Pros: - High resolution
- 360 Degree View

Cons: - Frame rate is 1/2 frame per second at 1600x1200

Pros: Easily blends in by looking like a smoke detector --- can take the place of 4 cameras --- easy to setup --- better low-light image than a similar, but more expensive camera I've used

Cons: No Power Over Ethernet --- Only records the video the way that it is configured as opposed to being able to Pan/Tilt/Zoom once it's been recorded --- no software in the box and the downloadable software is useless in a server/monitor situation --- IR lights for night vision?

Other Thoughts: I am in charge of installing cameras in multiple buildings on my WAN. I used "better" cameras in the first building due to the need for high-quality video if anything were ever to happen there. I utilized their version of the 360-degree camera and was very impressed, so I thought I would give the D-link version a try.

SETUP of the D-link was MUCH easier and I had it setup in a couple minutes (NOT using the available cloud service).

I am surprised this camera does not support POE, but I knew that when I bought it and simply utilized a POE adapter.

I immediately noticed that the IMAGE seemed much better on the D-link in a medium-light situation, although it's lower-megapixel rating meant the image wasn't quite as clear, but still reasonably good in normal lighting (as expected)

I initially configured the camera to look in all 4 directions when placed where 2 hallways crossed - so far, so good!

The real negatives showed up when I went to install recording software. There was no recording software in the box, but I knew form previous experience that D-Link has a version of it's recording software on an FTP site. After installing the software and configuring a few random cameras I attempted to connect a "monitor computer." HA! you can connect to multiple SERVERS, but only view ONE CAMERA from a server at a time! I solved that problem by utilizing the software that came with a different brand of camera that has the same chipsets as D-link uses.

The MAJOR difference between the recorded video from the "expensive" camera and this one is that no matter what recording software you use, if you are monitoring the camera in 4R mode, 2P mode, etc... that is the only way you can play it back. Normally I would have thought that this is just the way it has to be, but my other camera records everything as a fisheye and the software decodes this image and allows you to change to any of the other modes as well as PTZ anywhere in the field of vision.

It is possible that there is a plugin to the software that can fix this and I will look for it. It just seems crazy to me that D-link expects everyone who buys these cameras to use their cloud services and don't include any useful software. If you are going to pay over $300 for a professional-grade camera, it's likely to be used in a business and many businesses don't trust having their data stored "in the cloud," never mind the bandwidth requirements if I were use the service to constantly monitor the dozen cameras I am installing in this building alone.

Would I suggest someone buy this camera? - yes
Will I buy more of these cameras? - probably, but they will be for lower priority locations since the resolution of the picture is not very large if it's split into "4 Region" mode.