Best Home Security Cameras with Flood Lights in 2024

Solution

Those bright lights work best when paired with a high-resolution camera 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 few of our top picks.

Clarity and customization

Lumens are a good 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 light that can fully illuminate a larger area. But we also like to see customization options for brightness, light tone and scheduling. This will prevent the lights from waking you up at night or angering the neighbors, so you can make adjustments if necessary.

Smart home support

Smart Home support with existing platforms is always nice to have, especially when setting up routines with other smart lights or cams. We are looking for support for both Google Home and Amazon Alexa. Apple support is much harder to find for security cameras at the moment, although we hope this will change as the Matter standard continues to evolve.

Power options

Although careful use of batteries can lead to good power management for wireless floodlight cameras, these floodlights tend to consume some extra energy. They are also often mounted in high locations, where it can be difficult to take them down to charge the battery. Consider carefully whether you prefer wireless installation or the no-cost wired option, which may require additional installation work. Please note that wired floodlight cameras often need to be connected to a junction box.

Motion detection

Motion detection and object recognition are especially important for floodlight cameras because they help turn on the floodlights only if there is a reasonable cause, such as a detected human figure. We’ve highlighted some cameras in this list that offer free object recognition, but advanced features may require you to pay a subscription fee.

Night vision

Night vision isn’t as important with wide spotlights, but it can help improve brightness at the edges of the image when it’s dark. For the best clarity, consider looking for a camera that also has color night vision.

Two-way audio and sirens

Audio options can be very important when you want to interrogate a stranger (or shout at a friend) or sound a siren to scare off intruders. For example, they are not as valuable on flood cameras as they are on video doorbells, but it is still an important feature. Fortunately, most floodlight cameras today have these audio options.