Hello guys. So I’m an Amcrest user for the last couple of years, and I’m pretty happy with my purchase. My old camera is 4M - 2K Video resolution bullet security camera, which still works perfectly fine. I bought this new one to have a better view of the other side of my apartment. Here is what you are going to find in the box:- User manuals, drilling template, weatherproof connectors for your Ethernet cable, screws and sheetrock anchors and also security type bit which you will need to separate the mounting base from the camera unit. DO NOT be surprised if you won't find power adapter in the box. This is PoE camera - Power Over Ethernet. You will need PoE switch and Ethernet cable, or you can still use power adapter, both you have to buy separately.The build quality is very good, it has metal body, it is IP67 waterproof so you don’t have to worry about the weather condition such as rain, snow, etc. On the front of the unit is 2.8mm 4K camera sensor and a single night vision sensor instead of multiple sensors which is capable of recording a night footage up to 164ft. You can also manually tilt and pan with good enough range of adjustability to point it to whatever direction you want.I love the fact that this unit has MicroSD card slot for up to 128gb. On my old one the SD slot is located on the bottom side of it, but on this one the slot is located inside the camera shell. You have to dissemble the whole unit to install the SD card. But I like this way better. Your card will be way more secure and way more difficult someone just to walk by and steal your card. Don’t be afraid to install your memory card. If I can do it – anyone can do it. It will take you less than 5min and all you’ll need is a regular screw driver and the provided security type bit in the box. I’ll post some pictures bellow how to do it. You can also use your PC storage, Amcrest cloud or NVR storage.Now about the camera it self. You can use the provided Amcrest PC software or just download the Amcrest app for you Android or Apple device. From the app you can basically control everything such as your video quality, zoom in and out, take snap shots, set motion and audio detection or schedule recording, flip or mirror the image and also download recorded files to you device. There is also an option to manually turn on and off the night vision sensor or just leave it on auto. You can check for updates form the app itself which is great. The camera has a built-in microphone which works very good. You can easily hear the people walking by. I love the 112* wide view angle and the 4K video. The daylight quality is very good, crisp and clear. You can see license plate number up to 40-50ft. The night vision also provides smooth and clear view. Your are capable of recording up to 3840x2160 – 15fps. I’ll post some pictures bellow to see the difference between this camera and my 2K old one. As you can see on the pictures below the 4K sensor on the new camera provides better and more clear images and video from the 2k sensor on the old one. The same on the night images the 4K video is more detailed and more clear than the 2K. Don’t get me wrong both cameras provide very good audio and video quality but I think the T2499EW 4K e better choice for me.So here are some pros and cons:- Pros: - I like the how customizable is the app and the fact that you can control everything;- One of the best features is continuously recording on SD card and easy download the files to your device/PC.- Build quality is very good and sturdy;- Good enough motion of adjustability/pan and tilt/;- 2.8mm sensor – provide 112* wide viewing angle.- 4K /3840x2160/ good video quality.- Very good quality on the built-in mic.Cons:- It will be nice if the power adapter is included in the box. Yes, I know this is PoE camera, but this will make it one time purchase, ones you get it you won’t need to buy the additional adapter or switch.Higher frame rate — 30fps 30fps instead of 15fps on 4K video will be also nice.- The user manual need to be a little more detailed such as how to install your SD card and where to find your QR code for quick mobile setup which is located on the camera power cable not on the box or camera itself.- The Amcrest View Pro app does not work on my iPad and needs to be updated. I downloaded the Amcrest View Lite instead.Over all I definitely recommend this camera. For the price provides very good day and night time footage. Very good wide angle. The 4K video I definitely a better choice than the other 1080p or even 2K cameras. Nice and crisp audio. App full of customizable options. SD card recording is a huge plus over the other security cameras on the market. Easy to install and to setup.

