5 Home Security Cameras That Offer 24/7 Peace Of Mind

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Hate to say this, but nothing will give you total peace at night or when you're away from home. You can, however, get pretty damn close with the help of a smart security camera. At the very least it's a whole lot better than leaving your front light on to deter intrusions while you're away for the week. Nowadays, thanks to the smart tech revolution, it's a lot easier to setup one of these award-winning gadgets and have your own little digital CCTV. (Though, there's nothing closed circuit about it.)

Like a baby monitor for your home, the best smart security cameras beam live feeds to your phone and give you real-time notifications on what's going on. Amazon package? Get a notification. Weird movement in your driveway? Get a notification. It's as close as you can get to full-time security, always with you, but discerning all the factors and variables is nearly impossible. So, we did the testing for you. We tested a bunch of smart cameras to tell you which ones are worth your money. (And which are deserving of an Esquire Home Award.) If you're in the market for the best home security cameras, you've come to the right place. Any of these options will keep you, your loved ones, and (most importantly) your treasured, and very expensive, belongings safe. Shop the five best smart security cameras here.

Pro 4

When I'm setting up an outdoor security camera, there's only three things I really care about: Durability, battery life, and storage. Everything else—like smart recognition, video quality, and notifications—are fine across the category.

What does vary is how durable cameras are, how much video they can store, and how often you have to charge them. Arlo's Pro 4 is great in all three areas. First, it's properly weather resistant. It can handle storms, heat, and cold without any dips in performance. Second, without an Arlo Smart subscription ($3 a month for unlimited video storage) you can store one-week's worth of video on the cloud, which gives you more than enough time to download videos of particular events of interest.

Lastly, when talking about battery life, every one of these companies make insane claims about battery life. Arlo says the Pro 4 battery can last up to six months! Realistically, with regular recording, it lasts a a few weeks... Which is still great for a wireless camera.

Floodlight Cam S330

Arlo makes a great outdoor cam, but Eufy makes a great outdoor cam plus floodlight. The camera is solid, the floodlight is reliable, and since the storage is local, you'll never have to pay for a subscription.

First, the camera. It's standard 2K video, more than enough to get important details when you need them. Second, the floodlight does its job. It's a bit sensitive, kicking on when it sometimes shouldn't, but it's a wired camera so there's no battery life concerns associated with that.

The storage is both the best and worst thing about this camera. Because storage is local, nothing goes to the cloud, so you never have to pay a subscription fee. That itself is miles better than the competition. The issue is the actual amount of storage you get. On this model, it's a 8GB eMMC card. If you keep the factory setting of 45-second recordings, that should last you a month and some change. If you increase the duration of your recordings, that storage goes pretty quick, and the camera auto deletes old footage. Just make sure you're downloading what you want ASAP in the app.

Cam v3

For a budget option, they don't get better than the Wyze v3. It plays nice with Google Assistant and Alexa, and it has 1080p video, which is fine. The app is easy to use, but if you want long-term cloud storage, it costs $14 a year. However, you can install a 32GB microSD card and have plenty of local storage.

Outdoors, it's a decent camera, with a standard IP65 weather resistance rating. And if you want an indoor security camera, the $30 price tag makes this the perfect option.

Video Doorbell S330

For a lot of people, you really just need a doorbell camera to check for the rogue package thief. As far as doorbell cameras go, Eufy makes our favorite. It's wireless, so setup is easy. And again, because Eufy does local storage, you never have to worry about cloud subscriptions.

The only worry is the battery life. On a low-traffic Brooklyn street, you'll be good for about a month on one charge. But if there's a lot of foot traffic on your doorstep, expect to charge every few weeks.

Peephole Cam

We shouted out this Ring Peephole Camera in our Home Awards, but let me say it here. For apartments, townhomes, or anyone who already has a peephole, this is the perfect doorbell camera. Just pop out your current peephole and slide this one in.

The only issue, as with any wireless camera, is battery life. Since this one is guaranteed to get a lot of traffic in front of it, battery changes are going to be pretty frequent, about every three weeks. That said, it's not a huge deal. The camera comes with two rechargeable battery packs, so switching them in and out couldn't be easier.

What Do We Look for In Home Security Cameras?

Really, it boils down to a few things. Most importantly, in my mind, are durability, power, and video storage, but things like video quality, smart home compatibility, and motion detection also play a role.

Durability - How weather resistant is the camera? Here, all the cameras shown are IP65 or higher, meaning they're just about waterproof. I wouldn't go for any less.

Power - I'd always recommend going wired here. Wireless, especially for high-up security cameras, can be a bit of a pain to keep charged. Though, a lot of people prefer the ease of setup for wireless.

Video storage - Want unlimited cloud storage? It'll cost you. However, most cameras have some amount of complimentary storage. I wouldn't recommend anything under a week's worth of digital storage. And even then, I'd prefer a local option, as it's cheaper and easier to deal with.

Video quality - 720p on a doorbell is fine. 1080p on a security camera gets the job done. 2k video is perfect. 4k video is overkill.

Smart home compatibility - If you have an Alexa or Google system, the corresponding cameras will always be the easiest to connect. But, many of these options are compatible with wither, and they offer much better perks.

Motion detection - Most cameras are just OK at this. Brands claim their cameras are smart and can tell the difference between you and the UPS guy, but that's a lie. At this price point, you just want something that can tell the difference between human and car. After that, it just needs to reliably detect motion and capture it.

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