Panasonic BL-C131A Network Camera Wireless 802.11 by Panasonic
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List Price: Our Price: $297.47 You Save: $1.53 (1%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $159.99 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Panasonic BL-C131A Network Camera Wireless 802.11
Digital camera Review: Best we've found
Summary: 4 Stars
We purchased our first Panosonic 131A several years ago to catch a employee stealing from us. It was rather complicated to set up but their customer service is incredible. If you happen to get someone who isn't helpful, call again, our experience has been that they truly know their products. We wanted a second camera recently and searched out all our options and concluded that this model is the best for our purposes. What we like: It is small and easily concealed, it is wireless (though needs to be plugged into an outlet,) it can be viewed at home, even adjusted at home in terms of zooming and adjusting the view from side to side and up and down, we can record the image to watch later, quality of the video is decent, also plays and records sounds. What we don't like: difficult to set up (again get as far as you can then call customer service, especially if you want it set up wirelessly) you do need a computer on site to record and view it online from home ( I see they also sell a router to stream it online,) sometimes the recording skips a few seconds here and there, probably more a function of our computers than the camera itself.
This is a great little camera for business use (we've caught 2 employees stealing with it) and would also be a great "nanny cam" and "pet cam." Price point is good compared to other cameras available.
Digital camera Review: Beware of refurbished
Summary: 2 Stars
I recently purchased a refurbished unit from Amazon. While relatively complicated, I was able to get it to work on my home wireless network in a couple hours. Next I tried to get it to work over the Internet. It appeared that it had been registered for online use by the previous "owner". I called Panasonic and they said it would take them TWO to THREE WEEKS to clear the registration. This was a factory reconditioned device so I'm very frustrated by the delay. I suspect many refurbished devices have been registered. The Panasonic representative gave a quick response so it appears to be a common problem. I tried to get them to exchange it but they said it was good product. Apparently Panasonic considers a product good even if it will take weeks to get it to work as specified.
This a a very complicated product and I would suggest that unless you able or willing to spend time tweaking your router, configuring the camera, and on the phone to Panasonic that you wait until they are more plug and play. There is a reason Panasonic has knowledgeable tech support - lots of install problems!
Addendum: 5/14/09 - Product is finally working and meets my expectations. I called Panasonic after waiting a week for the camera's previous registration to be cleared (this prevented online use). The support person indicated that the camera had been cleared and proceeded to help me setup online access. I'm not sure why I never received an email saying the camera was ready. I was also told that I was quoted 2-3 weeks because Panasonic Japan (server location) was scheduled for a 1-week shut-down for holiday. Normally the camera registration can be cleared in 2-3 days. The original support person should have said that - he made it sound like 2-3 weeks was standard processing time.
I'm very satisfied with the camera but still believe that to configure the camera/router for online access will require panasonic support for most users.
Digital camera Review: Buyer Beware!
Summary: 3 Stars
If you buy a used or refurbished camera chances are it has been registered by a previous owner with view net cam . com
This means you will have to call Panasonic with a bunch of information after you get the camera working on LAN to issue a request to view net cam . com to unregister the camera otherwise you can't use the camera via the Internet. And here's the real crappy part...
It can take up to 5 days to get the cameras account cleared because Panasonic has to notify a company in China. Had I known this I wouldn't have bought a refurbished camera. I now also see that a new BL-C131A camera can cost around $400 on Amazon. I just saw these same cameras at Best Buy for $239 the other day. Maybe I should save myself the trouble and buy from a local store so that if there's a problem I can return it immediately and get my money back without having to deal with shipping returns and companies like "Good As New Electronics" who want a 15% restocking fee for the return of defective products.
Can't say how the camera preforms through the Internet because I'm stuck waiting for the old account to be reset.
I spent over 8 hours trying to make this work before finding out this problem, so I'm rather pissed about it.
Panasonic needs to be able to expedite this account clearing issue. I bought the camera because of it's good reviews, but I didn't see this issue and I hope it helps someone else to know before hand and maybe save you some time and frustration.
UPDATE 08-04-2010:
I returned the camera because it started producing a blurry image after three days. Panasonic said it was a defective camera. I bought this camera from "Good As New Electronics" and they won't give a refund without charging me a 15% restocking fee. They only offered an exchange, so I excepted another refurbished camera. After waiting more than a week I received the replacement camera and guess what? Another preregistered camera, so I had to start the whole process over to have the account cleared before I can use the camera on the Internet. A month has now past since the first camera. I'm still waiting...
Update: 08-09-2010:
Still waiting for the camera to be cleared from the view cam net . com website. The 5 days have come and gone. I called Panasonic and they said give it another day...
Update: 08-10-2010:
Old account still not cleared, so I called Panasonic again this morning. After more questioning about the cameras serial number and other information the guy on the phone said the request was just send yesterday for processing, and I replied what?! Well again the incompetent jerks dropped the ball. Even though I called it in 6 days ago with the promise that it would be fixed in 3 to 5 days the process only started just yesterday. I've had enough. I told the rep skip it the cameras going back to the seller "Good As New Electronics". Kind of a oxymoron isn't it?
This camera (BL-C131A) got 4 stars and was highly rated so I'm a little perplexed. I started to look more at the reviews with 1 and 2 stars and that revealed some important issues. Even if I finally got the Internet portion of the camera working I'd still be concerned if the camera would last. I read a lot about the camera working fine and than suddenly not working anymore. Sometimes this happens within 3 months and sometimes after a year. The first one I bought crapped out after only three days. It seems to be hit and miss. My final word on this camera is don't buy a refurbish unless you don't care about the Internet viewing function, or don't mind waiting to get it released from a previous owner.
Digital camera Review: Complex setup and poor image
Summary: 2 Stars
If this is the best, as other reviews claim, I would not want to experience the others. The system works and has lots of features but it has too big flaws. The first is, as others have said, setup is complex and you will likely need tech support - it took about a half hour going thru various router settings etc to get this thing to work. And if I ever change my router I'll have to go thru that again. This is about as far from plug and play as you can get. But my main gripe is image quality. At 640 x 480 (decades old resolution) the image is very grainy and fuzzy - probably about what you might expect from a $19.95 keychain digicam, or worse. Maybe I'm spoiled in owning a modern digicam but it must be possible to do better than this. The lens appears to be a pinhole - I'm not sure there is any lens at all.Digital camera Review: Cool camera, retarded customer service!!
Summary: 3 Stars
I have spent all day working on getting this camera working, 99% of the time has been waiting on hold and trying to get through to the wrong person at Panasonic, finally got ahold of someone and figured it all out. Panasonic needs to do a better job of routing the calls and getting the customer service out to the customer. This camera IMO requires customer service to setup. Once it is setup though it is slick. Only thing I am dissapointed on is the CS that I was given by Panasonic, many reviews called it very good, I would call it frustrating at the best.