LERWAY 3.5 inch 170 degrees Wide Angle Peephole TFT LCD Digital Door Viewer Doorbell Security Camera Cam

My experience with the Lerway, I received a unit which was scratched up in one area so I got a break in cost., Now for the nitty gritty-- we have glass window doors and live in a good neighborhood, yet I wanted complete privacy so a film was placed on the glass so no one could peek in.A method was needed to see who was at the door however and that's when I investigated various door viewers. Optical eye viewers in the door were my first choice, yet they left much to be desiredSo I contacted the original supplier of the Lerway viewer for some advice on the unit but I got no response.Figuring that that I didn't invest much in the Lerway , I decided to extend the original wires by about 18'' with good connections and using heat shrink tubing for insulating. Needless to say the extra wiring did not affect the performance.Now the method for my madness...I wanted to mount the camera eye perpendicular to the front door instead of on it. The reason I had was that the moldings on the inside of the door prevented the mounting of the monitor. Another reason was would have been the sunlight/ daylight aiming directly at the door and the camera. I tested this with my wife at the door until the most ideal location was found.The viewer couldn't show a decent picture when someone was facing the door. Backlighted subjects were just too dark for good identification.So after deciding that a side mounting method was the best choice I looked for various places to mount the camera and where the monitor would be terminating within the house. I began with a 5/32" carbide drill bit to prevent skating. After the hollow part of the cinder block was located the hole drilled. Then I switched to a 1/2" diameter carbide drill bit and... voila I could see through to the other side. A coat hanger wire was used to fish the wire through to the other side. Finally I used a chisel to enlarge the hole a bit for the thicker cable connections however it was no problem.About the mounting location, I want to add that the 170 degree wide angle lens covered a vast area which was part of the door and who wants to see the door. So the camera was installed about 2 ft. from the front door wall and this lessened the door being a large part on the screen. I suggest even a larger distance from the door wall will be better.The unit it self was fairly easy to mount, I had to modify a few things inside and out for my own satisfaction. The monitor backing plate was screwed on a small rectangular 3/8" thick wood piece with flat head screws. It was just bit larger in size than the monitor. This made it possible to screw down the plastic plate which came with the Lerway onto the wooden plate. The plate held the monitor in place. The batteries can be easily changed by pulling the monitor away from the wooden plate. As for the outside button/ camera part, it was mounted on a piece of oversize round black plastic. I'm delighted with the mounting location in and out.As for battery life the unit is still working well after 2 month's use of constantly testing and playing around with it.My wife checks the unit every day to see if we had any visitors while we were out. That's a great feature in itself. When the button is pressed the monitor rings with a two tone chime while a photo is taken and then within a second another repeat of the chime is heard.At night after the ambient light is too low, the lack of light will prevent any proper picture from being taken. This is when I switch the overhead light on for identification. It's not very bright this outside light so the photo is taken as a black and white.The bottom line is that the unit does the job well and we are delighted with it. I may just purchase an additional viewer as a spare, because such gadgets disappear after a while and nothing is repaired anymore these days, it's just thrown away.One item yet are the instructions, they are fair and better than nothing. I don't understand how a company makes an effort to build a project and then includes such poor instructions.

First off I want to thank all those folks on Amazon that answered my question as to whether or not I can take photos randomly without someone pressing the doorbell feature. Their answers helped me make the decision to buy this device. So again, thank you for making Amazon such a great website from which to shop. This little gadget does what it says it will do but not much more. When someone presses the doorbell button (just below the camera lens) a simple electronic chime will sound twice while the wide angle camera snaps a photo of the person at the door. If you want to take a photo at random you simply turn the unit on by pressing ON/OFF and a photo will be stored. I couldn't find any other way to snap a photo otherwise. After doing so a small camera icon appears at the top of the screen indicating that a photo was taken and stored in memory. I would have liked it better if you could first monitor the screen, line up the subject on the other side of the door and THEN choose when to snap the photo. By pressing the menu button you'll come across all the settings like Brightness, Contrast, Language, Time/Date, etc. While the screen is active you can press the UP or DOWN buttons to scroll through any photos taken and stored in the unit. By repeatedly pressing MENU it'll scroll down the list of settings whereas you can delete all the photos. It It's a simple device considering today's standards in electronics and I can think of a few ways that this model could have been improved. First, a mini USB plug to transfer images over to a laptop. I refer to a laptop because you could bring your laptop up to the doorbell cam and connect the USB cable instead of having to disassemble the doorbell cam to remove it. Or, make removal of the doorbell cam itself easier. The two plastic mounting tabs would soon break with repeated removal from the plastic mounting plate. As I stated before the ability to monitor the other side of the door first before snapping a photo would have been nice along with the option for recording video. The monitor turns off in ten seconds to conserve batteries. I would have like to see 30 seconds or an option to manually turn it off. I would LOVE to see an option for motion activation that could record photos and/or video in case the person on the other side of the door didn't press the doorbell. There's only an internal memory and the manufacturer claims the device can store 100 photos. I'd like to see a slot for a TF card for more storage capability. Summary; At most this gadget records a time/date photo of who was at your door when they activated the doorbell. Or you can turn the unit on when you hear someone at your door and it will record and store a photo of that person. Nothing more. While it's not much of a security gadget it serves to show what went on while you were gone. That may be all you need.