Choosing a tower/weather camera

[fergusonnn]

(Posted this a few months ago with no response.. and I forgot about it to be honest)

We are looking at putting a tower camera on our radio club's tower.. looking at a couple different options. A friend of mine uses the Ubiquiti G3 on his, but I'd like something a bit higher quality, and the ability to adjust the FOV, so I'm looking at PTZ options. Amcrest makes a couple different units and can be found on Amazon, one is a 2MP 1080p version for $289, and the other is a 4MP 1440p version for $379. Of course, we could skip the PTZ option entirely and go with an 8MP fixed camera with a 112 degree FOV for around $120.. but then we can't adjust to different positions if storms are coming in. (All of these options are IP cameras with POE capability, by the way)

Anyone else put up a weather/tower camera and have some advice?

[Scheer]

All I can say is that I'm starting to think MP ratings on cameras are fake... the last few I've bought were 2MP, 5MP, and 8MP. The 2MP looks the best. They are all Chinese Dahua and Hikvision OEM cameras, and the 2MP cost almost as much as the 8MP, so it could just be I bought a POS 8MP.

 

I'd watch eBay for used Axis cameras, even used you will end up spending $250 or so, but they are leagues better. My dad still has 480p Axis pendant cameras on his building and they look surprisingly good.