Yep this little beauty is certainly impressive for its low price tag, finished in a nice sleek black look, the clip element comes into play when you come to attach the webcam onto a TFT or LCD screen. You simply pull open the spring action clip and then retract to fit on top of your screen. Unfortunately our TFT screens casing was too large for the Webcam to attach, but luckily it has padded feet so you can place the device on top of most surfaces - which is good news for people who want to place the device on a CRT or desk.

The CMOS sensor goes up to 800 x 600 at 30fps (using software) and is coupled with a glass lens to improve picture quality. The initial focus is done manually from the front lens, but we have to say the picture quality was really good and worked fine even in low light conditions (automatically compensating as the light changed).

The USB cable supplied is only 1metre which was fine for Laptop use, but for Desktop PCs an extension cable may be needed to reach around the back of your desk.

The coolest aspect of the webcam lies with its 360 degree swivel mechanism, which makes it handy if you need to get somebody else in the shot or need to pan the camera up to the ceiling or to the side - you get the idea.

You get two pieces of software with the Camera, the most useful was the MyGuard Live. With this you can use the StarCam as a security camera, its simple to set up and use, all you do is place zones inside the image the camera sees and when an object passes into one of these preset zones, an alarm can be raised and an email sent to an address informing you of the potential security breach.

It even supports remote access, so you can use the software to tap into a camera from any location with internet access and a copy of MyGuard Live.

Finally your last piece of software is called Amcap, with this you can record videos/audio using the Starcam and save the results to an avi file. The recorded Avi file played back ok visually, but the audio quality from the built in mic picked up a lot of background interference, so we suggest you use a good headset mic instead.

Of course its main use is for Instant messaging programs and it worked fine on Skype and MSN - people the other end could see us no probs. What’s really cool is that if you delve into the settings options you can add special effects to your webcam session, such as placing a news paper cutting background or turning your image into an Emboss look - try it, you will be laughing your ass off.