About a year ago, we purchased an Amcrest doorbell camera. It'sbeen a great investment, so we decided to try this Amcrest security camera. Itis well packaged, and the camera appears to be good qualitywith the housing and outer shell cast made of aluminum. It comes with atemplate on a sticker so you can easily place it in your desired camera location and drill right through the sticket template. It has four screw holes andone center hole for the wiring. The camera has onepower input and one POE (ethernet) input (which can also provide power). Thepower supply is not included if you need to power the unit with thepower port, otherwise you will need a POE switch or POE router. Wefound a 4 port POE switch on Amazon for only $20 which was plug & play, no setuprequired. I should also note that if you are also using the switch withnon-POE devices, some of the extremely cheap POE switches cannotdetermine if you are plugging in a POE device or any other device whichdoes not require power, so make sure that the one you get has autodetecting if you want to keep things simple. One ethernet from therouter to the switch, then you can have four cameras fed off of theswitch. Setting up the app was pretty straight forward, other than thedirections stating that the serial number & QR code was typically on theback of the camera, which it was not. After a phone call with techsupport, he insisted it was there somewhere. I found that it wasactually on a sticker, wrapped around the wire, quite a few inches awayfrom the camera. This portion of the wire happened to already bestuffed up through the hole in the soffit, but once I found it andscanned the QR code, setup took minutes. The picture quality in 4k farexceeded my expectation. You also have the option to digitally zoom/panquite a bit before major degredation. The night vision is pretty goodas well. Our driveway is about 60ft. long and there is enough infraredlight to show a clear picture up to about 40-50ft. out. The bestfeature is the push notifications to the app for events such as motionor sound detection. You can easily set the dead zones to prevent falsealarms. The microphone seems to pick up sounds very well, although I'veonly tried it out a couple of times. We have used the basic cloudservice on the doorbell in addition to storing on the SD card, but wehave not setup the cloud service on the turret camera yet, instead we’re just using anSD card. I should also note, if other cameras are added, the appallows simultaneous viewing of multiple cameras with the ability to fillthe screen with just one. If you prefer, Amcrest also offers an appfor PC which can do it all, as well as some 3rd party software that canalso be used.On the negative side of things.... The motion detection at night usinginfrared seems to only pick up motion up to about 25'. There are someadjustments for the sensitivity, but I haven't been able to sense motionbeyond 25' yet. I couldn't find an in-depth user guide for the AmcrestView Pro app which details all features, only a handful of guidesshowing a handful of features which is found in the support area ofAmcrest's website. The app is fairly clean, but could use some work.A lot of Amcrest's other cameras use the same app, so for a camera likethis with fewer features, the app still shows the buttons for the moreadvanced features which other cameras would use. I feel like theseshould at the very least be grayed out. After using the app for ashort time, you get used to which items are available and which arenot. In reality, once you get things setup the way you want, you reallydon't do a lot on the app. When a clip is recorded to your phone, yourframe rate is limited by your internet connection. A 4k recording mayoutput only a frame every few seconds if you are not on your homenetwork, making the recorded video very choppy. You can choose to sendthe files or export to view on a computer. For some reason, when clipsare exported, the delay between frames is removed, so you get all theframes quickly one after another right away, then the remaining time isjust the last frame on the screen, so something is off there. Keep inmind, this is only when you click the record button on the app, not whenevents are recorded straight to the cameras SD card. My biggestcomplaint is that there are three main subcategories to view live video,saved video/pics, and recorded events. On the live view screen, thereis no shortcut to view any recorded video, events, or pictures. Inorder to view automatically recorded video from a triggered event, youhave to click the menu, find "push notifications", "event list", thenchoose which event to view. However, once you are on the screen andviewing your recorded events, there are shortcuts at the top to switchto snapped pictures, and live video feed. It would be nice to have themall accessible anywhere in the app. It seems like a lot of work to getto your recordings. I should also point out that the Amcrest smarthomeapp does have shortcuts to your recordings from the live video feed,which works really well. Both apps are very different, and I'd assume theAmcrest cloud app is also different.All in all, it's a great camera and easy to get used to once you runthrough the app front to back a few times.

