Gear Head Quick WebCam Basic (WC330I) Review

While at my local MicroCenter, I noticed this cheap ($15) webcam being sold. It said nothing of Linux support, but I had read that in the past couple years there were alot of cheap Chinese-made webcams that gained support in Linux. I figured I'd give it a shot, and if it worked out, I'd pick up a handfull more for my ZoneMinder system at home.

Now, I should say that I run Windows XP on my work workstation, and I just wanted to get a feel for the quality of the cam before I did anything more with it, so I plugged it in and installed the drivers. I have to say before I go any further: The pictures speak for themselves...

Horrible. Muddy. Overcompressed. Dark.

The poor quality of this cam really just defies words. I guess what expect I'd hear after making these statements is "What did you expect for $15?". Something other than absolute crap I suppose.

Just in case you have further interest in this product and it's support in linux, the USB device ID is 093A:2460 and appears to have some sort of support in linux (http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/showdev.php?id=3144). If you choose to buy one of these, good luck with it.

I'll be returning mine as soon as possible.