Logitech is eyeing the significant middle ground between webcams and enterprise-level video systems with conference cameras like the Group ($999). The successor to Logitech's ConferenceCam CC3000e, it offers excellent sound and video quality for use in medium to large rooms, even if its specs aren't as robust as some competitors, including the Editors' Choice AVer VC520 Video Conference Camera System. It's still a great option for distributed workforces, as PCMag's far-flung team members found out during testing.

What's in the Box?

Unlike the more portable Logitech ConferenceCam Connect ($499.95 at Amazon) , the Group is designed to stay put on a conference room table. It includes a PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) camera, a four-mic noise-canceling speakerphone, and a connector hub. You also get a wall-mounting bracket, all the required cables, Velcro for cable management, a power adapter, and lots of international power plugs in the box.

The microphone on the Group reaches a 20-foot radius, while the AVer VC520 reaches 30 feet. Optional extension microphones that increase the Logitech system's reach to 28 feet are available for an extra $299, or as a bundle with the rest of the system for $1,249. You can extend the AVer VC520 with an additional speakerphone unit, but that will set you back an extra $399.99.

At 7 by 5.1 by 5.4 inches (HWD) and 1.3 pounds, the Group's camera is smaller than the VC520's, which measures a couple of inches deeper and weighs 3.3 pounds. But its footprint isn't as big as that of the Logitech MeetUp ($749.99 at Amazon) . The speakerphone measures 9.5 by 2.5 by 9.5 inches and weighs 2.6 pounds (so you'll want to allow some room for it on your conference room table), and the hub comes in at 3.8 by 1.3 by 2.9 inches and 3 ounces.

The Group shoots in 1080p at 30fps (frames per second), compared with the VC520's 1080p at 60fps. It sports a wider field of view, however, at 90 degrees (the VC520 captures 72.5 degrees). Panning and tilting are identical between both cameras, at 260 degrees and 90 degrees, respectively. The VC520 zooms a bit more (12x) compared with the Group (10x). For a super-wide angle suitable to smaller huddle rooms, the MeetUp is unbeatable, with its 120-degree field of view in 4K resolution and 170-degree panning, though it only offers 5x zooming.

While the Group's camera specs are identical to those of its predecessor, it adds face detection and five position presets, which are convenient if meeting attendees sit at set places. This feature negates the need to pan and tilt to capture regularly placed participants during recurrent meetings. That said, the VC520 has twice the number of presets.

The attractive speakerphone unit shares one cool design feature with the ConferenceCam Connect. The remote control conveniently fits into its chassis for storage. The Group's remote rests in the speakerphone, though, while the Connect's snaps in. The MeetUp offers no storage for its ungainly square remote (which we misplaced).

Simple Setup

Setting up the Group is straightforward, but a bit more involved than for the MeetUp. No setup guide is included; there's just a diagram on the inside of the product box, a reference card showing controls and connections, and the warranty and safety pamphlets. After connecting power to the hub, you need to connect the speaker and camera to it via USB 2.0 and PS/2 plugs; the color-coded plugs make it hard to get the connections wrong, and Velcro ties help keep the cables neat. You can also connect a laptop or smartphone to the speakerphone using Bluetooth.

The devices are compatible with Windows 7, 8.1, and 10, and with Mac OS X 10.10 or later. Once you plug the unit in, the camera and speakerphone come to life. The drivers automatically downloaded and installed on the Windows 10 laptop I used for testing.

Great Sound and Video

Autofocus with face detection performed admirably in testing, and panning is much more fluid than on the initial beta hardware of the Group I used, though zooming is still not perfectly smooth. The remote's buttons worked well in testing, though it is IR-based, so you need line of sight for it to work, unlike the MeetUp's RF remote.

The Group captures H.264 video with Scalable Video Coding (SVC) and UVC 1.5 compression to save on bandwidth, which sometimes results in a pixelated image. Using Windows 10's built-in camera app, without streaming video over a network, showed the Group to be capable of very sharp detail, and Skyping with a good connection also produced smooth video quality.

The sound from the speaker unit is natural and clear, on par with the VC520, as long as participants on the other end of the call are using decent mics. We tested the claimed radius of the speakerphone mic, and at a distance of 20 feet, remote listeners were able to hear my voice loud and clear.

Echo cancellation, double talk enhancement (which keeps one party from cutting off another while talking), automatic gain control (making soft-spoken folk more audible), and beamforming are built into the Group. That last enhancement uses the mic array to pick up the person speaking, rather than extraneous noise. I tested this by playing music in the room while using the Group; I positioned myself farther away from the speakerphone than the music source, and my voice still came through clearly on the other side of the connection.

Diverse Compatibility

As with the Logitech ConferenceCam Connect and the AVer VC520, there's no video-conferencing software included with the Group—in contrast to professional systems like Cisco's TelePresence and Polycom's RealPresence. Instead, it works as the video and audio peripherals for just about every video-conferencing service, including Adobe Connect, BlueJeans, Skype for Business, Vidyo, WebEx, Zoom, or whatever IP-based video-conferencing service you're using on your connected computer.

Before you can use the speakerphone's Call Answer and Hang Up buttons when using BlueJeans, Broadsoft, LifeSize Cloud, Vidyo, and Zoom, you need to first install a software plugin, available from support.logitech.com. Note that, since the Windows 10 Store app version of Skype doesn't support plugins, you'll have to install Skype Classic. Users of enterprise-level conferencing services like BlueJeans, Skype for Business, and Zoom get the additional ability to control PTZ from remote locations (again, after downloading a plugin).

You can also use the Group with Logitech's SmartDock ($699.97 at Amazon) . This is basically an embedded Surface Pro that acts as a permanent hub for a conference room, and uses the Skype Room Systems control software.

Perfect for Your Group?

The Logitech Group boasts sharp HD video, full sound, and a microphone with a 20-foot radius, making it a good fit for use in medium to large rooms. And it offers superior value compared with traditional business video-conferencing systems, which can come with five-figure price tags. The camera's PTZ functionality is a smidge less smooth than the Editors' Choice AVer VC520, which also sports slightly higher specs for the same price. For smaller conference and huddle rooms, the Logitech Meetup is another Editors' Choice. But the Group is an admirable alternative for far-flung teams looking for a reliable conferencing system to stay in touch.

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