(UPDATE BELOW - External Mic Sucks, No Stereo Audio)So far I'm really liking this Action Camera. I was hesitant at first and was gonna just buy a GoPro 6 but figured I'd give this little guy a chance. I'm really impressed to start but need some more time to get content recorded to see if it really meets my needs. One thing I will say is that battery life is amazing and it comes with 2 batteries. I got almost, maybe a little more than 90 minutes of 4k recording on a single battery with EIS and Wind Reduction turned on. That's impressive, I don't think many if any of the other action cams can do that.Video quality: This I'm still not 100% sure of. I think for the money it does its job VERY well... However, I will say that I do notice some distortion and quality issues in 4k but I wasn't expecting it to be perfect or be just like a $400 competitor. It is NOT my memory card, I'm running a U3 Samsung EVO 128GB card (see's all the space and formatted fine, speeds when transferring to and from card are 100MB+ sustained).I purchased this camera to mount on the outside of my truck to film my races in Mexico. So far it has held up fine at 130mph using the GoPro Suction cup mount. The wind noise reduction was so so. I think the microphone is better than I expected but still leaves me a little disappointed but I was expecting that. Hopefully we can buy the external Mic in the next few days or maybe it will work with other USB microphones? Maybe the seller/manufacturer can chime in here.All in all, it does what it claims with the exception of H265. I know it now works on the latest firmware but I don't think it's very efficient. In my limited testing, the 30 second H265 file I made was the same size (little bigger actually) as the H264 file of the same length. I don't think the bitrate was any higher to explain for the file size being the same/bigger. The touchscreen is great and very responsive. Easy to set up and no instructions needed. For some reason I did lose my date/time upon changing the battery once but has not done it again. I'll update this review once I can get some more content recorded and the external mic. You can't advertise that it works with a Mic and not provide one for sale. A little disappointment in that area since I really want a better mic with better wind reduction for recording at high speeds...Update (9/22) - So I'm not really sure what to say here. I don't know if I should add a star or remove one for the customer support. If you write a bad review, they will contact you to make it up to you. The problem is, they will send you another camera to make you happy and then ask you to update your review so I would be hesitant to believe all the 4 or 5 star reviews...(READ UPDATE- NO STEREO AUDIO)I emailed tech support and they asked for me to provide a picture of my camera revision. I just purchased my v50 Pro so I would think I would have the latest. They are on Rev 6, mine was a Rev 3.... Support rep said the Mic should still work but it doesn't. Plugging in the external Mic does not shut off the internal one and I'm getting no sound from the External Mic. Pretty disappointed, I even tried a different external Mic with a GoPro cable. Still nothing...Edit (9/18): I received a response from tech support about this review and got a different answer about the Mic. I will try updating firmware and see what happens. I was told NOT to update firmware and that it's not recommended and mine should work just fine with a Mic. Still a little disappointing that I get two different answers from support but I will try it and then update my review accordingly. They really need to provide Firmware on the webpage instead of only to people that complain in a review. Anyways, went from 1 star to 3 just because the support reached out.Edit (9/22): I have to add a star for customer support. They reached out due to my poor review and offered to send me a new camera. Before I even received the camera I was asked twice to rewrite or update my review... Makes me wonder a bit about all the good reviews on this camera.Mine actually records external audio (their Mic, NOT a GoPro one) but it doesn't shut off the internal Mic. It uses the internal Mic for the RIGHT channel and external Mic for the LEFT channel. Pointless since the entire object of adding an external Mic is to improve audio quality and noise reduction. This can't be accomplished when they use the internal Mic at all times. Still not happy overall with this camera and mic but the support was good. If I were to do it all again, I would spend the extra $100 and get a GoPro and enjoy a little better quality picture and much much better stereo audio.

