Anpviz5 Inch 4 in 1 CCTV Monitor Tester, AHD/TVI/CVI/CVBS Coaxial Analog Video CCTV Tester, UTP/PTZ Cable Test for 1080P/3MP/4MP/5MP/8MP Analog Security Camera, VGA DC12V Output Camera

This review is for the IV8W HD CCTV TesterWoah. This thing is seriously cool. It is a really impressive little tester! I was totally surprised by all it can do! Besides having definite "wow" factor, it has a very thoughtfully laid out design and a plethora of different cables and attachments that can help you perform technical diagnoses fantastically in an extremely wide variety of scenarios.It's very small, only about 4 x 6 x 1.5 inches with what looks like a 6.0" diagnoal screen. It's encased on either side by thick rubber bumpers. It feels solid, as if it could recover from a fall from a ladder or a cherry-picker fairly easily, but to prevent that from happening it includes both 1) a nylon carrying bag that fits all the cables and attachments easily, and 2) loops on both sides for a strap that's made to carry it without the bag if you need to, and either side can be configured to hang both width or length-wise. The strap is called a lanyard in the manual but IMO is way too thick to be called that, it's more like a small shoulder strap.In response to another user who said their unit stopped working because of battery terminal contacts being poorly machine-soldered, hopefully the QC on this unit has improved for their latest production runs. I opened up this unit and could not detect any poorly soldered contacts, but I also thought it'd be pretty easy to re-solder the terminals if they somehow get dislodged (it's easy to take apart and looks easy enough to service if neccessary).The unit uses dual 18650 batteries, which are high capacity and cheap to replace. One could very easily get additional batteries to keep with you in the field if recharding might be an issue. But that's likely not going to be necessary, given that each battery is approx 3000mAh, or the equivalent of a very large phone battery (!).There's an included (of course) 5v charger and a USB to Micro-USB cable (the charging port is Micro-USB) that charges the 18650 batteries inside the unit, but if you're like me you probably already have a Nitecore D4 charger, so you'd rather take the batteries out and charge them in that. That gets me to one little design quip - the battery door uses two tiny little screws, and I wish they had been a little bigger, or used a latch mechanism instead of screws. This is a pretty minor quibble, though.The first thing I did with the tester is test a camera, of course. I got 3 old 960H cameras left over from an upgrade at our restaurant and started with a PTZ camera. There's an RS-485 port and an included (of course) attachment for the leads with your standard screw posts. The attachment is high quality and the screw posts do not fall out when fully loosened.Sure enough, as soon as I set the tester to the proper baud rate and channel, the focus and navigation buttons moved the camera's lens position and focus, which I thought was really cool.Then I realized, oh wow, there's a 12v out on this tester, so I unplugged the camera from the wall wart I was powering it with and plugged in the included (of course) 12v camera cable, plugged it into the tester, and powered the camera straight from the tester (!). This is obviously totally awesome not having to have a separate power source for testing cameras while you're in the field. There's a LED indicating that the 12v powering feature is being used on the tester, as well. Very cool!Then I thought, "oh wow, there's HDMI on this thing, I wonder if I could use it for monitor diagnostics or to set up headless servers and gateways?", etc. so I plugged it into my laptop's HDMI port, flipped a little switch that toggles from camera testing to HDMI/VGA testing mode, and voila - my laptop's screen was mirrored to the tester!I was *really* impressed to see that the 1080p display was mirrored in the same resolution, and the text in my browser, although a little small, was perfectly legible, and the colors were well represented. It really does have a nice screen.But wait, there's more! There's an included (of course) UTP terminator dongle for testing network cables, so I grabbed a cable which I knew was good and threw the dongle on the cable and plugged the other end into the tester. Sure enough, the on screen display for network cable testing showed that all eight of the leads were indeed good. It's not a very comprehensive test AFAIK (one which shows reversed cable positions, etc.) but it'll scan for shorts without you having to carry another tester with you just for networks.There's even more things the unit can do that haven't tested. For instance, it comes with an included (of course) cable that has aligator clips on one side and stereo 1/8" connector on the other, so I assume it's for testing microphones (?). It has a little built-in flashlight that can be used to light stuff in a pinch. And it has a BNC out port with an included (of course) BNC cable you can use to test your legacy analog CRTs you might have wading around in your setup.The only thing I wish it could do that it doesn't is test IP cameras, but don't fret, there's another tester Anpviz sells for that.Speaking of Anpviz, their support has always been top-notch, their professionals are courteous and friendly, and their firmware is regularly updated and extremely reliable. They're definitely a joy to work with.

I have 2 houses with about 20 camera in total and they have problems at least 1x a year. Working on one of my systems today and this viewer really saved my back. With the ability to power the cameras and view them I was able to track down several issues and adjust the cameras viewing area. I wish I had bought this months ago.

Same as Several other brands, same product can be found cheaper.

I am very impressed with this product for the price. This is not my first CCTV monitor so I do have some to compare it to and from a value standpoint I am very pleased with it. My first impression was that it seems rugged and that it could take a drop which, unfortunately, will happen. The built-in stand is also very helpful. When I first turned it on I could not get it to detect a camera that I know is good. It took me a while but I figured out that if it doesn't detect a camera you can leave it plugged in and just turn it off and back on and that pretty much always fixed the issue so that is not a big deal. Once I figured that out I was able to get it to work predictably every time. While going through the menus I found that it included a network cable tester which was a nice bonus. I do wish the screen resolution was better but for testing and aiming camera's you really don't need higher resolution so that would not change my decision to purchase it again.One other side note, this unit includes a flashlight built-in which is nice but not a feature I see myself ever using. The only reason I mention it is the location is not ideal. When I was first using it I went to plug in the power cable to the device to power the camera and I wasn't paying attention and pushed the LED bulb and it popped back in the device. It still works but having it so close to a port that is used a lot and have it be so easy to push in is less than ideal. The only concern I would have moving forward is that now there is an opening into the case itself. Again, this is not a deal-breaker but had I known the bulb moved so easily I would have been much more cautious. I included a picture to show what I mean.Pros- Seems well built and rugged- Has a built-in stand- Is able to power the camera from the device- Includes a network cable tester- Easy to operate- The screen is easily viewable outdoorsCons- The resolution could be better- My box did not include a US power adapter- Sometimes does not detect camera- Flashlight bulb location

I bought it to help me troubleshoot the analog cameras that the previous owner left installed at the house. It worked great for that purpose, even providing power to the cameras.I also used it as an HDMI display for the Hikvision NVR during the initial setup.