Q-See QN6401X EasyView WiFi/IP Camera
You know us dog people: we’re nuts about our mutts. So like many of the fraternity, we've often wondered what it is the pups do when we’re not watching them. It would be interesting to know just which one dragged that pillow into the family room or whose paws made those drag marks in the carpet. That’s why we bought a cheap-o surveillance camera – not because we wanted to video the home invaders, because we wanted to spy on the dogs.
The operative word is “cheap-o” – that’s why we ended up with a Q-See QN6401X EasyView Wireless/IP Camera, which set us back the sum of (about) a seventy bucks. I am here to tell you, it was seventy bucks wasted.
What’s in the box
- Camera on stand, mountable to wall with screws (not provided)
- Power cord with AC adapter (apparently designed for a different plug, depending on the plug configuration/voltage at ship site)
- 5-foot Ethernet cable
- User’s “manual”
Setup
This step, described in excruciating detail in the manual, is most readily accomplished with a camera-equipped mobile device. That’s 'cause you have to use the QR code on the back of the camera to register and install it. Apparently you can use a regular computer, too, though you have to type in a serial number and jump through other hoops that the mobile device would ease.
The setup process walks you through registering the device on your router (not much on using an Ethernet cable, though). It says jack shit about using the micro-SD card, though the camera (supposedly) can record to such a card.
Use
Q-See supplies apps for mobile devices that are supposed to allow you to manage the camera. Enormous amounts of energy are devoted to the sharing of the cameras, very little is applied to actually using the damned thing. The app is available from the app store for Android and from the holy Jobs-site for iOs. For those who still use clunky old computers, there’s a website so rudimentary it might have been designed by a fifth-grader who’s barely passing Coding I.
With the app, you can watch the camera live – that would be great for fratboys wanting to watch their brothers getting it on with chicks after the kegger, though the camera is pretty darned visible with all its red and blue lights. You can set it to motion-detect mode, which captures… motion within the 65-degree field of view.
Now I have to admit that it does a fair job of capturing black-and-white images when there’s motion – you can see the cat slinking through the family room in the middle of the night. A redeeming factor! Though not redeeming enough.
The app design is, frankly, utter crap. The only way to set the camera to “record” is with the app, and the only way to get it into record mode is to install the SD card while the camera is running (and half the time that doesn’t work). There’s no sensible path through the app, and half the time (at least) the option for recording isn’t available. You can’t set the camera to motion-detection or recording mode from the web version, so if you don’t have a mobile device at hand, those functions are useless. And the app has friggin’ advertisements embedded, including those obnoxious flashing ads (and worse yet, ads for “Frozen”).
On the other hand, you can share images: there are the requisite Facebook and email icons on the interface, plus a save button. You’d think, though, that the apps shared on Google play wouldn’t have a share button for Weibo.com, entirely in simplified Chinese characters.
Support
 |
| Typical message from the website in fractured English |
Overall
In short, The Q-See QN6401X EasyView is useful only for live viewing. It’s not that hard to set up, but the viewer interface is utter garbage on a computer. It’s better on a mobile device, but not much.
As far as this reviewer is concerned, you're better off with any of these alternatives:
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