Merkury SmartIndoor Camera, 1080p HD Camera for Home Security with Two-Way Audio, Motion Detection, and Night Vision, Compatible with Alexa and Google Home

Not my first Merkury cam. Works well for what I need it for. Good price and fast delivery

I took off three stars for this being not a two pack as described - there is one camera in here. I initially thought they'd sent the wrong one and so went through the conversations with the bot for 20-30 min, and waited a few more days while they sent a replacement item. It too is a single camera.Considering a large part of the reason I got this is for the two-pack, for it to not actually have two cameras immediately doubles the cost-per-item and drastically changes the value proposition.On opening the manual you're greeted with two QR codes. One is for the "latest" version of the manual and the other for the app. Both take you to the same page on the manufacturer's site, which is a dead link (see the screenshots and try scanning the codes yourselves from the other pictures).This is not a good sign, which I took another star off for.The setup and video quality are adequate - it's like doorbell cameras or cell phone cameras from several years ago. Serviceable in good light, bad in direct sun or backlighting, and not great in the dark. It does have an SD slot for storing video (though be sure you're checking the card periodically if you don't want to use the cloud storage function, as if the card dies you won't have anything but live video). I'd rate the video probably 3/5 - decent overall, but nothing special. For the price of a two pack it's about what I'd expect, but since this really only comes with one item it's not great.

Used to keep track of elderly parents when they don't answer the phone, I know they are okay without driving to their house.

The camera itself was fine. The problem is with the SD card slot. I wasn't planning on paying a subscription so having the option to use SD card was the selling point. It is one of the worse designed slots I've seen. It's big enough that the card doesnt fit snuggly and instead can be moved around and can be even inserted at an angle. When it clicks in place, it is still loose. Let me say that again, it doesn't lock into place. This is why the app never recognizes the card. I bought another one of these cameras at Walmart and still the same issue. No SD is recognized because the slot doesn't work as intended. Not sure if other people have same issue, but if you're planning on getting this because of the SD card option, dont. And no, it's not the SD card. I got 2 brand new ones and they work fine on my PC.

Perfect view and easy to set up

This is not the most expensive camera, so the quality of the pictures show. It is very lightweight and compact. It is good for placing on a bookshelf or counter to watch your pets. I would not recommend it for home security, as it can easily be knocked down, and I have experienced connection issues. It is not the clearest picture.

Some of the reviews on this item complain that this was advertised as a 2-pack. Other than the product image still having the Amazon smile "2 pack" logo in the top right corner still, I didn't see this listed as a 2-pack, so I'm evaluating this as a single camera that has a current price of $24.99. With that in mind, this is... OK.I didn't have any pairing or connection issues with the camera. I installed the app on an iPhone 12 Mini running the current version of iOS and everything connected without real issue. There was a forced account creation, but it supports federated login through Google and Apple. I used Apple and anonymized my email address and they didn't complain about it.Image quality seems good. No complaints there.Build quality is good too. Assembled with screws, no soldered wires, no glue, no welded plastic. I was able to tear it down to play around inside it in just a few seconds. If you're curious, the photos show its innards.The device uses MicroUSB, and includes a USB-A power adapter that's rated for 5 volts at 1 amp, or 5 watts total. Pretty low power for a wifi camera, I think? I docked it a point for MicroUSB - It's 2024, it's time to standardize on USB-C.The included power adapter seems... OK? These are a solved problem by now of course. Whatever, I threw it away. I also threw away the 3 foot long junk-grade USB-A to MicroUSB cable. I don't think it even has data wires on it, just power, but I didn't bother checking.The camera is fine. You can get better for cheaper, but not much cheaper.