It's not cheap to store and access your past video footage, but the Dropcam HD surveillance camera is worth the price for its ease of use, great image quality in bright light, and decent picture even in the dark of night.

The Dropcam HD is a marked improvement over the Stem iZon Remote Room Monitor. However, it's far more conspicuous, and having to pay a monthly fee to record intruders gives us pause. Home owners and small businesses who can foot the bill will appreciate the greater level of detail and versatility.

The Dropcam service is certainly easy to use, and there are handy sharing features, which allow you to send clips and images to others ... but it’s an expensive way of doing things. In the end, you pay for the privilege of Dropcam’s simplicity.

$149 for an IP camera that constantly sucks up a good chunk of your Internet bandwidth, doesn't allow you to tune that or any other settings and charges a minumum of $10/month to save even a snippet of video doesn't seem like a very good deal, no matter how sexy its user interface.