Cop Cam Review: Wireless Security Camera

Cop Cam is a wireless surveillance camera that is smaller than a square inch. Does it really work? Here is my Cop Cam review.

Where to Purchase

As of this April 2024 update, Cop Cam is no longer sold. You may be interested in this popular alternative on Amazon.

About Cop Cam

Cop Cam is a small security camera that supposedly records HD video. It also includes a motion sensor and a microphone for recording audio. The official product website is buycopcam.com, which was registered in April of 2018. The screenshot below shows how the product website looked in September 2018. Although the website was active as recently as June 2020, I noticed that it was offline as of September 2022.

Claims & Features

• Can be hidden almost anywhere (small and wireless)
• Records high definition video and sound
• Includes motion sensor
• Quickly uploads to computer
• Covers double the area of an average camera (up to 140° of space)

Cop Cam Review

Cop Cam is a wireless security camera that is just under an inch in diameter. It features one-touch operation, along with video and photo modes. It records audio and video, and also includes night vision and motion detection capabilities. There is an 8 gig micro SD card included, which I estimate to hold roughly 80 minutes of video (which will vary). The video is looped, which means if the storage fills up, it will go back and record over the earliest video shot.

Charging

After opening Cop Cam, the first thing the instructions tell you to do is charge the device. Although that should be straightforward, I found the charging to be one of the most confusing aspects. That’s because if you charge it on a computer (via the included USB cable) or plugged into an outlet, you’ll see two different sets of charging indicators. For example, when you charge it through your computer, the lights on the Cop Cam alternate red and green. When you charge it in the wall, the red light blinks on and off. When finished charging, the lights turn off when plugged into a computer or via an outlet. While charging from the wall, the Cop Cam records video the entire time (which I find strange), but when charging on the computer, it does not.

Motion Detection

Once you’re done charging, it’s time to do some filming. I tried a few tests out on my patio where I placed the Cop Cam on an old grill in hopes of catching my dog Bailey as she roams in and out of the house. The first night I attempted that test, nothing recorded at all, even though I confirmed the red light was on as I set it down. I attempted the same test again the next day, making sure that the Cop Cam was fully charged. This time, it turned off rather quickly – while Bailey was moving around in the camera’s field of view. It eventually turned back on from motion, but by that point, I had been playing with Bailey for about 2 minutes, right in front of the Cop Cam without the motion turning on. For my third motion detection test, I left a fully-charged Cop Cam on my patio for 11 hours while I left the house. It only seemed to stay on for about 30 minutes before turning off completely.

Here are a few scenes from my Cop Cam review that will be online tomorrow morning. If you think the night vision shot is disturbing, wait until you see the video! #asseenontv pic.twitter.com/wtLVjjLiBc

— Freakin’ Reviews (@freakinreviews) October 8, 2018

Operation

To use Cop Cam, you simply press and hold the lone button in order to start recording. I tried Cop Cam in a variety of settings, including on my dash, as a hand-held camera, and at night. I found that sometimes the colors seemed accurate, but other times everything had a pink or purple tint. When compared to my Sony RX100 V, it was apparent that the Cop Cam lacks any stabilization when used in a handheld environment. Further, the advertising states that Cop Cam has a 140-degree field of view, but it looks “zoomed in” compared to my camera and even my iPhone.

Other Concerns

A couple of other problems I noticed were with the time stamp, as well as the placement of the micro SD card. There is a time stamp on all video, and this is not addressed in the instructions. I could not figure out any way to turn it off or to set it, so my time stamp was always about 8.5 months off. A viewer on YouTube told me that, based on a similar device’s instructions, the way to set the time is to edit a text file on the device. How would consumers know to do this?

The placement of the micro SD card on the bottom of the unit also seems problematic because if you place it on a flat surface and then press the button, the downward pressure on the unit often makes the card pop out of the slot. That means you need to hold it in your hand and press the button before placing it in the desired location.

The instructions mention a photo mode, which is activated by holding the button down for two seconds. This supposedly displays a green light which confirms you’re in photo mode. I never saw the green light, however, as it always went straight into video mode. Holding it down even longer would turn the unit off, so the photo mode is not something I was able to test out at all.

The final issue I had with Cop Cam was that the files it created could not be read by my default Windows video player, nor could I import them into my video editing software to create my YouTube review. To view them, I had to use Windows Media Player, and to edit them I had to run them through a lossless video converter. It would appear that the AVI files created by Cop Cam use a codec that is not commonly used.

Overall, I believe Cop Cam is a great idea that has not been properly implemented. I hope the makers can fix some of these issues in future production runs in order to bring this closer to its potential. It has potential to be a pretty neat little device. I just seemed to encounter too many obstacles to get this to work the way I had hoped. To me, this felt more like a prototype than a finished product. I encourage you to not just take my word for it. Peruse the comments on Amazon to see what others are saying and you’ll probably find that my review falls around the middle of the pack.

There are, of course, numerous options in this category, such as this highly-rated mini spy cam that allows you to view it via your smartphone. You may also recall the Polaroid Cube, which came out several years ago and looks similar to Cop Cam. That item is no longer available.

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Your Cop Cam Reviews

Have you used Cop Cam or something like it? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Updated April 2024