Top 5 Best Outdoor Light Bulb Cameras 2023:
- THCABP Wireless 1080P Bulb Camera
- Sengled Floodlight Camera Outdoor, Full HD
- EVERSECU 360° Panoramic View Wi-Fi IP Bulb Camera
- Mliyam Smart Bulb Camera
- Rreslicam Outdoor Floodlight Camera
No matter where you live, the possibility of burglary is something you need to take into account. For instance, The United States alone score a staggering number of 2.5 thefts per year, with 66% of them being home break-ins.
Police solved only 16% of them.
We know what you might be thinking right now – installing a couple of quality CCTV cameras should solve this problem, right? The police should be able to identify the culprits easier.
On paper, that sounds good. In reality, though there is one problem – burglars have become very skilled at avoiding and disabling massive CCTV units. As soon as they notice them, they will find an alternate route into your house.
But what if you could hide the camera into an outdoor lighting bulb? There is no way they will be able to notice something like that.
Let’s quickly go through some of these units to see what is the best outdoor light bulb camera the money can buy and how they can make your home safer.
5 Best Outdoor Light Bulb Cameras In 2023: Detailed Reviews
1. THCABP Wireless 1080P Bulb Camera – Best Light Bulb Camera Overall
If you take a look at a short buying guide we gave you further down below, you will see that we have counted a couple of essential features necessary for seamless and consistent light bulb camera performance.
This unit checks all these marks and even manages to offer some pleasant surprises we have failed to mention. That immediately qualifies it as one of the most serious competitors for the title of the best light bulb camera on the market.
What are these essential features we are talking about?
Well, how about a 1080p resolution that will allow you to easily capture the face of whoever tries to enter your house? Or a 360-degree super wide-angle view that easily covers a vast area around the light source.
But, that’s not all – the manufacturer was also kind enough to include motion detection (the camera sends a notification to your phone when it detects a moving object), support for up to 128GB of external storage, and even a two-way speakerphone that gives you an opportunity to have a short chat with the burglar. All these things work like a charm.
However, there are two things we were not entirely thrilled about. The low light performance is average at best, so you will need to upgrade your security setups with a couple more lighting fixtures. Second, we have experienced occasional buffering. Not too frequently, but more than once.
Still, this is one rock-solid effort.
Pros
- Reasonable price
- Great bright light performance
- A plethora of useful features
- Two-way intercom
Cons
- Low-light performance is average at best
2. Sengled Floodlight Camera Outdoor, Full HD – Best Premium Floodlight Camera
If you are not familiar with the term floodlight is bigger, more powerful light used to illuminate the sports field and larges pieces of land. So, if you need something to keep your backlight lit as well as safe, this floodlight camera is definitely for you. Aside from being an excellent security asset, Sengeld’s product does its secondary purpose with ease and grace.
But let’s back to security features. The bad news is that being the floodlight camera that shoots the footage at an angle, this unit does not have the benefit of the full 360-degree view. Still, even with 140 degrees on disposal, you will be able to cover a lot of ground if you point the camera accurately.
Also, having the benefit of the powerful light source, the camera captures crisp and clear footage (1080P) on the distances up to 30 feet (10 meters). The whole thing is waterproof (you get IP65 certification), features that sweet two-way audio intercom, motion detection, and effortless Wi-Fi integration with various platforms like Alexa and Echo Show.
What about the drawbacks?
Well, the product is sold at a very hefty price. So much so that you can buy a couple of smaller sized bulbs for the same price and cover more ground. The other thing that left us slightly disappointed was the Wi-Fi module.
When it works, it works great. But, we have noticed some significant signal drops that rendered the camera useless.
Pros
- Strong light
- High-quality footage
- Water resistance
- Two-way intercom
Cons
- Noticeable signal drops
3. EVERSECU 360° Panoramic View Wi-Fi IP Bulb Camera – Best Affordable Light Bulb Camera
Lower end products are always exciting to review. On the one hand, all these units are bringing hi-tech capabilities to the customers with less money to spend, which is great. On the other, we are always curious to see what essential features needed to be sacrificed to make this possible.
