east Indian guy named "Paul" (right) stepped me through rebooting the camera over and over and any number of factory resets. Got the camera visible from my computer, but even with him doing manual overrides from there, they couldn't get it to register (giving him the Mac address showed that someone else with an AOL email address had already registered the camera... how is this possible for a NIB product from Costco? Bizarre repackaging perhaps? Company selling used garbage that didn't work in the first place? very suspicious).

So, all told, a lot of time and energy trying to get this junk to work, but their own website and registration requirements crippled the thing.

Meanwhile, once I got my computer registered with their "yost" system, guess what DID show up? Not the MOLE camera I bought for a ton of money... but my own Logitech computer cam. Weird... now why don't I have to "register" that and provide it's Mac address? You morons are crippling your own product with this stuff!

Returning to costco. Good riddance.

I've read all the reviews on this camera and I would disagree on the bad feedback. If you know anything about IP wireless camera, you can't get the features at this price point (I got my from Costco). I've own many IP wireless/wire cameras and all of them have costed over $250 per unit. You need to read the instruction on how to setup the camera. It comes with software to locate it's IP address and connect to it. Once you connect to the camera, you can start config the setting to meet your network needs. Support I agree is not very good, but what do you expect from the price. It does make a sound when motion is detected and the light does not turn off.

I can't believe that some peeople rated this crappy camera more than 1 star. In addition to all the cofiguration issues that lot of people ha run to, the camera has several security and opeartional issues.
1)The camera keeps making a clicking noise every once in a while
2)As noted in previous comments, only the main page is authenticated
3)if you decide to chat with their MCPs "Microsoft Certified professional: this is by the way, one of the lowest certification in the technical field and MCPs are mainly hired as entry level techs", they will ask you to click on a link then they will remote, access and take control of your computer, without your pre-approval or authorization, I found this really disturbing WTF, have these guys heard of PRIVACY before !!!!! Well, when I called to complain, KIM sounded like if he is from India, so that tells it all..
4)The WIFI SSID and authentication information are transmitted in clear plain text
5)SD card can't be managed from the camera, you can view/play the images/recording but you can't rename or delete them.
6) The camera has a green led that stays on all the time. Denny, the customer support MCP, asked me to be creative and cover it with a black tape..WTF
7)I always keep #7 for funny things; the camera will stop recording if any of this applies
a) You close your browser (regardles which one)
b) You browse from another system (good thing about it is that this "feature" doesn't descriminate..this will happen regardless if you are a MAC, PC, Windows, Linux, Asian, Floridian or Red Sox fan)
c) if you use your smart phone (no descrimination in which brand you are using either :~) )

The only way for the camera to keep recording is to keep your browser open and not remote from any other computer or smartphone

A Dummy Camera will do a better jon than the ASTAK products, so DO NOT BUY THIS CAMERA, and if you did TAKE IT BACK, COSTCO gives you 90 days to return electronics with a FULL refund..