Rating: 
Summary: Camera works great but forget about getting your rebate!
Review: I purchased this camera in July of 2001. The camera works exactly as described and is very good for home purposes. Unfortunately, the rebate which was a major part of the reason why I purchased this model still has not been paid. The customer service department at Kb Gear Jamcam was not very helpful. They continue to tell me it is being processed. I have recommended this camera to others to purchase and they too have never received their rebate. Good camera, but beware of the customer service.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth the Price
Review: This is a cool little camera for the price. It's not going to impress any professional photographers and can't really compete with a [price] hi-res digital cam. However, for the cost of a couple rolls of film you get a great little point and shoot. Bought this for my 4 year-old daughter for Christmas and she is having an absolute blast with it! She has even managed to take some pretty good-looking pictures. Pros: Simple to use, battery life is about like other dig. cams, decent picture quality, software is fair, unit seems durable. Cons: Serial interface is SLOW (USB is tolerable). You will definately want a memory card - the defualt 8 picture storage just isn't enough Also, make sure you follow the manufacturer's recommendations and use only SANDISK memory. I tried another brand first and it did not work properly with this cam.
Rating: 
Summary: Ouch!!!
Review: Do not buy this if you have Windows XP. I bought the camera for my children because it sounded perfect for them. I was fooled by the Windows XP downloads available on the products website. I spent 2 days installing, uninstalling, trying to contact the company, and searching their help database. Nothing worked. So I have nothing good to say. (Their phone number is disconnected.)When I bought the camera my expectations were low. I understand you get what you pay for. After all it was only for my kids to play with. But I did expect it to at least work. It failed at that.
Rating: 
Summary: Good starter camera
Review: Works fine for auction photos. Was looking for a cheap camera that would work for auction photos. This one is definitely acceptable for the purpose. Once you learn the techniques of working with available lighting and angles to reduce flash glare you end up with fast, easy pics to put up on your auctions without spending an arm and a leg to do so. I would suggest getting the extra memory card as soon as possible as at highest quality the onboard 2MB memory only holds 8 pics and at the lower quality it holds 28. I have only used the highest quality setting personally. Pictures are uploaded to your computer quickly and easily through the USB port but there is also a serial port cord included so you can use either. The software is really basic but sufficient for fast processing.
Rating:
Summary: Software doesn't work on Win 2000
Review: I think the title says it all.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely Not Recommended
Review: Don't buy this camera if you are running Windows XP. The driver updates from the Jam Cam website do not work and the company is no longer in business. Calls and emails to their tech support are not answered. My daughter got this camera for Christmas and we will definitely be returning it.
Rating: 
Summary: Lives up to expectations
Review: I bought this camera for... Xmas present for my 6 year old step-daughter. She is over the moon with it and so am I. The benefits of a cheap digital camera as a 'toy' for a 6 year old are obvious. Lots of fun, no more nagging to take pictures with my camera, no film to develop and instant results that really get the kid involved and wanting to go out and get better at taking pictures. She's hardly put it down since she got it, she now understands more about lighting and picking subjects for her pictures and in my book that gets it a top rating. In a few years' time she'll be ready for a better camera and she'll be much more likely to make full use of it when she gets one... As some... have suggested, play around with it for a little while before you decide it's worthless. Get to know what conditions it will and won't work in. It's not like this product will not take acceptable pictures under any circumstances. With the right lighting and a little patience it's possible to take some great snaps. I've already started borrowing it myself to take quick pictures to send to family overseas. I did have a little trouble installing the software at first, but that may have been because Win98 was already threatening to fall over on me at that time. After rebooting and starting over I quickly got up to speed. Other reviewers have stated that you have to use Jam's software to download the pictures, which is not the case. Once the drivers are installed it's possible to grab the pictures with any software capable of accessing TWAIN sources (Paintshop Pro for instance). All in all a great little product if you accept it for what it is--a... digital camera designed for kids, young teens or anyone who just wants to get into digital photography or be able to take snaps without the hassle involved with regular film cameras.
