I have a logiteck clicsmart 510 that was less than $100.00. It has a small stand and is wired to the puter. You can unplug it and take pics at the cottage and then download to the software programs that came with it. It will take about 200 pics at high res. and 400 at low res or 45 seconds of video. You can also use it as a webcam using Yahoo messenger and other programs while talking to friends. Uses 2 aa battries. This is the only drawback. I would have prefered a rechargable battery with a docking station like a cell phone has. If you are using it only as a web cam you do not need the battries as it works off of the system power of the puter.
It has multiple uses such as a security cam. It has a motion detector and records any movement and shuts down if there is no movement. The software has all the features for resizing, editing and cropping of pics. There is also an e-mail program in the software to send pics to grandma.
There are a many sites that you can hook up to and watch other people as they watch you. One that comes to mind it
www.dwyco.com You can down load the dwyco software and watch the different rooms on the site. These include adult rooms 1, 2, and 3, lesbian, gay, and clean chat. At posting time this is a free site. If you are looking at the $30.00 to $50.00 webcams they are not as good. The quality of the glass lens's are not as good.
Just as a point of interest you can download the Dwyco program and just watch if you do not have a cam. You would be surprised at what some people do in front of the cam and it is world wide. Sitting in your own home you can watch a dude get blown by his wife in England if you want. But as usual it is overloaded with guys and any single woman get bombarded.
Dave