INTRODUCTION
Last week i was lucky enough to attend a party thrown by one of the world’s largest companies (unrelated with PC hardware) during which i was somewhat taken off guard when some people (including a couple of friends) walked up to me and asked my opinion on whether or not using IP cameras is the way to go if they wanted to safeguard their homes/properties. My reply to them was what I’ve been telling everyone for the past 5 years and that's that IP cameras can certainly add an extra layer of security and they can come in very handy (sometimes they can even act as a measure of prevention) but should never be used on their own. Anyways last time we checked the Airlive OD-2025HD 2MP Outdoor IP Camera but since FullHD (1080p) models do not come very cheap today we will be taking a look an HD (1.3MP/720p) Outdoor IP Camera, the RaidSonic ICY BOX IB-CAM2002.
RaidSonic Technology GmbH was founded in Hamburg 1999. To realize our future visions and the rising requirements, RaidSonic moved to Ahrensburg (20 min. away from Hamburg) in May 2004.The capacity of our new warehouse, our permanent improving logistic and the expanded technical support lets us look into the future very optimistically. Our vision in a constantly growing IT market is to develop products, which will become your future dreams. Our extensive product portfolio, which we distribute Europe-wide, combines all internal and external solutions for the application of mass storage, for industrial and professional applications as well as for the private sphere, too. Through our all along increasing know-how, good results in research and development and our good cooperation with our long-time customers we could achieve a dynamic growth.
The ICY BOX IB-CAM2002 by RaidSonic is a fixed position bullet (due to the design) Outdoor IP Camera with a maximum video resolution of 1280x1024 pixels (1.3Mp/720P) @ 30fps. Also much like with most mid/high-end outdoor IP Camera models the IB-CAM2002 features an IP66 weatherproof certified aluminum/metal housing and is compliant with the PoE (power over Ethernet) 802.3af standard allowing you to use it PoE injectors and switches. Other features include a 1/2.7" progressive CMOS sensor, 6mm length lens (50 degrees angle), ONVIF compatibility, two-way audio and a night vision mode effective up to 15m thanks to 24 IR LEDs. Specs-wise the ICY BOX IB-CAM2002 seems to do just fine but how did it do in our tests?
SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS
RaidSonic ships the ICY BOX IB-CAM2002 inside a medium sized cardboard box with a sticker listing the main features of the product at the front.
The entire bundle is safely placed inside a large piece of Styrofoam.
After you take everything out from the box you will have the IB-CAM2002 outdoor IP Camera, AC power adapter, wall base, Allen key, mounting screws and 2 software CDs.
THE ICY BOX IB-CAM2002
The ICY BOX IB-CAM2002 is a white medium-sized Outdoor IP Camera with a weather proof IP66 certified housing made by aluminum and metal.
To really understand what i mean by medium-sized i placed the IB-2002 right next to two other bullet outdoor IP cameras, the rather small ZAVIO F531 and the quite large TV-IP322P by TRENDnet.
The 6mm lens allow for a viewing angle of up to 50 degrees while the 24 IR LEDs surrounding it can illuminate a distance of 15m at night.
A large sticker placed at the rear includes the units MAC address, serial number and electrical requirements.
The top cover/shield is held in place by two large screws.
By default the cover is retracted but if you place it at a horizontal position you can pull it all the way out (and use one out of the two screws). However if you use it at an angle facing downwards then i really recommend using both screws as seen above.
The two large holes found at the bottom of the IB-2002 are for use with the wall-base.
At the rear end we find the RJ45 Ethernet port, AC power port, two DIDO alarm connectors and the usual microphone and speaker mini-jacks (for two-way audio).
The wall-base is quite sturdy and allows for both horizontal and vertical rotation (you will need to tighten the two joints with the bundled Allen key).
WEB INTERFACE
If you don't know how to find the IP address of the unit you can use the provided IPCam Discovery tool through which you can also set a static IP.
The first time you enter the web interface you are required to install an ActiveX control (you may need to head into tools-security-custom level and allow signed/unsigned ActiveX scripts).
Once you install the ActiveX control you will see the main screen which is also the live feed screen. Unfortunately although both the night vision mode and the overall picture quality are quite good the viewing angle is just not as good.
To zoom you need to use the small window seen in the above picture which is just not as convenient as using the mouse wheel, a feature seen with other similar solutions.
Under the video & audio tab you can adjust everything related with the image/video quality, watch/join up to three different IP cameras (regardless of brand) from the same web interface and finally enable/disable the audio input/output.
Through the network tab you can set a static IP address enable/disable UPNP and DDNS, set the access ports and also add access filters.
You can set specific events, setup the motion detector (up to 3 different areas), adjust DI/DO alarm settings and arrange the triggers/time for each event.
In the system page you will can adjust things such as the system and network status, date and time, add/remove users, reboot the unit, reset factory settings, backup the current configuration, perform a firmware update and check the system logs.
The firmware update (if you ever need to perform it) takes a few minutes to complete.
CONCLUSION
The ICY BOX IB-CAM2002 1.3MP Outdoor IP Camera by RaidSonic may not seem be something impressive in terms of features and specifications at first glance but it actually is if we take into account the 30fps video recording feature at 1280x1024, something which is not offered by many similar products and at around the same price tag. The night vision range of 15m on the other hand may not be the best one out there (some models have NV modes that go up to 35m) but during testing i was able to see as far as 40m with limited detail of course. I was very happy to see that RaidSonic focused in providing an extremely user friendly web interface and although it lacks some features found in more expensive models still i think it's more than enough. My only real concern is the rather narrow view field of 50 degrees offered by the 6mm lens but for most applications this should be more than enough (if not you can take a look at other solutions like the Airlive 0D-2025HD).
As usual RaidSonic products are not really available inside the USA (although i can't check every single store) but inside the EU the ICY BOX IB-CAM2002 1.3MP Outdoor IP Camera currently retails at around 280Euros making it the ideal solution for people who want an outdoor HD (1280x1024) IP Camera with a user-friendly interface but are on a somewhat tight budget. Overall i was satisfied with the ICY BOX IB-CAM2002, image quality is quite good (you may need to tweak the default settings a bit), you can record at 30fps even with 1280x1024, night vision range is also good, the IP66 certified housing with the wall base are both very sturdy and user friendly web-interface guarantees that you can use the product even if you're not much into computers. However the somewhat narrow field of view due to the 6mm lens is enough to cut some points and so the ICY BOX IB-CAM2002 1.3MP Outdoor IP Camera receives our Golden Award.
PROS
- 1.3MP CMOS Sensor
- Support up to 720p @ 30Fps
- IP-66 Weatherproof Housing
- Sturdy Wall Base
- 15m Effective Night Vision
- H.264/MPEG/MJPEG Support
- ONVIF Compatible
- Two Way Audio
- User Friendly Web Interface
- Bundled Software
- Price (For Some)
CONS
- Narrow Field Of View (6mm Lens)
- Web Interface Lacks Some Options/Features (Found With More Expensive Models)