Newegg has the Rosewill RCM-8164 True 1.3 M Effective Pixels 1280 x 1024 30/15 fps USB WebCam for $20 with free shipping. Features a built-in microphone and still images up to 3648 x 2736 pixels.

Link

Or make it a combo!
Newegg has 3 combo deals with this webcam for $19.99, meaning that you get one of these for free with camera at $19.99 shipped.

Combo deals Link below post:

Rosewill RK-7310 Black USB Wired Super Slim Keyboard
Rosewill RK-7300 Black USB Super Slim Unique Curved Design Full Size Keyboard
Rosewill RM-6500 3 Button RF Wireless Optical Portable Mini Mouse

"True 1.3 M Effective Pixels 1280 x 1024 30/15 fps"
"...and still images up to 3648 x 2736 pixels."

Still sounds to me like they're lying about the actual sensor resolution.
I'm willing to bet that it is NOT an 9MP 9,980,928 (3648x2736) pixel sensor.
That is TOTALLY MEANINGLESS BS, and the very fact that they try to deceive people with it is a
red flag to indicate they're trying to scam the clueless people that don't know any better.
What is an "EFFECTIVE PIXEL"? Usually it means it is a marketing fantasy where someone thought their
profits would be more EFFECTIVE if they padded the number of pixels by a factor of 4 or 10 to make it
sound like a better product.

Sort of like buying a car that has a speedometer labeled and working up to 300MPH even though the actual
engine and transmission max out at 70MPH but they sell it as "able to reach speeds up to 300MPH!" .. yeah if you
drive over the edge of a cliff maybe.

Stay away and buy a $8 webcam from DealExtreme or somewhere like that, chances are it will be no worse than this
thing that they feel they have to lie about its specifications in order to sell it.

If they were being honest they'd post good sample pictures and video clips from the thing on their web site taken in a variety of
realistic lighting conditions of realistic subjects on their web site and would show the actual chip data sheet of the sensor in the
camera so you can see the REAL specifications instead of their fake pixel BS.

QuixoticOne said:You're welcome. I didn't mean to be that harsh on the product quality -- it MAY be a decent working webcam with tolerable picture quality.
I've got a few various kinds that are similarly advertised..some suck, some are OK. It just infuriates me when the marketing is so full of lies and vague statements that you can never really tell what you're actually buying/getting. Unfortunately many/most webcam companies and some low end digicam companies love to do this BS.
Right up there with selling vacuum cleaners that have more "AMPS" and blenders that have more "WATTS".. Cameras having more "effective pixels" (e.g. faked by software interpolation). None of it tells you anything about the actual quality of the product, it is just meaningless.

I've been searching for a REAL 1.3, 2, 3, 4, 5, .... MP sensor camera for cheap, but I have pretty much given up trying to equate published specifications with actual real world sensor resolution or image quality, the marketing BS is too deep and they never bother to show you the actual specifications you need to make an informed decision.

Anyway light sensitivity, lens aperture / magnification / focus / depth of field specifications, fixed pattern noise, and a bunch of other factors contribute more heavily to webcam image quality than "pixels", so really it is a gamble to buy one never knowing what you'll get unless you have real sample photos / videos to judge from, and even then that probably won't answer all your questions.

cedarperra said:LOL thanks for the post. Remember though this is a $20 item, not at $300 digicam. I'm willing to bet most spent that much on dinner.

I apreciate the post, but the original didn't bother me. It was just funny because if one didn't see the price it appeared you were talking about a camera that was being sent on a Mars mission. Anyhoo after you buy this camera (and I know it's killing you not to) let us know of it's quality please. Thanks!

Cedar