If you must have a webcam, the Toucan Pro Streaming Webcam might be a good fit for you. Long gone are the days when you can just exist on the internet as a faceless neckbeard. We were a proud and happy people back then. But with Zoom meetings, social media, and other modern contrivances you may have to use a webcam. If I’m going to be forced to expose my face on the internet, then you can be sure I’d want to at least look my best doing it.
The Toucan Pro Streaming Webcam does have a bit of a high price point for for general use, but it’s well within the price range for casual users and might even be considered easily affordable by grotesque creatures like Twitch Streamers or dare I say it YouTubers.
Toucan Pro Streaming Webcam
Manufacturer: Toucan
MSRP: $79.99 USD
So I’m going to open with what’s possibly the least flashy part of the package, and that’s the mount. The camera comes with an L-shaped hinged mount and I have never seen one this good. The hinge is strong and stays in place and allows you to angle it no matter what shape your monitor has.
With the lip on the top, it can hang back, and then you adjust the L shape to push into the back of your monitor and keep itself flat. It sounds convoluted describing it but I promise it’s not. I had this thing unboxed and mounted atop my monitor in like… thirty seconds; and in the week I’ve had it there it hasn’t moved a bit.
In addition, the part of the camera that screws to the mount is attached to an arm. This arm allows you to tilt your camera up and down at your leisure, and if you’re a paranoid freak like me that means I can have it face down when it’s not in use. What I’d really like is some kind of flap or slide that can cover the lens when it’s not in use. In this day and age I feel like that should almost be standard with cameras; but with its vertical swivel I can get by.
The camera features 1080p resolution and 60fps; which is good, it’s good enough at least. 1080p is the new standard, but not many people go above that. I mean think about it? How many YouTube videos do you watch above 1080p? Anything less than 1080p almost feels unwatchable in comparison these days. So 1080p and 60fps is great.
The Toucan Pro Streaming Webcam can go up to 1440p, but it seems like a waste at the risk of stability. I’d rather have 1080p at 60fps than 1440p and potentially lose consistency.
Now, the cherry on top of this camera is its built-in omnidirectional microphone. This is another feature for casual users since it allows you to talk without a big stand-alone microphone; an accessory people who just need a camera for Zoom meetings won’t need. Meanwhile, it’s unobstructively integrated into the camera, so if you do have a separate mic you just simply don’t use the built-in one.
Ultimately, the Toucan Pro Streaming Webcam is a fantastic camera for the price, even if you don’t want to use the microphone. It’s easy to install, easy to use, has consistently good recording quality for the price. If you’re looking for a camera that’s good for every day and has the technical power to do a little bit of streaming for fun, then this is a solid pick. It’s a great beginner camera too if you’re going to try your hand at streaming and YouTubing.
