You don’t just want a long-lasting battery in your wireless security cam — you want an astonishingly long battery life. You want to forget that your camera even needs a battery recharge in between notifications. And you’ve come to the right place.
These models scored the absolute best for battery life out of all the cameras I and other CNET experts tested over the past several years. In fact, some of those batteries have lasted years. If you won’t be satisfied with anything but the most tireless wireless cams, these are the models for you.
Important note: Battery life is highly variable in security cameras. It depends on resolution, the number of motion detection activations, how much you use the live view, motion sensitivity, motion detection zones and plenty more. So results will vary, but for the longest possible battery life, you’ll want to turn everything to lower settings. Some cameras have low-power or battery-extension modes for this exact purpose.
1. Blink Outdoor 2K Plus with Battery Extension Pack
The Blink Outdoor cams already had the best battery life of any model I had tested, and now it’s even longer. The two lithium AA batteries the model comes with are rated for two years. In my tests, my battery pack lasted for about 1.5 years at fairly frequent activations (plus some very cold winters to sap battery life).
But Blink also has an extension pack for this model ($30). Add the pack, and the batteries are rated for up to four years of life, longer than anything else on the market. Just make sure to keep the resolution to 1080p for the best results.
2. Arlo Pro XL 6
Arlo’s Pro series is one of my favorite security camera lines, and the sixth-gen model includes all the latest features, such as an option to enable advanced AI detection and summaries with the right Arlo subscription.
However, the most impressive part of this version of the cam is the XL battery pack, specifically designed to last twice as long as the standard rechargeable battery. Since the normal battery easily lasted three to four months in my testing, the XL version could stretch to nearly a year, especially with low activations. Just keep in mind Arlo benefits the most when you pay out for a subscription to enable all features, starting at $8.
3. Tapo MagCam 2K Plus
If you had a lower-cost camera in mind, this Tapo MagCam is often on sale for under $70 and doesn’t need an extra battery pack, add-ons or a subscription. It also comes with a useful magnetic mount, a high IP66 weather resistance rating and full-color night vision.
The 10,000-mAh battery is rated for 300 days, a.k.a. 10 months, particularly high for a wireless camera of this caliber. My tests were lower than that, but I test at higher motion detection settings with lots of bells and whistles. Just make sure you screw in that magnetic mount instead of using the adhesive strips — this is a pretty weighty cam.
4. Ring Spotlight Cam Pro
Spotlight cameras are notorious for running through batteries fast, especially if the spotlight lights up frequently in the evening. Ring’s latest Spotlight Cam Pro with Retinal 2K has tricks up its sleeve to handle that issue. You can set motion detection and brightness levels low to save on battery life while still getting illumination. But more importantly, the cam has two slots for two separate battery packs.
That means you can either let the camera switch to the new battery pack when the old one dies for maximum longevity, then charge both packs at once, or switch between charging packs so the camera never runs out of juice. Either way, it’s one of the best battery results I’ve found for a spotlight camera. If you’re interested in floodlight models, check out our review of the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight cam.
Pro tip: Add a solar panel for automatic recharging
Almost every security camera brand offers an optional solar panel add-on these days. Some are built-in or attachable, and many let you mount the panels several feet away from the camera. If you can position the solar panel in the right sunny spot, you can auto-charge the camera’s battery.
While this method isn’t foolproof, it can help greatly reduce the time between manual recharging for even average batteries. If you’re after the longest lift possible, I highly recommend this add-on.
If you’re very much against camera subscriptions, boy, do I have a list for you — and if you’re really into the latest AI technology, these cameras offer it for free.
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