My need for a spy cam or CCTV camera started a few months ago when different burglar incident happened in my house almost every other day.
I was living with my workmates for almost a year already and I never really had this bad experience with them ever since. But things started to get sour when I experienced grave lost of an amount in my pocket. It started unknowingly that it made me thought at first that I misplaced my money or somehow dropped it while traveling. I’ve lost Php 3k in the first round.
The next was a bit bigger, it was Php 6k. I have this habit of leaving my bag in the hallway near our kitchen with all my stuff inside it. When I woke up in the morning all of my 1k bills were gone in my wallet. I was devastated but still felt confused whether to feel that I just lost it somewhere or there is truly an intrusion happening.
Because I was still unsure. What I did was to place my money in a new place. I put a portion inside my cabinet, then half of it I placed in an envelope and hid it along with my other stuff. Days past by, I thought it was all over. When I already needed the money I kept. It was all gone.
That made me realized that someone is really sabotaging our space. This could be someone on the inside, one of our neighbors or probably somebody who had an access in of our house. Why did I say so? Well because for 1, he or she knows where I am putting the money, 2 this person always leave the small amounts and only took the thousands, 3rd this person got an access in the house, and 4, this person knows when to strike. The time element was very little, I usually sleep at around 3:00 am and wakes up around 9 or 10 in the morning. That was just 6-7 hours in a day. My housemates usually wake up around 6 am. So if its an outsider, this person would probably be sneaking between 4-5am.
But what really made me crazy is when I found out that my beloved Fuji X-T10 (that I was supposed to sell) was already gone from my cabinet. It made me feel different emotions including wrath, despair, confusion, disgust and other bits in between. Learning that something I really love was taken away from me. I have put all my savings just to purchase that camera and all of a sudden it was gone. I think my recent visit in Malaysia have given this person enough time to really dig on to my things. And it wasn’t just that, he managed to unlock the cabinet and did not even left a trace. It made me think that there is a possibility that already lost other stuff along with my camera.
So in an instant, I called my mom, asked for some help. I packed my stuff that I can fit inside our vehicle, then brought it in our house in Valenzuela. I left a few (not so important) stuff that I am using on my day-to-day living.
Calculating all my losses for a duration of a month, I think I can already buy a new iPhone 8 or a MacBook with that amount. Packing was a sudden decision and a must I could say. I decided not to tell my housemates about my lost and grieve silently. The situation made me suspicious for the possibility that one of them have done it.
I was afraid for it to happen again. So I decided to put all the important stuff in my bag and hold it tight while I sleep. (Imagine how you hug your pillow while its cold) There was a scenario that I would tie my bag to my hand, just to make sure it will not leave by my side whenever I sleep at night. It was the day by day scenario.
And as expected, after a week, the burglar strikes back. Now my other housemates become the target. One of my housemates lost money while the other lost his MacBook Pro.
I could have left the house in an instant but decided to stay for a mission – to capture this heartless thief.
One of my housemates reported this incident to the barangay hall in front of our house. Unfortunately, the barangay hall got a busted CCTV camera so monitoring intrusion in our house is already out of our options.
My solution – To set up a camera, put a bait and hopefully capture the bad guy(s).
But looking for the right camera wasn’t too easy especially if you do not have enough budget (remember It was all gone). And along the way, I encountered a few problems while looking for the perfect item.
- Setting up a CCTV is a very expensive option and will take time to set up.
- CCTV camera is also bulky and very easy to be seen. Meaning, the thief would easily know that it was set up and if he is also a housemate, he will be cautious about it.
- I’ve also seen some Smart Camera’s in the market but lack the necessary things I needed.
- Buying a spy cam (those small cameras you can put in your clothes or mixed with other stuff) would be a handy camera but couldn’t last for more than an hour. Some of the spy cams I saw cannot even record good videos in dark places.
It took a while before I could finally get the right one. One day, I bump into this post of a friend sharing her experience about the new Qihoo 360 Smart Camera (1080p). And this is what I discovered.
