Spy Gadget Online.Ca is a distributor of spy gadgets located in Quebec, Canada.   They ship their packages in a discreet manner, utilizing SPonline as their return address.  Nothing else is mentioned.   Shipping is free for residents in Canada if total basket exceeds $200.  For the States shipping was $15 via UPS.

We ordered two of their devices, which was quite pricey, at $200 Canadian each (approximately $185 U.S)  They arrived as mentioned above in discreet packaging addressed to our office.  Most likely due to customs, our shipment took three weeks to arrive, so if you live Stateside be aware of this possible snag in getting your order.

Both pens were neatly packaged, containing a software disc, USB cable and a small manual.  The user manual we note suffers the same poor english translation as many other spy gadgets in this price range.  For $200 bucks, you’d think they could take the time to re-write this.  Moving along…

Video Quality

The spy camera pen records at 720P resolution and encodes in M-Jpeg format and saves in .avi.  At this price level, we expect no less then HD.  On playback, the recorded video was better than average, but not by much.   Resolution was sharp, but frame rate was disappointingly choppy.  Still pictures are another feature standard to this spy camera, limited to the same resolution of the video (720P) in the JPEG format.    Low-light quality left more to be desired, again most specifically because of the high price for these devices.  The CMOS sensor equipped in this spy gadget’s internals are more akin to a device   half its price.

Audio Ability

The spy pen is also equipped with an audio recording ability, with a mic capable of reasonable sound acquisition from a moderate distance.  Nothing special or negative to about these spy gadgets in particular, overall this feature was satifactory.

Memory and Battery

The camera pen comes with an internal 4GB of storage, which is capable of recording up to 3 hours of HD video.  Our testing revealed this to be accurate for the most part, actually recording about 15 minutes longer.    Lithium-ion battery charges within 3 hours and lasts for 3 hours which syncs well with the 4GB of disk space.

Operation and Software

The operation of these pencameras is no different than most.  Utilizing a top mounted button which is pressed in specific sequences, the spy pen initiates either in recording mode or still camera mode.  We found the reliability in our testing to be reasonable, and experienced only minor malfunctions which were easily corrected by resetting the device and staring over.   Overall the performance was solid, but again, given the price point of this device, it should be closer to flawless.  Software comes on a disc simply labled ‘Drivers’.  It installed simply and presented an extremely simple interface in which to manipulate certain options such as a time and date stamp.

Warranty & Returns

All products from this vendor come equipped with a standard 1 year warranty.  Returns, having to be shipped back to Canada, are a bit of a pain as you gave to go thrgouh customs twice, so factor this into your buying descion as well.