LOFTEK’s CXS 2200 and Foscam’s FI8918w are incredibly similar – both in specs, and obviously in appearance. I’m going to break down the key differences between the two, and tell you which one I think offers more for the cash.
LOFTEK CXS 2200
PROS
- It’s really cheap
- Image quality is noticeably better than FI8918W
- Extremely sensitive motion detection
- Equipped with wifi, night vision, audio
- Works great on Sensr.net
- LOFTEK has excellent tech support
- It’s $60-$70.
CONS
- IP address is hard coded, making setup process potentially irritating
- Lack of DHCP was not advertised – had to dig online to figure it out
- Daytime colors are a little washed out due to IR
- No color adjustment
- Software doesn’t work on Mac, but you don’t really need it
BOTTOM LINE:
LOFTEK’s CXS 2200 is a great entry-level network camera. $60-$70 buys you night vision, high quality picture, PTZ, and great motion detection. Despite potential challenges in setup due it its lack of DHCP support, you can’t go wrong buying a CXS 2200 for the price. Pro tip: the default IP is 192.168.0.178.
Here are a few clips I made with the LOFTEK CXS 2200 on Sensr.net in my testing.
Indoor Use: My girlfriend and I carving pumpkins!
Outdoor & Night Vision: My girlfriend and I gutting pumpkins!
Foscam FI8918W
PROS:
- Pretty cheap at around $90.
- Very easy setup – took less than two minutes
- Works great on Sensr.net
- Foscam Surveillance App for iPhone – $5 provides remote PTZ
- Equipped with wifi, night vision, audio
- Can turn off IR from web interface
- Foscam has a huge online community for support/modding, etc.
CONS:
- Worse image quality than CXS 2200
- Colors are slightly washed out from IR
- Slightly more expensive than CXS 2200
- No color adjustment
- Dependent on IE/ActiveX for several features (audio, multiple cameras)
BOTTOM LINE:
Foscam’s FI8918W is also a great entry-level network camera, though slightly more expensive than the CXS 2200. Its image quality isn’t as good, but setup was painless due to native DHCP support.
Here’s a clip of the Foscam FI8918W recorded on Sensr.net.
Setup Process
The Foscam FI8918W wins hands down in ease of setup. It supports DHCP, and actually shows up on your router’s client list when you plug it in. You know its IP right away as it has a sticker with the device’s MAC Address on the bottom of the camera. The LOFTEK is not only missing a sticker with its MAC Address, but it also comes preconfigured with a static IP address, which is unadvertised as far as I could find. My router also didn’t detect that any new devices were plugged in, and still doesn’t, despite the fact that I got the camera set up successfully.
Want to learn more about my LOFTEK CXS 2200 setup hell? Check out my last blog post about it. And if for any reason you are having trouble getting the Foscam setup, we’ve got a guide on how to configure the Foscam FI8918W as well.
Image Quality
LOFTEK’s CXS 2200 is markedly better than the Foscam FI8918W in picture clarity. It’s a little hard to tell with the lower resolution I’m posting for readability, so I’d suggest clicking the links to see the full shot in 640×480. The flowers were photographed at the same distance, in the same light, and at the same angle. Scratch one on for LOFTEK CXS 2200!
LOFTEK CXS 2200
Foscam FI8918W
Features
The CXS 2200 and FI8918W have essentially identical features advertised. They’re both equipped with full PTZ, wifi, night vision, two way audio, and have 300k pixel sensors. They even look the same. In my testing, neither cameras have noticeably outperformed the other in night vision clarity. The infrared goes reasonably far on each of them (up to 8 meters), but it’s not going to blow your mind if you’ve used a night vison camera before.
This is mostly anecdotal, but in playing around with each of them, the LOFTEK’s motion detection seems to be a little more sensitive, even with them at the same setting levels. This can be good or bad, depending on what exactly you want to use your camera for. If the wind slightly moving a tree in the upper right corner of your camera’s line of sight is making your motion detection alerts go nuts, you’ll probably be annoyed, but that’s the rub I guess. Trim your branches!
PTZ works the same on each of them more or less, but Foscam’s got one up on LOFTEK if you buy their Surveillance App for $5, which allows you to remotely control your camera’s PTZ functions from an iPhone/iPad.
All in all, I’d say the two cameras tie in their features. Give them each a point!
Price
The LOFTEK CXS 2200 can be found on Amazon for $70 new, and elsewhere for under $60 depending on the deals going on. The cheapest I’ve been able to find the Foscam FI8918W is $80. LOFTEK CXS 2200 wins, easy!
Winner
LOFTEK CXS 2200
The CXS 2200 and FI8918W are both excellent, inexpensive entry-level network cameras, and you really do get more than your money’s worth in each of them. But that’s not fun – this is a matchup review, and I’m obligated to declare a winner! Though the Foscam is easier to setup, the image quality isn’t nearly as good as the CXS 2200. And for $15-20 less, LOFTEK is a clear winner. With nearly identical features and the CXS 2200 outperforming the FI8918W in picture clarity, its $60-$70 price point seals the deal.
What about the software differences?
Any issues running from Linux or Chrome?
I’m hoping to use a good camera/audio for baby monitor. My budget is up to $130.
