There are tons of great outdoor security cameras, but my favorite floodlight security camera outshines them all. It combines a clever dual-lens camera design with two bright light panels capable of illuminating your backyard or driveway. It can also track suspicious characters and record locally, so there’s no need for a subscription. It occasionally drops in price, but it’s currently at the cheapest price I’ve ever seen it.
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There’s some kind of spotlight on most outdoor security cameras, but they usually aren’t bright enough to fully light up a path or yard. You need a floodlight camera for that, and after testing several, the Eufy E340 is my favorite. It boasts two attached light panels capable of putting out up to 2,000 lumens of shining bright light. You can adjust the angle of the panels for your setting and also tweak the brightness in the app.
Beyond the excellent illumination, what sets this security camera apart is the clever dual-lens design, comprising a 3K wide-angle lens and a 2K telephoto lens that offers up to 8X zoom. The telephoto lens can capture details, like faces or car license plates, up to 50 feet away, and action is in color, thanks to the floodlight. The video is generally crisp, though the limited frame rate (15 fps) can be a weakness, especially with moving subjects.
The camera can pan 360 degrees and tilt 120 degrees, and there’s AI tracking, so it automatically follows subjects and returns to your preferred position when they leave the frame. You can pick preset positions for the camera to patrol, so it can potentially cover quite a wide area.
The catch is that it needs to be plugged into an outlet or wired in, so you’ll need to run cable to an outlet or have an electrician hook it up. You can wall- or ceiling-mount, making it ideal for under your eaves, but it also works great for a side entrance or above a garage.
The beauty of the Eufy’s systems is that you only pay once. Subscribing isn’t essential because this camera can record locally. You can either insert a microSD card up to 128 GB or connect to Eufy’s HomeBase 3 (sold separately). If you prefer, cloud storage is an option that starts from $3 per month for a single camera for 30-day event history. This camera is also capable of continuous recording.
