Yahoo Finance 6 best home security cameras: Indoor and outdoor setups for peace of mind
If you’ve got a lot of possessions that mean a lot to you, you have valuable equipment or you’re simply leaving home for a little while, a security camera can provide peace of mind and an insight into the daily comings and goings around your home while you’re away.
There are some real benefits to having security cameras installed on your property, as they can not only reassure you while you’re gone, but also help when it comes to getting the best home insurance or protection packages for expensive items.
Good home security cameras setups usually come in two different guises. Exterior weatherproof models are made with protective shells that allow them to withstand poor or inclement weather on the outside of your property. Whereas, interior security cameras are cheaper, but don’t offer the same range of weather protection.
Consumer home security cameras tend to be cheaper than larger-scale CCTV setups, and have a far greater focus on pairing with existing technology installed in your home like smart speakers, home hubs or even smart lighting.
How we tested
In this review, we’ll shine a light on some of the best home security cameras on the market at the moment and pick our favourite amongst a range we’ve tested. We’ve examined each of these security cameras and determined their usefulness on a range of factors, including how easily they link up to existing devices, the quality of the image and how easily and securely they store footage for watching back at a later date.
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The best home security cameras for 2022 are:
Best for image quality – Arlo pro 4: £159.99, Amazon.co.uk
Best wired option – Ring spotlight cam: £179, Ring.com
Best for design – Google nest cam: £179.99, Store.google.com
Best for Amazon users – Blink outdoor camera: £79.99, Amazon.co.uk
Best budget setup – Neos smartcam: £19.99, Neos.co.uk
Best for affordable integration – Reolink Argus 3 pro: £107.09, Reolink.com
Arlo pro 4
Best: For image quality
Rating: 9/10
Resolution: 2560x1440
Image sensor: 4 megapixels
Angle: 160 diagonal
Battery Life: 3-6 months
Arlo proudly states on its website that it is Europe’s number one surveillance camera brand, and indeed there are plenty of home security camera options to choose from, with a wide range of premium and genuinely useful features.
The Arlo pro 4 is our top choice as it features 2K HDR video, 12x zoom, a 16-degree field-of-view and excellent home integration with the likes of Google assistant, Amazon Alexa and Apple HomeKit. We found it very easy to install, as there’s no base station involved, so you simply wirelessly connect it to your network and you are good to go. We also particularly liked the built-in spotlight and a siren, which can be triggered either from the app or by itself whenever motion is detected.
Buy now £159.99, Amazon.co.uk
Ring spotlight cam
Best: Wired option
Rating: 8/10
Resolution: 1080 HD video
Image Sensor: 2 megapixels
Angle: 130 diagonal
Battery Life: N/A (wired)
This Amazon-owned company is perhaps better known for creating video doorbells for your home, but it also has a wide range of security cameras, and we found that the camera, designed for both outdoor and indoor use, was the pick of the bunch. We liked its night vision and floodlight option to illuminate and deter intruders, and the customisable motion detectors work very well.
We chose this wired version as it is easily installed via a standard plug socket but, as ever, Ring does provide a wire-free battery-powered version too, as well as solar options. We also liked the ability to buy twin or triple pack versions, for putting elsewhere around the home.
Buy now £179.00, Ring.com
Google nest cam
Best: For design
Rating: 8/10
Resolution: 1080 HD video at 30fps
Image Sensor: 2 megapixels
Angle: 130 diagonal
Battery Life: Around 6 months
The Google nest battery-powered camera is one of our favourites on this list, and is a highly intelligent device - as well as being well-designed for ease of use, and to fit in seamlessly with a wide range of home styles. We found that it was the intelligent alerts that largely set this camera apart (it can tell the difference between people, animals and vehicles, for instance) so it is very customisable to allow you to get only the alerts that are the most useful to you.
The nest aware subscription service allows you to store 24/7 video for either 30 or 60 days, which is useful. We particularly enjoyed using the snap-on holder which, since the camera is battery powered, can be mounted and moved around very easily.
Buy now £179.99, Store.google.com
Blink outdoor camera
Best: For Amazon users
Rating: 7/10
Resolution: 1080 HD video
Image Sensor: 4 megapixels
Angle: 110 diagonal
Battery Life: 2 years
From one tech giant to another, the Blink outdoor camera from Amazon is a wire-free, weather-resistant outdoor camera that we thought provided good value for money in a compact and easy to use package. It’s powered with two AA batteries, which we thought wouldn’t be quite up to the job, but Amazon claims that they can last up to two years. Customised motion zones and two-way audio is included as well as comprehensive connectivity to Amazon’s Alexa, which means that you can go hands-free and be alerted to goings on remotely. If you’re looking for a budget option and you’re already linked up in some way to the Amazon ecosystem, this comes highly recommended.
Buy now £79.99, Amazon.co.uk
Neos smartcam
Best: Budget setup
Rating: 7/10
Resolution: 1080 HD video
Image Sensor: 4 megapixels
Angle: 110 degrees
Battery Life: N/A (wired)
The Neos smartcam is an incredibly affordable option, with motion and sound detection available as well as 1080p video and a clever arming system which means the camera can automatically turn itself on at certain times. Like other cameras on this list, it has a cloud-based storage system available, but we particularly liked the ability to install an SD card to enable continuous recording locally on the device itself. At such a small price, we thought this would be perfectly suited to multi-camera and multi-room setups, but it’s worth noting that it’s not weather resistant and is not to be used outdoors.
Buy now £29.99, Neos.co.uk
Reolink Argus 3 pro
Best: For affordable integration
Rating: 8/10
Resolution: 2560x144
Image Sensor: 4 megapixels
Angle: 122 degrees
Battery Life: 1-4 weeks (extendable using solar panels)
Reolink has a large range of security cameras on offer and a number of devices to suit a diverse selection of needs. Its popular consumer units, driven by battery power, are among the best security cameras on the market at the moment and although Reolink doesn’t offer cloud support in the UK, we found that, with an SD card inserted, we managed to capture quality imagery in both day and night conditions with minimal false-positives from the motion detection. Depending on how often the device is triggered, we’d expect to see a 128GB card last around 8-10 months based on recording resolution. Setup wise, we really liked the ability to add a solar panel affordably without fuss, and although it needs to be positioned correctly, we’d expect it to keep the battery fully charged during normal operation.
Buy now £107.09, Reolink.com
The verdict: Home security cameras
We found that the overall best camera for use on a day to day basis was the Arlo pro 4, which manages to combine excellent video and audio quality with a useful wide-angled viewing and integration with all major smart assistant networks. If you’re looking for a cheaper interior-only option, and one that easily links to multiple devices, we also liked the ultra-affordable Neos smartcam.
Voucher codes
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Looking for more tech for your home? Check out our review of the best printers for a wireless office setup
