Simple Ipad Camera

Hi,
Shopping for a camera that will hook to my Ipad wireless, via bluetooth or WiFi.

Want one camera, maybe two. Mount on back of boat to see what's behind me, for docking and traffic.

Anyone recommend one?



Thx

Seevee said:

Hi,
Shopping for a camera that will hook to my Ipad wireless, via bluetooth or WiFi.

Want one camera, maybe two. Mount on back of boat to see what's behind me, for docking and traffic.

Anyone recommend one?



Thx

Click to expand...

I bought an HP Pixi Cam. It was an impulse buy for only $30. Tiny video camera that produces a WiFi signal that connects to your iPad with the free app. I use it to see what's behind. Problems: the Pixi cam will sometimes drops wifi, the camera does not "flip" image so need to reinterpret what you're looking at, needs recharging after a few hours of continuous use (though easy recharge w/USB). Not a serious solution for marine applications.

I just picked up one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075K7RDHL/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It was super simple to set up and works great. I have mine watching the parking lot where I live and its great. I can view the camera from anywhere on my cell phone, it has pretty decent night vision ( out to 20 meters ) and was only 40 bucks. It won't work on a 5 ghz wifi network though...it has to be 2.4. If I can answer any questions about it, just ask.

One word of caution, make sure you can connect directly to the camera. I have a security camera system that requires a connection to a 3rd party server; I can't access the camera from within my home network unless the internet is connected. Wouldn't really work very well on the boat!

Benthic2 said:

I just picked up one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075K7RDHL/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It was super simple to set up and works great. I have mine watching the parking lot where I live and its great. I can view the camera from anywhere on my cell phone, it has pretty decent night vision ( out to 20 meters ) and was only 40 bucks. It won't work on a 5 ghz wifi network though...it has to be 2.4. If I can answer any questions about it, just ask.

Click to expand...

Looks great, will it work without an internet connection? Wifi directly to the Ipad?

Don’t want to hijack, but I live in Texas and boat is in Florida at a marina with WiFi. Sometimes I wish I could log onto a camera mounted outside on the boat and look around.

Is there a type of camera that would do that? I guess it would require some type of power however, unless there is a solar option.

cardude01 said:

Don’t want to hijack, but I live in Texas and boat is in Florida at a marina with WiFi. Sometimes I wish I could log onto a camera mounted outside on the boat and look around.

Is there a type of camera that would do that? I guess it would require some type of power however, unless there is a solar option.

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Cardude,

With an internet connection, there's a ton of choices, Arlo being high on the list, and the Arlo 2 seems to be the best value. In the $600 range you can get 4 cameras for different locations, be able to hear, swivel them and view and record any or all of them. Less if you only want one camera. My buddy has that, and I've seen how it works several times, and he's a techie and loves it.

We have the Arlo Pro and it works perfectly. Easiest installation ever. It also lets you know when someone comes aboard and has a speaker that lets you speak to the individual.

jjorgenson3 said:

We have the Arlo Pro and it works perfectly. Easiest installation ever. It also lets you know when someone comes aboard and has a speaker that lets you speak to the individual.

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Is there anyway to get the Arlo to work without internet? I haven't found any....

Check out Blink. Waterproof, wireless cameras (2 yr battery life). Just need wifi at the source. Motion and temperature alerts to your phone with Video. Affordable at $230 for 2 cams and wireless portal. Portal can run off USB power.

https://blinkforhome.com/

The camera I got would need to have wifi access to work.

Ha, SeeVee I feel your pain. Can't see the stern of the boat from the upper helm, makes it tough when backing into a slip. And I carry a dinghy on the transom.

I back into my home slip because I'm used to it, but I usually go bow in to transient slips if the dock set up works. The forward power cord inlet helps with this too.

Heron said:

Check out Blink. Waterproof, wireless cameras (2 yr battery life). Just need wifi at the source. Motion and temperature alerts to your phone with Video. Affordable at $230 for 2 cams and wireless portal. Portal can run off USB power.

https://blinkforhome.com/

Click to expand...

I have some of these and they're nice, but understand they're not intended for live viewing for anything more than about 30 seconds at a time. If you start running them as live cameras you greatly decrease battery life. You can tap (continue) in the app to keep the video playing, but it chews through batteries doing so.

That and they're not real time. There's about a second and a half delay between what live and what you see on your tablet/phone. I know this as I was just replacing batteries in one, repositioning another. They're perfect when you want to have a motion-detecting camera in a place that can't easily be wired. But if you have any shot at all of running wire (be it for power, ethernet or both) then do that instead. You'll get longer duration video and not have to worry about replacing batteries.

I don't know what the iPad version of this is like, but on Android it's great.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ip-cam-viewer-pro/id402656416?mt=8

It's the swiss-army-knife of camera viewers. It's got drivers for all manner of networkable cameras.