Qihoo 360 Smart Camera (1080p)
Nowadays, it is not just the streets, the malls, the establishments that need to be always-on surveillance. With the increasing numbers of crimes, security becomes a must even in our home. Setting up a CCTV cameras could really be helpful. And with the advent of technology, wifi-enabled cameras are already available, wherein with just a press of a button, whats happening at home can be view even if you are miles away from it.
What’s inside the box: Camera Unit, Connector, 3M sticker, plug, manual
There are a lot of IP cameras available now in the market, but the Qihoo 360 Smart Camera caught my attention.
Setting up the Qihoo Smart Camera
At first look, the Qihoo 360 Smart Camera resembles that small marker sign in the google maps (I wonder if they also got a pink or blue camera colors?). Aesthetically, Qihoo 360 Smart Camera is on the webcam side than the usual CCTV security camera. Nevertheless, I really like how it looks. But for capturing a burglar, this camera should be hidden right. Good thing it got a nice design and built. I can easily mix the camera in my other stuff for it to be unnoticeable. I didn’t actually think that it was a camera at first look.
Setting it up is very straightforward and you can just check out the enclosed instruction booklet for easy navigation. Download the “360 Smart Camera” app, and set it up. You would need a wifi connectivity and a nearby wall socket where you decided to place the camera.
Here is quick technical specs and features of the Qihoo 360 Wifi Smart Camera:
- Image Resolution: 1080pixel
- Audio: Built in 5M Omni Directional Noise reduction
- Microphone and speakers Opus Dynamic Audio Codec.
- Size: Height 105mm Head Width 58mm
- Base width 68mm Base Height 22.3mm
- Thickness 29.8mm
- Operating Temperature: 5-70C Indoor Use
- Power: Input 5V-1A
Key Features:
- Full HD
- Night Vision
- Motion Detection
- Facial Detection
- Real-Time Phone Alerts
- SD Card or Cloud Recording Option
- 150 Degree viewing angle
- No computer and network cable required, easy wireless WiFi connection
- Built-in microphone and speaker, support two-way real-time talk
- Support remotely real-time monitoring via smartphone
Qihoo 360 Ip Wifi Smart Camera Performance
The Qihoo 360 Ip Wifi Smart Camera got a wide-angle lens, capable of 150 degrees field of vision. Putting it in a corner of your room would really be efficient covering a wider scope. I got no problems using it during the day especially if there are a lot of available light. In the evening, videos become grainy but still acceptable. What I love about the camera is its capability to do night mode, where it can capture movements in pitch black. Another feature of the Qihoo that I love is called the “Homewatch.“
Homewatch is an alarm system that will give you notification through the mobile phone every time there’s a movement in your place. There is also an option where you would pinpoint an area in your place and camera will automatically record whenever that item moves.
Recorded videos can be saved either on a cloud or via microSD. Qihoo can accommodate up to 32GB. The clarity of the recordings could sometime be dependent on how fast your connection is. A fiber optic connection is ideal where you can really max out the recording resolution to 1080p.
The Qihoo also got a decent speaker and microphone that could be perfect for to your kids or anyone in your house, even to your pet. It was actually quite fun using it and playing like the Big Brother in the house.
I am still trying to explore the camera but I can already say that the Qihoo 360 Smart Camera has already given me the satisfaction I needed. It is aesthetically good, it can serve as both webcam and surveillance cam, and it also got a decent microphone and speaker for conversation. For a price of Php 3,500, owning one wouldn’t be that hard in your pocket.
Now, maybe you would be asking me what happened with my story? Well before I discovered this Qihoo camera a week before I planned to leave the house, I wasn’t really able to set it up in the old apartment. Also, I would be needing a Wi-Fi connectivity first, a 32gb micro-SD, a socket or may extension near where I will be putting it and a good disguise to cover it up. It was a bit of a hassle doing all of it for a short period of time so I just accepted the fact that I wouldn’t really fulfill my mission and left the house as I planned and decided to set it up on my new place. (Read: September Journal)
