Brinno PHV132512 Digital PeepHole Viewer

by Brinno

• Uses an LCD panel to display who is at your door without alerting them to your presence
• Simple one-button operation
• Toggles between regular and zoom mode with a push of the button
• Compensates for low-light images and eliminates "fish eye" distortion
• Quick, easy installation

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Brinno PeepHole Viewer uses an LCD panel to display who is at your door without alerting them to your presence. The PeepHole Viewer turns a hard to see peep hole image into a big bright image. Simply push the button to see a large image of the person outside your door. The image is easy to see for people of any height and is similar to that on the display of a digital camera. The viewer compensates for low-light images and eliminates "fish eye" distortion. A second press of the button provides a zoomed image, which enlarges the center of the image for viewing facial details. Repeated presses toggle between regular and zoom modes. Turns off automatically after 10 seconds to conserve battery life. When the batteries are low, the red Low Battery Light flashes. Replaces existing peep hole in doors 1-3/8" to 2-1/4" thick. Quick, easy installation. Requires 2 AA batteries (included).

Product Description

The Brinno Digital PeepHole Viewer uses an LCD panel to display who is at your door without alerting them to your presence. The PeepHole Viewer turns a hard to see peep hole image into a big bright image. Simply push the button to see a large image of the person outside your door. The image is easy to see for people of any height and is similar to that on the display of a digital camera. The viewer compensates for low-light images and eliminates "fish eye" distortion. A second press of the button provides a zoomed image, which enlarges the center of the image for viewing facial details. Repeated presses toggle between regular and zoom modes. Turns off automatically after 10 seconds to conserve battery life. When the batteries are low, the red low battery light flashes. Replaces existing peep hole in doors 1-3/8" to 2-1/4" thick. Quick, easy installation. Requires 2 AA batteries (included).

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

96 of 98 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Better Than I Expected November 13, 2009

By Janet L. Ng

Amazon Verified Purchase

The setup was incredibly simple, exactly as shown in video. I'm a 53 yo woman with absolutely NO handy-man skills whatsoever, and if I could install it in 5 minutes, anyone could!

I've only had it one day, so can't attest to the longevity of this product yet, but I've had the opportunity to view it both at day and night (with porch light on). The picture is very good, in color, and the zoom lets me zoom into the area that's about 25 yards in front of it. It works PRECISELY as described, and I feel 10 times more secure about seeing who is at my door than I did with the standard, crappy peephole. I can see the picture on the screen even when standing 10 feet away from the door -- except you need to walk up to the door to press the button to turn it on.

The only thing that I don't like is when you push the button, it makes a slight click noise, and I'm not sure if someone outside the door could hear that -- probably not, but it should have been designed with totally silent operation.

The only other suggestion I have would be to have a remote so you could turn it on remotely without even having to walk up to the door. Other than those two things (and believe me, the pros of this viewer FAR OUTWEIGH those puny issues), I am absolutely satisfied (on day one) with this viewer.

You must have the porchlight on to see anything at night. With the porchlight off, the screen is totally black - so it does need light. However, with the porchlight on, the view close up to my door is spectacular. The view out away from the door, where the area is dark, is zero at night -- but you can see perfectly who is at your door with a light on.

If the batteries run low, it's easy to turn the viewer and it comes off to change the batteries.... Even without the viewer in place, you can still see through the peephole, as with a standard peephole viewer - so if you run out of batteries, you are not left without a view until you can buy more batteries - simply remove the viewer, and use it as a standard peephole. Even without the viewer, the range is much broader and clear than a standard peephole.

From the outside, it looks just like a regular peephole, except the person on the outside can NOT tell when you are looking because there is always something over the hole (the viewer). With standard peepholes, the person outside can tell when you move up close to look out, but not with this one.

The viewer remains on for a few seconds after you turn it on, and if you want it on longer, simply keep pressing it between zoom and regular mode. I like it that it turns off after about 5 seconds, as that's really all you normally need, and it saves on the batteries.

