Empiretech01 Reviews 3

I recently purchased the EmpireTech IPC-Color4K-X-S2 along with the PFA130-E junction box. I want to start by saying the camera itself is excellent—image quality, especially at night, is outstanding and clearly a step above typical consumer brands.

However, my experience with customer service—specifically around returns—was frustrating and disappointing.

After realizing I didn’t need the junction box, I reached out to request a return. What followed was several days of back-and-forth emails with slow non customer centered responses. Ultimately, I was told I would be responsible for return shipping, which was not clearly communicated upfront and came after multiple exchanges.

I understand that smaller vendors may not operate like large retailers, but the process felt unnecessarily drawn out and not particularly customer-friendly. A clearer, more transparent return policy, less pettiness over $9 in shipping, and more efficient communication would go a long way.

Bottom line:

Product quality: ★★★★★ (excellent)
Customer service / returns: ★★☆☆☆ (needs improvement)

If you’re confident in what you’re ordering, you’ll likely be very happy with the product. But if there’s any chance you may need to return something, be aware that the process may not be smooth.

Empiretech no refunds even for defective products. Andy sends one email per day. He drags the conversation long, writes short generic replies, and forget about calling Empiretech or talking with comeone. Worst of all, he does not want to pay for return shipping labels even when the camera is defective or the product page has the wrong information. He will apologize for it, but will never rectify the problem. Many cameras are good and well priced, some cameras are just crap or defective. You will never get your full money if you buy on their website.

EmpireTech PTZ425DB-AT camera review
I'm installing and have owned surveillance systems for 30 years. Over the years, I've tried several camera brands. At home, I have 16 cameras that continuously capture images on a Dahua XVR.
I have all the brands: Tapo, Dahua, Samsung, and Imporx. This latest camera is a PTZ with a 36x zoom and 5MP. It's been working for 6 years now, using an electric mast in the strong Quebec winter wind without ever failing once. It cost me $262, with impressive image quality day and night.
For the PTZ425DB-AT, it cost me almost $600. In 30 years, I've never spent so much time setting up a camera every day. For the past two weeks, I've been contacting EmpireTech-Andy to tell him that a bug has occurred...this camera has a lot settings that work randomly, it continually deprograms itself, and the PTZ function goes crazy and won't stop rotating, and the AI ​​function is really not intelligent. When you manage to connect to the website with the IP address, it's not always easy. In the ad, it's described as connecting to Chrome, Firefox, and... well, no, I manage from time to time on a PC, not all PCs, with Edge and an extension (open in IE). The cameras are not supported by browsers. The seller knows this well but avoids responding or plays innocent, and the SmartPss Lite program sends an image, but it's impossible to configure the camera.
I installed this camera very high in a tree, and if it weren't so difficult to get back down, it would be back with Amazon.
When I woke up, I deleted the 110 false alarms it sent during the night. The camera moved, but the detection zone followed all the cars that passed during the night. we set an alarm.
It's my most expensive camera that works the worst. A $100 TP-Link tapo works much, much better.
The PTZ425DB-AT camera is a Dahua camera with updates that Andy from EmpireTech performs.
And it's the only camera I own that's original Dahua and isn't compatible with the PTZ controls on my Dahua XVR.
All the other cameras work well with the XVR control for PTZ.

In summary, I really don't recommend this camera.
An Imporx camera is two to three times less expensive and works much better.