Review: Edimax SMax AU1 IP Camera

TL;DR ✨

The author and his colleagues bought an Edimax SMax AU1 IP camera from Alza.cz. Why? Its specifications looked attractive for the price, and they expected better Polish quality from it.

They did not find many reviews and took a chance on the promising specifications. Based on the product description, they also bought an SDHC card for the camera straight away.

The author and his colleagues bought an Edimax SMax AU1 IP camera from Alza.cz. Why? Its specifications looked attractive for the price, and they expected better Polish quality from it.

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They did not find many reviews and took a chance on the promising specifications. Based on the product description, they also bought an SDHC card for the camera straight away.

How to stumble right at the start

• When the camera arrived, the author was surprised to discover that a 5V/2A power supply was not included. He admits this was his mistake: he should have used his head and read the manual first. Still, who would expect a camera to be supplied without a power adapter?
• He searched in vain for the SDHC card slot before noticing that the slot was for MicroSD. Thanks to Alza for the accurate description. Again, the author admits he should have read the manual rather than Alza's promising claims: the MicroSD slot is shown on the second page.

QUALITY SUPPORT IS ESSENTIAL

• The author and his colleagues started experimenting with and configuring the camera. He wanted to install the video playback software from the manufacturer's CD, but has still been unable to launch VMS.
• He then tried to download the SMax Viewer application recommended on page 16 of the camera manual. He could not find it on either Android or iOS. He tried various alternatives, including EdiView, but could not display the camera feed in an app. On iOS, the feed runs smoothly in Safari, thankfully. He did not have the courage to keep fighting with it on Android.

Access through the web GUI is cumbersome because the author's Linux systems do not get along with Apple QuickTime. Apple did not disappoint him in that respect. The camera can be accessed reliably only through IE 8/9; other browsers are out of luck because they do not display everything.

Guts of steel

The camera did not disappoint in terms of image quality. Full HD with H.264 compression produces a beautifully clear image.

.What the author finds disappointing is that night vision is not as impressive as it appears. At dusk, the image works very well:

In darkness, however, even night vision does not work.

Recordings are stored on a MicroSD card.

The GUI reads the card's storage status, but the recordings simply cannot be found. Why?

On the other hand, the author greatly appreciates the Events feature, where various triggers can be configured. For example: if motion is detected in a defined area, take a screenshot or record video and upload it to FTP, send an email, start recording to the SD card, or send the recording to a Samba server.

RATING

The camera is excellent from a technical standpoint, but its software support is so poor that the author does not recommend buying it.