Smart outdoor floodlights are an easy way to keep your backyard safe and secure at night. They’re also highly programmable, with many of them offering options to only activate when motion is detected or run in a low light mode as needed. Toss in the ability to sync with the rest of your smart home, versatile smartphone apps, and eye-catching designs, and it’s easy to see why upgrading to a smart floodlight is a great idea.
Finding the right one for your home, however, isn’t always easy. If you need some help sifting through all your options, here’s a look at the best smart outdoor floodlights.
Philips Hue remains one of the biggest players in the smart lighting space with good reason. A steady stream of new software features, a wide range of form factors, and consistent performance puts them among the best options available.
The base model of the Welcome Outdoor Floodlight comes in a warm 2700K white, but there's a Discovery model that has all of the snazzy colors you've come to expect from smart lights. That color model can pump out 2,250 lumens at 4,000K, which should be plenty to cover your yard. A separate motion sensor accessory can help automate the lights triggering, though the mobile app has geofencing as an alternative. The usual connections to Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant are intact for hands-free activation. The IP44 water protection should keep it safe from rainfall and other weather.
For those concerned primarily about security, Ring has a floodlight with a built-in camera and motion detector.
A special "3D" motion detection feature helps you monitor visitors from a bird's eye view of your property, and two-way audio gives you the chance to say "hi" if you want. The robust mobile app provides live notifications when motion is detected and for a small monthly fee, Ring can save your footage in the cloud. The lights themselves are ample for just about any large area around the home. They operate at 3,000K and produce 2,000 lumens of brightness.
The Eufy Floodlight Cam 2 Pro gets big points for having three bright panels and a 360-degree camera. This design provides a broad view of everything that's happening nearby.
Once you've set up the Floodlight Cam 2 Pro from Eufy, the light panels collectively blast out 3,000 lumens. It boasts IP65 weatherproofing to deal with cold, dust, and rain. The camera won't record all day but will kick in with motion detection, then it can save the footage locally or to network-attached storage. On the smart assistant side, Alexa and Google platforms are both supported, but no love for Apple HomeKit just yet.
The Arlo Pro 3 is another floodlight with an integrated camera system but is set apart with an 80dB siren system.
The light emits 2,000 lumens which can be bumped up to 3,000 with the optional magnetic charging cable. It's otherwise designed to be totally wire-free for easy installation. Without the cable, the battery is able to last six months on a single charge. All of the major smart assistants are supported, so you can toggle the lights at a moment's notice.
For those looking to save a few bucks and who don't need a full camera system built in, the Ustellar Smart Outdoor LED Security Light covers all the basics.
Three adjustable panels provide 5,000 lumens of light, tunable in light to warm color range. The motion sensor can trigger from action out to 60 feet An IP65 waterproof rating ensures it can handle the outdoors, while a mobile app and voice assistant compatibility gives you access to functions easily.
It may not be as bright as other products on this list, but the Ring Spotlight Cam Plus is a solid mixture of outdoor security camera and floodlight. Its streamlined design makes it much less intrusive than standard floodlights, while its built-in spotlights do a great job of illuminating small porches or backyards. You’ll also benefit from Ring’s powerful smartphone app, allowing you to customize your alert zones, notification settings, or view event history.
The wireless option is great for most homes, but consider checking out the wired version if you have an outlet near its installation location. Both formats offer most of the same features, including two-way audio, support for Alexa, a compact design, and cameras that film in 1080p.
Simon Sage is a green tech contributor at Digital Trends. He looks at all sorts of devices that can help reduce emissions through electrification, like power stations, solar panels, smart thermostats, and LED lighting. He's also keen on exploring right to repair and sustainable transportation.
Simon started journalism 17 years ago in the mobile tech space, covering the meteoric rise and fall of BlackBerry. Since then he's dipped his toe in mobile gaming, app reviews, and sponsored content. He's been to his fair share of trade shows, such as Mobile World Congress, the Consumer Electronics Show, E3 (RIP), the Game Developer Conference, and a smattering of smaller shows. He's done multiple TV interviews, the most surreal of which was explaining how Pokémon Go works on a morning show. Simon's also hosted over 100 podcast episodes.
Previous publications include BlackBerry Cool, IntoMobile, and Mobile Nations sites like Android Central, iMore, CrackBerry, and Windows Central.
Simon's based in Ottawa, Ontario, where he is constantly clawing against the gravitational pull of becoming a government drone. He studied English at Carleton University there, including a stint at Lancaster University in the UK. He has since levelled up his education in sustainability through the Climatebase platform. Simon spends way too much of his free time playing games, especially Magic: The Gathering.
Few things ruin a quiet evening faster than a robot vacuum roaring through the living room. Most of us end up pausing the cleaning run, which defeats the whole purpose of owning one. Matic thinks it has the answer with its new Serene robot vacuum, and the big selling point is how little noise it makes.
The Matic Serene runs at 52 decibels even when cleaning at full power. To put that in perspective, Matic compares it to the hum of your refrigerator. It is available now for $1,695, which is $200 more than the original Matic’s current price.
Outdoor security cameras are not always practical if you live in an apartment or rental. Drilling into an exterior wall may be off-limits, while pointing a regular indoor camera through a window can create another problem once reflections start showing up after dark.
Baseus is trying to solve both issues with the new PrimeSentinel W1, a $69.99 security camera designed specifically to monitor the outdoors through glass. It mounts directly to a window without drilling and uses a 4K Starlight sensor with an F1.0 aperture for full-color monitoring during the day and at night.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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