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360 AC1C indoor security camera review: Low-cost security camera that is simple to set up and use
360 AC1C indoor security camera
pros and cons
- Easy to connect app to camera
- Cloud and local storage
- Magnetic base for secure fixing
- Will only work with 2.4GHz Wi-Fi
- Camera went offline regularly
- Slow screen updates
The 360 AC1C indoor security camera is a small, compact camera with a magnetic base that can be used to monitor people moving about your house or to alert you when your baby cries.
Inside the box, there is the AC1C camera, a USB cable and power adapter, a user guide and a round sticker for you to attach the camera to your chosen surface.
Set up the camera by plugging in the micro USB cable to the back of to AC1C, inserting a micro SD card, and plugging it into a power supply. The camera starts working immediately and displays a green light.
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The AC1C has a 2K HD video display with 2304 x 1296px resolution, which gives good picture images even in the dark. Its 130 wide-angle lens has little distortion, and images are good.
The camera will alert you when a person is discovered in its detection zone, and the two-way talk function allows you to talk to the person at the other end. Extra noises are filtered out, and the sound is crisp and clear.
The AC1C has a magnetic base, so you do not need to use the sticker to attach it to magnetic surfaces -- which is useful.
A voice prompt indicates that the camera is awaiting wireless setup. The 360 AC1C camera uses the Botslab app, which, fortunately, I had on my phone after reviewing the 360 X3 video doorbell last week. It was easy to add another device to the app.
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To add the AC1C camera, press and hold the set button on the camera's back until it beeps and click next on the app. Then send the audible high pitched, and possibly annoying, sound wave signal to the AC1C.
The camera will respond when the sound wave is received, and the app will connect to the Wi-Fi network.
Unlike the 360 X3, the AC1C will only connect to Wi-Fi over 2.4GHz -- and your signal to the 2.4GHz router needs to be good to maintain the connection to the camera.
Once connected, you can specify the location of the camera and configure its settings. If the camera is mounted upside down, you can invert the view, turn night vision on, off, or set it to automatic, set your time zone and display the status LED.
Other settings you can tweak include the detection events period, the sensitivity, and the area to be detected.
I had a few service errors when I tried to set detected zones, so I gave up and used the full screen for the detection zone.
Other settings include switching on crying and other sound detection, people only mode, and notification alerts.
I could not set any audible alarms as every time I tried to set this in the app; I received a service error; even after checking I was still connected to my 2.4GHz Wi-Fi. However, after updating the firmware to version 10908.0.2.5 significantly improved the connectivity. I would recommend upgrading the firmware before changing any configuration settings.
If you do not want to use the onboard micro SD card to store your images, you can subscribe to a cloud-based storage plan with either a 7 or 30-day video history from under $4 per month.
I thought that the screen updates were slow with about a two-second delay, so configuring settings can be slow.
However, have patience, and you can rest assured that the device will monitor your space quietly and efficiently.
Another annoying feature was that although the camera received a signal from the app and pinged to indicate that the two devices were indeed communicating, I regularly received a notification that the device was unconnected.
I could see the live view of the room, yet I received a notification that the device was offline. Only by adding the camera again could I get access to all of its features.
All in all, for under $26, the 360 AC1C indoor security camera is is a small, low cost, unobtrusive camera which uses sound to connect and will monitor your home.
Make sure you have an excellent connection to your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, or you will be disappointed with frequent connection drops.