Best Wired Security Cameras

It’s actually pretty easy to get overwhelmed by Lorex’s many camera models. If you’re lost scrolling through product pages, let us recommend the Nocturnal series. These cameras are both durable and packed with features, which makes them perfect for protecting outdoor areas around your home. What kinds of features are we talking about?

We set up two Nocturnal cameras – one to keep an eye on the front of the house, and another to keep an eye on the backyard. 4K resolution, eight times optical zoom, and night vision up to 150 feet meant two cameras were enough for the job. Nothing wrong with saving money. And we still saw it all, including a family of possums trotting through our front yard one night at two am.

We’re a little obsessive, so we set our cameras to record continuously, a nice bonus feature of Lorex cameras. Don’t worry, though – we didn’t have to review all that footage. Lorex cameras also include motion sensors, and the system can use motion to tag footage. That made it simple to go back and skim through recordings. Turns out, we had enough possum clips to create our own Instagram channel.

We should point out that Lorex’s Nocturnal cameras aren’t cheap. After all, you’re not going to get features like these for free. Individual cameras start at around $299, and even if you bundle four, you’re still looking at just under $1200. Lorex runs quite a few sales throughout the year, though, so you can often get these cameras for much less than retail. Right now the company is running a clearance sale on older model cameras, and it offers a Deal of the Day every day.

While $299 is a lot for a camera, Lorex offers a huge range of products at every price point. The Fusion line, for instance, is less than $150 a camera. This line features wired and wireless cameras, too. That way, you can use the wired cameras outside, where wireless models might be prone to interferenc,e and set the wireless devices up inside.

Get even more information about more Lorex models in our complete review of Lorex cameras.

Ring doesn’t offer quite the selection of Lorex, but you can find some specialized devices, and there are enough Ring indoor/outdoor wired cameras to ensure you find the one you need. We picked up one of Ring’s Floodlight Cams, which can illuminate an entire yard. That worked wonders when it came to scattering the family of possums that like to forage in our backyard.

Ring doesn’t offer a large range of cameras, but all cameras include 1080p HD resolution or higher. Wide angle lenses and two-way audio are also standard features.

All of Ring’s cameras include at least 1080p HD resolution, wide-angle lenses, and two-way audio. They also run on powerful software. The moment our devices noticed movement, they sent us instant alerts through the Ring app. Then, we had the option to pull up live footage no matter where we were.

Best of all, Ring’s high-tech equipment is surprisingly affordable. While we paid $250 for our Floodlight Cam Pro, Ring also offers dependable cameras for as little as $60.

For cloud storage, you can purchase a Ring Home Basic plan starting at $4.99. That plan includes 180 days of storage so you can review recorded footage. Just remember that it’s charged on a per-camera basis. If you have more than one camera, we recommend the Ring Home Standard plan that covers unlimited cameras for $9.99 per month. You can find out about all these options in our Ring Cam review.

ADT was already an industry leader when it decided to partner with Google Nest. Thanks to that partnership, you won’t find more feature-rich cameras anywhere else. But what makes these cameras special is the way ADT puts its features to use.

One of our favorites is the way ADT uses the camera’s facial recognition to power its Trusted Neighbor feature. It allows you to set rules around when specific people are automatically let into your home. For instance, we set it to automatically let our dog walk in every Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. We also made a rule that lets our neighbor in if there’s an active alarm so they can get our dog out to safety, if needed.

While high-tech features are nice, the best part about these cameras is that they come as part of an entire ADT home security system. While you can’t buy a Google Nest Cam through ADT as a standalone product, which means a higher final bill, ADT’s systems regularly top our list of the best home security systems. That’s because all of their equipment and services are just as hardy, reliable and feature-rich as those Google Nest Cams.

Be sure to check out our latest ADT pricing page to learn more about these systems and the costs associated.

We found both of Nest’s wired cameras to be packed with tons of features. They can tell the difference between people and other types of moving objects, for instance. That’s a good thing since the wind sometimes blows the trees outside our apartment hard enough to fool other security systems. Fewer false alerts made us pay more attention when real alerts came through.

We were particularly excited by the Floodlight Cam’s custom lighting routines. We set ours to stay off in the early hours of the evening when we were still up. We still got alerts any time the camera picked up questionable motion, but we made sure not to wake our neighbors. Once we went to bed, we set it to blast a powerful light at anyone who wandered onto our property. We figure our neighbors would appreciate that kind of heads-up as well.

Person detection is so last year. Google’s cameras now include facial recognition through their Familiar Face feature. It tells you who the camera sees instead of just that it sees a person. We were even alerted when a new mailman delivered our Amazon order. Just note that it’s locked behind a $10 per month Nest Aware subscription.

We can only think of one drawback to the Nest Cam Floodlight: price. You’ll pay $279.99 for this camera, and that’s not cheap. That’s $100 more than Ring’s Floodlight Cam, although the Google Nest one comes with more features. Of course, there’s always the wired indoor camera for $99.99 if you’re looking to stick to a budget.

You can purchase Arlo’s wired indoor camera with 1080p HD or 2K resolution. 1080p’s the industry standard, so we’d usually opt for that considering it’s $40 less. Sometimes Arlo offers sales that bring the price of the 2K camera down to the same price as the 1080p version. In that case, we’d go with 2K model.

As for the Wired Floodlight camera that we tested, it’s only offered with 2K resolution. And that makes sense for an outdoor camera as we find the extra clarity comes in handy when trying to identify people from afar. It also has a 160-degree field of view, which allowed it to clearly capture our entire front yard and driveway.

As for operation, everything works through the Arlo app. You control whether the system is armed, you get instant alerts anytime the camera detects movement, and you can even pull up live footage on your mobile device. Add video storage and you can hang on to important clips. Arlo’s storage plans are as reasonably priced as their cameras – one camera will cost you $7.99 a month. Or you can log footage from unlimited cameras for $17.99 per month.

We typically sing the praises of professional monitoring, but there’s no denying that Swann’s self-monitored systems offer everything you could possibly need to take care of your own home security. Of course, you get real-time alerts and access to live footage. In addition, though, every camera comes attached to an NVR unit which means you have access to unlimited recordings, and you never have to pay a dime for cloud storage. Record 24 hours a day if you like, something you can’t do with most cameras, and footage is always available on site. Plus, each NVR can handle up to sixteen different feeds, so you can be sure to capture every corner of your property.

In terms of selection, Swann manufactures and sells a wide variety of wired and wireless cameras at just about every price point. Because the company produces its own devices, it can pass along savings to customers. Wired cameras can be had for as little as $49.99, and even 4K thermal-sensing models can be had for just $199.99. We went with a single Master Series 4K Dome Camera. Its swivel meant let us capture everything in our small apartment.