Dome Housing Durability - Polycarbonate Vs Aluminum

A local distributor told me that the polycarbonate housing is just for indoors and that's why the camera isn't advertised with an IP rating. For outdoors, the vandal-resistant model should be used as it has a rating if IP66.

There are a fair number of polycarbonate outdoor housings, so it's not a materials difference.

Likely the aluminum housing is cast in a solid piece, where is poly housing is just a lightweight cover.

In the case of the SNV, you'll notice there are rubber grommets/glands that seal the cable pigtails trailing from the camera. Most indoor domes don't include this type of seal, and so they are prone to damage.

The vandal rating is secondary to the environmental seal.

I did smile when I read those specs as it never gets down to freezing point where I live but I guess a bit of overkill in the specs means it should be very durable which is a good thing. Thank you for your help.

One thing to note on the WiseNet III domes... I just did my first installation using them (all SNV-6084R), and did not catch one detail regarding the wiring specs until after all our wire was in place and it was too late to add additional power wire to each camera: the internal heater operates ONLY on 24 VAC, not on either POE or 12 VDC. Here in Washington State that is not a real problem. We have few sub-freezing days each year, and the natural internal heat generated by an IP camera with a beefy processor like the WiseNets should be sufficient to handle our weather with no problem. For those of you in areas where the low temperature specs are critical, make sure you pull an extra power wire and account for 24 VAC power to each outdoor camera.

On the plus side, the cameras are providing outstanding picture quality even in some very challenging lighting (nighttime, headlights, landscape lighting in varying color temperatures, etc). And a simple touch that I love... each camera ships with two dessicant packs stuck to the inside rim of the dome cover with double-stick tape (not visible with the dome installed, of course). So instead of them being tossed once the device is unboxed, they are meant to stay in place and keep the internal workings of the camera nice and dry.