Category: Product Review

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Amcrest – AWC201-B – 1080P WebCam Review

Amcrest reached out to me to test and review their AWC201-B Webcam.

This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products.

Arrived in a super small package, and inside was the camera and a security cover.

TESTING

Plugged the device into a Dell Latitude E7470 running Windows 10 and it was immediately recognized and the drivers were installed.

Tested the webcam on several different platforms to see how the device would work with each one.

  • Microsoft Teams
  • Slack
  • GoToMeeting
  • Zoom

Picture

Overall picture quality is good, there is a fishbowl look at the outer edge of the frame and image looks a little distorted. Color is a little dull looking as well, but if you have good lighting that can be compensated some. Below is how the edge is distorted on the image when shown, it is not super bad and depending on the actual background it is not always visible in the video.

Sound

Microphone on the camera is as expected and anyone who would expect good sound quality from something sitting that far away from you and that small has to be crazy. The sound quality is about what you would expect from something directly sitting on your laptop. It was a little better then what I have in laptop but overall it made me sound as if I was talking into a tin can and sitting super far away from the microphone.

PROS:

The price is very good compared to several other brands and the overall quality is good for most business meetings and personal usage to make video calls.

CONS:

Camera needs to have a swivel to allow for adjusting the angle of the camera left to right when sitting on top of a laptop. There are some video quality issues but not a show stopper depending on your need.

Outcome

Overall it is a good product for the price, and compared to some well know brands it works decent enough. Plus as of this writing (2020 Pandemic) they have product in stock as companies like Logitech it is near impossible to find any of their products in stock. If you are looking for a decent low priced camera and are not super worried about the overall picture quality this is the webcam for you.

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Amcrest – 4G LTE GPS Tracker – Product Review

This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products.

I reached out to Amcrest to participate in a product review for some of their products. Actually it was on one of my social media platforms, and I decided to check it out to see what it was all about.

Amcrest reached out to me to test their GPS Tracker (AM-GL300W-4G) and they will reimburse me for the product purchase.

Amazon Listing Information:

COMPACT 4G GPS TRACKER

Perfect for tracking vehicles, loved ones (teens, spouses, children, elderly) or assets. With its sleek and compact design, it easily slips into cars, backpacks, strollers, luggage and is highly concealable. With 2G coverage slowly coming to an end, now is the time to upgrade to 4G.

Monthly subscription required. 

No contracts or activation/cancellation fees.
$19.99 – 60 second updates 
$24.99 – 30 second updates  
$29.99 – 15 second updates 
$34.99 – 5 second updates

REAL-TIME SMARTPHONE & PC TRACKING

With lighting fast 4G LTE this GPS tracker offers real-time tracking with up to 5-second updates through Windows and MAC desktop web-access (Chrome, Safari, Edge, Firefox) or through the Amcrest GPS smartphone app (iOS/Android). The intuitive user interface allows you to easily monitor activity, manage alerts and generate custom reports. Create links and share them with your friends, family and co-workers to keep track of cars, children, seniors and assets.

GEO-FENCING, SMART ALERTS & REPORTS

Create custom geo-fencing zones that alert you anytime the GPS tracker enters or exits a zone. Speed limit, harsh breaking, start/stop and proximity alerts allow you to easily track your vehicles and loved ones. Receive text, push and email notifications directly to your smartphone or PC with the Amcrest GPS app and desktop web-access client. Access your data with intelligent reporting directly from your iPhone, Android, Mac or PC.

BUILT TO LAST – EXTENDED BATTERY

This Amcrest 4G GPS Tracker is built to last with heavy-duty materials including an IPX5 water resistant housing as well as extended 2600mah battery which lasts up to 10-14+ days on a full charge with 60sec updates (7-8 days with 30sec updates, 4-5 days with 15sec updates, and 2-3 days with 5sec updates). Utilizes Google Maps for tracking and mapping.

LIFETIME WARRANTY & SUPPORT – IMPORTANT

This device is configured to work in the US, Canada, and Mexico only. Does Not work in Australia. We stand by our products and offer a lifetime warranty and unlimited support. In the event that your device produces undesirable results, we’ll gladly refund 100% of your hardware and subscription charges.

Additional Cases can be purchased from ASIN’s: B07R8WFTG5 & B081TK15YB (GPS Pouch). GPS Pouch included with the purchase of a 4G GPS Tracker.

Product cost:

GPS Device $49.00 + Tax (If you can find it on Sale for $39.00 at Amazon)

Plus the monthly subscription costs

Product Testing

Unboxing

Setup

There were no actual instruction in the box just a Quick start guide that gave you links to look at on the Amcrest website. This made things a little hard to know what to do the first time, and required me to go get my computer to actually read the instructions as they were nearly impossible to see on my mobile phone.

Setting up the account was fairly easy and straight forward.

Ease of Use

Over all it is fairly easy to use once you know what the blinking lights mean on the front of the device and get the account setup on the Amcrest website. Setting up the alerts and Geo Fencing zones took a little bit of time, but was fairly straight forward.

Battery Life

Battery life is not the greatest, and at the highest setting for polling (1 minute) you can get 10 to 14 days of use before needing a recharge. If you use the highest polling (5 seconds) option the device will last about 2 to 3 days. There are plans to have less polling options, and one that is every 24hrs, I was not able to look at those options for some reason.

For me the device should have a longer lasting batter life, closer to like 30 days for general usage, and maybe a full week for the highest usage.

The charging cable is a USB mini, which is strange and makes me believe they went on the cheap for that. The power adapter is an odd size and does not work well on some power outlets especially if space is limited and stacked side by side. The device does not seem to charge by plugging into a computer USB port which is a bummer, and did not seem to get it to work in a vehicle USB charger as well.

Geo Fencing

This is a nice feature, and will allow you to set up to 12 Geo Fence areas to alert on. I have a couple set up to test the device. It will alert me upon leaving my neighborhood and entering back into my neighborhood.

It uses Google Maps, and allows you to drawl an area to create a Zone.

Zone From One City Park to another City Park

Have noticed that if the cell service is not that great you might get an alert as the device thinks it is out side of the zone. I had to adjust the zone area a little wider to accommodate for that to not get bogus alerts.

Alerts

You can setup alerts based on zone exit or entry as well as speed, power, SOS, and Trip

Device Setting to configure main alerts for the device:

You can adjust the speed alert, if the device is on or off, and the low battery level

Recommendation

PROS:

The device is small and portable and is easily stashed in a glove box or in a small pocket.

The alerts and notifications are decent and you can see trip detail information on an actual map.

Speeding alert notifications, it will show you where the speeding was first detected on a map.

The Geo Fencing features is nice to allow for alerting on specific areas for entry and exit of that area.

CONS:

Battery life is not that great (10 – 14 days)

Charging cable is a very old standard, would have been better with a USB micro which has been a standard cable for many products for years. Maybe look into a USB C connector which is becoming the latest standard cable options.

DECISION:

I would recommend this device to people who want to track things, like a kid using a car, or a worker using a company vehicle. It is a decent price for what your getting, and the $20 monthly fee for the monitoring is comparable to a cellular plan.