The 5 Best Outdoor Security Cameras of 2022 Reviews by Wirecutter

Table of Content

• Sustainability and outdoor security cameras
• Eufy Floodlight Cam 2 Pro
• Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera - 3 Pack - Wireless Security, 2K Video & HDR (VMC4350P)
• The best floodlight camera combo
• How the Eufy Floodlight Cam 2 Pro has held up
• The best cordless outdoor Wi-Fi camera
• Meet the new Arlo Home Security System.

Control multiple locations at once and quickly arm or disarm your system with one tap in modes. These cameras are worth every penny … Very impressed with the system and set up was easy. Get early access to special events and promotions, exciting new products, exclusive insider-only deals, and more. And finally, under Device Settings, you can set Privacy Zones, which completely block your neighbor’s property from view. This setting allows you to create a black box around your neighbor’s property so that they will never be filmed or even caught off-guard in a live view. We downloaded each camera’s app to an iPhone 12, an iPad, and a Google Pixel 7 Pro, when possible.

Also, it allows you to scan your property from the app, as well as adjust views and create set points you can save and access with one touch. All of the other floodlight cameras we tested require manual adjustments, which may not be fun if you are installing the cameras up high. Both the iOS and Android apps are easy to use, offering a snapshot of connected cameras and settings from the homepage. Clicking on a corded camera from the homepage will bring up a live view (from the home page, the battery-operated model requires an additional click) and the ability to sound the internal siren . Once you stop live viewing, you can access a history of events or just jump into that by tapping the History icon on the home page. Tapping Settings brings up the ability to toggle motion detection and motion alerts on and off, link other Ring devices and chimes, snooze notifications, tweak motion sensitivity, and more.

Sustainability and outdoor security cameras

It can be paired with the Arlo Home Security System using Arlo’s SecureLink technology, which promises even better battery life and connectivity during web/power outages . We would love the camera’s battery life to be closer to Arlo’s claims, but you can lengthen the time in between charges by making a few tweaks or turning off the spotlight. Each of these devices comes with a privacy policy that, as you may have experienced, is difficult for the layperson to parse. During our testing, we read each of the privacy policies for our picks, specifically looking for sections that strayed from what we consider to be standard in the category.

We prefer the Arlo Pro 4to the Arlo Essential Spotlight Camera and the Arlo Pro 3, both of which deliver 1080p images. Plus, the Essential doesn’t have a removable battery and the Arlo Pro 3 requires a base station. And the pricey Arlo Ultra delivered awful night-vision performance, poor battery life, and missed far too many motion triggers in our testing.

Eufy Floodlight Cam 2 Pro

We recommend playing around with settings while having this feature both on and off. Otherwise, you can turn the pan-and-tilt features off and just use the Eufy as a regular floodlight camera. Even without using that feature to track motion as it happens, the camera delivers a nice 130-degree image.

Unlike the EufyCam 2 Pro, this model doesn’t work with HomeKit and HomeKit Secure Video. It’s also compact and easy to mount, and it offers free local storage that can be set to record only motion-triggered events, or always on and recording 24/7. Add in a Cam Plus subscription for $2 per month per camera (or $20 per year), and you’ll get cloud storage and alerts that can distinguish between motion, people, vehicles, pets, and packages. However, those alerts aren’t always accurate—we regularly saw animals labeled as people and people tagged as general motion. An outdoor security camera can be a powerful deterrent to mischief makers.

Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera - 3 Pack - Wireless Security, 2K Video & HDR (VMC4350P)

Though I recommend plugging the camera into a power outlet to get better, more accurate recordings, I have found being able to use a battery pack especially useful and convenient. I like that I can just throw in a battery and place it somewhere new for a few days to capture critters in my backyard. Neighbors is part of the Ring app when you sign up for an account; you can post comments and videos, view those from others in your surrounding area, or turn off notifications to ignore it. Neighbors and a few user incidents have generated a lot of negative publicity for Ring over the past two years or so. However, the company has since implemented a few privacy and security measures that set this camera apart from others on our list. I first started testing smart-home devices more than 20 years ago, when the only smart-home devices were X10.

Sometimes there are hiccups hitting a notification to see the clip in the app and it goes to the devices list instead of the video in the library tab. I wish there were a way to turn if notifications for individual devices in the app. It’s weather resistant design, 8-foot magnetic power cable, and adjustable mount. The Arlo Pro 2 cams offer 1080p HD live streaming, which improves on the already solid Arlo and Arlo Pro models that delivered lower-resolution 720p HD video. Multi-function sensors and 24/7 professional monitoring for complete protection.

The best floodlight camera combo

It produces clear 2K images and has a rechargeable battery, which the company says can last up to six months (though our testing suggests it’s more like one to two months per charge, depending on usage). The Arlo Pro 4 also includes features such as color night vision and Auto Zoom and Tracking . Like the Ring, the Arlo Pro 4 doesn’t provide free video storage, so you will need to figure in the cost of a subscription to Arlo Secure, the company’s cloud-storage service. In addition to keeping video for up to 30 days, Arlo Secure enables the camera to distinguish between people, pets, packages, and vehicles. The third-generation version of the camera delivers a nice image, it's compact, and it's easy to use.

Although the Eufy does have better battery life than the Arlo, it doesn’t have a removable battery. That means you have to charge the whole camera—or trash it when the internal battery eventually dies. The Eufy Floodlight’s camera produced excellent images during the day and at night with black-and-white night vision, ambient lighting from our house, and especially the integrated floodlight. Packing 3,000 lumens, the Eufy Floodlight Cam 2 Pro has the brightest lights of any hardwired floodlight we tested. Even though I’m an atypical user—I like to move my cameras around way more than the average person—the camera has held up well.

As you’d expect of an outdoor camera, the v3 is weather resistant and therefore able to withstand temperatures between -4 and 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Although the v3 has a slightly better range than our top corded pick, its cord is just 6 feet long (compared with the Ring’s 22.5 feet), so it needs to be placed close to an outdoor outlet. And considering that many outlets are typically just a little more than a foot off the ground, this could seriously limit where you put the camera (unless you purchase the 12.5-foot Wyze Outdoor Power Adapter). The EufyCam 2 Pro is the only one of our picks that’s sold as a set, with two cameras and one base station.

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But the audio and images are clear, and you can zoom in on live and recorded video for a closer view. When general motion and a human are present on the same screen, the Ring will identify the first thing detected . We’ve added our initial testing notes on the Wyze Cam v3 Pro to What to look forward to, as well as six tested models to the Competition and Other good outdoor security cameras sections.

The Arlo Pro 4 also includes a few interesting security perks that set it apart from our other camera picks. When enabled, it delivers color night vision, making images slightly more vivid than using the two infrared LEDs for black-and-white night vision. This spotlight is also bright enough to scare off bunnies and to guide you past garbage cans .