Customer Reviews

Creative Labs CT6860 Video Blaster WebCam Go

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I expected much better quality from Creative's WebCam Go. The picture and video quality is poor. I had to immediatly upgrade the drivers because my Gateway Solo 2500 laptop would get a fatal error with the camera's USB plugged in at boot. The newest drivers on Creative's web site ocrrected the problem. I purchased 3Com's HomeConnect PC Digital Camera at the same time and the video quality of 3Com's cam was greatly superior for only $20.00 more. I've since return the WebCam Go and purchased a second 3Com cam.

The creative labs webcam go advertises a standard webcam with a portable feature to snap pictures too somewhat like a digital camera. Well, lets start from the top.

The installation was quite easy as the manual explained exactly what you needed to know. The software includes the regular Webcam software, A motion detector and some image editing software.

The webcam software is great. You can snap pictures and videos from 320 x 230 to 640 x 480. The webcam go frame rates at 320 x 230 are over 30, and the colours are great. The 640 x 480 resolutions are very slow, about 13 fps on average, not too promising.

The webcame go allows you to unplug the USB cables and pop in 2 AAA batteries and snap shots. This feature is poorly executed. The pictures are extremely grainy and washed out, and most pictures are out of focus. The focus problem arises because you can't see the image when taking the picture and the focus is a dial on the lens but it is very hard to judge where it should be, you have to be a real expert to properly focus images.

Also, the view whole is not in line with the lens, so when you the image is in the center of the picture, its not, so you also have to get accustomed to that.

The different modes are handy. The regular picture mode is for snaps, the continuous mode allows about 10 image captures within about 10 seconds and can be converted to an avi. The are also timer modes so you can take pictures of yourself with ease. But it doesn't make sense using any of these features when the quality is disgusting.

I would not recommend this camera, save the money and buy a regular webcam. If you want portable digitable photos, spend the money and buy a real digital camera.

I got it last night and it turned out a nightmare for me. After plug it in USB, I had to shut my computer off by cut off the electricity because it freezed the system. After trying again, it works with a poor quality for only 1 minute and on the screen said " plug the cam in..." Thought the cab was not good or because of the USB, I plugged it in another computer and the same thing happened. Trying again and again, but the longest time it worked was 2 minutes only. That's terrible. If U want to get it, think again. Now, I rather use the web of Intel or Logitech even though it doesn't have digital camera function like WEB CAM GO.

This device seems to work OK as a web camera, but if you're looking to use it as a digital camera, forget it. The picture quality was unbelievably bad...

There is absolutely nothing in this product that is worth talking about. It is designed to make a fool part with his money. The quality of the pictures is very poor. Even the video conferencing wasn't smooth. This means the two uses of this product are not worth the money. The device drivers do have a bug that cause the system to hang when this application is on. I got my wisdom back after I returned this "digital camera".

I must admit, I was soooo excited to get a webcam. That was before I ran into this one. Ships with outdated drivers. Freezes the computer. Will NOT work with netmeeting which supposedly it was designed to work with. One long distance call for tech support after another, led to downloading huge amounts of programs only to be told later, that they either did not work together or had to be installed in a different order. Went from a webcam that mildly worked to freezing my whole computer. Horrible customer service and overall a very poor product.

The description of this item made it sound like the perfect solution for what I wanted to accomplish. I was even willing to spend the extra $40 over other types of webcams I had tried. When the item arrived I remained excited because it still seemed like an ideal concept. After installing the nightmares began. The WebCamGo dominated over the laser printer which was plugged into another USB port. I couldn't switch back to the printer. I had to uninstall not only the WebCamGo but also the printer and then re-install both. I went through this 3 times. Called tech support for the printer and the WebCamGo. Printer operates perfectly until WebCamGo is installed. After 3 phones calls to Creative's Tech Support AT MY EXPENSE (a toll free number would be nice for at least 30 minutes of assistance when you first buy the item) my level of disappointment has turned to disgust. I was on hold so long for my first call that I hung up. My second call to tech support informed me that this is such a powerful camera (? ) that it draws all the power from other items on USB ports so I needed to go download drivers for Windows 98 even though I have Windows ME installed. I did that which was another couple of hours in computer time and the problems remained. My third call to tech support, again totally at my expense, resulted in this analysis - This camera has no drivers for Windows ME and they don't know when they will have it available. "Perhaps in a few weeks" I was told. Meanwhile, I'm supposed to put aside an item that I paid $140 for plus shipping and wait until they come up with a Windows ME compatible driver at some point but they don't know when? Well, I could tell you more but now I have to go deal with trying to return this item. Who knows what flack I'll run into with that one since I have Windows ME and it isn't compatible with that, but they didn't know that so..... Pardon the sarcasm, folks. I just expected better from Creative. And a toll free tech support would really, really be nice. It's salt in the wounds to pay for the privilege of being told you bought something that doesn't work. The concept is great - a camera that you can remove, use elsewhere and then come back and "dock it" to download pics. If they ever resolve driver problems, software conflicts and get the picture quality improved, they'll have a winner. In the meantime, keep shopping - don't stop here.

Just receiving 2days ago, I spent a whole day to plug it in and out :(. First, I followed the instruction very carefully (I know it is very important 'cause I heard many complaints about installing a WEB CAM).After it said install successful, pressed Finish and restarted , my computer was halted. Plugged it out, restarted by pressing the power button, plugged it in again, thank God, it worked. However, my happiness stopped 30 SECOND later."Camera was unplugged ..." even though it was plugged. I had to plug out , restart and plug in again, the same thing happened, it freezed my computer after only 1 minute with a terrible quality of video. Checked it with another computer, the same thing happened. Returned it back and I gonna get another name.

When I first saw this product in the market, I think this is one of the most innovative product (as it is not only a webcam, it can also be detached and take pictures as a digital camera). We tested it for over a week now and found out that one of the pitfalls (major weakness) of this camera is the bad quality of pictures. The manual focus at the front of the camera even worsen the case as photographer has no idea how good the "focus" is doing. i.e. you don't really know the quality of the pictures after it was being transferred back to the computer. I heard that Webcam Go Plus solved this problem a bit but not really sure until we test it. To conclude, don't expect too much from it, I'll position it as a very bad quality but cheap digital camera as for the price it is asking for, you really can't get any digital camera in the current market.

Experience was acceptable as long as it was connected to the computer. Pictures somewhat dark and no bright colors, but it worked.

Then I took some off-line shots. Tried the photo series mode. Wanted to stop the series, so switched the camera off. It got a hang up. Connected it to the computer to store the pictures. Result: My computer crashed totally. Had to switch it off two times before Windows started again. From the help-line I got the procedure how to reset the camera. Some days later, the same thing happened again, but then the reset procedure didn't help any more.

I think the camera comes with a hobby programer's software. It's awfull. I gave the camera back to the shop.

Pros: Nice little webcam.

Cons: No flash, no adapter for tripod, low quality pictures unless you have bright sunshine. Very buggy software.