We are happy to report that people from Eversecu were very clever when making this Sophie’s choice.
Sure, the very bulb the camera is located in does not produce enough light to be used independently. And sure, using the camera from your mobile devices is not as seamless as with some other, more expensive units.
Want to use Alexa to monitor your backyard? Yeah, you can forget this option.
But, once we move these unpleasantries out of the equation, what you get is one incredibly decent and very affordable camera that performs all the necessary tasks you throw in front of it without breaking too much sweat.
The shooting resolution is above the average (960P) as well as overall footage quality, you do get a panoramic view angle, and there is an always useful option to expand the data storage with a 128GB SD card.
As for night vision and motion detection, they are nothing to write home about, but the fact that you get them at this price point is a small achievement on its own.
Neat little product.
Pros
- Great price-value ratio
- Decent performance
- A couple of useful features
- Good resolution
Cons
- Sloppy remote controls
- Bulb in name only
4. Mliyam Smart Bulb Camera – Best Light Bulb Camera with Rotation
All the light bulb cameras we have covered above have one slight drawback. Once you install them into the socket, their position can only be changed manually. So, some corners of your porch or backyard will inevitably stay obscured.
Mliyam Smart Bulb Camera manages to solve this old problem but somehow makes a couple of different mistakes along the way. So, let us talk about them first.
The Wi-Fi module you can find in the camera is pretty all over the place – even for these types of products (as you can see from previous reviews, they do not really excel in seamless connectivity). This problem can be solved by hard-wiring the unit, but why would you?
Also, the low light performance is pretty weak (the quality of the bulb doesn’t help this story either).
But, on the other hand, the ability to remotely adjust the position of the camera is truly remarkable and does compensate for some of the flaws we have mentioned above.
As for the daylight footage we have managed to capture, it looked pretty darn good. And then, there are the usual suspects like motion detection, 360-degree super wide-angle view, and support for 128GB SD cards that help this neat product find much stronger market footing.
So, if you are ready to bear with some of the flaws, you will find a lot of things to enjoy here.
Pros
- Allows to remotely change the position
- Good daylight footage quality
- Very affordable
- Decent features
Cons
- Poor low-light performance
- Drops signal very often
5. Rreslicam Outdoor Floodlight Camera – Best Outdoor Security System
Ok, we have cheated you a bit with this one – in the case of Rreslicam Outdoor Floodlight Camera, the lens is not safely hidden inside the bulb. Instead, you get an entire home security system coupled with two powerful floodlights.
This kind of setup has some advantages. First and foremost, the very presence of security systems like this will scare off plenty of burglars. Second, all of the features of light bulb cameras are covered, this time with more room for higher specs.
So, the camera unit you can find here is very powerful – it features 1080P resolution, excellent footage quality, great low-light performance, and 360-degrees field of vision. The motion detection and two-way intercom are both present, and this time coupled with an excellent siren alarm that plays up the whole intimidation story we have mentioned above.
And then there are IP65 certification, two powerful floodlights, micro SD expansion slots, and numerous other useful features.
But, we can’t deny that the unit is big, bulky, consumes a lot of power, and features a slow Wi-Fi connection. And the convenience of having a light bulb camera is all but gone.
Bottom line – this product will not be everyone’s cup of tea. But it does represent a great addition to your home security system.
Pros
- Excellent security tool
- Great daylight and low-light performance
- Bunch of useful security features
- Siren alarm
Cons
- Bulky and power-consuming
Things You Should Consider To Find the Best Outdoor Light Bulb Camera
And now that we had an opportunity to take a good look at our top five contenders, we’ll quickly go through some of the features we used to rank them in order to find the best outdoor light bulb camera on the market.
The other thing you can get from the short buying guide we will present further down below is the opportunity to make your wish list and try to find your own ideal match. You see, what worked for us, may not necessarily work for your property.
So, be sure to read all the things we are going to cover right now and see how our top three picks factor into your home security plans. And now, without any further ado, here are a couple of things you should take into consideration before buying an outdoor light bulb camera.
