$129
The Obsbot Meet 2 may be the tiniest 4K webcam I’ve ever seen. Mounted on your laptop or monitor by a magnetic mount, the Meet 2 delivers surprisingly solid quality for such a tiny device, though the company insists that a stick-on privacy shutter is more effective than a flip-over lid.
The camera comes in three different colors: gray, white, and a faintly metallic “aurora green,” and can either use the Windows settings for camera controls or Obsbot’s own utility software. Inside the box is the webcam, the mount, and a USB-C to USB-C cable that stretches a very generous 4.5 feet. (Obsbot also tosses in an USB-A adapter for older laptops.)
The Meet 2 offers up to 4K (30Hz) at the top end, with various lower resolutions (including 1080p, at both 60Hz and 30Hz) as you step down. The Meet 2 features what’s known as Phase Detection Auto Focus, or PDAF, a very quick way to pick up and focus on your face. The Meet 2 also does a stellar job of cropping into your face, providing up to 4X digital zoom, which is more than what you’ll need for a standard video call.
I’m not a huge fan of the Meet 2’s mini-magnetic mount, though it does have one advantage that other webcams do not: Three out of the four sides of the webcam are magnetic, so the webcam can sit in landscape mode or rotate into portrait mode simply by picking it up and repositioning it. The magnetic grip is strong enough to hold the webcam tight on the mount when connected to a monitor or fixed display, though you’ll have to be mindful of its grip on a laptop: Moving it quickly around might cause it to wiggle or even fall.
Some webcams use an angled “jaws” mount, so that the webcam sits flat and a hinged jaw supports it by leaning back into the display. In this case, Obsbot added an extra “lip” or flat surface to the top of the mount, upon which the Meet 2 magnetically attaches. It works just fine on a desktop monitor or display.
On a laptop, though, the weight of the cable always threatens to yank the webcam off, especially as you’re orienting it for the first time. It’s a weak point. The Meet 2 camera itself also includes the standard threaded hole so that it can be screwed into an external mount, if that’s your preference.
In part, the fragility is a consequence of the webcam’s small size. It only measures 1.78 x 1.4 x 0.87 inches and weighs about 1.5 ounces.
Again, I’m not a huge fan of the privacy protection, which requires you to snap on a small privacy cover that’s held magnetically. Of course, you can also lose the privacy protector, too, if you put it down and it disappears into the clutter. You’re probably better off sticking it to the side of the camera itself, or underneath the mount. That worked well.
Windows can be used to control the webcam itself — complete with upcoming controls for pan and tilt — or you can use the Obsbot software. Previous Obsbot webcams, like the stellar Tiny 4K, used a swiveling AI gimbal to literally follow you around the room. The Meet 2 is fixed, with no pivot points for it to do that. But it can use the 4K resolution to crop and zoom and “follow” you as you move, or accommodate either tight shots on just you or a group of people in frame. Here, it really can’t do too much beyond what even Windows’ “panning” capabilities can handle.
Obsbot continues to offer one of the most sophisticated software utility packages of any webcam I’ve tested, and the company puts an amazing amount of work into the various options. The only hitch is that the Obsbot Center control software might not allow you to preview any changes while another Windows app that uses the camera is open. Obsbot Control isn’t necessary for the camera to work, and the package is 450MB by itself. But it lures you in with its convenience alone.
Samsung began offering “beauty” options ages ago, but Obsbot provides them by the truckload: options to slim your face, add virtual blush and eye shadow, adjust the position of your nose, even rotate your eyes. Want your eyes to sparkle? Obsbot’s software allows you to do that. Filters? Of course. There are packages for both women and men, and that’s not even including the tweaks you can make to your virtual appearance while standing up.
About the only deficiency I found is that the software seems to be packaged for all of Obsbot’s cameras, so certain functions (like the gimbal on Obsbot’s Tiny cameras) are there but unavailable. I also wasn’t able to force the webcam to lock on or zoom in using gestures.
Yes, it does sound like overkill. And it is, in places: You really don’t need to dial up the “smoothing” features unless you want your face to look artificially young. Accept yourself for who you are, even if this webcam encourages you to touch things up here and there.
Inside the Meet 2 is a 1/2-inch CMOS sensor and ƒ/1.8 large aperture — perhaps not the most powerful in the industry, but capable of delivering great visuals nevertheless. The camera did a very nice job picking up my face, lit with my monitor and some ambient light down in my office. Just tweaking a filter here and there improved it even further, perhaps indicating that AI has a future in webcams.
I turned off all of the assistance in shooting photos, however, as I normally do.
Upstairs in my living room, lit by all natural light, the Meet 2 also performed well. I figured that while my sofa pillows did a nice job conveying colors, a more unified color card would be a better solution. Everything looks good, to my eye.
I didn’t notice as much difference as I thought I would between the 4K and 1080p resolutions. I liked how this webcam made me look just using the 1080p, 60fps/Hz preset. I’ve always been a fan of zooming in a bit, and the sliding zoom controls on this webcam do an excellent job of allowing you to tweak things as you’d like.
Obsbot has a pair of of omnidirectional mics inside the Meet 2, and I thought they did a very nice job of capturing my voice and eliminating background audio. Since most people naturally focus on the image quality, the audio is where some webcams skate by with poorer quality.
Yes. There are two sticking points: the mount (fine for the camera, but a risk to be yanked off by the cable) and the lack of an integrated privacy shutter. Otherwise, the superb software package and controls, plus the webcam itself, more than make up for it.
The Obsbot Meet 2 may be somewhat on the pricier side for a 4K camera at roughly $100. You can go cheaper and still buy a 4K webcam. But I suspect that the Obsboot Meet 2 might make it into the ranks of PCWorld’s best webcams, even so.
Author: Mark Hachman
Source: PCWorld
Reviewed By: Editorial Team
