Automatic Face-Tracking Digital Zoom Mac Mechanical Pan & Tilt Microphone PC USBYou've never seen anything like the unique combination of form and function of the QuickCam Orbit. It features a black, ball-shaped camera that sits atop a nine-inch-high stand at your eye level. Why? So that you'll get optimal face time during your video calls or video instant messaging (IM) sessions. And when you move, it actually follows you around! The QuickCam Orbit mechanically and automatically turns left and right for almost a 180-degree horizontal view or up and down for almost 90-degree top-to-bottom view. So your smiling face will always stay in the picture.
- Easily add live video to MSN® Messenger... now with fast video and large 320 x 240 image size
- Also works with video-enabled Yahoo!® Messenger and Windows® Messenger
- Make live video calls using the built-in microphone
- Always stay in the frame thanks to the automatic face-tracking software and mechanical pan and tilt feature
- Record high quality videos at true 640 x 480 resolution with the high-quality CCD sensor
- Get closer with the digital zoom
- Capture 1.3 megapixel photos
- Send a video e-mail with one click
- Set up a webcam to update images to your website
- Works with both USB 2.0 and 1.1
1 Good webcam with some nice features
I've had this webcam for almost a year now and I've never had any problems with it. Make sure you install the software BEFORE you plug in the camera or else it could cause some problems (I'd recommend downloading the newest drivers directly from Logitech's website rather than using the CD).
The image quality is as good as any other camera in the price range, but it operates better in low light conditions than most. The face tracking is a neat little feature but I don't end up using that often. From my experience, it seems to work by tracking the area in the frame that reflects/emits the most light. This generally works, but it also means that the cam is sometimes confused by bright areas (like overhead lights) so it tends to gradually shift higher and higher until it's pointing near the ceiling and you have to reset it to its "home" position. I still think its functionality is useful even if you don't let it auto-track your face because it allows you to pan and tilt the camera quite a lot without having to take your hand off of your mouse.
To tell the truth, the biggest reason I probably purchased this particular camera was because of the way it sits on the stem. I don't like having the camera in a high position (like on top of the monitor) because then it just looks down on the top of my head at a weird angle. I don't like it down on the desk because it creates another odd angle looking up at me. When it's on the stem it brings it up to just below eye level, which is about the perfect height for using while on the computer (like while instant messaging).
Is it worth the money? You can get a pretty good camera for less. Even the same Logitech webcam without the stem and pan/tilt stuff (the QuickCam Pro 4000) costs about $30 less... but having those features was worth the extra cost to me.
2 It's a Little Finicky, but not a Bad Camera
This is my first webcam and I bought it at Sam's club. The first one I bought must not have pleased its buyer because it was a return and the software was missing. So, I took it back and got a new one. I have to say that it did not live up to my expectations immediately. I bought several new items at the same time and needed a USB hub to get them all installed. My first problem was with the hub. For some reason, there were problems with the items plugged into the hub getting recognized, so with a little trial and error, I finally decided to plug the camera directly into the computer and that solved that problem, although the camera is not the only device that is finicky about where it is plugged in.
Now, the image quality is not spectacular, but I think it is good enough. The tilt and pan mechanisms work perfectly, but the face-tracking is not without some problems, but mostly it works pretty good. Lighting is the key. Sometimes, the camera gets confused and thinks the light in the kitchen is my face. Sometimes it focuses on a drawing of Chesty Puller in my living room, but if I get the lighting right and give it a little help finding my face, it follows me around pretty well as I swivel around in my chair as I talk.
I paid $110. for this camera, which I admit is a little steep, but despite some set up problems, it performs as advertised. Oh, I have had the camera for about a month and I am not a computer wizard. I give this camera four stars. It isn't perfect, but neither is anything else in this world, but if you give it half a chance, it will do what is supposed to do and impressively so. Also the camera can be controlled with the mouse so that even if it gets lost or is little slow catching up, you can give it a little nudge.
3 Great Webcam
I'v been using this cam for almost a year on my Win XP Home Edt. PC. Set up was super easy, I got the cam hooked up in 5 minutes.
Video quality is excellent, even under dim light conditions; so is the picture quality. I'm using the cam with both MSN and Yahoo Messenger- works perfectly. People tell me the video quality is superb and streaming is very good (I'm on a highspeed cable connex).
