Are You A True Fan Of Arecont Cameras?

#1, there are definitely some fans and, in particular, some positive comments even in the most recent Arecont favorability results.

Some positive themes we hear:

• Reliability has gotten better since the horror times and is generally not a concern (though some debate this)
• Their project registration discounts can be significant (much deeper than competitors), which can be helpful in beating Axis and other bigger names
• Their variety of multi-imagers, including the omnis, which are still rare, help them better design larger / outdoor jobs.

We have a large healthcare customer (hospitals, clinics, etc.) that love Areconts, mostly the panoramics. I've always thought that Areconts at least had a really good image, but integrators seem to dislike them so much because they have to work with them. The customer likes them because they don't have to deal with all the troubles, they just call someone else to handle them. 

Just my two cents.

A Hanwha Techwin or Hikvision camera with four independently adjustable lenses (like the Arecont SurroundVideo Omni series) would sink Arecont.    

One Arecont rep made a good point. He said that product registration helps ensure no other better undercuts you for the project since Arecont does not have a traditional tiered dealer discount model.

They are JUNK. Fail left and right.

I disagree. The company that I work for installs Arecont almost exclusively. It integrates well with Exacq and Milestone. I don't keep track of percentages but I would guess-tamate  a 2% - 3% fail rate overall. The Microdome series tends to have a higher fail rate and those would appear more to be QC issues from the factory. We rarely see problems with the box cameras and the panoramas. One of the above poster mentioned no extra streams. We are seeing multiple stream capability on all Areconts. I may have mis-understood this persons comment though. Another reason I like them is the fact that they don't run a Linux OS. Now, Let me qualify that by saying I am no programming expert. Our Arecont rep told me that and they supplied us with documentation stating that. So, it would seem to make it a little tougher to hijack these cameras. Overall, I give them a B- to a B. 

We were initially very frustrated with Arecont's NVR software, but later we bought ExacqVision to drive the cameras.  The devices themselves have worked fine, we've had no hardware issues in 8 years other than the plastic panoramic camera globes yellowing over time. 

The most important thing to my company is that they are American made.  Not only are we supporting domestic industry, by buying an American made device we are not seriously concerned about potential industrial espionage via some hidden back door.  Companies doing sensitive work (or government entities) need to consider this. 

Yes , Great company, Good Products, Long standing reputation, Backs their products , great technical support 

We have  had no problems with them as a company or products. 

All company's have their share of product failures, product software problems. People Problems , So Expect some failures.

That s a normal part of life. 

and if you or anyone out there has been in this business very long you see this. 

Time Proven . Reputation Driven. Stability 

Not like some others which get constant money infusion s to keep the surface from showing what s really going on. 

Any company can prop up with false fronts and mirrors , cloaks to keep the damages from showing to the public. 

It takes Integrity to keep up and not let the failures take you down.

Staying in the Game for the Long Run

Probably the worst tech support I've ever dealt with.  Had a case in for months didn't hear back.  Followed up multiple times with no response.  Finally noticed new firmware for the camera in question.  Installed it and the issue was fixed.  It would have been nice to know they fixed the issue.  

There cameras are extremely bare bones.  They have no support for HTTPS, IP filtering or SNMP.  They only include two user profiles that are not turned on by default.  

The list goes on.

Thanks for the information, though I was intending the thread more for people who actually liked Arecont, given there seems to be plenty negative to say, but I was more interested and curious in what the small statistical number of people found positive enough to make Arecont among their top choice in cameras. For example, did they experience the same amount of problems as other people who disliked Arecont, but just found they got better service? Did they get a lot of help from Arecont in acquiring new business, enough that it made up for camera issues? Or did they seem to get luckier than other people on the quality issues?