Recommended

I have bought this same webcam for both myself and my girlfriend, and I must say I have not regretted the purchase in the least. The camera comes in a nice plastic case, and once removed, balances easily on the top of a laptop or desktop. The extra face features (and other "creature features") that the camera comes with add interest to conversations, and the audio quality, while not spectacular, is offset by a provided headset, which as I understand is generally the case for the best audio support when talking to others.

I would like to note how quickly the camera adjusts to movement and such things depends heavily on a few factors:

1) the speed of your computer. You can't blame a camera for being more powerful than your computer is, and the image will not transmit at anything near thirty frames per second if your computer can't process the pictures that fast.

2) The USB port the camera's connected to. I highly recommend USB 2.0 as USB 1.0 is outdated and will not yield an especially useable data transfer speed.

3) The program used. Alot of people complain about Yahoo support or MSN support. I am here to tell you I have tested this camera with AIM, Yahoo, and MSN, as well as other less well known programs like Skype. I MUST recommend Skype. There has not been a single program I have used that has been able to even equal Skype in call clarity or quality. Yahoo! provides a slow connection, and AIM, for me personally, has trouble connecting. MSN works, but Skype far surpasses them all, and additionally Skype is encrypted, in case you're having a...ahem...private conversation with a significant other.

4) Connection. Oh no, so and so can't see my image clearly! Well, if you're on a basic cable modem, they won't be getting a high definition image.


I will now address my personal usage of these four points, and my results:

1) I am using an IBM Thinkpad T43 running at approximately 2.0 ghtz with 1.0 gigabytes of RAM. This is no where near the top of the line models. Using the face tracking features of the camera, which work as well as I could expect (and without any noisy mechanical movements), my computer would slightly slow down...if I was simultaneously playing a movie and game in the background. If your computer is slow, be sure to run spyware and adware detectors (which can be obtained from such places as Download.com) to keep your computer up to speed, and there should be no problems.

2) I use a USB 2.0 port. I have not tried the hardware with a USB 1.0 or 1.1 port, as I see no reason to.

3) Skype is the only program I use anymore. I see no reason to switch to inferior programs for calls when Skype is free and of much higher quality.

4) I tested the camera on a wireless university connection nearby and a wired connection from the same university, both of which are faster than the average cable modem. Connection for me wasn't an issue, but my girlfriend used a wireless connection from her house on a standard cable modem and our conversation worked just as well as on university channels.


To finish the review, people complain of picture quality, but the image will be fuzzy due to the extra-wide style of the lens...which is the reason the camera has zooming, to bring the person into focus. This camera is great for anybody, but the wide angle lens lends an advantage to families who want to cram alot of people into the image (or couples doing the same).

I generally run this camera full screen on a 1400x1200 resolution with no problems. The image doesn't have the clarity one would expect from a 1.3 megapixel digital camera (when run in webcam mode; when run in photo-taking mode it does), but you're buying a camera designed to pack and send a multitude of images (between 10 and 30 a second) across the internet. Asking for stunning clarity is testing the limits of computer and connection, not just the camera.

I highly recommend this camera.