I like to use it to "just look out there" if I hear something, and want to see what's going on without opening the door -- so it's not only good when someone rings your bell, but also to just keep an occasional eye on what's occuring "out there" in front of your door and beyond, as well a broad view on each side.

I am totally pleased, and would highly recommend this viewer to anyone who really needs to see who is outside, without letting the visitor know you are looking -- and who needs to have a broader view. Great purhcase -- one of my favorites in a long, long time! Read more ›

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Brinno Displays Silhouettes June 15, 2010

By Kaspar

Amazon Verified Purchase

We have had bad luck with the Brinno PeepHole Viewer. It was very easy to install and its packaging is well-designed. However, in broad daylight, it only showed a dark silhouette of the person and the person at the door could not be recognized. Brinno's Customer Service asked us to provide frontal illumination and we added a 9-LED motion activated light source, but the person at the door still could not be recognized. We sent a picture of the display to Brinno and the Customer Service representative agreed that it was defective and needed to be returned for a replacement. We then shipped the unit to Brinno in California and received a replacement. The new unit too only produced silhouettes. Have now returned the new unit to Amazon for a refund. Amazon made it easy with a download for the return package.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Very easy to install, works well, viewer picture just OK October 4, 2010

By B. Rutledge

Amazon Verified Purchase

1. It took 5 minutes to install, no joke. If you have a peephole already in the door, you just use the enclosed tool to remove the old peephole (30 seconds), insert the new peephole in the hole, hand tighten, and you are basically done.

2. Sticking through the door is basicly a decent peephole of the type you could buy for about $15 (which is why it fits the old hole) - so the overall image will not be better than that. The electronic viewer takes that peephole image, corrects the normal fisheye distortion, and projects it on a small blah quality LCD screen. The end result is an image much better than a normal peephole, but much worse than a "camera lcd screen" that the item description claims (unless you are talking about a 5 year old 1 megapixel point-and-shoot).

3. Although the image quality will not blow you away, it makes the peephole much more usable, and it prevents the person outside from using a reverse-peephole scope to see inside.

Overall, a nice security upgrade that you can easily install in minutes. The image quality is less than I had hoped (worse than the description seemed to promise), but I would buy it again in a minute.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Electronic Peephole Viewer May 23, 2010

By L. T. Mullen

Amazon Verified Purchase

I recently purchased this electronic peephole viewer from Amazon.com. I like my privacy so I have a solid door with no windows. I also like seeing who is at the door without having to open it so I had a peephole in it. I understand that there are products called peephole reverser's available that can be put up to a peephole on the outside of the door that would allow some ner do well to see inside your home. Recently, in this county a young man was killed by some gang members who were knocking on his door and as soon as they saw the peephole darken they shot eight bullets through the door killing him. I believe that one of these electronic peephole viewers would have saved his life. They work very well and when you push the button the screen comes on so you can see outside and if you push it again you get a zoomed view. It takes five minutes to install even if you have to drill a hole in the door. If your going to put a peephole in your door one of these electronic ones is the way to go.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Do not buy - Very Dissapointed September 17, 2010

By Kenneth B. Almond

Amazon Verified Purchase

The product looked good on web site. Testimonials were good. Install was easy.
HOWEVER there are many problems - it was a waste of money for me
1) The first 50 times I pressed the button there was no video. I 'sort of' got it to work by repeatedly pressing/holding button to get video.
NOTE: An email to company asking for help was met with silence.
2) I'm 6 feet but my family is shorter so I installed it a few inched below my eye-site. The video screen/display turns 'darker' unless you look at it straight-on
3) My front-door is set back about 4 feet - there is an overhang. Even on a bright day I could not make out the face of someone standing in front of door. I could see outline / dark but no facial features. Very poor picuter quality.

I'm sorry to write this - I love the idea - but they really cheaped it / doesn't work.
For $100 - this purchase was a disastor. A digital camera only costs $100 and works 1000% better screen. I went to Lowe's and got a standard peep for $5.