Amazon and Pen CamerasReviewed by Admin on Feb 9.Rating:
We’ve received a number of emails of late inquiring as too the quality of spy pens found on Amazon.com and if we would recommend any. The short answer is no, and for the obvious reasons: poor to non-existent warranty, difficulty in contacting vendors directly (most are simply resellers distributing from Chinese manufactures) and of course, low low quality. Price as usual is the primary selling feature that dupes you into believing you’ve found a deal, and the Amazon brand name gives buyers a misaligned level of trust.
On our most recent attempt, searching Amazon.com for ”spy pen” or “pen camera” revealed results in the hundreds (around 500 to be more specific.) To be sure, some devices listed are alternate spy camera styled products (and less effective – we will be writing an article soon regarding the efficacy of different spy cameras in relation to professional usage) however the vast majority are indeed spy camera pens. The cheap products are flooding the market because the public keep getting duped into buying them. When they find out they dont work and cannot contact the original vendor for a refund, they make the same mistake and purchase a pen camera from another Chinese vendor. The cycle continues. We in the professional fields cannot risk our time or the clients money with devices of such low reliability and poor quality. As stated numerous times throughout our spy pen camera reviews, when you have one instance with which to record an all important moment, and there exists no guarntee for it to occur again, relaying on an inferior device is simply not an option.
With this logic, we again strongly recommend for Investigators and other professionals to spend the extra $50-100 dollars and purchase a top-tier level device. The extra initial outlay will be offset a hundred times over by the reliability, and consitency of product you can deliver to your client.
Typical no-name Amazon Spy pen
Amazon, as stated above is primarily a ditributer/shipper only, and does not ensure shoppers are buying a quality product. All one needs to do is do a search within the site and the vast majority of pen camera sellers have negative reviews, with shoppers lamenting the poor quality and reliability. It has been no different in our experience. (See SecuriX spy pen review, Encore Pen Camera Review, and DPS Spy Pen Review for some of are earlier camera pen tests). Amazon gets paid for each sale made from their website, as such it is in their best interest to sell as much product from as many vendors as possible. The site itself sells millions of various products and goods in hundreds of different categories, to believe they have strict quality controls with regard to each new vendor is to be sorely mistaken.
Buying a spy pen is not like purchasing an everyday camera, where you can rely on a brand name such as Sony or Cannon to ensure a certain level of quality (the SecuritySystems HD Spy Pen however is our current top choice for professionals and as close as we have seen to the consistency and product detail offered with major manufactures 10,000 times their size. In fact this particular camera pen houses a Sony Clearvid sensor.) In fact our original purpose with this website was to discover a standard for the professional industry as there is simply so many poor quality products being hawked through Amazon, Ebay and via online front shops.
If you have any questions regarding specific models, or any comments for that matter please email us at contact@spypenhq.com.
