If nighttime disturbances outside your home worry you, a floodlight and/or security camera can help put your mind at ease. The Google Nest Cam with Floodlight is a weatherproof, Wi-Fi enabled security camera that illuminates an area and records HD video when it detects motion.
It produced excellent 1080p video in testing, and its LEDs responded quickly to motion triggers and Google Assistant voice commands. If voice commands are important, the slightly less expensive Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera supports more platforms than the Nest Cam, including Alexa, HomeKit, and IFTTT.
The Nest Cam With Floodlight uses two dimmable 2,400-lumen LED lights with a white color temperature of 4,000K. Both the Wyze Cam Floodlight and Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight have brighter lamps with 2,600 and 3,000 lumens, respectively. The round lamp housings sit on mounting arms that you can swivel to ensure optimal coverage.
The sleek, matte white fixture also features a passive infrared (PIR) motion sensor with a 180-degree viewing angle, as well as a cable and magnetic mount for the camera. Black and white cables that protrude from the back of the housing connect directly to the cables in the junction box for installing the light.
The camera is housed in a matte white, weatherproof IP54 enclosure. A metal piece embedded in the back of the Nest Cam allows for easy attachment to the magnetic mount. On the bottom, there is a magnetic power connector, a screw thread, and a speaker.
The camera is powered by a lithium-ion battery that should last up to three months between charges with normal use, but since the mount powers the camera, you’ll likely never have to rely on the battery. A dual-band Wi-Fi radio lets you connect the Nest Cam to your home network, while a Bluetooth radio enables the setup process.
The camera shoots 1080p video at 30 frames per second and uses high dynamic range (HDR) technology to enhance contrast and detail in footage. It has a 130-degree horizontal field of view, 6x digital zoom, 16:9 aspect ratio, and uses six infrared LEDs for night vision (up to 20 feet).
It can record video and send push notifications when it detects motion, and it can distinguish between people, animals, and cars. It can also detect faces, but this feature requires a Nest Aware subscription (more on that later).
