I bought the Logitech Webcam C160 before a trip to the US so I could stay in touch with loved ones while abroad. I was, and still am, a complete novice at webcams and Skype. Logitech stuck in my head as a reputable brand and seeing as the majority of the webcams at my local PC World were Logitech I saw no reason not to get one!

£20 pounds in a brick and mortar shop, £14.46 online (at time of writing), the C160 is not an expensive investment. It is one of the more lower end Logitech cameras, with a resolution of 640x480 pixels. In laymans terms that's about the same as your standard definition TV at home more or less. Despite all the hype of HDTV, 720p and 1080i, there are plenty of pixels to have a normal conversation.

The camera comes with the standard selection of Logitech software which allows you to use the camera as a camcorder or to take still photos. It's a nice touch but it's kind of useless seeing as how low the resolution is (your camera phone should be better!). Installation is a breeze, plug the camera in and run the installation CD and you should be up and running within minutes.

Attaching the webcam to your computer is simplicity itself, just adjust the intuitive bracket to fit the width of your laptop screen and you're away. This is a good feature really as you can attach the camera to a lot of other things as well, even just let it sit on the floor.

I already had SKYPE installed on my machine and it instantly recognised the C160, both the video input and the microphone. Making a video call is simple through skype and the quality of the C160 is great. I was expecting a grainy image of myself to appear but infact it was quite clean and perfectly legible for conversation.

The microphone on top works very well in conversation. I have a built in microphone in my car radio which is almost useless so I was expecting the worst. Fortunately this works brilliantly and my voice sounded clear and crisp on the other end.

As for build quality, it is average. The plastic feels quite flimsy and easily breakable. Some might say that this is an inherent problem with plastic components but I own several Integral products that feel like a Rolls Royce in comparison. A funny side note, a friend stood on the camera recently and it broke cleanly in half. I wasn't expecting it to have no problems whatsoever but just be warned, keep it off the ground!

Overall well worth the purchase as you get far more than the £14.46 would suggest.