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Once upon a time, setting up a home security camera system meant paying a lot of money for a CCTV system and having someone who knew what they were doing install it.
The mass adoption of WiFi and smartphones changed all that, so now anyone can buy and install a camera system without breaking the bank and with only the most rudimentary DIY skills.
The downside of this ubiquity is that you now have a huge selection of security cameras with widely differing specifications and prices, from as low as £30 to ten times that much.
Before parting with your money, there are several questions you should ask.
Firstly, do you need to take out a paid subscription to access the recordings your camera makes? If you do, you will be permanently tied to an ongoing payment.
Here at Expert Reviews, we’re not fans of cloud subscriptions that are required to access the base functionality of your camera rather than just being an option for people who actually want or need remote storage.
Next there’s the thorny matter of power and data. Some cameras need a 230V mains power supply, some use batteries that require replacing or recharging, while others use a solar panel to keep an internal battery charged.
While WiFi works for many people, there may be situations in which you want a faster and more secure wired data connection, which means a camera with Ethernet or Power over Ethernet (PoE) connectivity.
For all-around nighttime vision, a good security camera will come with some type of floodlight, infrared emitters for very low-light situations, and ideally good low-light colour vision, which can give the impression of daylight even if the only ambient light comes from a full moon or a streetlight.
Most domestic security cameras have floodlights designed to illuminate the average suburban garden or driveway. To light up larger areas or act as a more overt deterrent to intruders, a more powerful lighting array will be needed.
In our experience here at Expert Reviews, Reolink is the camera maker that ticks the highest percentage of the boxes for anyone serious about their home security camera system, and it just so happens that they have some cracking discounts during this year’s Prime Big Deal Days, which run on Amazon from Tuesday 6-Wednesday 7 October.
Why Reolink?
Firstly, all the Reolink cameras listed here let you store your video recordings for free on a MicroSD card that sits inside the camera. This means you can view, share and download your footage without the need for a cloud storage account.
If you do want the added security of off-site cloud storage, Reolink has you covered and Reolink’s plans are good value, starting at £2.71 a month for 1 camera or £13.52 for up to 5, with 30 days of storage.
If you want free remote off-camera storage on your own device, Reolink’s Home Hub Mini is a good option. At just £49.99, it lets you store footage from up to 8 cameras on a MicroSD card with a capacity of up to 1 TB and provides weekly AI-powered insights into whatever your system has picked up.
Reolink doesn’t jealously hide its AI capabilities behind a paywall, so you can use features like the plain-English footage search for free. Just type in a query like “black van” or “white dog”, and any videos that feature said will pop up.
All Reolink’s cameras support both the 2.4Ghz and 5GHz Wi-Fi frequencies. This may seem unimportant given that 2.4GHz has a longer range than 5GHz, but with the latest security cameras supporting 4K resolutions, the extra bandwidth that comes with 5Ghz is well worth having.
Reolink also understands that we don’t always want to be glued to our phones, so it supplies desktop client software for both Windows and macOS computers as well as support for NVRs or network video recorders.
Lastly, the majority of Reolink’s Wi-Fi security cameras comply with the ONVIF protocol for integration with third-party hardware and software from the likes of Blue Iris, Home Assistant, Homey and Synology, so you’re not handcuffed to Reolink’s own accessories.
On a more domestic level, you can also integrate Reolink’s cameras with Google Assistant and Alexa, allowing voice control and access to video feeds on suitable connected devices.
Reolink OMVI 3i PoE
Was £259.99, now £181.99 – 30% off
The OMVI 3i is one of the more expensive home security cameras on the market, but for your money you get the very highest level of data security, exceptional image quality and tracking ability that would make a highly trained bloodhound question its life choices.
Images are captured by two cameras: a 10MP dual-lens f/2.8mm unit with a 180-degree field of vision in the upper section and a motorised 8MP f/6mm camera below it.
The images captured by those cameras are some of the sharpest we’ve seen from a domestic surveillance camera.
The pan-tilt or PT camera can rotate horizontally through 350 degrees and downwards through 50 degrees. Combine that with a lens that has a fixed field of view of 55 degrees horizontal and 30 degrees vertical, and we are talking Eye of Sauron levels of coverage.
