Resolution
Those bright lights work best when paired with a camera with a high resolution that can capture a lot of detail. A 1080p will get the job done but for the best clarity for these (often high-mounted) cameras, we prefer 2K resolutions, like a couple of our top picks.
Brightness and customization
Lumens is a great indicator of visible brightness (don’t try to compare it to watts, especially with LEDS), and a few thousand lumens is a guarantee of bright lights that can fully light up a larger area. But we also like to see customization options for brightness, shade of light and scheduling. That helps keep lights from waking you up at night or angering the neighbors, allowing you to make adjustments as you need.
Smart home support
Smart home support with existing platforms is always nice to have, especially when setting routines with other smart lights or cams. We look for support for Google Home and Amazon Alexa. Apple support is much harder to find for security cameras at this time, although as the Matter standard continues to progress we hope that will change.
Power options
While careful use of batteries can lead to good power management for wireless floodlight cams, those floodlights do tend to take up some extra juice. They are also often mounted in high locations where getting them down for battery recharging can be a pain. Consider carefully if you prefer wireless placement or the no-charge wired option, which may take extra installation work. Please keep in mind that wired floodlight cams often need to be connected to a junction box.
Motion detection
Motion detection and object recognition are especially important for floodlight cams, because they help the floodlights to turn on only when there’s a reasonable cause like a detected human figure. We favored a couple of cameras that offer free object recognition on this list but you may have to pay a subscription fee for advanced features.
Night vision
Night vision isn’t quite as important with broad floodlights but it can help improve clarity at the edges of the image when things are dark out. For the best clarity, consider looking for a camera that has color night vision too.
Two-way audio and sirens
Audio options can be very important if you want to question a stranger (or shout out to a friend) or sound a siren to scare off trespassers. They aren’t quite as valuable on floodlight cameras as they are on video doorbells, for example, but it’s still an important feature. Fortunately, most floodlight cameras now have these audio options.
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