Features explained:
The M1031-W comes with a several features that make it stand out form it competitors, so I will take a short bit to list them and explain them a little bit. The M1031-W comes with wireless built-in so for those who don’t have an available RJ45 port relatively close to camera, it is possible to access the camera over a wireless connection (very nice). This option alone allowed me to configure the camera at my desk and then go mount the camera at my front door where I did have power but it was too far and too difficult to run an Ethernet cable to the window. Also, the M1031-W does not have any external antennas which would prompt anyone to think the camera was wireless either. The camera does have the ability to assign ip addresses which allowed to communicate with the camera, which will assist in preventing anyone with wireless from hacking your password and gaining access to the camera. Of course this doesn’t mean it is impossible to hack the camera over wireless, but IP filtering is a feature which makes it a little more difficult for an amature hacker from gaining access to the camera. The front of the camera has a PIR sensor which picks up movement in via passive infrared, which works great even in the dark. In the event the room or area is too dark to distinguish who or what triggered the PIR, the M1031-W has a super bright LED to illuminate the area. This LED can be configured to turn on and off when movement is detected or you can have it on a timer like a porch light. Next and most noteworthy is a microphone and speaker to allow for communication at the camera from any logged in PC with a microphone and software installed. Finally the M1031-W has a long list of video formats for pictures and video to choose from. All these formats serve a purpose of quality of picture to formatted pictures which are small enough in file size to quick and easily to be sent to your phone.
Installation:
The M1031-W took all of 15 minutes to unpack, configure for the wireless network and install in my front window (inside the house). This of course negates the microphone and speaker to the person outside of the house, but the fact it took just 15 minutes to configure and install is note worthy to say the least.
After the M1031-W was installed I crawled through the different settings the included software had and continued to set triggers when motion was detected at my front door to then send me an e-mail. I also configured the LED to light up after 7PM till 5AM anytime motion was detected at my front door. The angle the M1031-W has looking out and a little down, you can see cars passing in the street, which at first caused the LED to light and an e-mail to be sent to my account. After discovering a setting called masking, I was able to block out the street but still allow for better part of my front walk to detect motion. After playing around with the settings over a month time, I have grown very attached to the M1031-W as I never knew how many people came to my front door while I was at work (kind of scary, but at least I had their photo in an e-mail which was offsite).
Axis Communications commercial
Conclusion:
The M1031-W is worth every penny! Also, it doesn’t matter if you purchase one or several, the configuration is real simple and with wireless you can install the camera anywhere you have an outlet within 8 feet. With a simple configuration of motion triggers and e-mail settings the M1031-W is ready to go. Again even though I had mounted the M1031-W inside the house the microphone and speaker is very clear and easy to use with a PC. I also configured my Synology DS209+ to be used as a DVR, so not only am I getting an e-mail from the camera, I can also review video that was sent to the DS209+ for later review.
Even the Axis 221 network camera is good. I have it and I like it. I can easily watch my little daughter while I’m off to work.