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Home » The Best Security Cameras for a Smart Home You’ll Love

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The Best Security Cameras for a Smart Home You’ll Love

Last updated: June 20, 2017 by Patrick Sinclair Leave a Comment

The smart home market is full of security cameras, nanny cams, pet cams and plenty of other models of recording device for the digital abode. Most of them use Wi-Fi only to connect and stream high levels of data around.

However, there are still a few Z-Wave models that will integrate with your other smart home devices. Others will integrate with your smart home technology via IFTTT, Wink or other control protocols.

With such a choice of cameras, it can be hard to pin down what you need. As usual, most models badge themselves as “market leaders” or “best quality”, but these terms are hugely subjective.

No one knows how many the other companies sell, and quality is a meaningless term when it comes to marketing.

The three main features any user needs to consider are:

  • Resolution: How good a picture do they need?
  • Security: Does it store images safely and they easy to access?
  • Flexibility: Do they need to look around a large space?

Base your buying needs around those, and any particular secondary requirements, and you should be well on your way to picking the right smart home security camera for the job.

Naturally compatibility is always high on the feature list, but in the increasingly interconnected world, many devices will talk to multiple smart home protocols.

Contents (Jump to)

  • 1 Best for Resolution
    • 1.1 Product Info:
  • 2 Best for Security
    • 2.1 Product Info:
  • 3 Best for Flexibility
    • 3.1 Product Info:
  • 4 How to Cover All Angles Around Your Home
    • 4.1 Share this:
    • 4.2 Related

Best for Resolution

Most cameras top out at 1080p, but even that can have differences due to the parts used, build quality and the transmission compression. While in a year or two, we can expect 2K cameras for ultra high definition, for now, regular HD is where we are at.

Google’s  $180 (For the latest prices and discounts, check here) Nest  Cam, formerly  DropCam, comes  out  pretty  well  on  the  image  front  thanks  to  its  high  quality  sensor  and  glass  lens.

Nest  Cam  provides  good  detail  in  most  lighting  conditions  and  there’s  little  distortion  in  images. As  an  example  of  more  isn’t  always  better, the  Nest  Cam’s  eight  IR  LEDs  provide  a  better  image  than  many  cameras  that  come  with  12  LEDs.

While Nest Cam officially only works with the Nest thermostat as a trigger, there are many workarounds to get it playing with other smart home systems.

Google Nest Cam Indoor - Wired Indoor Camera for Home Security - Control with Your Phone and Get Mobile Alerts - Surveillance Camera with 24/7 Live Video and Night Vision
Google Nest Cam Indoor - Wired Indoor Camera for Home Security - Control with Your Phone and Get Mobile Alerts - Surveillance Camera with 24/7 Live Video and Night Vision
Price: $124.95

Product Info:

3 megapixel camera with 130 degree view and night vision

H.264 encoding at up to 30 frames/sec

Speaker and microphone

Best for Security

Piper NV Smart Home Night Vision Security Camera

The Piper HD Night Vision Security Camera is fully focused on user security with an alarm, two-way audio communication, tilting base and free cloud storage of events to record only what’s of interest.

As such it comes in at $279 (For the latest prices and discounts, check here), but the extra features help to protect the home, so can be considered a wise investment. The video side is handled over WiFi, but the extra benefits of its Z-Wave connection soon become apparent.

Piper nv Smart Home Security System with Night Vision, 180-degree Video Camera, White
Piper nv Smart Home Security System with Night Vision, 180-degree Video Camera, White
Price: $179.00

As  a  Z-Wave  device, it  can  talk  to  other  selected  devices (check  with  Piper  to  ensure  yours  are  on  the  list) such  as  lighting, alarms, locks, and trigger  further  actions.

Further security features include SSL encryption to protect your video transmissions. It also comes with battery backup so if the power goes out, it can still record, although you’ll need Internet somehow to access it. With its security focus, the Piper NV

Product Info:

3.4 megapixel camera with 180 degree view and night vision

Microphone, speaker and 105db alarm

Motion temperature, humidity and sound sensor

Best for Flexibility

micasaverde VistaCam PT Pan and Tilt IP Camera

The need to look around is key when it comes to security. Many cameras may offer a wider field of view, but if the action is going on outside that view, then they are totally useless.

If you like to have a peer around whatever’s going on outside your front window, or track up and down a long hallway, then a tilting camera is a better solution than even multiple wide field cameras.

The $99.99 micasaverde VistaCam is ideal in this respect, with 270 degree horizontal and 120 degree vertical movement from its base.

The unit requires power, so must be fairly close to a power outlet, which limits its position, but otherwise it addresses the many failings of fixed cameras with its swivel approach.

Yes it is fairly low resolution in comparison to most cameras, but for some use cases flexibility trumps and it can show video day or night.

Product Info:

480 SD Resolution (MJPEG 15fps)

640 x 480 Pixels (300k Pixels)

Lens provides 60° angle of view with 1/4″ Color CMOS Sensor

Pan/Tilt Angles: Horizontal: Up to 270° and Vertical: Up to 120°

IR Night Vision, up to 20 feet

Z-Wave and 802.11 B/G Wi-Fi

How to Cover All Angles Around Your Home

Whatever your home layout, smart cameras can help protect it, but you need to be flexible in your approach. Additional issues to consider when laying out a plan to protect a property include:

Power: Does the camera need to be mains powered, or are batteries a must?

Coverage: For when a home needs lots of cameras.

There are also a range of external weatherproof cameras that can be located outside the property.

Several  models  also  feature  battery  power  so  they  can  run  off  the  grid, while  others  have  local  storage, to  record  if  the  Internet  is  out, to  provide  some  redundancy.

A mix of the above can help ensure your home remains protected and covered.

For full security, fixed camera on the main exit points are ideal along with additional cameras in the main rooms and tilting cameras to cover wide areas should cover the most likely scenarios.

At least one should have an alarm, or be connected to an alarm to provide a noisy deterrent.

That might sound like a lot, if you were reading this article looking for a simple one-room solution, but if you are going to secure your smart home, you may as well do it properly. To save money, a few ranges come with bundles of multiple cameras, look out for these on sale to get the best price.

Patrick Sinclair

Patrick Sinclair is a geek; make no mistake about that. He runs All Home Robotics in his spare time so he doesn’t have to think about his depressing cubicle and it gives him an excuse to buy expensive gadgets to review!

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About Patrick Sinclair

Patrick Sinclair is a geek; make no mistake about that. He runs All Home Robotics in his spare time so he doesn’t have to think about his depressing cubicle and it gives him an excuse to buy expensive gadgets to review!

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About the Founder

Patrick Sinclair is a geek; make no mistake about that. He runs All Home Robotics in his spare time so he doesn’t have to think about his depressing cubicle and it gives him an excuse to buy expensive gadgets to review!

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