Speco Technologies

[davis002]

I'm curious if anyone currently uses any CCTV equipment from Speco Technologies? Speco Technologies

One of our clients just installed some of their equipment, and i'm looking for opinions on the quality.

[integrator97]

Speco makes decent, reliable products. Not top of the line, but probably as good as anyone in their price point. Not sure about their DVR's though. And they do have some unique camera options.

[Robocoach]

One of our facilities had ordered a Speco PC based DVR, and had problems with it, even after replacing it twice. I had a vendor meet with the installers last week, and the unit was ultimately replaced with a different brand (non-PC based this time). The vendor stated they have had problems with the Speco PC-based units, but the dedicated-design style of DVR by Speco have been a lot better.

[integrator97]

PC Based dvr's

In general, my opinion of pc based is to try and avoid them. They're probably ok for the do it yourselfers, low end stuff. Otherwise, my opinion is a dedicated PC, not doing other stuff. Or the ultra high end, which probably has on site or close PC support, etc. Windows crashes.

Just my 2 cents

[Robocoach]

To clarify a bit...The Speco pc-based unit I referenced above was a dedicated unit, not a card installed into a whitebox PC. This particular Speco unit runs a version of WinXP Embedded customized especially for their application, and cannot be used as a PC in addition to its functioning as a DVR.

[MetzLyov]

As the saying goes “you get what you pay for”...

This product line is fairly cheap and do not expect too much performance out of it... They fall into “Second Tier” manufacturers level... and that is why their products are cheaper and have problems... They have their uses of course, but Speco product line is not ready for prime time...

[AISG]

I used the IR vandalproof minidomes from Speco - overall not bad. I don't know about their DVR line....

[CameraMan]

I would put them in the low end of the middle teir stuff. Some unique ideas, but serious quality control problems.

The last company I worked for (when I was an installer) used Speco cameras exclusively for about a year because they were cheapest. Well, you get what you pay for. I would say that 5% of their stuff was bad out of the box and a further 10% failed within the year. I only ever used three of their DVRS, and disliked the picture quality. Of the three, one HDD failed within the year, but who the hell knows if it was down to lightning or a power surge or what (the cheapass company I worked for didn't care to spend the money on surge protection or ground clamps). It had been at least three months from the time they had last tried to view recorded video to the time they realized that the record light wasn't on

[Rooney]

I agree with Cameraman, they are lower tier. We have had customers that had Speco equipment that failed within 6 months. That is why they called us. The previous installers would not replace or honor any warranty. For low end mom and pop or residential installation they may be ok. As long as it is understood that there is a good chance of failure within the first year.

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