Most cameras have two-way audio, night vision, and motion detection. Wyze Cam Pan has all that plus panning, tilting, zooming, and person and sound detection. With all that, you’re sure to capture any intruder on camera. If he tries to get out of the view of the camera, you can follow him with the pan and tilt, and if he doesn’t come close enough, you can zoom in. The Wyze Cam Pan also has a multiple-account feature. You can give more than one person digital access to the camera and its settings. Both you and your partner or roommate can control the camera. Best of all, this camera is pretty much dirt cheap. You can get two cameras and two annual subscription plans at just over $100. The v3 works both indoors and outdoors, making it a versatile buy. It doesn’t pan, tilt, or zoom like the Wyze Cam Pan, but it comes with stunning starlight night vision that practically turns night into day on its video clips. That makes it so much easier to see what’s going on. For further home protection, the camera also has sound detection. Even if the home intruder is out of the camera’s sight, you’ll still get an alert. Within reason, that is. We’re not sure exactly how sensitive the detection is–we haven’t had a chance to test it–but our guess is that it will probably capture your windows breaking or your dog barking but not the tiptoes of an intruder a few rooms away. Like the Wyze Cam Pan, the v3 works with the trinity of Alexa, Google, and IFTTT. Since many products are compatible with one of those three, you can cobble together quite a decent smart home setup with a Wyze Cam v3. The Basic Plan doesn’t include motion or sound detection–so if you want your full feature array, you’ll have to dig a little deeper into your pocketbook. But that being said, the Cam Plus’s $15 a year is far from expensive. Some companies charge $15 a month! And with Wyze’s Cam Plus Lite plan, you can get person detection at whatever price your heart desires. The Blink outdoor meets all the raw requirements for an outdoor smart home camera. Plus it has batteries, which is the Holy Grail for outdoor gadgets. Without those juice boxes to provide power, you’d have to plug or wire the camera right into the side of your house. And with the Plus plan, you also get an extended warranty and 10% off other Blink products (so you truly can buy an unlimited number of cameras). ZOSI’s got the works: color night vision, person detection, a light, and a siren. With the night vision and person detection, you’ll know when folks come into your camera’s view, and with the light and siren, they’ll know too. Some of the most expensive cameras on the market don’t even have these features, making ZOSI’s price incredibly impressive. Seriously, some cuts of meat cost more than this camera. The biggest con to this outdoor security camera is its lack of cloud storage. You can’t get cloud even if you’re willing to pay for it. You’ll need an SD card to use the local storage instead. Also, ZOSI isn’t compatible with, well, anything. It’s not possible to integrate this guy into your smart home. Hoop offers security features we don’t usually see in lower-priced cameras. It has geofencing (so it knows when you’re at home and when you’re away), and it can let you know when your smoke or carbon monoxide alarms go off. And with two-way audio, push notifications, sound and motion sensors, and smart speaker compatibility, it’ll integrate nicely into your home security plan. Oh, and did we mention the Alexa and Google compatibility? Hoop says this camera comes with five days of free cloud storage, which is good, but it doesn’t explain how much it costs to get more. When we reached out to customer support, we got this response: “As of now, we have to roll out our new subscription plan. However, you are more than welcome to sign up for our newsletter to receive information on the new subscription model when it becomes available.” Interpret that as you will. Yeah, you can always fall back on local SD card storage, but that’s just not as convenient. Where’s our cloud storage, Hoop? C’mon. The Hoop camera is slightly cheaper than the other two indoor cameras on the list. While its features are cool, they may not be worth it if you’re looking for transparent information about cloud storage. Like the Wyze Cam v3, this security camera has starlight night vision. (In fact, we first heard the term from Reolink.) It also has zoom capabilities, a light, and a siren to go along with its motion detection and two-way audio. And it’s easy to keep charged with a choice of batteries or solar power. Combined, these features provide maximum scaring-off-intruders power with minimal effort, making the Argus 3 the perfect choice for an outdoor camera. We just wish that the camera came with a cord for charging the batteries or Reolink’s solar panel—you have to pay extra to get either power source. That adds a little $ to the overall price. That brings up another extra cost AKA video storage. This Reolink camera comes with seven days of free storage, which is nice. And the paid plan structure is a good deal, too. You get more storage time for more cameras at a lower price than with Wyze.
With its panning, tilting, sound detection, and low price, Wyze Cam Pan is the best value for an indoor camera. This Wyze Cam v3 with sound detection is the lowest-cost indoor camera we’d recommend for our readers. Hoop Security Camera’s sound detection and geofence features make this camera’s indoor safety features better than average. Blink Outdoor has only basic features, but Blink offers an unlimited camera plan that makes it a good value. The super-cheap ZOSI C19 camera comes with lots of extras, like person detection, a light, and a siren. The Reolink Argus 3 camera has features uniquely suited to outdoor security. It easily deters intruders with its light and siren and can run entirely on solar power.
If you’re still curious about other options, check out our reviews of the YI Home Camera 2 and SimpliSafe cameras, other inexpensive cameras that didn’t make it into this review. Or, if you don’t need to stick with a super-cheap camera, take a look at our Blink and Blink XT2, Arlo, and Nest Cam reviews. We also have reviews of entire camera brands, like Arlo and Vivint. When choosing the right security camera for you, we suggest looking at the following:
Video qualityNight visionMotion detectionTwo-way audioWeatherproofingAppPower source (batteries or wired)Storage type (cloud storage or physical storage)Video recording type (continuous recording or motion-activated recording)
Most of the security cameras in this review are wired and use motion-activated recording. All of them are smart cameras that use apps to connect to your phone.
QualityEnsure the camera quality is high before you purchase. Some companies might cut corners on the build to reduce costs, which can be especially devastating for an outdoor camera. You should also look at the warranty and the company’s reputation for customer service.SoftwareThe camera software is also important. The software needs to work efficiently and reliably and be secure against hackers. You don’t want someone to tap into your connection and case out your home with your own security camera.StorageFinally, look at the storage options. Local storage is one option, but you’ll lose all your footage if a thief decides to take the camera. Cloud storage sends the video to a place where it can’t be stolen, but as you know, it often comes with a subscription cost.
Other, more expensive cameras with facial recognition include any ADT Self Setup camera and the Nest Cam IQ cameras. Think about your home and the area you want to monitor. Is it brightly illuminated at all times? Then you may not need a camera with awesome night vision. Do you need to watch a wide area with a single camera? Then one with a large field of view may be the better choice. But if safety is your primary worry, then by all means, go for a full system. It’s more comprehensive security than cameras alone. Ring has some stellar cameras, and ADT Self Setup came out with a nice selection too.