I have a positive overall impression of the new Ticwatch Pro 3 GPS. Some of what follows, compares it to the 2020 version.The watch is thinner and lighter than the 2020 version, but keeps the same 1.4" crisp and clean screen. The 22mm band can pass as shiny stitched leather from a distance, but touch and a closer inspection reveals its silicon roots. It can be easily swapped if needed. The performance is a bit snappier, as expected. Compared to the 2020 version, it is noticeable but not jaw droppingly so. It is definitely worth the price difference though.The battery life is improved with the new 4100 Snapdragon processor. I think I have the same/similar monitoring tools active and I get another 12 hours of life pushing it to a reliable 2 days for my medium use. If I turned off some monitoring and notifications, maybe I could squeeze more out to hit the claimed 3 days.The dual layered display is fantastic. The time/date basics are always available and one can configure the amoled display to come on with a tap, a wrist flip, or keep it always on (which of course will draw the battery down faster).When setting the watch up, the watch automatically linked to Google Fit (presumably since I had a 2020 on the account). This allows the various Tic-exercise apps to upload info to the Google fit service. I did notice that the data isn't exactly the same from a session. Say I run 3.59 miles in Tic-excerise in 30 minutes, when it gets uploaded to Google Fit, it turns to 3.96 miles and 31 minutes. So, on this watch, I've just decided to use the Tic* apps and not worry about the difference. Doing so is quite rewarding. The data that can be reviewed on the phone from a session is very detailed (at least for a run): distance, duration, heart rate, pace, step frequency, step length, and a captured GPS route. The charts and graphs are all colorful and easy to interpret. So one has no real need to mess with Google's duplicate apps.Additional apps or improvements over the 2020 watch: oxygen saturation, better sleep tracking, a stress tracker (not sure this will get much use) and a noise detector to measure ambient noise. The last seems like a neat tool to check how loud say your lawn mower is while in use.The Google assistant works 'mostly' well, though sometimes it is a tad sluggish. Routines are not supported, but I'm wondering if some devices define routines different than others. For example I can open my smart garage door with it, but I cannot run my smart sprinkler. I tried to make a call to someone with a hyphenated name, and it didn't take, but using a just a first name and the first of the last names worked. So you'll run into some quirks. Sometimes if the microphone doesn't quite catch what I am saying, I found myself trying to angle my voice into the pickup on the right side of the watch to make sure it caught what I was saying correctly over any background noise.One issue that I hope will get resolved. I frequently use the "Bring" app for shopping. If I navigate away from the app, but then go back by hitting the lower right button twice to recall the last used app (being Bring), then the app freezes. I can hit the upper right button and go back to the scrolling app list and reselect/relaunch "Bring" ..... and it then works fine. So, I'm not sure what the issue is.'Single click' of the lower right button is customizable. By default, mine showed all the 13 odd Tic exercise routine choices. I was going to convert it to a Google Pay button, but decided to leave it as I use the exercise apps more than the Pay app.I noticed a google translate app was added (or I just never tried it on the 2020 watch), presumably since the watch now has extra horsepower to bring to the table. It has some neat features. Select English French and then say "hello" .. just underneath it spits back "bonjour".... but then tilt the watch away from you and towards someone in front of you, and the watch display flips and shows "bonjour" to the person in front of you. Nice!The watch also holds onto a bluetooth connection better for making and receiving calls. My 2020, would sometimes forget that it 'could' answer calls, but a reboot would fix it. This one remembers more reliably.I didn't submerge the watch (apparently one can do light swimming), but no issues with running water over it to rinse of sweat from a run.The sleep tracker isn't super accurate in determining if you are actually asleep. I was watching a movie and perhaps the evening time and my inaction made the watch conclude I was taking a snooze. I noticed it in the phone app the next day.Finally, like anything new, you'll have to just get used to the interface: what swipe right does in an app, how to return to home, etc, but the tutorial is pretty good for a new WearOS user.So overall, a very solid product with a few rough edges that can be polished out with updates. An Android phone user would be very happy.

