In a week a new Golden puppy will be arriving to our home.  For peace of mind, we decided to get a camera that would allow us to monitor things from our phones if we are in another part of our house or away from home.    This is not the first time I have been down this road.  We bought a camera a few years ago when Chuck Billy came to live with us but it did not perform well and I ended up returning it.  As I was considering the whole thing again a friend of mine purchased a Cloud Camera 1150 and was very happy with the performance.  I decided to give it a try and provide a review.

 

What I was looking for in a Cloud Camera:

1. Be able to access live video from my phone with no monthly fees
2. Be able to access live video from anywhere (i.e. WiFi hotspots and LTE/3G cellular service).
3. Have both day light and low light capabilities
4. Have audio capabilities
5. Be able to wirelessly connect to my home network
6. Be able to secure the device behind my home router

I set up the Cloud Camera 1150 and tested it.  Overall I am happy with it as it meets all my criteria.  Here is how it works.  You create a account for your camera (or cameras) at mydlink.com.  You then setup the Cloud Camera 1150 on your home network using a setup wizard.  Once it is set up you may access your Cloud Camera 1150 on your phone and through your Dlink account so long as you have either WiFi or LTE/ 3G cellular service.  Access to your Dlink account can be made through a free app you can download for both iPhone and Android devices.  We even set up account access on other computers to give us more monitoring options.

Here are the results of my testing:

1. The Cloud Camera 1150 plus endless remote viewing can be purchased for just the price of the camera and your internet/ cellular service.
2. I could access the camera from anywhere so long as I had WiFi, LTE or 3G service.
3. Daylight capabilities are great.  The image is clear and I can zoom in to get a closer look at what Chuck Billy is up to.
4. Low light capabilities are limited to about 15 feet of vision.  I offset this by putting a light on a timer in the area.  This increased the vision to nearly the daylight range.
5. The audio capability works well.  However, I find myself turning it off because of the background noise.
6. I was able to secure the device behind my home router and set it up to connect wirelessly.  You still need to plug in for AC power.  It comes with a power cord that is about 3 feet long.
7. Setup and installation was easy.  The Cloud Camera 1150 came with a download for a setup wizard. The wizard walks you through the process step by step.  It took me about 60 minutes to setup, and this included mounting the camera.

I recorded the setup process to give you an idea of how it works.

1.  I went to mydlink.com and identified my camera by finding a picture of the Cloud Camera 1150.  Once I found it I downloaded the setup wizard for the device.

2.  I use a Mac and this is the DMG file and setup app.

3.  The setup wizard was easy. Select your language and begin.

4. Of course there is an EULA.

5. Next I connected an ethernet cable to the Cloud Camera 1150.  The camera came with an ethernet cable to use.

6. Plug the other end on the ethernet cable into your router.

7. Plug in the AC power.

8. Wait until the light on the Cloud Camera 1150 turns green.  This took a minute or so.

9.  The setup wizard begins to search for your connected camera.

10.  Once identified the setup wizard displays the MAC address for your Cloud Camera 1150 camera and its assigned IP address.

 

11. The next screen gives options to use the Cloud Camera 1150 as a wired or wireless device.  I choose wireless and since it is behind a secure router, I needed to type in the network SSID, network password, and some other security stuff.  At this point I also went to mydlink.com and set up my account.

Our camera is not really outside.  But Chuck Billy likes playing in snow!

12.  I downloaded the FREE mydlink Lite app from the iTunes store and was able to view the live video feed while on our home network and through 3G & LTE networks.

 

I am happy with this camera.  It is easy enough for us to setup and use and gives us more peace of mind when we are away.  I like the ability to check in on our dogs whenever I want to and I wish I did this years ago.  I may end up buying another Cloud Camera 1150 to provide specific coverage to the puppy’s crate.

Thanks for checking out this review.