Best Outdoor Security Camera 2025: Tested and reviewed by our experts

One of the most important parts of a security camera is its image quality and we’ve found that the Arlo Pro 5 boasts some of the best we’ve seen even in low-light conditions.

The Pro 5 shoots 2K video and boasts an impressive 12-bit sensor which is a vast improvement from its predecessor and means the camera is able to capture a whopping 68 billion colours.

The 12-bit sensor especially makes a difference at night, both with and without the spotlight turned on. If the spotlight is a nuisance, say if the camera faces a window, then you can switch to black and white mode which uses the IR lights to enhance the night image quality.

The Pro 5 either works with an Arlo Base Station (which is sold separately) or with Wi-Fi. The latter works perfectly well depending on the quality of your router and where you put the camera in relation to it, so you may not need to invest in the Base Station.

To get the most out of the Arlo Pro 5 then you should subscribe to the Arlo Secure subscription service which allows for cloud video recording. For one camera, this subscription is £3.49 a month for up to 30 days of history, and £9.99 for unlimited cameras at the same address.

Arlo Secure also offers you smart notifications which let you choose whether you want to be notified about people, animals or vehicles. Depending on where your camera is, this can significantly reduce the number of unwanted alerts so it’s definitely a useful feature.

If you don’t like the idea of paying for a subscription then you may be better suited to the EufyCam S330 which has no monthly fees whatsoever.

The Pro 5 not only connects to the newly revamped Arlo app but it is also compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

Arlo promises that the Pro 5 battery life will last up to 30% longer than the Pro 4 model which means in theory it should last between three to four months without needing to recharge.

Ring has had a floodlight camera for a long time but the Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro is the best yet. This model is easier to instal than the previous one, and can be wall- or ceiling-mounted. It has two bright LED lamps that you can angle where you want them, and a PIR sensor to control them.

Cleverly, Ring lets you control the detection range for the PIR sensor, so the light won’t keep turning on as people or neighbours walk near your light.

At the heart of the camera is a security camera, which has the 3D Motion Technology from the company’s Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2. This uses radar to let you set a detection range. When used in combination with activity zones, it basically means that this camera won’t record motion when you don’t want it do.

Video quality is decent, with the floodlight meaning that the camera can record in colour at night, although it also has IR lights for black and white shooting as a backup.

As with other Ring cameras, you need to pay for a cloud subscription plan to store videos in the cloud. This is well priced, particularly if you have multiple Ring cameras and a Ring Alarm.

The Blink Mini 2 is a versatile security camera that can be used either indoors or outdoors, although for the latter you will need to buy an external power adaptor for £8.99/$9.99.

Out of the box you’d be forgiven for thinking the Mini 2 is solely for indoor use, however simply take the cover off the base and you’ll see it can easily be screwed to an outside wall instead. It also sports an IP65 rating which means it is dust-tight and will survive heavy rain and snow showers too.

Pair the Blink Mini 2 with a Blink cloud subscription which costs either £2.50 or $3 per month/£24.99 or $30 a year for a single camera, or £8 or £10 a month/£80 or $100 a year for multiple cameras and you’ll get 30 days of video history stored online.

That’s not the only perk of the Blink subscription as there’s a human detection feature which uses cloud processing to warn you only when a person is detected to help lessen the amount of unwanted notifications.

If you’d prefer to save your videos offline instead, you’ll need to purchase a Blink Sync Module 2 (£34.99/$49.99) which allows you to plug in a USB instead. Just note you won’t benefit from the human detection feature.

With a 1080p sensor and 110° field of view, the Blink Mini 2 needs to be carefully aimed at the area you want covered, as the viewing angles can be tight. Overall video quality is adequate and perhaps indicative of the camera’s price point and, while it is clear enough in natural light, in bright sunshine or at nighttime the footage can lack detail.

The Mini 2 also has a spotlight which is useful for lighting up outside, although the best video is shot with its IR LEDs.

The Blink Mini 2 is a great entry-level camera that comes equipped with a good-value subscription plan that allows you to keep your footage within the cloud.

The well-priced Annke NC800 is a 4K video camera and part of the company’s night chroma range. That essentially means that it can ‘see’ in the dark, shooting some of the best quality video that we’ve ever seen, preserving details when it’s dark outside. Image quality during the day is even more impressive, and this camera beats the big-name competition hands down.