The advantage of this two-camera system is that you simultaneously get a super-wide panoramic view and close-up tracking of moving objects. And even if a subject moves beyond the view of the wide-angle camera, the PT camera will continue to track it.
As well as advanced tracking, the OMVI 3i also lets you set up customised detection zones, define virtual fences, and even set loitering alerts to tell the difference between someone walking past your car, and someone taking a little too long looking in the windows.
To ensure the most secure and robust levels of data transmission, the OMVI 3i connects via a system known as Power over Ethernet, or PoE.
This is a networking technology that transmits electrical power along with data on an Ethernet cable. Most domestic routers will need what’s known as a PoE Injector to add power into the data cable.
Luckily, installing one of these is a simple plug-and-play operation, and they are cheap. Reolink will sell you one for £22.99. You can also power the camera with the bundled 12V mains power supply.
The cherry on the cake is the IP66 rather than the more common IP65 weatherproofing. For UK weather, IP65 is more than sufficient, but IP66 means you can fire a pressure washer directly at it with no harm done.
Reolink Argus PT Ultra
Was £139.99, now £97.99 – 30% off
The Argus PT Ultra is the perfect pan-tilt camera for the average domestic user. Despite being eminently affordable, it boasts an 8MP, 3,840 x 2,160 camera that can rotate through 355 degrees and move up and down through 140 degrees.
What all that means is that once the system detects motion – and, like all the best security cameras, the Argus can distinguish between people, animals, and cars – the camera will follow the subject around and deliver sharp, crisp video images.
The Argus PT Ultra also features a cunning 10-second pre-recording function that captures the moments before motion is detected. Combine that feature with a solar panel and a large battery, and it provides continuous, 365-day, worry-free protection.
Thanks to its ability to capture images using unlit low-light colour capture as well as full-colour capture with the help of the 1.2W LED spotlights or mono infrared, and IP65 weather-proofing, the Argus PT Ultra will stand guard no matter the weather or the time of day.
To maximise versatility, the included solar panel can either be fixed directly to the camera wall bracket or mounted in a different location and connected via the bundled 4.5m weather-proof USB-C cable.
If you want to fix the camera to a drainpipe, pole or tree, the wall mount can be fixed using the handy nylon strap, making it a great option for people with literally zero DIY skills.
Thanks to its articulated WiFi antenna and included vertical bracket, the Argus PT Ultra can also be mounted directly under a building’s eaves, providing both shelter and camouflage.
Like all new Reolink cameras, the Argus PT Ultra connects via both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi frequencies and uses the modern WiFi 6 standard for faster real-world speeds, lower latency, and better data handling over crowded networks.
Reolink Solar Floodlight CamReolink Solar Floodlight Cam
Was £99.99, now £79.99 – 20% off
If what you want from your security camera is the ability to deliver an almost eyeball-melting level of illumination without breaking the bank or having to solve the problem of how to get mains power from inside to outside, then Reolink’s Solar Floodlight Cam is definitely the camera system for you.
By combining a 1,000-lumen dual lighting array (in layman’s terms, that’s Saul-on-the-road-to-Damascus bright), a beefy 7,800mAh battery and a 3W solar panel, Reolink has come up with a floodlight system that can be installed just as easily as a regular domestic security camera.
Impressively compact and weighing just 800g, the Solar Floodlight consists of a central unit containing a 2,560 x 1,440 camera with a 150-degree horizontal field of view flanked by two large LED lights and topped by a fixed solar panel.
As a way of squeezing a pint-sized system into a half-pint container, this camera package really takes some beating.
Not only are the dual-LED lights super bright, but they feature adjustable warmth, so you can have a warm, welcoming and autumnal 3000K or a stark white prison yard 6000K. Or anything in between.
As well as turning on the lights, the system can be set to emit a screeching 110dB siren when motion is detected. It’s a brave intruder who will stand their ground when subjected to an onslaught of light and sound that will alert anyone nearby that mischief is afoot.
Of course, the Solar Floodlight Cam isn’t just about the lights. The 2.5K camera captures crisp footage and can easily distinguish between types of movement, so startling ne’er-do-wells doesn’t also mean scaring away the local wildlife.
Unusually for a camera costing less than £100, and usefully given the blunt shape, the Solar Floodlight Cam is rated IP66 weatherproof, so it will shrug off the very worst of the British weather.
