The Best CCTV Cameras for Home Security

Whether you own a home or you rent one, it’s of utmost importance to keep you and your family safe and sound when you’re away or fast asleep. Previously, you had to sign a contract with a professional security agency, which could be challenging for your home budget. Fear no more, as contemporary home security cameras will make you gain control of your home’s surveillance.

Not only do they require minimal installation, but they also come with flexible setup options and a myriad of security features to choose from. Sometimes, however, you may feel overwhelmed by the wide range of camera offers available on the market. In order to help you make the right decision, I’m going to showcase the necessary features to take into consideration before purchasing the right CCTV system for your home.

After we’re done with examining these crucial points, we’ll take a peek at two best CCTV systems for both indoor and outdoor security cameras.

Let the journey begin!

What Should I Consider When Shopping for a Security Camera?

Although most CCTV systems are equipped with the same general functions, they differ in the quality of performance. Here’s a list of features you should keep in mind when shopping for the best CCTV device for your home:

Battery Backup

A clever thief will always cut electricity before attempting a burglary. As soon as the power is off, there is no clear evidence of the crime. That being said, you’ll need a camera that will be capable of running for even a short time on battery power.

Facial Identification

You won’t find such a feature in older models, but modern CCTV systems have the feature that is called “facial recognition”. Although such a device will not be able to distinguish between one face from another, it will surely help you tell the difference between a face and a lamp or, say, a table. This option identifies faces by increasing the exposure to this particular element of the human body, so whether the feature is effective or not, it strongly depends on the performance of the camera’s lens.

Mobile Compatibility

The vast majority of today’s CCTV systems can be accessed via a smartphone or any other mobile device. A good security camera should be able to customize notifications, adjust the sensitivity to both motion and sound, and indicate detection zones that could be of the particular interest to a burglar, not to mention that it will provide you with a clear live feed from the camera.

Night Vision

You’ll hardly encounter a burglar who breaks into your home when the sun is still shining. Given this, you should opt for a camera that can provide you with a true night vision. Some cameras will switch to night vision as soon as it detects low light levels, while other models can be adjusted in accordance with custom settings.

Viewing Angle

Let’s face it, nobody would even think of buying a camera that has a short scope of viewing, so it goes without saying that you’ll want to pick a device that falls, at least, at the 130-degree angle. Although such security cameras can distort the image of smaller rooms, such a nuance won’t impact the quality of monitoring any dangerous events – after all, its purpose is to detect burglars in your home, not take snapshots of your children during their leisure time so that you can put them in a family photo album.

Protection Against Hackers

We live in particularly disturbing times that require us to protect our homes and also our security system. The first should be protected against burglars, while the latter is prone to the attacks of hackers. Ask your retailer what steps has a manufacturer taken in order to ensure in order to secure his or her CCTV system against harmful malware. A reliable camera should support up-to-date wireless security protocols and the encryption of on-line transmission of your login details (username, password etc.)

WiFi Range

Speaking of the wireless connection, your camera ought to be able to maintain a Wi-Fi range regardless of how far you move it from your router – and this matter includes even large homes. If you want to be armed and ready to protect your family with a good CCTV system, choose a camera that has an ethernet port so that you’re able to plug it into your home network. CCTV cames with wireless connection can really help you turn your home into a smart home.

The Best CCTV Camera for Home Security

Arlo Essential Spotlight

Features:

• Offers a full range of Arlo smart features
• 130-degree viewing angle
• 1080p sensor resolution
• Great smartphone app
• Relatively affordable

Although not as pricey as the cameras from Arlo’s flagship Pro series, the Essential Spotlight model still provides its owner with a full range of the company’s well-known smart features.

Not only is this device capable of detecting people and animals sneaking around your property during both daytime and nighttime, but it’s also relatively affordable, has an excellent battery life, and is accompanied by an intuitive and feature-rich smartphone app.

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Reviews of the Best CCTV Cameras for Home Security

Arlo Essential Spotlight

Unlike its older and more expensive cousin – the Arlo Pro 3 – this particular model works as a standalone CCTV camera and connects straight to the homeowner’s Wi-Fi network.

It is still, however, a genuinely feature-rich device, coming with goodies such as an integrated spotlight (hence the name), color night vision, alarm, 2-way communication, as well as person, animal, and package detection.

Although not comparable to QHD models, Arlo Essential Spotlight still provides a good amount of detail with its 1080p resolution. I also liked the model’s battery life as well as the intuitive smartphone app.

Arlo Pro 3 Spotlight

Significantly more expensive than the model described above, Arlo Pro 3 Spotlight is one of the company’s best devices of this type so far. It offers some seriously impressive features in one brilliantly engineered package.

