Best Motion Sensor Security Cameras

Lorex has been providing DIY security solutions for over 30 years. One thing that makes them a leader is their innovation; they are constantly coming out with new products to meet the changing demands of consumers. For example, at the time of this writing, Lorex was launching a 1080p Wired Video Doorbell, a 2K Wired Floodlight Security Camera, and a 2K Battery Video Doorbell.

When it comes to detecting and capturing what’s happening on your property, Lorex has a few options available. Here’s the breakdown:

Types of Motion Detection Available with Lorex Cameras

Now it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the smarter your motion detection gets, the more you’re going to have to pay — more on that in our guide to Lorex’s prices and products. That said, whatever your need or budget, Lorex likely has a camera that’ll work. And if prices still don’t suit you, check out the Lorex Clearance Outlet on their website. They offer big discounts on Certified Open Box and Last Chance clearance products.

In contrast to Lorex’s huge lineup of product offerings, Google Nest only sells three cameras — the wired indoor Nest Cam, the battery-powered indoor/outdoor Nest Cam, and the wired Nest Cam with Floodlight. But you know what they say: Quality over quantity. And in the case of Google Nest, it’s definitely the former rather than the latter.

Google Nest Cams don’t just come with person detection. After all, that’s becoming standard on the market. No, Google Nest Cams take AI further by including facial recognition. What’s the difference? Well, person detection can differentiate between your mailman and, say, a squirrel. Facial recognition can differentiate between the mailman who delivers during the week and the one who delivers on Saturday. The last time we went out of town, we connected our Nest Cam to our front door locks, and it let our Aunt Linda in to water the plants. Try doing that with person detection.

Nest Cams’ facial recognition feature alerts you to anyone it doesn’t recognize, so that when it encounters someone unfamiliar – a burglar, potentially – you’ll know right away via the Nest app in your smartphone. It does require a separate subscription to Nest Aware, but it’s certainly worth the extra few bucks per month to really harness this camera’s potential.

Be advised: you don’t get something for nothing. Nest Cam’s prices can be a bit steep. The basic indoor cam costs $99, not unreasonable, but about double the cost of a comparable camera from Ring. And the Nest Cam Indoor/ Outdoor model is $179.99. If you need a lot of cameras to protect your home, those kinds of prices could make Nest cost-prohibitive.

Check out our Google Nest Cam review to get the full scoop on our live Nest tests.

Ring cameras don’t include facial recognition like Nest cameras do. They do come with People Only Mode, though, which can cut down on false alerts. That’s especially important if you’re self-monitoring your system. Checking your cameras only to find the neighbor’s dog grinning up at you from the porch gets old pretty fast. In addition, lighting options mean you get a crystal clear image even at night.

For keeping tabs on packages, Ring’s motion-sensing capabilities go even further into features like motion zones and schedules, so you can zero in on the alerts you need. And here’s the cherry on top: You can turn on advanced motion detection, which increases the accuracy of your alerts and even automatically trims recordings so you won’t be stuck sifting through empty footage. See our full Ring Cam analysis to learn more.

Barring some occasional playback failures and lags, Arlo cameras perform pretty smoothly, and much of that is due to the quality of the motion sensor. We recently reviewed the Arlo Pro 4, one of the company’s mid-range cameras, and were immediately impressed by both the image quality — 2K resolution is really something else — and its ability to capture and record anything important that crossed the frame. We used it to alert the police to a speed demon plaguing our neighborhood.

Best of all, Arlo managed to package this high-resolution technology and all of its motion sensor technology into a camera that’s wire-free – no communication wires and no power cords. They’re stylish as well. Yeah, we know – security is more important than style. If you can get both, though, why wouldn’t you? You can learn more in our full rundown of Arlo’s equipment costs and monitoring.

Here’s something we haven’t talked about in terms of motion sensor technology: ease-of-use. There’s a sweet spot when it comes to the user experience with a security camera. You want lots of control over your devices. The more adjustments you can make, the better you can set your camera to do what you want, and the better your security will be. You don’t want the controls to be so confusing, though, that you can’t master them. Blink hits that sweet spot. There are plenty of tweaks you can make, giving you flexibility in fine-tuning your security, but they’re packaged in an intuitive mobile app.

Best of all, Blink is eminently affordable. In fact, no camera in Blink’s suite is more than $140. Of course, you get what you pay for, and these cameras don’t have extras like fine-tuned motion alerts or color night vision. Still Blink cameras offer great basic security without breaking the bank. Here’s the breakdown:

Like many of the best security camera companies, Kuna offers cameras with AI that can differentiate between people, pets, vehicles, and packages. And Kuna promises that its AI is built to grow and develop. It is supposed to learn over time so that eventually, it may be able to tell the difference between various people within your home and recognize burglars by the actions they take. Yet, you don’t have to reinvest in new equipment to get new advantages as they are released. Your current cameras are supposed to evolve to be better and better. That makes for a solid investment, and it’s a promise you won’t get from many companies.

Since light-camera combos are Kuna’s bread and butter, it was nice being able to control the Kuna camera using the mobile companion app. The moment I received a motion-activated alert on my phone, I could react directly from my phone’s lock screen. A nice touch, and a speedy way to monitor my space while I’m on the go. See our full Kuna camera live testing guide to learn the ins and outs and to see if this camera makes sense for you.

Would we like to see Kuna offer straightforward home security cameras alongside their lighting options? Of course. This is too good a company not to offer more products. At a minimum, we’d like to see more options when it comes to their light fixture models. Even so, this is a company that found a unique niche and they occupy it well.