GadgetReview

If you routinely poke around dark areas and need to take pictures of what you see (such as a home inspector peeking underneath a house), you could use a camera and carry a flashlight. However, carrying two items can be clumsy, so as a simpler alternative, you could carry Swann Surveillance’s unique flashlight that combines a digital camera with a video camcorder.

The flashlight requires three C batteries and weights 520 grams (without the weight of the batteries). It’s rather large for a flashlight with dimensions of 3.11 inches at its widest point, which is its front, 3.85 inches high, and 12.83 inches long. The head of the flashlight contains the bulb and the built-in camera and microphone. If you’re used to ordinary household flashlights, this unit will seem monstrous in comparison. However, if you’re used to typical police style flashlights, this item simply sports a larger head for its lens.
There are three levels of illumination that you can choose. Just turn on the flashlight, aim it, and now you have the option of taking still pictures or video. If you choose video, you can capture audio as well. The camera captures images at 640 by 480 resolution, which is acceptable but definitely grainier than typical digital cameras or video camcorders.

The flashlight captures video in MPEG-4 format at 30 frames per second (fps) and can a maximum of 18 minutes stored on its built-in 128Mb memory. If you plug in an optional SD card, you can store up to 1.5 hours of video on a 1Gb SD card.

After capturing pictures, video, or audio, you can download the data to your computer through an included USB cable, which plugs into any USB 1.1 port.

Despite the limited camera resolution, this flashlight can be especially handy for taking pictures wherever you can point the flashlight, such as inside a car engine or in an attic. For security purposes, the flashlight can help you record events without another person’s knowledge.

Since the camera and microphone are hidden in the flashlight’s lens, you could point the flashlight at anyone and record video and audio without their knowledge, which could be handy for storing crucial visual and audio evidence. The built-in microphone captures adequate sound, but don’t expect crystal clear fidelity. Overall, the built-in microphone and cameras are sufficient for typical uses for this flashlight.
The Swann Surveillance Flashlight DVR may be a bit expensive for ordinary use. However, if you need a hidden camera and microphone tucked inside what appears to be an ordinary flashlight, this product is truly one of a kind.

Pros:

• Built-in and hidden digital camera, video camcorder, and microphone
• Sturdy construction
• Built-in memory with optional expansion with separate SD card
• Includes USB cable for transferring data to a computer

Cons:

• Photograph and video quality lower than an ordinary camera
• Audio quality of the built-in microphone is sufficient, but could be better
• Expensive compared to buying a separate camera and flashlight

The Swann Surveillance Flashlight DVR is currently available here for $238

It’s called the ADW-330 FamilyCam, but we all know that’s a euphemism for ’spycam’. In any case, the ADW-330 FamilyCam is a baby monitor on steroids. The package deal sends digital encrypted video (i.e. no one can intercept) from the swivel camera to the handheld LCD monitor. Range of the device is 165 ft, which should suffice for most spying monitoring and thanks to the digital signal it won’t interfere with WiFi or Bluetooth signals.

The Swanna ADW-330 FamilyCam is available now in black and white for $200.

Corporate espionage is probably pretty low on the totem poll of most executives, but yes, there are sleuths out there hired specifically to perform this sort of activity.  Given the slumping economy and the need to make more money, you probably don’t wanna outsource for this sort of clandestine operation.  The Swann PenCam DVR will let you keep all your snooping in house.  Built-in to the head of the pen is a tiny camera which can record up to 3 hours of AVI video on the 2GB of flash storage.  Course, the PenCam’s battery is only good for 90 minutes.  Close talking will be a bit of a requirement since the mic only pics up audio within a 3 foot range.

The Swann PenCam DVR will be available soon for $120.

Full release below

Santa Fe Springs, Calif. – (December 30, 2008) – Swann Communications, the global leader in security monitoring solutions, proudly announces the debut of the PenCam DVR. Designed to covertly capture video footage and easily transfer it to the user’s computer, the PenCam DVR is an all-in-one surveillance system that allows anyone to make their own hidden videos.

The PenCam DVR captures color AVI video files thanks to a camera concealed in the end of a real working pen. All footage is recorded on internal 2GB memory, capable of recording over 3 hours of video footage. When the memory is full, simply unscrew the pen and the lower half of the pen contains a USB connector that plugs into the user’s PC or laptop for easy back-up. Audio surveillance up to 3 feet is made possible by a built-in microphone. The PenCam DVR is powered by a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery that lasts 90 minutes on a full charge and recharges via a computer’s USB port.

“The addition of internal memory is by far the biggest improvement we made to the original PenCam concept,” commented Guy Pithie, Swann Communication’s Vice President North America. “Our customers are also looking for simplified ways to transfer video footage to their computers, making it easy to upload to sites like YouTube. The PenCam DVR’s hidden USB connector is a clever way to easily remove video footage from the device without worrying about cables or adaptors.”

The PenCam DVR has a MSRP of $119.99 and is coming soon to Swann’s retail and online resellers.

See Swann Communication’s PenCan DVR and other video surveillance innovations at this year’s CES show. Swann Communications is exhibiting at Booth# 8559 in Central Hall.

