This home security camera works well, but $280 is too expensive.

Google's Nest Cam with Floodlight approach is very similar to its competitors: take an outdoor camera, take some lights, and then give it a higher price tag. The ring did it; Arlo did it better. Even Wyze, a super-affordable camera developer, is involved, offering a spotlight for $10 that you can clip directly onto an outdoor camera.

However, although the prices of these cameras vary, their features and overall quality also vary. The pure wired Nest Cam with Floodlight costs $280 and is one of the most expensive options on the market, but it is bright, smart, and brings many benefits to Google's loyal fans. Can it beat our favorite floodlight camera on the market? Let us find out.

Okay, so if floodlight cameras are basically just outdoor cameras with lights, then the first question you should ask is, how good is the camera? Fortunately, we have actually reviewed the Nest Cam (battery)-its specifications are almost the same as the basic device here.

This is a sturdy camera that performed well in our tests. The advantages are obvious: free smart alerts that can distinguish between people, animals, and vehicles; active areas; thanks to the new machine learning chip, processing power on the device; and a great application experience. But the price-prepaid $180 and optional but necessary storage Nest Aware subscription for $6 per month-just don't recommend this camera, especially for super affordable competitors like Wyze and the best-like Class competitors like Arlo.

One big difference between Nest Cam (battery) and Nest Cam with Floodlight is the wiring: As the name suggests, Nest Cam (battery) does not require cumbersome wiring. On the other hand, the floodlight option requires hard wiring to outdoor fixtures. If you don't, then you are out of luck. Even if you have one, installation will not be particularly easy. Outdoor lights are usually not easy to disassemble, and to say the least, it is not advisable for most people to permanently change the appearance of the house.

The wire nut included in the Nest Cam with the Floodlight Setup Kit is too small for the wires in my external fixture. I had to remove them and replace them with the others I had on hand.

It took me a few hours to set up the floodlights, and I think I'm pretty comfortable. The fixture I first tried to replace was old and I found that there was a problem with the connection-whether it was the wiring itself (old circuit, amirite?) or the Nest Cam, I couldn't figure it out. When I finally got the camera up and running, it needed a new, larger cable nut (I was lucky to have it on hand) to install the cable in my setup. I am very disappointed that Nest Cam does not include various sizes suitable for this situation.

The option of connecting to an external socket or using battery power, just like using Arlo's floodlight cam, is also a popular alternative to the setup. In fact, you must have the wiring for the external light-most of the time it is connected to an internal light switch, and you need to remember to keep it on or tape it to avoid cutting off the power to the camera.

In addition to the tedious installation process, there are two main differences between Nest's floodlight cam and Nest Cam (battery). The question is, how does the addition of two 2,400 lumens and the skyrocketing price of $100 change calculus? Well, not as much as you think-and it may not be the direction Google wants.

This is Nest's first floodlight camera, but it is not the first on the market. The following is a comparison between the Nest Cam with Floodlight and its two major competitors, Amazon Ring and Arlo.

Nest fits the range of its competitors well-but compared to these two leading alternatives, its upfront and monthly fees are a bit more expensive. It is comparable to Ring's more affordable (and darker) floodlight camera in terms of wiring settings and resolution, although the Ring device has a siren but the Nest does not. Nest's floodlight brightness when wired is between Ring and Arlo (Arlo is only 2000 lumens when using battery power).

Subscribe to Nest Aware for $6 per month, and you will get familiar face detection and audible alerts (smoke alerts, broken glass and carbon monoxide alerts), the ability to call 911 from the Google Home app, and 30 days of event video history. Upgrade to Nest Aware Plus for $12 per month and you will get all these options plus 60 days of video history and 10 days of 24/7 video recording.

In short, the price of the Nest Cam with Floodlight is not high-but its features are not particularly cost-effective, especially when compared to more affordable and equally functional competitors.

If you have ever bought a car off-site, you probably know that the technical specifications and aesthetics are usually inferior to its handling on the road. Well, Nest did not disappoint here.

The Google Home application is easy to use and performs well. It takes a few seconds to pull up the real-time feed, and the setup is fairly simple. You can use a slider from 1% to 100% to dim the floodlights, and you can set the lights to be on based on prerequisites such as timers or motion alarms.

The Nest Cam's floodlight is dimmable on the Google Home app-but not on the same screen as the live camera feed.

It's also easy to bring up your video history and swipe back to watch various events, which are marked according to the cause of the event-people, animals or vehicles. In general, these settings work well. One thing that is not intuitive is that the floodlight and the camera are treated as different devices in the app, which means you can't dim or even turn it on from the camera's live stream. When you try to find the correct brightness setting, you have to switch back and forth between the brightness slider and the live stream.

Despite this annoying quirk, I usually enjoy exploring my new remote observation capabilities in the Google Home app. Adding facial recognition using the Familiar Faces function through Nest Aware works well for me, but I don’t think it’s a make-or-break function. Instead, you may want to subscribe to more storage space than three hours of event history.

I also appreciate the privacy aspect of Nest Cam. The lens is encrypted when transmitted from the camera and at rest on the Nest server, and all processing (such as distinguishing people, vehicles and animals, or processing facial biometrics) will be performed on the device itself-which means that the lens will not need to be sent to Cloud, not for storage purposes.

Encrypting these vulnerable transmission and rest points in the chain helps prevent potential hackers and spies from unauthorized access to your data. Although Ring provides more thorough end-to-end video encryption, it only applies to wired devices, and users must opt-in. Of course, Ring also has its own privacy issues. 

The Nest Cam with Floodlight is a rugged device with excellent application control features. The brightness of the dual 2,400 lumens lights is enough to illuminate my backyard, and even allows me to see a clear view of the edge of a medium-sized yard at night. The clear 1080p image resolution and reliable smart alarm keep me informed of all activities at any time. The scheduled time is in my backyard.

In other words, I was disappointed to see how inflexible the setup process was designed as a DIY device. More importantly, the price of the camera and subscription does not match the value of Arlo's $250 alternative or Ring's more affordable floodlight cam.

For Google’s loyal fans, it is not so much brand consistency as value. Maybe the Nest Cam with Floodlight will cause unexpected itch. For the rest of us, there are already better options on the market, with better prices.