I never had any probs with either the zoom or the pan/tilt function.
I give it 4 stars b/c face tracking is indeed flawed and needs improvement. I don't use this feature though.
Overall this is a great product and worth the purchase.
4 Just got my money back at Sam's Club
I read all the reviews and decided to gamble on the Orbit. I assumed I would have problems with it and I was right. I'm quite an expert adding equipment to computers but it took me about three hours to get my Dell XP to recognize it and it would go through it's demo motions just fine but little else. Then it lost it's vertical motion. It never had the face recognition ability. I tried everything I could think of but I could only get it to move horizontally. I followed the instructions to the letter and I tried their help center which leaves a lot to be desired. Finally I downloaded new drivers which took four hours (26500 modem speed) and nothing changed. It's now back at Sam's Club in the reject pile. I never had a webcam before and I decided today I don't think I need one. At least not until someone makes one similar to the Orbit that really works. I figured it was just too good to be true. Wake up Logitech!!!!
5 Windows 2003??? LOL
You just answered your own question as to why you couldn't get it to work.
6 Doesn't work on Windows 2003
Don't buy this if you using Windows 2003. The SUnMapLS_IP_EBP_16 error will kill you.
7 Great Idea - Crappy Attempt
Well out of the two Orbits I bought, one last for about a month working perfectly, then it quit panning. The second I bought to see if it was a fluke didn't work right out of the box. I think this product is a little to complicated for what ever 3rd world country is assembling them. I say save your money and pass on this one.
8 This is a GREAT webcam
I dont know what are all those bad comments about this webcam I've just bought it and its working perfectly, perfect image quality, perfect instalation, no problems at all, my recomendation, buy it! it can looks expensive but absolutely worth it!
9 options limited
I do not recommend this camera if you have a Macintosh. Software installation is painless, camera assembly is painless. Then the pain begins. As fas as I can tell, the face tracking feature, and even just the simple tilting of the lens, is not available through the Mac interface. So what's the point of spending so much money if the software doesn't fully perform on a Mac? I also found the image quality more grainy with more adjustements necessary than the Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks.
The camera base, I felt, is unnecessarily big and heavy, takes up a lot of space. The USB cord is outrageously long, and you'll get tangled if you have no place to hide it. Overall, I expected the camera to be smaller and lighter from looking at it in the box.
10 Quality Control Problems at Logitech
An odd fact: Ever since the "Made in China" sticker made its way onto Logitech products, their quality has gone downhill.
I used to be (and I still am to some degree) a big fan of Logitech products. They always seem to come up with the best ideas, both in design and functionality. I noticed, however, that their latest products are absolutely unreliable and poorly built.
QuickCam Orbit is the latest example. I got it at the local store, having read all the great magazine reviews, and couldn't wait to try it on my PC.
Installation was fairly straight forward. First thing I noticed was great image quality. QuckCam Orbit clearly beats every other webcam in that category (to the best of my knowledge). I then decided to try the much talked about face tracking technology, and that's where the problems began... The poor thing could not tilt vertically no matter what I tried.
I went back to the store for an exchange and insisted to try it on their computers before buying. Guess what, the sales rep went through 2 of these cams before finding the one that works properly!!!
This is my second bad experience with the latest and "greatest" Logitech product, and there is only one thing I can suggest. Whenever they come out with something new and good looking, wait at least a few months before shelling out your hard earned cash for it. Look at their support forums at www.logitech.com. Read Amazon reviews (do not trust magazine reviews!!!).
In other words, do your research so that you don't end up wasting your time and money.
Advice to Logitech: Improve your quality control or you will soon start losing your reputation (and customers) faster than you can say... "move-your-production-plants-the-hell-out-of-China".
11 Plain doesn't work
I cannot reccomend this camera at all. I didn't buy it from Amazon, but I've been searching around the web to see if there were other people's reviews (to see if they have the same problems with it). The "only" problem with the camera is that the pan/tilt mechanism is completely broken. The camera won't move half the time and it's pretty much stuck all the way in the down position so it won't look at my face. I think I'm just going to go and replace it with a "cheap" $40 camera. This is a useless, $120 piece of garbage and Logitech should be ashamed.
