Key specs – Size: 68 x 138 x 68mm; Weight: 200g; Field of view: 140 degrees; Video resolution: 1,920 x 1,080; Night vision: Up to 8m; Motion detection: Yes (PIR based); Free clip storage option: Yes, 6 seconds with cooldown period Indeed, some manufacturers don’t allow any access to online storage at all after an initial trial period, after which you need to pay for anything more than live feed access. It’s also worth bearing in mind that what starts out being free may not continue to be in future. Smart assistant/speaker integration: Many manufacturers boast of integration with either Alexa or Google Assistant in their specifications but while some aspects of these features are useful, they’re worth taking with a pinch of salt. In most instances, they refer to the ability to ask the digital assistant to display the feed from your camera on your smart screen speaker, which isn’t all that useful in our experience. Image quality is good both in good light and at night, audio is surprisingly clear, and it’s an absolute doddle to set up. Oh, and it also works seamlessly with screen-based Echo devices, allowing you to bring up the video feed from the camera with a simple voice command.

verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ Video quality: 1080p | Power options: Wired | Subscription fee: none | Works with: HomeKit, Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT Pros: Snappy alerts; person detection; lengthy battery life, excellent night vision Cons: No sound detection, limited zoom, no 24/7 continuous recordingAnd although the cloud video clip storage isn’t free on an ongoing basis – the first month comes gratis then you have to pay after that – the camera does have a microSD card slot so you can store clips locally and access them that way instead. What marks out the best cameras, though, is the way that video is processed. The most important feature on this front is HDR. Cameras with HDR take the video signal from the camera and brighten up the dark areas while ensuring the bright areas of the image aren’t blown out and difficult to see. Cameras without HDR tend to struggle to balance areas of bright and dark with the result that it’s often difficult to make out crucial details.

It also has no subscription fees, even for advanced features like person detection and motion zones that others charge for. Video is stored locally on the required HomeBase, which can hold 16GB of family snapshots, as well as extend the range of the cameras. We placed them a good 30 metres from the base, way into our garden, and still got a clear, consistent live feed and recorded video. Key specs – Size: Floodlight – 315 x 165 x 93mm (WDH), Camera – 83 x 83 x 83mm (WDH); Field of view: 130 degrees; Video resolution: 1,920 x 1,080; Night vision: yes; Motion detection: YesPros: Multifunctional; no hub required; colour night vision, 2K video Cons: Expensive, subscription required for recorded video, app is slow In our testing, we used this feature primarily as a way to keep tabs on our kids – the camera can send an alert when a certain person arrives home. We also set it to never record when the adults in the house were in its view and were able to set it to turn on and off based on geofencing and our smartphones. Crucially, it doesn't ever stop monitoring, it just stops recording. Which means you don’t end up with useless footage of you wandering around your house, but can feel confident knowing that if someone did sneak in, the camera would catch it.