Swann Floodlight Camera Pro

Wireless refers to the Wi-Fi video link, not the power: floodlight cameras like Swann's Pro need constant mains power for the lamps, so most are hardwired into an existing outdoor floodlight's junction box. If you have no existing fixture there, plan on an electrician or a battery-plus-spotlight model instead.

No, Swann supports local recording to a microSD card in the camera, so you can avoid recurring cloud fees entirely. Optional Swann cloud plans exist, but the local-storage route is one of the brand's main selling points against subscription-first competitors.

At typical floodlight mounting distances of a garage or doorway, 1080p (2 megapixels) is generally adequate for identifying a person, though fine detail like a plate number can fall short. Swann also sells 2K and 4K lines if you need the extra resolving power for a longer driveway.

Motion and heat detection trigger the lights and the built-in siren, and you can define detection zones and receive push alerts through the Swann Security app on iOS and Android. Swann, founded in Melbourne, Australia in the late 1980s, has long built this lights-plus-siren deterrence approach into its consumer cameras.