Rating:
Summary: JAMCAM - What you would expect
Review: Bought it for my 9 year old. Takes pretty good pictures. I am using it with Windows 95 sdo I had to use the serial cable-Which means I had to get a PS2 Mouse and open up a serial port - (this is described on the web page for jam cam. ) Once I did that it worked like a charm. I now need an MMC card just so we can download less often. A great camera for the price - Others in this price range do not give you a flash and must be used with more modern systems like Windows 98 or later. I'd do it again - a great starter camera for a low price.
Rating:
Summary: Help I can't get help
Review: This thing doesn't work with Windows 2000 and it's not listed on the Microsoft Hardware compatibility Index. Also, the number on the back of the manual is out of service. (...)
Rating:
Summary: JamCam + Windows XP = NIGHTMARE!
Review: I waited a long time to write this review, I've had the camera for about 4 months now. First let me mention the serious problems this camera has. Jamcam error with Windows XP. As the others stated they were having problems with Win2000 and drivers, WinXP renders this camera almost useless! I have downloaded the drivers for WinXp from the Jamonline website and installed them perfectly, still have serious problems just extracting the images via usb to my computer. After installing the xp drivers, I was able to make 1 download set of pictures from jamcam twain source! After that, I get an error. If you reinstall the drivers over, same error. You must uninstall the drivers, from the device manager (not the uninstall program) while the camera is connected (otherwise it will not appear in the device list). Then run the driver update, which tells you it is uninstalling again, then run the xp driver update a third time. Then you can download one set of pictures, and start all over again. This is VERY time-consuming.
Also I don't know whether the camera is broken or it is Windows XP but I am now losing several images with every download. If I take 30 pictures, I may only get 18-20 back. I don't know where they go, they're simply not on the thumbnail bar. I have not checked to see if this happens on Win98 or ME so hopefully it's Windows XP. The only other workaround to the problem with xp usb drivers is to use the included serial cable (com port), the transfer rate is VERY slow on this also. The pictures take about 40 seconds EACH to load via serial connection. But it works, however I still lose photos with this method. The camera is slow. It takes about 4-5 seconds for the camera to "think" before it's ready to take another shot, and a bit longer if you need the flash. It is also definitely not a fast-motion camera, you have to keep the camera steady and tell people to freeze or they will blur up badly. The camera is easily fooled into thinking the subject is well lit by ambient light, avoid taking photos with a window in the background or light source. It is possible to take decent pictures with this camera, for a 640 X 480 camera, the images are pretty decent most often. The flash does a good job, but you will end up overexposing if you take pictures with a flash close up. Internal memory is insufficient. You can take 8 pictures at "hi-res" with internal memory. Don't even bother using the lower "r1" setting to save space. You can pick up a cheap 16 - 32 mb MMC card along with the camera. MMC card memory prices keep getting lower. Sandisk is the most popular but a little expensive, I bought a Delkin Devices 32mb MMC for around $22. Don't believe the other review stating that MMC cards lose their memory, they don't. But as I stated earlier I do "lose" photos for unknown reasons. Battery eater. This is no surprise, all digital cameras eat batteries. It uses 9v batteries. Get a NIMH recharger and/or a cheap universal wall outlet battery adapter with 9v connector to power it while transferring images to your pc. Now for the positive:
For the price, this camera is definitely worth it. I suggest using (another Web site) to compare prices, there was a $30 rebate but I think that has since expired, and I never got mine. Bottom line:
This is a great kids camera, but also a capable camera for snapping photos for email etc. However 640x480 leaves a lot to be desired and I am going to move on to a 1.3 megapixel now because prices are lower now. If you do use it be sure to get extra memory and take 2-3 photos of whatever scenes you don't want to "lose". A 32mb MMC card will give you space for 130 photos on the camera so you can snap away (in 6 second intervals :)
DO NOT buy this camera if you use XP.
DO do some research for the cheapest price on the web. I will update this review if I figure out anything on the WinXp and lost photos problem.
| 