12 Some work, some don't
I ordered 15 of these cameras for my workgroup. Out of the 15, 3 had problems with the pan/tilt mechanism. Logitech has a 2 year warranty, and is pretty good about sending replacements. I just wish they would get a little better with their QA process.
13 horrible
what seemed like a wonderful idea - new and advanced.. has turned out to be a thorn in my side - and left me with trying to find a new camera.
the good side - is the picture quality is state of the art.
that is all.
after the first day - the face tracking stopped working.. and now the entire camera wont tilt upwards. for now, its sitting on books.
a total waste of money. - i had the first Logitech series cam they had out.. and it worked like a champ - and still does.. however now its too obsolete to work with XP.
14 If I could give this a zero I would.
I can't review the product itself because I could never get it to install, but I will review the installation.
If your computer has a SiS or VIA Chipset I would recommend you not buy this thing. The instructions say nothing about having a problem with these chipsets and as for the instructions, they are typical instructions for products these days, none existence. The same for the live support, a real joke...
Buried in Logitech's Knowledge Base I found that if you have one of these chipsets you have to reconfigure your computer to what I would equate to standing on your head and trying to drink water. If you don't know what I am talking about when I say SiS and VIA chipset, I can just tell you that these are two very common chipsets used with USB.
I also tried to install this thing on three different computers and it didn't work on any of them. The first two computers had either the SiS and VIA chipset, but the third did not and it still didn't work on the third one. Five hours of wasted time later is when I decided that it wasn't worth my time to fool with this lousy installation and I returned the product.
Logitech's lost not mine...
15 customer deception
Logitech pro 4000 camera does not work with AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) in the most unbelievable deception that a buyer caught unawares may have to face; never had so many problems with a piece of hardware (crashed a 4-yearold laptop through audio incompatibility)
16 Logitech Quckcam Orbit Problem Fixed Tilt Pan
I am a seasoned pc user, I found the features to be great. The problems started as soon as I installed the camera though. First I plugged it in... Windows XP didn't find any drivers. I unplugged the camera and installed the software from Logitech (newly downloaded of course). I always chuck the original cd, newest drivers are always on line. The computer restarted and locked up (Windows XP). Turns out this camera likes a powered usb hub, I moved it to the powered hub. I restarted again and all was working... BUT
Using the pan and tilt features I found the camera only moved a smidge at a time, although the demo had the thing zipping around freely. I read that the software should be reinstalled, NOT... after the uninstall process Norton 2004 password manager crashed. I reinstalled the software and had the same pan and tilt problem, but Norton was alive again. It dawned on me that the data transfer must be intensive and I switched the usb connector from the 1.1 hub to the 2.0 card (guess that's what the long cable is for, NICE, my computer is in the closet). Now it works PERFECTLY, I am IMPRESSED and I will keep it!
17 just wouldnt work with win xp
windows error claimed that this cameras logo wasnt certified by microsoft so to procede with install would jepordize system stability. then it kept asking for a driver that i had installed. so bottom line is it never would work. i tried it on an intel and amd machine both late models with win xp and niether worked. this is the second logitech camera i have had similar problems with and will probably not buy from them again.
18 Don't waste your time
My three year old Intel camera has a much better picture than this thing, MUCH. Even if they included better software, like an activeX plugin so it could be controlled from a web page, or a webcam server package, anything!, I would still return it because of the poor image quallity. I didb't even try the face tracking as what use would it be it the picture quality was worse than my old camera. Construction is good with an 9" extention pole and a long USB cable. Software install was buggy at best.
Save your money for a real pan tilt or buy a higher res one for the same price.
19 Not Ready For Prime Time
I installed this camera several times following the instructions to the letter. Using the Camera Control, it will only rotate about 50 degrees instead of 180 degrees and only tilt about 35 degrees. It I click on the demo button it will rotate the full 180 degrees and vertical tilt of the full 60 degrees. In addition, the Home button works fine. I have read everything on Logitech's web site and found other people complaining too but no answers.
I returned my camera for a full refund after the response from Logitech was "If you determine that your device is no longer functioning correctly, the fastest form of exchange is through the point of purchase (POP). Most resellers will offer an exchange or refund option for a limited time. Please contact the POP for available exchange options."
