Logitech Rally review – a PTZ camera designed so meetings can make an optical impression

The Logitech Rally camera is a PTZ system which brings high resolution to the workplace meeting area, and is compatible with most conferencing systems, and is sold in a variety of packages by Logitech to bring speakers, connectivity and remote control to the meeting room. Which you choose will depend on your needs.

It is designed to work with multiple connection boxes, too – one hub on the table and another to plug into a monitor on the wall of your meeting room, to afford setup flexibility.

This has the potential to be one of the best conference room cameras, but is it able to meet that challenge – on its own or in one of its bundles?

Price

The Logitech Rally launched as a device alone at $1,299 / £1,299, and can be found at $1999 in its cheapest bundle with hubs to form a Logitech Rally system. The value proposition is bolstered by hybrid zoom, which smaller webcam alternatives can't yet muster.

Specs

Build and handling

There is a significant heft to Logitech's camera, which comes from the 5x optical and 3x digital zoom.

Use with the full Rally system, the camera integrates with Teleconferencing systems – Google Hangouts Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom – but be prepared to set that up or, more realistically, have someone in IT handle that.

The camera can automatically detect people at the start of meetings, but it lacks the AI capability to automatically track them if they're moving around, so it's not ideal for presentations (just zoom out if you're dealing with a walker!)

Logitech offer a wall-mounting plate, while the base of the device has a tripod thread for more temporary fitting. A nice touch is that if the ceiling mount is used, the image is automatically flipped.

The camera draws a lot of power, more than a standard USB-C cable (at least back when it was designed), hence the non-standard arrangement. That is a frustration for anyone hoping to deploy it as a streaming camera.

Sadly there is no PoE in the device – LAN can be connected to the table hub (alongside a USB and HDMI-in), while the display hub has HDMI out and connections for the speaker or speakers.

Performance

The camera uses a system called 'RightSight' as its AI, which frames participants in meetings, and 'RightSound' to filter out ambient and background noise and balance the sound between the louder and quieter meeting participants. That's good for the person at the other end as they should be able to hear the more mouse-like participants while not being overwhelmed by your shouty – er, over-einthusiastic – colleagues (you know who they are).

The camera can cope reasonably well with rooms that aren't ideally lit, thanks to its basic camera smarts, so credit where it is due.

Overall verdict

The Logitech Rally provides an excellent picture, but the value and the scattered tech of the system seems designed to trap you into Logitech's office supplies range with its proprietary connector on the base and range of associated hubs which result in a lot of cables and require more thought and planning than some meeting room camera systems.

Alternatives exist which can plug directly into a computer, without, and it's interesting to see that the next generation of this camera – if such the Rally AI can be considered – will also be adopting a more flexible approach.

If you're looking for something with modern AI that'll track people, look elsewhere. The motors are not quick and the default responses are slow when people are speaking.