Let me start off by saying that the fact you are even researching this thing makes me sorry for you. Those of us who are cursed with superior hearing or whatever affliction does not allow us to enjoy simply laying our head on a pillow and quickly drifting off are not to be envied.I had looked at several machines in the past, and almost paid $150 for one in the hopes I might finally drown out the myriad (but perfectly normal) sounds that keep my slumber at bay every night, but eventually I settled on this one due to the combination of features, cost, and size.Born with uncanny hearing, my entire life has been spent wishing I would lose much of my hearing like all my older brothers did while endlessly firing shotguns and rifles out back, but instead I am able to hear a flea fart as far as 957 feet way- any further and I am finally spared the knowledge of what just took place. As an added torment God decided to give me a brain that would not only hear that well, but also contain a compelling need to decipher the exact intent of that sound. For example, if there is a radio ystation 3 miles down the road playing a song in which there are lyrics, not only will I hear that song, but my brain will try to figure out the words! Suffice it to say, much closer sounds make for a darn rough time of falling asleep ever night. Hence my purchase of the Ecotones Sound + Sleep machine.Having used this for about a year I feel I can give some pretty accurate results as to how this thing performs, which no doubt is why you are still reading this. Here are the pros and cons I experienced so far:PROS:1. Low cost. There are a lot of products out there, and a lot of prices. I felt this was a reasonable price to pay for a decent chance night's sleep, not knowing if it would actually work. If it did, I could gladly pay double.2. Size. This thing's a little bigger than say a clock radio, so it fits next to my bed without taking up a lot of space. In fact, mine is sitting on a box under the bedside table so it's not in the way at all until it's time to vacuum there.3. Portability. At this size it could be brought just about anywhere if one was to travel.4. Ease of use. The controls are very straightforward; in fact, I can reach down in total darkness and adjust the volume etc. just by feel.5. Versatility. Understanding that each person's idea of what is soothing will vary, the machine includes a pretty wide variety of sounds in the hope at least one should work for you. I have found 3 sounds that I tend to switch to as need be.CONS:1. Anticipative Sound Control Option. Actually a pretty impressive feature, this machine has a microphone that can pick up sounds, and immediately respond by increasing the volume for a short time to mask that sound. Unfortunately for me, much like the flea-fart curse, my brain already notices those sounds. and while the machine is indeed very responsive, it's not quite responsive enough to increase the volume BEFORE my brain has a chance to realize that a cricket in the field a mile behind my house just coughed. If only the engineers at Ecotones could build their machine to ANTICIPATE said coughs and increase the volume in advance of them, this feature would be perfect. For anyone closer to normal, it might just work fine.2. Clicking buttons? The world of electronics allows for many, many types of electrical buttons and switches. I only wish that the engineers that designed this machine had chosen SILENT ones! It's not that they're loud, in fact they're not much louder than a crow's heartbeat at 60 meters, but they are audible. Each little click of that button as I raise or lower the volume does indeed make me wish they opted for silent push-buttons on this thing. Not a deal breaker, but it would be a huge improvement.3. Sound options. Given this machine has a limited choice of sounds, I was somewhat disappointed not to find at least one verse from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, preferably from the scene where Leatherface is chasing the girl across the field with his 6' blade... - just kidding! I do genuinely believe that there might have been a couple more soothing choices than what was chosen, but like I said, there are three is use frequently. What really, really would have helped is listed next:4. Tone. My favorite sounds are the rain and ocean sounds, which are quite well done except for one feature- tone. If only I could turn down the tone on these sounds, everything else would immediately be forgiven. Again, my brain at work. Deciphering. Analyzing. Pondering. Wishing those sounds were a teeny bit subdued, not quite so bright and sharp. Adding a tone control to this machine would make an immense improvement, allowing each owner the ability to really customize it to their need.All in all, I think it's a pretty cool little machine which does help a lot. Adding a tone control would take it to the next level which I'd grab in an instant.

