I test smart home tech for a living, and these are the 3 outdoor security cameras I recommend to my family and friends
An outdoor home security camera will give you peace of mind while you’re away, alert you to visitors (welcome or not), and send you notifications if something unexpected happens. They’re a great addition to your home security system, but there are so many available right now, it can be tough to choose the right one for you.
That’s why I’ve put together this quick list of the three outdoor cameras I trust enough to recommend to my own friends and family. There’s something for everyone here, whether you want a serious security system to guard your home from multiple angles and identify people for you, or something simple and cheap that you can put in the yard and use to monitor either visitors or wildlife.
If you’re specifically looking for cams that don’t require a membership fee, take a look at my top three subscription-free home security cameras. Now, on with the show.
Reolink Altas PT Ultra
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The Altas (not Atlas) PT Ultra is easily one of the best security cameras we’ve tested this year on TechRadar, and offers serious protection without making your house look like a maximum security prison. Yes, it’s quite bulky, but that’s not surprising due to its pan-and-tilt functionality (355 degrees and 90 degrees respectively), and its solid weatherproof build. It offers an impressive range of mounting options too; you can screw it to a roof (as we did here), to a wall, or strap it onto a tree with the accoutrements provided.
It records at 4K, and during our tests we found it captured our yard in rich detail, with visitors easily identifiable at a glance. Everything looked pin-sharp during the day, but the Altas PT Ultra really comes into its own after dark, when its ColorX tech delivers full color images even in very low lighting. In pitch-black conditions, the camera’s built-in spotlights come into play automatically.
The Altas PT Ultra can pan and track movement automatically, and its huge battery allows for continuous recording. We didn’t find its solar panel as effective as that of the Swann MaxRanger4K camera below, though.
The Reolink Altas PT Ultra doesn’t require a subscription, either. Your videos are stored locally on an SD card so you’re always in control, and you don’t need to pay a monthly fee to store them in the cloud.
If off-site storage is important to you, Reolink’s standard plan costs $6.99 / £3.49 / AU$4.99 per month or $69.99 / £34.49 / AU$49.99 a year for 30-day cloud video history, 30GB video storage and support for up to five cameras. That’s a competitive price, and similar price to a Ring Basic plan.
Read our full Reolink Altas PT Ultra review
Swann MaxRanger4K Solar
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If you’re thinking this looks like something you’d see outside a supermarket, or possibly a jail, you’d be right – but depending on the size of your home, it might be the best outdoor security camera for you.
Like the Reolink cam above, the MaxRanger records at 4K for extra crisp footage, even at a distance – ideal if you’re mounting it up high to maximize its coverage. It has a 105-degree viewing angle, and excellent color night vision for peace of mind after dark. No more struggling to interpret grainy black-and-white video clips.
Subject detection works extremely well too. The camera uses a combination of infra-red and motion sensors to identify people, vehicles, and other disturbances, which are then labelled for you in the app. This proved very accurate during our tests, and the camera’s audio proved surprisingly high-fidelity.
The solar panel is an excellent feature too, eliminating the need to take it down for frequent charging. Just make sure you take a minute to adjust the camera’s sensitivity in the app. If it’s monitoring a high-traffic area and the sensitivity is set to ‘high’, all those triggers will run down the battery.
Another of my favorite features is that, like most Swann cameras, you don’t have to pay a monthly subscription fee to store all your video footage. Instead it’s all stored locally on the hub, which is kept indoors and has a maximum range of 273 yards / 250 meters.
You can also store up to seven days’ worth of recordings in the cloud with a free Swann Secure membership plan. Paid options are available if you want off-site storage for up to two months, but for home use, the free offering should be more than enough.
The downside is the high initial cost. Although you can buy a Swann MaxRanger4K camera by itself, you’ll need to buy a starter pack including the hub to get started, and these start at $399.99 / £499.99 / AU$949.95. For this degree of protection with no monthly fees, though, it’s not at all unreasonable.
Read our full Swann MaxRanger4K Solar review
Blink Outdoor 4
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If the two cameras above look like overkill for your home (if you just want to record your garden wildlife, for example, or monitor a few particular areas discreetly) then the Blink Outdoor 4 is an excellent option. In fact, it currently holds the title of ‘best outdoor camera’ in my roundup of the best home security cameras thanks to its balance of features, value, and ease of use.
It has a modest 1080p resolution compared to the 4K behemoths above, but it’s an absolute breeze to use, and with battery life of up to two years (yes, really) you can just pop them outside wherever you want to watch, and forget about them until 2027. Add the optional battery extender, and you won’t have to think about recharging until 2029.
During our tests, motion-detection proved accurate, and we were able to start watching a live feed whenever a badger ambled across our driveway, or a delivery person arrived with a package. There are three picture quality settings to choose from, with the top one proved very respectable, and even the lowest option was find in a pinch.
The downside is that, as with all budget-priced security cameras, you’ll need to pay a subscription fee to get the most out of this little cam. Basic features including a live video feed on your phone, motion alerts, and two-way audio are all available without any extra payments, which may be all you need, but if you want extras like person-detection,
Prefer to keep your footage locally? You can, provided you also have the Blink Sync Module 2 and your own USB storage device (take a look at our guide to the best external hard drives for some great options). live view recording, and cloud storage then you’ll need to sign up for either Blink Basic or Blink Plus.
If you already have a Ring video doorbell then you might want to consider a Ring Outdoor Camera instead, since you can use the same subscription for both.
Read out full Blink Outdoor 4 review
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