Microsoft LifeCam VX-3000 (68A-00001)

The camera does great. with most software, but the one it came with. But I don't use that software much (face tracking), so that's okay. But I did test the software. I found it to be bloated and unpredictable. The camera is okay though..

Sherm

A problem I did have was that the wire was a little stiff so when I place it on my monitor, it has trouble maintaining it's angled down position. It could be just my copy.

Image quality and sound quality is honestly good enough, it's $30! I can't stand the hater reviewers out there. They expect a top of the line product from a $30 web camera. Maybe it's your video card? sound card?

I used this product to video chat with my girl when I was out of town for 8 months. The image quality on this one blew her webcam out the window. I was actually surprised by the image quality from this guy. However, when I recorded a video or took pictures, the quality did seem to be a little ehhhhh but once again..it's $30. As long as my girl can recognize my face on her end and notice that I haven't shaved for a couple days...I can't really complain.

I've heard constant reviews about this camera being great AND cheap. So I bought it. Thirty bucks, down the tube. And I thought I was getting something decent.
The sound is horrible, for one. It's completely disconnected from your movements and about two days after I got this, the microphone blew out and stopped working. It was gently handled, and the only sound it had been exposed to was low talking.
There's also the grainy quality and the fact that if you take a picture, you could almost get better quality from a camera phone. It also gets hot after about five minutes of recording.
Overall, this is disappointing, not what it's made out to be. I would suggest a different model to any and everyone.

I got this camera so that my kids can video chat with my parents who live in another state. It was simple to install on Windows XP and I haven't had any problems. It works well with Skype. The video quality is decent. The microphone is much clearer and louder than the one built into my laptop. I'm sure there are better cameras out there, but I didn't want to spend too much money. Plus, video quality is usually limited by your internet connection, not the camera. The only gripe, which some others have had, is that the button on top of the camera is easy to bump and it tries to load Microsoft Live Messenger. I changed it to open Skype using another reviewer's suggestion:

Jrverse says:
You can have the large button activate a different app (like Skype) when it's clicked.

This works for me and others on the web (Advanced users only!!!):
1. Open regedit.
2. Navigate to the following key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{6BDD1FC6-810F-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F}\????\Settings]
Where ???? is a number like 0000, 0001, 0002, 0003, 0004. You may have a few of these.
3. Under each of the "\????\Settings" folders, look for the entry called "QuickStartPath", and change it from the current value (usually "C:\Program Files\Microsoft LifeCam\icepick.exe") to the path of the program you want to launch when the big button is clicked (like "C:\Program Files\Skype\Phone\skype.exe") This works perfectly for me.

Very impressed with the video, Totally disappointed with the microphone. Am going to return it and try to locate a logitech.