1. Video Resolution
Buying a low-res camera that won’t be able to accurately capture someone trying to break into your house kinda defeats the whole purpose of owning one. And this is the situation where you absolutely want to be sure to have a good look at the culprit’s face.
But, just how high you need to go to make sure that’s the case? The answer is simple – as high as you can go. As for the lower bar, the reliable video capture performance usually starts with 720p, so we will use this resolution as our required minimum.
2. Night Vision
This might surprise you, but most of the registered burglaries do not occur at night. On the contrary, as much as 65% of break-ins occur between 6AM and 6PM while you are at work. Still, that leaves us with more than concerning 35% of housebreaks that are attempted when the sun sets.
So, to be absolutely sure you will be able to identify the criminals even in pitch-black conditions, you should be sure to get the infrared camera that will be able to avoid this glaring obstacle.
Related Read: The Best Backup Camera With Night Vision
3. Storage Capacity
If you ever tried recording some footage, you know that high-res videos tend to devour a lot of storage. And you do not want to run out of storage mere minutes before someone attempts to break into your home. Fortunately, most of the currently available cameras utilize a micro-SD memory expansion options. A 128GB unit will be more than enough to cover your daily recording needs.
Still, what you should look for instead is a Wi-Fi capable camera that will allow you to upload footage directly into external cloud storage life, for instance, Google Drive.
That brings us to…
4. Wi-Fi Capability And Smart Features
Although Wi-Fi capability does not exactly make or break an outdoor light bulb camera (that would be resolution and low light performance), they can completely change the way you can use these devices. We have already seen how convenient it is to check the footage from your cloud storage instead of having to pull out the micro-SD card every morning. But, that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Here are a couple of other useful features brought to you by this piece of hi-tech convenience:
- Mobile view – Yes, most of the Wi-Fi capable cameras come equipped with an Android, iOS, or Windows app that allows you to, at any moment, check the property from your go-to mobile device.
- 360-degree panoramic camera – An excellent way to eliminate the blind spots and take a good look even at secluded parts of your backyard.
- Motion detection sensor – Whenever some of these cameras detect moving objects in front of them, they will send a notification to your mobile device and allow you to check what’s going on there.
- Built-in speaker – Most of the burglars will abandon the attempt of breaking into your house when they suspect they can get caught. A built-in speaker plays the recorded message upon detected motion or even allows you to speak with the burglar yourself. This simple feature can definitely help you to scare away the less determined criminals.
Be sure to get as many of these features as possible. Being IoT –capable devices (IoT stands for “Internet of Things”) Wi-Fi bulb cameras can also be integrated into a smart home security system, but this depends on a variety of different factors (the type of the system, supported brands, etc.) so we won’t take this feature as a priority.
See Also: The Best Outdoor Wifi Extenders
5. Water Resistance
This one is rather simple. Some of the outdoor lighting fixtures do not provide enough protection from rain and moisture. That is why your outdoor light bulb camera should be able to survive heavy rains and sudden storms even on its own.
Final Thoughts And Recommendations
Best bulb camera overall: THCABP Wireless 1080P Bulb Camera
- This product strikes the perfect balance between an affordable price and overall quality. With so many good things on display and the drawback list that virtually consist of only one mention (average low-light performance), we couldn’t resist putting this bad boy on our number one spot. We have nothing but recommendations.
Best premium bulb camera: Sengled Floodlight Camera Outdoor, Full HD
- Most light bulb cameras have one fatal flaw – they do a pretty poor job of illuminating your backyard. Not the case with this one, though. Coming equipped with a powerful floodlight, this unit doubles down both as a reliable security tool and an outdoor lighting fixture as well. Of course, this benefit comes at a certain price.
Best affordable bulb camera: EVERSECU 360° Panoramic View Wi-Fi IP Bulb Camera
- Eversecu has a couple of noticeable flaws. We are primarily talking about horrible connectivity. But, the price that hangs on the package is so affordable we can’t resist but to look away from these drawbacks and focus on the positives. And there are a lot of good things to be found here.