The errant disabling of the microphone in the first camera is resolved in the replacement camera.
I can confirm the above observation about G.726 compression vs. G.711, except that on both 2132Ls, G.711 introduces so much noise it is not useful.
The 2132L is being used as the primary camera in a flash flood/debris flow monitoring and warning system. Once past the numerous quirks that are going to be present in any device configured for a highly-specific mission-critical application, it is fair to say that camera operation and utility is nothing short of superb.