Thanks. Jake.
I didn’t actually install the Loftek software from the disc, but I haven’t had any issues configuring the camera with Chrome. I also haven’t tried configuring it on a Linux box yet, but it should be exactly the same setup process.
The Loftek’s image quality is quite nice, so I’d try it out – you’ll only eat up $70 or so of your budget.
je n arrive pas a voir correctement ma cam sur mon reseau sans passez par le net avez vous une solution car ma cam est en wiffi est que j ai une image presque au ralenti j ai une neuf box et mon portable tour bien avec mon reseau et en wiffi
cdt
Fabio, j’ai besoin de plus d’info pour t’aider.
Est-ce que tu n’arrives pas a acceder a la camera depuis ton reseau ou est-ce que l’image est de mauvaise qualite ?
Est-ce que tu essaye de configurer ta camera avec ou sans sensr.net ?
Si la camera est branchee sur ton reseau interne (lan – local area network), tu devrais pouvoir y acceder directement par son adresse ip. Le logiciel fournit avec la camera devrait te permettre de trouver l’adresse ip. C’est une adresse local (souvent en 192.168.x.x ou 10.10.x.x). Est-ce que tu as access a cette page ?
–Y
I read that the newer Fostek mounting threads on the bottom no longer fit a standard camera tripod. Is the same true for the Loftek?
How do I set up audio so I could speak thru the camera loftek
We don’t currently support audio because most camera manufacturers don’t have the ability to push audio from the camera to a server. If your camera supports audio, you would need to do the appropriate port forwarding on your firewall to get this to work. For Sensr.net, you don’t need the port forwarding because the camera is pushing the frames to us, so the firewall isn’t in the way.
loftek.com says the cxs 2200 is supposed to have a built in mic and foscam.us says it has built in mic and speaker. loftek.com says it supports dhcp also.
great post, but i got one i think interesting questions for you also, i am trying already ages
to find out the IP camera with such a driver which i can feed flash media live encoder to capture the video from camera, also audio, but no success yet, i heard about Loftek that there is some driver software, can u write about this or try by yourself and contact me if any success?
i am planning to buy this camera as a baby monitor. If i plan to buy the loftek CXS 2200 (which is my first choice), will i be able to hear the babys sounds while i’m away ? this is very imp as it will tell me if the babys awake, etc as opposed to video without sound. what about the foscam ?
Sensr.net doesn’t currently support audio for these cameras since they won’t push audio, only video frames. You can still use audio if the camera supports it, but you’ll have to setup port forwarding on your router and also dynamic DNS so you can connect to the camera when you’re not home.
Using Sensr.net you don’t need the port forwarding, nor do you need the dynamic DNS setup since the cameras push to our servers.
Hope this helps.
You might try the iZON from Stem Innovations which will do audio and video. Motion and sound alerts are store on YouTube. You will need an iOS device to view the camera live via their free app.
Hi,
Thanks for your comment. Sorry im not too much of a techie, so i dont fully understand what you’re saying.
However incase i buy any of these camera’s and setup port forwarding / dynamic dns – will i be able to hear sound ? does the foscam offer any advantages over the loftek if i plan to view the output from my IOS device while im away from home ?
i plan to do see the camera output from my iphone / ipad. I did see the IZON on amazon, but reviews arent so great as compared to loftek / foscam.
also, is it possible to hear audio, if you are using a third party mobile app (like icam, livecam viewer). some users on amazon have said this might be possible but i am unsure.
According to an Amazon customer who purchased the CXS 3200, remote 2 way audio works. Not sure about the CXS 2200.
http://www.amazon.com/review/RC8IZ7IDSC4RA/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B005C32Q8O&nodeID=502394&store=photo
hi sorry to bother you again, but is this camera any better than loftek / foscam. i heard it does audio and video.
http://blog.sensr.net/2011/04/15/dcs-932l-works-great-on-sensr-net/
The 932l is one of my favorite cameras. It has good night vision, works with Sensr.net for archiving, and the free MyDlink app does audio. No port forwarding or dynamic DNS issues to deal with.
I bought the Loftek CXS 2200 online for about $65 bucks. Using it as a baby monitor. Set up was a little difficult on my Mac using Time Capsule as a router. Had to use a Windows PC to complete the setup. No problem setting it up with the Windows PC and then I could use it without any problem from my Mac (Chrome). I recommend the Loftek after using it for a couple days.
What about two way audio (Foscam support it natively)
We don’t yet support audio on Sensr.net because the cameras won’t push audio to us. That will change with the next generation of cameras though.
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I bought one of these several months ago and it worked great for a while. But when it stopped working altogether, I e-mailed the Loftek to get an RMA since it was still under warranty. I was told I would have to pay a 40-percent “depreciation” fee, on top of return shipping! Avoid this company, unless you think yours will never break…
Great posts. I bought Loftek CXS2200 wireless camera due to its decent price and adequate features. the image quality is good enough and Pan&tilt are preformed with almost no delay via the web interface. and more, i suggested you guys would better use IE blowser, The manual wasn’t translated very well and it is too long to read,but you can understand it finally because they have the quick start manual, that’s from the customer support.