Every once in a while I’ll request something to review that I can’t fully evaluate because I am a MAC owner. When I request products I just assume that they will work for a MAC because MAC’s are the best! At any rate, I am here to review, to the best of my technological ability, the Swann Networking IP-3G ConnectCam 1000. For the sake of not copying and pasting that long name, I’m going to just refer to it as the IP-3G from here on in.

The IP-3G is a day & night wireless 802.11G network camera that can be used across a wide spectrum of applications: a security device in your home or business, or as a video chat camera, or even as a monitor to see if your roommate is using your HDTV when he shouldn’t.

Let me make this abundantly clear, the IP-3G is not made for the MAC! This first thing I will say about Swann as a company, which is widely recognized for their security cameras, is that their customer service is fantastic! They fielded my tech questions and had responses with in 24 hours, which was impressive. They said that I would not be able to get the IP-3G to work with a MAC whatsoever, but with the help of a MAC guru buddy, we got it to work ‘visuals only’ through a Linksy’s router. Simply put, the IP-3G has a web server that you need to connect to. It can be accessed through local and global IP addresses. We got it to work by “port forwarding” it through the router and giving it a fixed IP address. We had to take this route as none of the included software worked on my MAC, but we got the core feature, the visuals, to work at least. The quality of the visuals were moderate at best, with day usage lacking colors, and you could tell it had a night vision grain to it. The night vision was nice and very reminiscent of anything night vision you’ve seen in movies or video games.

As far as features are concerned, the IP-3G has a plethora. From the general audio-visual admin and network menus, you can do two-way audio, MPEG4 & MJPEG compression for storage via USB stick or hard drive, and set the motion detector to take a snap shot and then email it to you. The latter feature, the motion detector email, is something conventional security camera’s don’t even touch. Additionally, you don’t need a PC to set up and use it if you have a 3G enabled phone, just not a 3G iPhone!

The IP-3G is constructed of a high density bright white plastic that looks attractive. It’s also fairly small, but I wonder how well it would deal with rainy, windy, or inclement weather conditions. And despite the fact that it’s wireless, it still uses a wired power source which could prove to hamper some set up scenarios. To be noted, the IP-3G isn’t a huge bandwidth leech as it only impacted my speeds around a negative megabyte per second, and you can run it wired if you like through the ethernet jack on the back. Also on the back is an eighth inch jack to plug speakers into, as well as a microphone on the front in order to accomplish the two way audio feature. All in all, the IP-3G has a ton of cool features allowing for some deep customizations styles and options to tool around with, just not for the MAC.

When it comes to technology you should always research before you buy, and as I have just learned, I should research before I review, instead of just request. Oh, this looks cool…not anymore! Chalk it up to a lesson learned, and I will not make the same mistake again! The IP-3G seems like a great piece of gear from the way I see it, though the way I see it is not an optimal one.

Pros

• Many Customizable Features
• Theoretically Easy Setup
• Small Compact Design

Cons

• Is Not MAC Compatible! Weak Sauce!
• Pricey For A “Web Cam”
• Still Needs Wired Power Source

Buy it for $260 here

The details are a bit vague on the Swann Moviestick video camera, but what I do know is that it’s ultra small. It’s slightly larger than a pack of gum and weighs just 1oz. With a 2GB microSD card installed you can record up to 2.5 hours of video. It includes a built-in Lithium-ion rechargeable battery and 4-pin USB port for transferring media and charging. Unfortunately, there’s no mention of resolution or battery life, but at least we know it’s spy worthy.

The Swann MovieStick will be available sometime soon for $120

Update: The resolution is 176×144 with a 2 hour battery life

Press release below

Swann’s MovieStick™ Simplifies Shooting and Sharing Videos On-the-Go

Miniature surveillance system features built-in camera that shots video and still images and captures them on a removable Micro SD cards

Santa Fe Springs, Calif. – (November 6, 2008) – Swann Communications, the global leader in security monitoring solutions, is proud to announce the MovieStick™ camera and recorder. One of the world’s smallest digital video recorders, the MovieStick™ is a great alternative to the camcorder as it allows people to shoot video and easily share it with their friends and family.

Weighing less than an ounce and slightly larger than a pack of gum, the MovieStick™ easily fits into your pocket or purse and can be taken anywhere. All footage is recorded on a removable Micro SD card which allows for easy transfer to a computer for viewing, sharing or storage. With a 2GB Micro SD card (sold separately), the MovieStick™ can record up to 2.5 hours of video. The device’s built-in lithium battery that regains its charge via a USB port located on the bottom of the MovieStick™.

The MovieStick™ is a bit of a departure from Swann’s standard DVR and cameras,” commented Guy Pithie, Swann Communication’s Vice President North America. “With the increased popularity of social networking and video sharing websites, we thought our customers would like a product that enabled them to easily capture video and upload it to websites. This is especially true for cell phone and PDA users whose devices do not feature cameras that can capture video. I see this product being the perfect addition to any road trip barbecue or night out on the town.”

The MovieStick™ has a MSRP of $119.99 and is coming soon to Swann’s retail and online resellers.

Walmart has the best price on the Net for the Swann Security Camera. It’s $29 + $6 S&H = $35 Shipped!

Save $6 if you ship to store

Features:

• Built-in microphone and durable tough metal design
• Lightweight and tiny in size

Buy it: Swann Security Camera with Audio – $35