Foscam FI9826P review

While the mobile app wasn’t particularly nice to look at, the web interface is even less attractive. If you’ve ever dived into your router’s configuration, you’ll have an idea of what to expect. It’s here that you’ll need to look to set up your email configuration for movement alerts, as well as schedule recording times, as both options aren’t available in the mobile apps. The FI9826P has a microSD card slot for saving videos and snapshots locally. Triggering a manual recording or taking a snapshot using the mobile app will also save to your mobile device.

The camera’s widest angle setting still isn’t quite as wide as that of many of its rivals, which you might need to take into consideration if you want to monitor a large space. This problem is partly negated by the camera’s pan-tilt-zoom abilities. There’s a built-in microphone and speaker that allows two-way communication through the camera and the mobile app. This worked surprisingly well with little delay. The FI9826P also lets you connect an external speaker and microphone through its 3.5mm sockets.

The camera’s video and images are date- and time-stamped for easy reference. The FI9826P’s image quality was a little disappointing, and video wasn’t as smooth as we would have liked. There was detail in both shadows and highlights, but the image appeared very blocky. We were impressed by the camera’s night vision performance in terms of the distance it was able to capture, with objects discernible across the room even in pitch black thanks to the camera’s ring of infrared LEDs, but again the image was blocky. As it has a 1,280×960 resolution, the camera captures a larger vertical area than most of its rivals.

Although the Foscam is a good IP camera once you get over some initial hurdles, if you’re looking for a versatile camera with pan and tilt functions we would recommend the D-Link DCS-5222L, which is much easier to set up and use, or the HomeMonitor HD if you need cloud recording.