SONY is a well-known brand to the gaming community.With their INZONE products, may they be 4K gaming monitors or their gaming headsets.And I have had the opportunity to utilize the H3, the H7 and H9 to test these headsets through gaming, watching movies, listening to audio and more. And for those with a PS5 can take advantage of the Tempest 3D AudioTech feature for greater spacial expression.You can also download the INZONE Hub Software (which is compatible with Windows 10 64-bit and later) to customize your audio and voice communication settings. This will allow for 360 Spatial Sound for Gaming and converting stereo signals into 7.1 channel virtual surround sound.These headsets are Discord-certified for clear communication and are compatible with console devices such as the PS5 and PC.The audio cables are 3.9 foot and are gold-plated with 4-pole 3.5mm mini-lug.  I do wish the audio cables were braided or had more of a protected surface, considering the price.The headset also has a uni-directional boom mic (which you can flip mic to quickly mute your chat) and a built in earcup volume control.Review of the SONY INZONE H3The SONY INZONE H3 is a wired gaming headset which works for consoles and computers and has a flip-up boom microphone with mute function. And utilizing Sony's personalized 360 spatial sound for gaming. And is equipped with 40mm dome drivers with neodymium magnets. The headband and ear pads are made of soft nylon. The H3 comes with an USB-A cable with an audio box with 3.5mm audio input (which allows you to connect to your PC). The H3 retails for under $100.With the SONY INZONE H3 wired headphones, noticeable differences are the black boom mic and of course, being a wired cable, a much thinner cable.In some ways, it's a bit no frills in terms of look, it does match up with the colors of the PS5.I think one of the saving graces of this wired headset compared to other cheaper gaming headsets is that it can be utilized with the INZONE HUB software.The INZONE Hub is what allows you to customize your sound profile. May it be for more music/video, for more bass or for those who like to tinker with their sound settings, you can set a custom profile. From here you will be able enable Spatial Sound and also Dynamic Range Control (this is only for those who want to reduce the volume of loud sounds and amplify quiet sounds, and compresses an audio signal's dynamic range).It's important to note that if you enable Spatial Sound, you will need to download the SONY 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer smartphone app, which literally takes a photo of your ears and then sends the information back to the INZONE Hub application.Once done setting your sound settings, you are good to go!Now one of the advantages of the H3 vs. the H7 and H9 is that it's wired and that you get stable audio.  While the H7 and H9 have more features, both headsets gave me moments of frustration because I would get cutoffs or warbled sound.  With the H3, I know that audio will be stable because of the wired connection.But for a wired connection, even the most cheapest gaming headsets are utilizing a 50mm driver and for their wired cable, it's usually braided or it utilizes some heavy duty cabling.This is a problem with wired headsets is that some people tend to destroy them.  May they trip on it, gets caught on their chair, newer gaming headsets in the $45-75 price range offer better cabling protection.The H3 is a thinner cable that you need to be careful of tripping or destroying.Now one thing that is surprising is that all INZONE headsets use a 40mm driver, differences are in quality of the cuffs, differences on how the earcuffs go around your ear and positioning, but thankfully audio does sound good and again, you can customize your audio profile.As for the mic, it worked well, but you need to tweak that with the software, as I had to put it more towards the chat side a bit for better mic quality.If anything, the big difference with its more expensive counterparts is noise cancelling and the others offer better mics but the flipping up of the mic does mute, so that's a plus.But is it worth the $99?You are going to have to pay more for that SONY brand and like any major brands, you are going to have to pay a a little higher for its wired line of gaming headphones.  At $99, you would hope for a better, durable cable.  But considering you get the attachments such as the audio/mic splitter and also a USB attachment (which allows you to use the INZONE HUB and of course, for PC gaming or listening on your computer).But one can't deny that the personalized sound for those who are more PC or PS5 gamers will like with the INZONE wireless gaming headsets.  The able to personally customized your own sound profiles is a major plus and thus justifies part of that high cost.  Most under $100 gaming headsets don't let you customize sound settings, so this is a plus for the SONY INZONE H3.But the gaming industry is competitive when it comes to gaming headsets.  And we are seeing companies really going after the consumers with high quality sound at a fraction of the cost of SONY's INZONE H3.The SONY INZONE H3 is a good gaming wireled headset.  Are there better sounding ones that are cheaper?  Yes.  But do they allow for customizing your audio profile?  Most cheaper headsets do not.  They are plug and play and you are ready to go.  This works well for the PS5 and the PC.Of course, I tested this with other consoles and it worked.But overall, for SONY's INZONE wired gaming headset, if SONY could give what people want and that is a durable cable, it would have made a big difference.  Even a bump up to 50mm drivers would also make a big difference.For those who are fans of SONY and want a wired headset that won't break the bank, but a bit more expensive than other comparable gaming headsets that are under $75, then definitely give the SONY INZONE H3 Wired Gaming Headset a try!

