Arecont Magnetic Dome Mount Examined

Author: Brian Karas, Published on Oct 07, 2016

Manufacturers are increasingly trying to differentiate cameras with features to simplify / speed up installation. At ASIS 2016, Arecont showed an upcoming magnetic mounted dome camera.

In this note, we examine Arecont's mounting system and the trend towards manufacturers innovating more on non-resolution aspects of cameras.

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Comments (15)

Undisclosed #1

10/07/16 03:27pm

I hate holding anything over my head and fumbling for the fasteners. This looks like a good idea.

Undisclosed #2

10/07/16 05:34pm

I want to pause the animated gif to see if there is some sort of safety catch for the dome.

OSHPD, here is my 8.5"x11" detail for this new camera, please accept.

I like this idea for a lot of reasons, technicians will not have to run to ADI to buy a security screwdriver because they lost the bit that comes with the camera.

Undisclosed Integrator #3

10/08/16 10:43am

I think this is a terrible idea. Pretty much anybody can turn a screw to attach a camera to secure it to the base. What about somebody just being able to pull the camera off? If they wanted to they can do it anyway but this just makes it a whole lot easier. Also if it is a security screw anybody that does this regularly doesn't have to worry about losing the tool that comes in the box since most likely they aren't using that anyway.

Thumbnail brk1

Brian Karas

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #3 | 10/08/16 05:58pm

The magnets hold the dome body to the base bracket while you secure it permanently with regular screws. It is not meant to be the only thing holding the camera up.

Undisclosed #5

In reply to Brian Karas | 10/13/16 06:36am

It is not meant to be the only thing holding the camera up.

Because that would just be crazy :)

Undisclosed Integrator #4

10/13/16 01:43am

Too bad it had to come from Arecont. Still won't be enough to persuade me to purchase their junk.

Undisclosed Integrator #6

In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #4 | 11/22/16 04:06pm

Why do you hate Arecont?

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #6 | 11/22/16 04:10pm

#6, welcome to IPVM, thanks for your first comment.

I don't know if #4 'hates' Arecont or not, but the 'junk' comment relates to Arecont's history of QA problems, e.g., Worst Camera Manufacturers 2016, Worst IP Camera Manufacturer 2014, etc.

Undisclosed Integrator #6

In reply to John Honovich | 11/22/16 04:23pm

John, where is the data that support the claims in the article you suggested about those manufacturers? Do you have any test reports that compare similar products from each manufacturer that are recent that I can view?

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #6 | 11/22/16 04:28pm

For article, you mean the 'worst' reports? For those reports, we survey over 100 integrators each time who give detailed answers about which products they have the best and worst experiences with. For example, on the other side, see: Favorite Camera Manufacturers 2016

Undisclosed Integrator #4

In reply to John Honovich | 11/22/16 04:41pm

In my experience we have had plenty of hardware issues with Arecont. New cameras DOA and manufacturing defects. Image quality is terrible in low light on many models. Firmware is buggy and nobody should have to climb a ladder due to a firmware issue. I can handle these types of issues, but not at their price point

Undisclosed Integrator #6

In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #4 | 11/22/16 04:58pm

Just wondering, does your experience apply to their current products? Which cameras were you implying to?

Undisclosed Integrator #6

In reply to John Honovich | 11/22/16 04:45pm

Interviews are fine but I cant base any decision on public opinion. I would love to see the data, the actual hands on, side by side results in various settings. Are there any recent articles that provide detailed testing?

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Ethan Ace

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #6 | 11/22/16 05:19pm

We have tested several of the recent G5 MegaVideo line this year:

The WDR and Stellar models were fair, but not outstanding in any way. The 10MP performed poorly compared to other 4K/12MP models.

We also have a test of their original generation SurroundVideo Omni and may test the newer generations of that or 180° SurroundVideo.

We also have multiple discussions about Arecont quality:

I personally have experienced the stuck cut filters and image flipping both at IPVM and in my past work as an integrator. On a non-trivial percentage of Arecont cameras.

I recognize that you're looking for side by side results, but we do not do long term testing, generally, and quality issues rarely surface immediately (outside of out of box failures and the cut filter/flipping issues mentioned above). Because of this, our survey results are a more effective way of gathering quality information from multiple integrators around the world, as opposed to only the relatively few Arecont cameras we touch during testing.

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Brian Karas

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed Integrator #6 | 11/22/16 05:26pm

We have done a few of our own tests of Arecont cameras, these are all fairly recent:

Arecont Stellar Camera Tested

Arecont 10MP G5 Tested

Arecont HD WDR G5 Camera Tested

The survey results John is referred to come from our base of thousands of integrators, and are often open-ended questions asking integrators which products they prefer (or not), which products have had issues, etc. For these surveys we do not provide a list of specific manufacturers, so that responses are not limited to just the companies we select, integrators enter their own responses based on whatever products are most memorable or noteworthy to them.

Arecont cameras have had regular mentions on IPVM, not just in surveys, but also in discussions relating to reliability issues. Common problems are stuck IR filters and flipped images and the multi-sensors.

Here is a long thread on Arecont IR cut filter issues as one such example.

Have you had better personal experience with Arecont?

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