They did not acknowledge that they have a problem, so I will look elsewhere.
20 Picture Clarity is great
This is a very good webcam, perhaps the best out there. Set up was simple on my Fujitsu S Series laptop running the most recent version of XP Professional. I just loaded the CD, connected the webcam to my USB Port and I was up and running. I'm using a 801g wireless Router and going at speeds of 108kbps. With a minimum amount of light, I get real great picture clarity. On Yahoo Messenger, I'm getting 320x240 pixels, as adverised and a frame rate of .80 frames a second. The quick capture program which allows you to take pictures is of very high quality.
The only thing that was a little nerve racking in the set up was that I had to pull the camera real hard out of the base in order to connect it to the stand. I was afraid I was going to break the camera by pulling it this hard; but that was the only way to detach it from the base.
I only give this 4 stars because I think the face tracking feature needs to be improved. For instance, when someone else comes in the room, the camera moves to track the face of the other. Moreover, I find that I have to go back into the settings every 5 minutes or so and recenter the camera to track my face when I enable face tracking.
I've been using it lately without enabling face tracking and it does an excellent job as a regular webcam and does not make any noise like it does with face tracking enabled. I can move the webcam in any direction I like by going into the settings and using my mouse or cursor. This webcam is very easy and intuitive to operate. It is a little pricey but it is of high quality. I've decided to keep it. Hopefully, logitech will come out with new drivers to improve the face tracking feature. But even if they don't, this webcam is still very good.
21 Not a full videoconferencing solution for a Mac
A friend bought this camera recently, and tested it with
Yahoo Messenger both on a PC and a Mac (iMac, with Mac OS X 10.2.8).
The camera was bought primarily because the text promised
the camera's usability undr Mac OS X in rather stronger
text than the text on other Logitech cameras in the same
store.
Well, our impressions are mixed. On the other hand, the
camera did indeed work on the iMac: video communication
in Yahoo Messenger (including cross-platform communication
with PC users) was possible; taking still picture was
possible as well, with the QuickCapture application that
was supplied on the CD. The video image apearance on the
Mac was worse than on a PC (looked kind of grainy, sort of
like a 1920s movie), but perhaps that had more to
do with the fact that the lighting at home, where the Mac
was, was not as good as at the office where the PC was.
On the other hand, it appears that the teleconferencing
programs that can be used on the Macintosh platform with
this camera, AND can be used for cross-platform communications
are just too few and too poor. The Yahoo Messenger 2.5.3,
which we downloaded from yahoo.com,
supports video communications -- but, surprisingly enough,
does not support voice communication at all! And the current
version of the MSN Messenger for Mac does not appear to have
any webcam or voice support whatsoever. (We have not tried iChat,
as we beleieve it is mainly desaigned for Firewire cameras.)
Although this situation is not specific for this particular
camera, this is something that potetntial camera purchasers
should be aware of.
22 Doesn't Work On XP Computers
If you run it on Win 2000 computers, its awesome. You can pan and tilt across a whole room manually or let the face tracking software track you during a video conference. The face tracking works very well as long as you don't have too noisy of a background in the room to confuse the camera. If we all ran Win 2000 machines, I'd rate the product a 4 star!
Unfortunately, the product doesn't work well on my New Dell Windows XP machine and a few other people have reported a similar problem on XP machines. The range of the pan and tilt seems to mysteriously only be about 20 percent of full range. It looks like a softare problem. If Logitech fixes this bug, we're back to 4 star all around.
To get a 5 star rating, Logitech would need to include some more useful software like motion detector software, and the ability to control your camera remotely via the web. As it is you can only control it locally at your PC.
23 Please note that USB 2 here does not mean USB 2 high speed!
This is not mentioned online anywhere, but I've seen the box first hand and while the camera will connect to a USB 2 port, it does not function at the USB 2 high speed, rather it works only at the USB 1.1 speed. I believe this means that you are NOT going to be able to do 640x480 at 30FPS. Otherwise the resolution specs are nice and it's probably a good camera. As long as you aren't fooled into thinking that it's a USB 2 high speed device and expect too much, you will probably not be disappointed.
