Choosing
Resolution describes daylight. After dark the image is made by the illuminator: infrared, which gives a monochrome picture and stays invisible, or a white spotlight, which keeps color and announces the camera. There is no version of this trade where you get both.
Every camera in this catalog looks the same in daylight. The differences are all after dark.
Infrared LEDs, which the eye cannot see, producing a monochrome picture. Or white light, which produces color and makes the camera obvious.
Cameras that claim color at night are cameras that light the scene.
A sensitive sensor with a wide aperture gathers more of whatever light already exists — street lighting, a porch lamp, moonlight. Where there is some ambient light, that produces color without the camera announcing itself. Where there is none, it does not.
A few cameras state how far their color night vision reaches — 15 m (49 ft), 30 m (98 ft) — after which the image reverts to infrared. Those figures are worth more than an unqualified claim.
Insects on the lens, lit by the camera’s own infrared. Mount under an eave.
Where infrared is entirely adequate and where most cameras perform acceptably.
Where the difficulty lies, and where camera position and lighting matter far more than the specification.
Where a spotlight gives color and also announces the camera, which some owners want and others do not.
Where infrared range and the width of the view decide whether anything useful is captured.
| What you want | What it needs | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| See movement | Ordinary infrared | Little |
| Identify a face | Close mounting and light | Harder than expected |
| Color at night | A spotlight or low-light sensor | The light is visible |
| Through a window | Camera outdoors instead | Infrared reflects off glass |
Night performance degrades first, and it degrades from dirt rather than age. A film of salt or dust on the lens scatters infrared straight back into the sensor, producing a white haze that looks like a camera fault.
Lighting and cameras affect other people too.
2K 4MP · F1.6 Starlight · 360° pan · IP66 · Wi-Fi or Ethernet
A 2560 × 1440 sensor behind an F1.6 lens gives more color in low light before it turns on its spotlights, and it can be wired to Ethernet instead of trusting Wi-Fi.
Best for: An outdoor position where Wi-Fi is unreliable and a network cable can be run, or where color at night matters more than an unlit image.
2K · 360° pan, 130° tilt · color night vision to 30 m (98 ft) · IP65 · siren
An entry-level 2K motorized camera with color night vision. TP-Link states a 360° sweep, person detection with motion tracking, color at night to 30 m (98 ft) and an IP65 housing.
Best for: A first motorized camera, where the sweep matters more than tracking a subject at distance.
4K UHD · 3× optical zoom · dual-band Wi-Fi 6 · 355° pan, 50° tilt · 24/7 recording
Reolink states 4K with color night images, a genuine three-times optical zoom, dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and auto-tracking across a 355° sweep, with custom detection zones and continuous recording.
Best for: A property where a face or a license plate at distance actually has to be readable.
5MP · dual-band 2.4/5 GHz · 30 m (98 ft) IR · microSD to 512 GB, NVR or FTP · IP66
A fixed 5 MP bullet camera rather than a pan-and-tilt, and the only camera in this hub that will record to an FTP server, as well as to a Reolink NVR or a card. Reolink states dual-band Wi-Fi, person, vehicle and animal detection, and 30 m (98 ft) night vision.
Best for: Someone who wants a fixed camera pointed at one thing permanently, recorded somewhere other than the camera itself.
A marketing name for a sensor and lens combination tuned for low light — for example a wider aperture, F1.6 instead of F2.2. It produces color in poorer light. It is sensitivity, not night vision: in genuine darkness the camera still uses infrared or its own spotlight.
Color, if you want to describe somebody to a third party — a coat color is worth more than a shape. Infrared, if you would rather the camera was not noticed. A camera producing color at night is a camera that is lighting the scene, and lit cameras are seen.
Sometimes, but it depends far more on position and lighting than on the camera. A distant wide view will not, however good the sensor.
Usually a dirty lens or a cobweb reflecting infrared straight back. Cleaning fixes it, and it looks alarmingly like a hardware fault.
At night, poorly. Infrared reflects off the glass. Either mount outside, or turn infrared off and light the scene from outside.
Only up to a point. Lighting the approach usually does more for footage quality than a camera with a longer stated range.
Insects and spiders are attracted to infrared illuminators and fly close to the lens. Cleaning and adjusting sensitivity is the usual fix.
Designed for: An outdoor position where Wi-Fi is unreliable and a network cable can be run, or where color at night matters more than an unlit image.
Its main asset: Ethernet as well as Wi-Fi — the only camera in this hub to state it
Its main gap: Color at night still needs some ambient light — it is a sensitive sensor, not night sight
Designed for: A first motorized camera, where the sweep matters more than tracking a subject at distance.
Its main asset: Color night vision stated to 30 m (98 ft) — a long published distance for an entry-level model
Its main gap: IP65, below the IP66 stated by DEKCO in this hub
Designed for: A property where a face or a license plate at distance actually has to be readable.
Its main asset: 3× optical zoom — glass, not pixels, which is the difference that matters
Its main gap: Tilt of 50° is shallower than the 90° or 130° of cheaper cameras
Designed for: Someone who wants a fixed camera pointed at one thing permanently, recorded somewhere other than the camera itself.
Its main asset: 5 MP — the highest resolution in this hub, stated by Reolink
Its main gap: Fixed, not pan-and-tilt — what it sees is decided at installation
Accessories and spares from the same aisle, at the price we read. Confirm they suit the device you choose before ordering: it turns on the model and the part number, which the listing gives.
Device against device, already covered, inside this guide or this aisle.
The devices listed are drawn from the catalog of this site. Specifications are those the maker and the Amazon listing publish; prices are what Keepa recorded on the date shown, and both move. The order follows declared specifications, the balance between stated strengths and stated limits, and price. No device here has been installed or tested by us, and no page claims it was.
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Prices quoted in these summaries are dated readings. The live price is shown next to each product.
Cameras, alarm kits and safes swing by thirty dollars or more across the year, and the biggest "discounts" often land at prices the same model sold for six weeks earlier. UniverTrack tracks the real price history across retailers, spots fake reductions, and alerts you when it is genuinely the moment to buy.
