Best Budget Projector Camera
TP-Link
Tapo C615F Kit (Battery)
For tighter budgets or places where it’s difficult to run a cable, TP-Link’s Tapo C615F is a handy package. Video quality is solid, you can record locally to a microSD card (sold separately), and it’s an IP65-rated pan-and-tilt camera that can cover 360 degrees horizontally and 130 degrees vertically. It also has a 10,400 mAh battery inside and a small solar panel to keep it powered. The panel can be top-mounted or located in a better spot for the sun with the included 13-foot cable. The siren is 97 decibels and the two-way sound is passable. It’s an impressive combo for the price, but there are tradeoffs.
The single 800-lumen floodlight doesn’t fully illuminate a large area and isn’t very adjustable, although it should be fine for enclosed passageways or small yards. The AI detection does not require a subscription and can generally correctly identify people, pets, and vehicles, but the camera occasionally missed a few events and recording sometimes started with subjects already in frame. Although the app worked well to quickly load the live stream, it sometimes took up to 10 seconds. There was also some lag on video, pan and tilt controls, and two-way audio.
| Specifications |
|---|
| Video quality: Up to 2K, 20fps |
| Registration: Local microSD card (up to 512 GB) or cloud |
| Audio: Two-way audio, siren |
| Smart home: Amazon Alexa, Google Home |
| Projector: 1 panel, up to 800 lumens |
Consider These Spotlight Cameras
Photography: Simon Hill
Reolink Elite Floodlight WiFi (Wired) for $230: Similar to our Reolink pick above, the difference with the Elite Floodlight is that it’s a fixed, dual-lens camera designed to give you a wide 180-degree view (59 degrees vertically), rather than a pan-and-tilt camera. If you want a fixed camera to cover the entire side of a property, this could be a good choice. It records up to 4K video at up to 20 frames per second, has a 105 decibel alarm, and supports dual-band Wi-Fi 6. The rest of the specs, including the temperature-adjustable 3,000-lumen dual-panel floodlight, match the TrackFlex above.
Google Nest Cam with Projector (Wired) for $280: This aging floodlight security camera might still be your best choice if you prefer Google Home and have a Nest doorbell. The limited 1080p resolution is mitigated by the high frame rate (30fps), HDR, and a decent 6X digital zoom. The two-panel spotlight can emit up to 2400 lumens of warm light (4000K) and the brightness is adjustable. Google’s AI detection is perhaps the smartest in the industry, and it’s a very reliable camera, but you need to subscribe for it to be worth it, as there’s no local recording option. Google Home Premium starts at $10 per month or $100 per year, but that covers all your devices. It might be better to wait, as Google recently released Nest 2K camerasand there is a good chance that it will update its spotlight camera soon.
Photography: Simon Hill
Philips Hue Security Camera for $130 And Check out Floodlight (wired) for $160: Strictly speaking, these are two separate devices, but I used this setup in my old house and it worked great. If you invest in Tint lightingthe Discover Floodlight is one of the my favorite outdoor lights and a versatile way to light up your space. It can put out 2,300 lumens, and you can easily change the temperature, color, and brightness in the Hue app, which also allows scene planning and animation. Add a Philips Hue Secure Wired Camera and you can have it trigger the spotlight and any other Hue lights you own. It’s only 1080p, but the wired camera worked well for me, triggering reliably, and Philips Hue now offers 24 hours of video history for free. But if you want to benefit from AI detection, consecutive recording, activity zones and 30 days of video history, you need to subscribe for $40 per year for a single camera.
Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera (Battery) for $250: An obvious choice for Arlo system users, this battery-powered camera allows for wireless setup, although you’ll need to charge it. It offers up to 2K footage with HDR and Arlo’s excellent app and alert system, although you’ll need an Arlo Secure plan ($10 per month or $96 per year for a single camera, $20 per month or $216 per year for unlimited cameras). The spotlight is a single panel that flanks the camera face and delivers up to 2,000 lumens. You can increase the brightness up to 3,000 lumens and eliminate event recording delays with the Arlo Outdoor Charging Cable ($50)but you will need to run it to an outlet. Arlo has a newer wired floodlight camera that I plan to test soon.
Eve Outdoor Camera (Wired) for $249: This sleek floodlight camera can replace an outdoor light to give you motion-activated light (up to 1,500 lumens), 1080p video (157-degree field of view), and two-way audio. As a HomeKit camera, you’ll need an Apple HomeKit hub (Apple TV, HomePod, or iPad) and an iCloud+ storage plan. Unfortunately, the video and sound quality is only average. This camera also only works on 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and does not support Android.
Spotlight Cameras We Don’t Recommend
Toucan Security Camera (Wired) for $80: You can plug this camera into an outlet and it comes with an 8 meter waterproof cable. It features a motion-activated light (1,200 lumens), records 1080p video, and supports two-way audio. I found the images to be quite detailed, but they struggled to hold up in direct sunlight. You can record locally to a microSD card (sold separately) and get 24 hours of free cloud storage, but this has limits. Plans start from $3 per month. Even with motion detection set to the lowest sensitivity, this camera triggered too often during testing and there’s no way to filter out people, so I received frequent false positives (blowing leaves, butterflies, and birds all triggered alerts).
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