The Comica CVM-V30 Pro adds a welcome low-cost addition to the line up of lightweight shotgun mics designed for use by vloggers. The likes of RØDE and Sennheiser fill a big chunk of this space, but Comica has a few offerings too.IN THE BOXThe mic is well presented in a sturdy professional retail box, clearly showing the mic through the packaging. You get the mic (3.5mm cable is attached) and a dead-cat windshield. The mic is permanently attached to its shock mount. Batteries are not included.COSTAt the time of writing, the Comica V30 Pro sells for £60. The package is on a par with the RØDE VideoMicPro which sells for £129 on Amazon. However, if you want a dead-cat with your RØDE, you can add another £22 onto that. That puts the Comica £90 cheaper than the RØDE!AUDIOLow cost is meaningless if the Comica sounds terrible. It doesn’t. It’s not a Sennheiser MKH-416 or RØDE NTG3, but it sits happily alongside the competition. The audio is a little thin (a common problem for low-cost mics including the VideoMic range), but the output is clear, bright and low noise (unlike many camera pre-amps). It is perfectly suitable for vlogging, YouTube content on the move or even news-gathering work.Here are a few of the main audio tech specs. You’re better off listening to a mic though so search online for an audio test.• Frequency Range – 40Hz – 20,000Hz• Dynamic Range – 100dB• Max SPL – 114dB• SNR – 78dBPOWERPower is good news. 2 x AAA batteries last ages (quoted as 200 hours). Thankfully this is not another mic using a 9V battery. I’ve nothing against the old smoke alarm batteries, but they seem outdated, are not as common as AAA and are more expensive.FEATURESFeature-wise, the CVM-V30 Pro is relatively straightforward.i. It has a 3-way power switch with a 10dB boost on the first position. The audio level boost solves the noisy pre-amp issue that unbelievably is still with us in 2019! In short, a louder signal from the Comica allows you to lower your mic level on-camera and reduce the hiss produced onboard.ii. Unfortunately, the power switch is manual. It’s not automatically kicked into life by plug-in power and does not automatically turn off. I find this a problem, and I’ve left it on by mistake every time I’ve used it.iii. The only other switch is the high-pass filter. Having this on the mic is very useful to reduce low-frequency rumble and wind noise. Standard stuff and it works well.iv. The cable is coiled and fits neatly to most setups. It’s thin, so it doesn’t pull things around and gives way for other fittings on your camera. The bad news for me was that it’s fitted to the mic. You can’t remove it or replace it. If it breaks, your mic is useless.v. The box claims ‘super anti-interference’, but out of all the mics I’ve used in recent years, interference has never been a problem. I’m not sure this is anything special.vi. The shock mount looks initially like it doesn’t have enough clearance around it, but it’s quite an intelligent design and works as well as any other shock mount I’ve used (except for gear from Rycote) and is more compact than most others.vii. The hot shoe fitting is plastic and seems a little fragile. It doesn’t need to be tough though, as the weight of the mic is so low (114g) so there’s not much force applied here. I’m glad to see it includes a 1/4″ thread to allow more flexible mounting options.viii. The whole microphone fitting is not mounted very high. With the foam only, this is not a problem, but when using the dead-cat, you might need more clearance to avoid fur in your shot! I was using a traditional style AX53 camcorder when testing, and I had to fit an additional 2-3cm of height to get the clearance I needed. Something like a Sony a7iii would be no problem, but I reckon a Sony a6600 would have issues with compact prime lenses.WIND PERFORMANCEAs mentioned, you also get a dead-cat windshield which fits very tightly and neatly over the permanently installed foam protection leaving only the controls and cable accessible. The dead-cat is an excellent addition as most people buying a mic of this type need this. Having a custom-made design like this is a real bonus. It’s snug and tight and blocks wind from more angles than an ill-fitting third-party product.Windshields are generally not about no wind noise. They aim to achieve an x decibel reduction over your vocal level, so the wind noise is not destructive or distracting. That said, I found the Comica protection to work well enough without the dead-cat. The addition of the extra protection almost cleaned it up entirely.As mentioned above, the only problem is that the hair on the dead-cat is very long and loose and can hang down into your shot. It needs regular stroking :-)SUMMARYIf this mic sat slightly higher off the camera (a problem for my AX53 setup where I would most likely use this mic but not my PXW-Z90 or 5DIII) and had a soft power on/off feature, it would be a perfect mic for recording out and about. I spent £200 on a VideoMicPro+ and, on the whole, this performs equally well. I’m sure there are technically small differences between them which may give RØDE the right to charge over three times the price, but when you consider the environment you’re likely to use this in, it’s perfectly adequate.In short, if portability, weight and decent audio are essential to you and you’re on a budget, the Comica CVM-V30 Pro is certainly worth a look. It could do with some refinements but for the price, you'll struggle to find better.

