- Sep 4, 2017
- 194
- 325
This is actually just copied out of an answer to another thread, but I think it might be interesting for others aswell. It's about the german manufacturer (well, Made in China but advertised as "Engineered in Germany" oho 
) Instar and two of their current bullet cameras. I give a little bit of general information and try to convey what I wish I had known when I bought their cameras. If other owners have additional experiences, please add them!
IN-5905HD (720p)
I initially tested a 720p camera IN-5905HD. It's very pricy, but excellent for newbies because, among other aspects, it has an excellent documentation, an outstanding customer service (references are Hikvision [equal to no service] and Wansview [committed but incompetent]) and is easily set up.
The image at daytime is good (although one should keep in mind that 720p is quite limited and at least from my point of view only appropriate for overview cameras [so you know "ok there is somebody" but don't expect to be able to recognize or even identify sb.]). The WDR functionality is something I miss on many others cameras, so that's really nice.
The image sensor is not very light-sensitive, so the camera has to switch to night-mode (b/w) when other cameras still have a very bright and colorful image.
At night, the sensor is limited to 3-5fps and, to put it in a nutshell, the image is crap. Ok to be fair, the IR-LEDs illuminate the scene quite well and the image is practically noise-free (looks cool), but even the shutter time at night is bad so that you see moving persons only as a tail -
aaaagggrrr! So the night images do look sexy, but are useless.
One thing one should also be aware of is that if the camera looses the wifi signal for a few minutes, it will stop trying to reconnect. That's absolutely dumb behavior, but it is generally a bad idea to use the wifi functionality permanently.
In my opinion, combined with a good external motion detector, this camera still makes a solid overview camera.
Conclusion IN-5905HD
Pro:
A good start for - financially well set - newbies.
Good customer support.
Good daytime image.
Con:
Overpriced.
Terrible night image.
So I would definitely not recommend this camera to an intermediate or experienced surveillance camera user. But for a first project, why not?
IN-9008HD (1080p)
This camera costs around 300€. As I sometimes see here, other users do pay this much and even more for a single camera (admittedly usually with significantly better resolution etc), but in my opinion, 300€ is not adequate anymore for "home" users like most of us here (I guess
). I'd say that this price is simply unreasonable.
The image is pleasant at day as well as at night and the image sensor has a good level of light-sensitivity.
Additional plus points are the mentioned good documentation, customer service and the easy set-up.
But one thing has got to be mentioned: Instar as well as ehm well certain german, 30 years old, crawling, bald-headed home surveillance influencers whose brand name rhymes with "Popoficks" (PM if you don't figure it out) constantly promote the IN-9008HD as a zero false alerts system. The truth is: yes, they've integrated a PIR detector. Another part of the truth is: no, that does not enhance false detection rates by any means. If one does not enable the option "combine alarms" (in this case only when the PIR and the video motion detection are triggered, an alarm is triggered), the false alarm rate is higher than on the other Instar camera at night (well, after 400 false alerts during one night, my email account blocked the cameras sender address). And this even comes with the disadvantage that one can not connect an external motion detector to the camera.
Conclusion IN-9008HD
Simply overpriced. I'd recommend to inform yourself here and on other sites and then buy a more decent priced IP camera. But if you are willing to spend the money and don't care about external motion detectors, a good start for newbies aswell.
As @fenderman (angrily) mentions in reply #4, a good alternative for newbies who want to install multiple cams is to let an installer do the job. That might even be cheaper, although one still has to grapple with what the installer proposes.
So no simply solution anyhow.
Edit: added wifi-information, added installer idea
) Instar and two of their current bullet cameras. I give a little bit of general information and try to convey what I wish I had known when I bought their cameras. If other owners have additional experiences, please add them!IN-5905HD (720p)
I initially tested a 720p camera IN-5905HD. It's very pricy, but excellent for newbies because, among other aspects, it has an excellent documentation, an outstanding customer service (references are Hikvision [equal to no service] and Wansview [committed but incompetent]) and is easily set up.
The image at daytime is good (although one should keep in mind that 720p is quite limited and at least from my point of view only appropriate for overview cameras [so you know "ok there is somebody" but don't expect to be able to recognize or even identify sb.]). The WDR functionality is something I miss on many others cameras, so that's really nice.
The image sensor is not very light-sensitive, so the camera has to switch to night-mode (b/w) when other cameras still have a very bright and colorful image.
At night, the sensor is limited to 3-5fps and, to put it in a nutshell, the image is crap. Ok to be fair, the IR-LEDs illuminate the scene quite well and the image is practically noise-free (looks cool), but even the shutter time at night is bad so that you see moving persons only as a tail -
aaaagggrrr! So the night images do look sexy, but are useless.One thing one should also be aware of is that if the camera looses the wifi signal for a few minutes, it will stop trying to reconnect. That's absolutely dumb behavior, but it is generally a bad idea to use the wifi functionality permanently.
In my opinion, combined with a good external motion detector, this camera still makes a solid overview camera.
Conclusion IN-5905HD
Pro:
A good start for - financially well set - newbies.
Good customer support.
Good daytime image.
Con:
Overpriced.
Terrible night image.
So I would definitely not recommend this camera to an intermediate or experienced surveillance camera user. But for a first project, why not?
IN-9008HD (1080p)
This camera costs around 300€. As I sometimes see here, other users do pay this much and even more for a single camera (admittedly usually with significantly better resolution etc), but in my opinion, 300€ is not adequate anymore for "home" users like most of us here (I guess
). I'd say that this price is simply unreasonable.The image is pleasant at day as well as at night and the image sensor has a good level of light-sensitivity.
Additional plus points are the mentioned good documentation, customer service and the easy set-up.
But one thing has got to be mentioned: Instar as well as ehm well certain german, 30 years old, crawling, bald-headed home surveillance influencers whose brand name rhymes with "Popoficks" (PM if you don't figure it out
) constantly promote the IN-9008HD as a zero false alerts system. The truth is: yes, they've integrated a PIR detector. Another part of the truth is: no, that does not enhance false detection rates by any means. If one does not enable the option "combine alarms" (in this case only when the PIR and the video motion detection are triggered, an alarm is triggered), the false alarm rate is higher than on the other Instar camera at night (well, after 400 false alerts during one night, my email account blocked the cameras sender address). And this even comes with the disadvantage that one can not connect an external motion detector to the camera.Conclusion IN-9008HD
Simply overpriced. I'd recommend to inform yourself here and on other sites and then buy a more decent priced IP camera. But if you are willing to spend the money and don't care about external motion detectors, a good start for newbies aswell.
As @fenderman (angrily) mentions in reply #4, a good alternative for newbies who want to install multiple cams is to let an installer do the job. That might even be cheaper, although one still has to grapple with what the installer proposes.
So no simply solution anyhow.
Edit: added wifi-information, added installer idea
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