Rapoo XW180 Review & Test
What’s In The Video?
A review and test of the Rapoo XW180 / C260 budget Full HD webcam.
This camera has two different model numbers for the US and European market. I’m not sure what the differences are between them except maybe flicker reduction set to 50Hz rather than 60Hz. The two are identical to look at and appear to be exactly the same camera.
Almost everything in the video is recorded using the XW180 so you can get the best idea of how this looks and sounds.
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XW180 Review
Let’s take a brief look at the pros and cons of the camera. It’s better for me if you watch the video but if you don’t have time to watch or you just prefer to read reviews, I hope you can still get an idea of whether this is the right product for you.
Pros
Low price. Although the RRP of this camera is £40, you will have no problem picking this up for around £25.
Simple to use. Having no software to configure makes this very easy for anyone to use. Just plug it into any PC or Mac and you’re off.
Image quality is excellent for such a low price camera. Colours are a little under-saturated but they are accurate and the camera is quick to respond to changing light and colour conditions. Check out the video to see this for yourself.
Low light performance is surprisingly good. The camera maintains a good framerate and usable image in extremely low light conditions.
It’s small and compact. It looks larger online because the design is so similar to other webcams but when you take it out of the box, it’s much smaller than you imagine.
The ball & socket joint on top of the camera allows flexible positioning.
Good quality metal tripod 1/4 20 thread means you can attach this to a desktop mini-tripod or even a full size tripod if you really needed to.
Rapoo XW180 next to Anker C300
Rapoo XW180 is much smaller than you think
Cons
No software to adjust settings to suit your taste.
USB cable is fixed. I prefer webcams where the cable can be removed.
USB cable is too short (about 1.2m). It needs to be 2-2.5m long.
Field of view might be a little wide for some (privacy issue) and can’t be reduced.
Fixed focus. If you want to show an object close to the camera, it will be out of focus.
The webcam shows on the computer as a Cybertrack H7. Not a deal-breaker but it could be confusing for some users.
Rapoo XW180 still uses a USB-A connection. Probably not a problem for most.
Conclusion
This webcam is much better than I was expecting. It doesn't have any fancy features or software. It's just a basic plug-and-play webcam. The image is great though. Good quality and surprisingly good low-light performance. For twenty-five pounds, this is a bargain.
Let me know what you think of the camera in the comments below or on the video page. Feel free to ask me any questions about the product. If I know the answer, I will try to respond within twenty-four hours.