I got this because although my baby is sleep trained and I live in a 900 sqft apartment, I still close the door to my baby's room when he's down for a nap and any parent knows that walking in when your baby is still awake pretty much resets their "dozing off counter."What drew me to this product was that it comes with a separate monitor. I have another baby cam for the other house my baby is always at but its operation is strictly via an app on my phone, meaning it's only the camera unit. Any time I want to see my baby, I would have to take out my phone and pretty much just leave it on the app. If I exit the app, I don't see the camera. It's nice to have a dedicated device for just viewing this camera.Some of the features you'll see on the monitor:- Signal strength- Monitor volume- Which camera you're viewing- Which lullaby the camera unit is playing, if it's playing one. If none, no icon.- Audio alert (VOX alert) sensitivity- Night-vision mode, if on- Temperature reading- Timer icon if a timer is set. If none, no icon.- Battery level- Audio magnitude marked by 5 colored bars. Green, Green, Green, Orange, Red.Another plus-side to this baby monitor is its alert/alarm features.- There is a timer feature (called an alarm in the manual) that you can set to remind you of feedings. I don't use this feature mostly because when my baby was a newborn, I just went by his hunger cues, and now that he's an infant it really doesn't make a difference to me.- There is also a temperature alert where can set the high/low range of acceptable temperature in the room where the camera is and should the temperature exceed out of that threshold. It's a pretty neat feature to have the monitor give you a temperature reading at any given time. I don't think the temperature reading is all that accurate, but you can kind of figure out what your discrepancy is and tweak your high/low ranges based on that. For example, if your room is 65 F and the unit is reading 70 F, just tweak your high/low ranges by 5 F.- There is another feature called a VOX alert. You can set audio sensitivity to three different levels so when the monitor goes to sleep, it'll light up when the camera detects noise above a certain level. I've found that the highest sensitivity is pretty difficult to trigger. I've tried yelling at the camera and it didn't go off. If your baby cries its head off like it's dying, if you live in an apartment, you're going to hear the actual baby before the monitor turns on to let you know! I think the first sensitivity setting is pretty good for my needs.Things I feel like should be more high-end based on the price of the unit:- The picture is kind of garbage. It's not nearly as high resolution as I've seen from other baby cameras, and it's WAY too zoomed in I think for the default zoom setting. You get zoom-in options, but that's if you're trying to like, I don't know, zoom in enough to have your baby's ear take up the whole screen. The daytime image is worse than the nighttime image in my opinion. I've included a picture of the distance the camera is from my dog and the picture I got on default zoom (most zoomed out) in both daytime and nighttime mode.- The monitor is NOT touch screen. The big icons would have you instinctively believe you can just start pressing on the screen. Nope, it's controlled by the buttons on the side. At least the buttons are backlit when activated.- There's a microphone/two-way talk feature that I personally never use with either my baby or my dogs. Firstly, it upsets my one dog because she, being a big momma's girl of a German Shepherd, NEEDS to be where I am and any thought of me not being in her sight makes her a nervous wreck. Secondly, this device makes the two-way talk sound creepy AF. It has this eerie echo-ey waviness to it that makes it sound like I'm talking to my baby not from the other room but from another dimension. For a baby it probably won't affect them all too much aside from eliciting a "what's that?" reaction, but for a toddler I think it may actually traumatize them and instill a fear of the dark/ghosts/spooky things. The audio from the mic should be much clearer. I could barely make out what I was saying due to the reverberation in the audio.Overall, I think it'll definitely do its job for any parent and it does serve the one reason I wanted this unit -- having a dedicated monitor. I very much appreciate the audio alert but I do wish the picture was higher resolution.