It’s a little fiddly to get this camera working. While it has an SD card slot, the basic Annke app isn’t very good. Instead, you’re better off using the NC800 with a network video recorder. You can use any ONVIF compliant recorder, such as the Synology Surveillance Station, which is a free add-on to Synology NAS devices.

Still, once connected to a suitable recorder, it means that you don’t have any ongoing costs. While the other cameras on this list are easier to get working and easier to use, if you put the time in and just want the best quality footage, then this is a great choice.

Whether it’s video quality or battery life, there are plenty of features that may sway your decision over which outdoor security camera to buy, but if you’re fed up of being bombarded with incessant notifications about detected movement then the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro should be your next buy.

The reason for this is that the Stick Up Cam Pro makes full use of Ring’s ingenious 3D Motion Detection. By using radar and a bit of manual mapping via the Ring app, the Stick Up Cam Pro can detect the distance of activity within its field of view and recognise if something is actually worth reporting.

Because of this technology, you’ll only get a notification when someone or something has come within the camera’s genuine field of interest, at which point you can dive into the live feed, initiative a two-way conversation or even set off the built-in siren.

As great as the technology is however, it doesn’t come cheap. Set at £159.99, the Ring Stick Up Cam Pro is definitely one of the pricier options on this list so if you’re tied to a budget then it probably isn’t the one for you.

What is handy is that the camera actually comes in two versions: and battery powered. This means that you can hook the camera up to your electrical system where possible, or have it run off of a battery if you want to place it further away from your home, like at the end of your garden.

The camera shoots footage in full HD 1080p resolution which is quite a step back from the 4K or even 2K options out there, but Ring has managed to make the most of this format with impressively bright footage, both in daytime and night-time recording. If you already have a Ring ecosystem in your home then the Ring Stick Up Pro Cam is an easy recommendation to add into the mix.

The Eufy SoloCam S340 camera is packed with features including a built-in solar panel that negates the need to manually charge the camera, no extra subscription fees and AI tracking built-in.

With a motorised pan and tilt, the SoloCam S340 boasts 360° horizontal and 70° vertical movement which works alongside the built-in AI tracking to ensure anything that triggers a notification will be automatically followed.

Its two cameras, one 3K wide-angle and one 2K telephoto, can each independently provide excellent quality video footage, with (perhaps unsurprisingly) the wide-angle lens offering the best detail of the two.

There is an option to record from both cameras simultaneously however in practice we found this resulted in a compressed and low quality video so it’s not worth bothering with.

Overall we found the SoloCam S340 captured bright, sharp and detailed images. At night you have the option to capture footage via either its IR LEDs in black and white or with colour night vision. There are pros and cons to both, with the former resulting in a softened image but can reach a further distance whereas the latter was more detailed.

Installing the SoloCam S340 is simple as the mount can either be screwed into a wall or the ceiling of an overhang. You then connect the camera directly to Wi-Fi or to a Eufy S380 HomeBase which is sold separately or as part of the Eufy S330 lineup.

If you do connect to a Eufy HomeBase then you’ll benefit from centralised storage and facial recognition too.

If the S340 is placed in direct sunlight then thanks to its onboard solar panel, its battery can remain topped up at all times. However this will depend entirely on where your camera is placed and how much sunlight it will receive.

When it comes to setting up the ideal home security system, wanting higher resolution video has usually required handing over a hefty fee for the privilege, but the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus finally brings the feature down to a more affordable level, making it an easy outdoor camera to recommend to most people.

With this particular camera, you get crisp 2K footage, which just offers so much more detail than the grainy security cameras of old – you can actually make out facial features with ease, so you’ll know right away whether or not you recognise someone who is on or around your property.

When the sun goes down, the Outdoor Cam Plus is able to switch to full colour night vision, so your home can remain secure 24 hours a day. Even if there’s some serious rain and wind, this Ring camera is fully weatherproof and ready to battle with the elements.

Depending on where you place the camera, you might want a connection, a solar charging system or even a battery-powered set-up, and thankfully, the Outdoor Cam Plus is capable of all three. This type of flexibility is quite rare when it comes to security cameras in general, but it means that Ring’s 2K camera can work around your needs, rather than requiring you to make extra considerations.

If you already have other Ring products in your home, then the Outdoor Cam Plus can be seamlessly added to your existing ecosystem. This is particularly helpful if you’re signed up to Ring’s subscription service, as you’ll have access to cloud storage for footage captured on the Outdoor Cam Plus.