Besides the built-in spotlight, which can be activated automatically upon detected motion or turned on manually, the device also offers color night vision, an impressive 160-degree viewing angle, full weatherproofing, and crispy QHD HDR video.

Unlike in the case of Arlo Essential Spotlight, motion detection is flawless here. The only disadvantage is that you’ll have to pay a monthly subscription fee for the full cloud recording history, although you get a 3-month trial.

Ring Stick Up Cam

Well-known for its smart doorbells, the Amazon-owned Ring also makes some pretty good CCTV cameras. One of their most popular models is the wireless Stick Up Cam, which is also available in a wired version for those who’d like to skip the whole battery-charging business.

The Ring Stick Up Cam has all the features you’d want to have in a gadget of this type, including 1080p video, 2-way audio, motion detection alerts, and night vision. While its 115-degree viewing angle certainly isn’t the best one out there, it will be good enough for most homeowners.

Another thing I liked is the Ring app, which is polished, professional, and full of convenient features and options. My only complaint is the somewhat short battery life.

EufyCam 2C

Next up is a model made by Eufy, a sub-brand of the Chinese manufacturer of phone chargers called Anker. Their EufyCam 2C offers a decent amount of convenient features while still being relatively affordable – it’s a fine choice for those on a budget.

With this device, you’ll be getting a six-month battery life, solid infra-red night vision with human detection technology, a reasonably wide 135-degree diagonal view, as well as a sharp 1080p sensor. The IP7 waterproofing, on the other hand, deserves special words of praise.

One thing I really like about Eufy is their stance toward subscriptions – while using this device, you won’t have to pay any kind of monthly fees in order to be able to access your footage. All in all, a great deal.

Blink Outdoor

With this model, you won’t be getting the most attractive-looking hardware of the latest video and audio features. However, Blink Outdoor works just as advertised and is incredibly easy to set up, so it undoubtedly deserves a place in this roundup.

This CCTV camera has everything you’ll need – motion detection alerts, decent night vision, and long battery life. It can be installed pretty much anywhere and doesn’t require much maintenance. The Blink Home Monitor app, on the other hand, sports a user-friendly interface and allows easy control over multiple Blink cameras.

With this model, you’ll be able to store your footage locally (USB stick). To store the videos in the cloud, on the other hand, you will have to pay a (reasonably low) monthly subscription. This is, however, a pretty standard practice when it comes to popular CCTV home security cameras.

EZVIZ C3N

Are you looking to save some money? If that’s the case, this affordable CCTV camera from EZVIZ is your best option on the entire list. It’s a budget-friendly device that puts up a pretty solid fight against its expensive rivals.

Despite its low price, EZVIZ C3N provides a homeowner with 1080p video and is fully waterproof. What is more, it has color night vision and uses the company’s proprietary Intelligent Person Detection. It also supports SD cards (up to 256 Gb) while cloud storage requires a paid subscription.

The aforementioned color night vision is not the best one out there, but that’s something I expected due to the model’s price. Without an external light source, it will provide a very pixelated image that is almost useless.

Honorary Mentions

Nest Cam Outdoor

Not only is the camera stylish, but it’s also backed up by the best mobile app you’ll ever find. Its Nest Avare service is capable of storing up to 30-days of footage in its cloud memory, so it’s both accessible and reliable. If you own other Nest products, such as the brand’s thermostat, you’ll be able to integrate these items and navigate them simultaneously on your mobile device.

On top of that, it provides you with a top-notch quality of the recording, which is 1080p. The camera is equipped with a two-way audio system, and the subscription system along with the app support  – although quite expensive – will leave with a big smile on your face. The only drawback of Nest Cam Outdoor is the above-mentioned subscription service price. Some picky homeowners may also find the design too obvious and thus vulnerable to tampering.

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Vimtag G3

This is hands down the best CCTV camera for indoor protection. It comes with a stunning video quality of 1280 x 720p with the face-to-face effect, and its 320×120 degree viewing range will cover every corner of your home. You can select from various monitoring options: pet monitoring, nanny cam, business monitoring, remote live video streaming via mobile devices, and vacation home monitoring (on that note, check out our guide to the best vacation rental upgrades).

The QR code scan option allows you to set up your camera with only 4 steps, which minimizes the effort required to get the device working. Moreover, the camera is equipped with a super clear night vision, wi-fi connection, 3x digital zoom, and an internal SD card slot which can handle up to 32gb of capacity. Last but not least, you’ll be amazed by the heavy rubber based material that surrounds the Vimtag CCTV camera.

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Check out the benefits of installing security access doors and panels as well.