Arlo is famous for its wire-free camera, its performance and features are also excellent. And of course Arlo is quite expensive and needs cloud storage service to unlock richer features. If a feature-rich outdoor security camera is too dear to fit your budget, you may consider wyze outdoor camera. Wyze provides solution with its more economical products which costs a third of Arlo and the performance is not much different.
Wyze Cam Outdoor
Wyse cam outdoor is a small security camera for outdoor and today it’s come to wyze cam v3, and with the addition of spotlight it becomes a small floodlight camera. Wyze claims its products are the cheapest outdoor security cameras without compromising on quality and performance. Indeed, for product under $50 it’s worth a try. Let’s compare this camera with the most popular Arlo Pro 4 wire-free camera.
Wyze cam v3 vs v2
Wyse cam v3 is the newest product updating the previous version of wyse cam v2. The video quality of this v3 product at night is much brighter than the previous v2 version. With the addition of spotlight kit, it works like floodlight cameras in general but with less brightness. See also comparison between Arlo and Ring floodlight cameras for brighter floodlight.
Look at table 1 below which compares the two versions 2 and 3. The dimension between the two versions are not much different, v3 version is slightly bigger than v2.
Starlight
This wyze outdoor camera comes with high quality Starlight CMOS image sensor which performs much brighter in low light condition. In ambient light the camera can provides much brighter video, technically up to 25x can absorb more light as oppose to standard CMOS image sensor. In addition, this new wyze cam v3 comes with wider aperture (f/1.6) compared to wyze cam v2 (f/2.0). The wider the diaphragm lens open the more light can be absorbed, and the faster the camera capture the object.
Outdoor / Indoor
In addition to the starlight image sensor, as well as a lens with a wider aperture, and a wider viewing angle as well, the wyze cam v3 is equipped with more solid housing to withstand weather changes with an IP65 weatherproof rating. With IP65 weatherproof rating, this camera can be upgraded by adding floodlight kit, aka Wyze cam spotlight bundle.
See more details on the following table 1 below.
Table 1. Wyze cam v3 vs v2
| Wyze version | Wyze Cam V3 | Wyze Cam V2 |
| Image sensor | CMOS Starlight image sensor | ½.9 inch CMOS image sensor |
| Resolution | 1080p full HD @20 fps | Full HD 2MP (1920 x 1080) |
| Lens | Glass lens with f/1.6 | 2.8 mm focal lens; f/2.0 |
| Field of view angle | 130 degree | 110 degree |
| Zoom | 8x digital zoom | 8x digital zoom |
| Night vision | Color with starlight night vision, B/W night vision with 4x 940nm, 4x 850nm IR LEDs | 4x IR LEDs 850nm range up to 30ft (10m) |
| Siren | Built-in mini siren | N/A |
| Audio | Simultaneous 2-way talk, built-in ECM microphone and 80dB speaker | Two way audio with built-in speaker and microphone |
| Storage | Available micro SD card slot up to 32GB with overwrite | Local 32GB micro SD Card with overwrite; Free 14-day AWS cloud storage |
| Wifi connectivity | Single band 802.11 b/g/n @2.4GHz | Single band 802.11 b/g/n @2.4GHz |
| Works with | Alexa; Google Assistant; | Alexa; Google Assistant; |
| Smart features | Motion or sound detection with video clip alerts to mobile device With customize detection zone and sound sensitivity settings, Smoke and CO alerts | Motion or sound detection with video clip alerts to mobile device With customize detection zone and sound sensitivity settings |
| Time lapse | Support | Support |
| Outdoor | Yes, IP65 weatherproof | No |
| Dimension | 2.1 in x 2.0 in x 2.3 in / (52 mm x 51 mm x 58.5 mm) | 2.20 in x 1.97 in x 1.97 in / (56 mm x 50mm x 50mm) |
With a price under $50, how will this product be able to attract the attention of folks who want to buy a security camera at an affordable price, even a third of the price of new Arlo Pro 4 wire-free camera? Let’s see spec comparison between these two products.
Wyze Outdoor Camera vs Arlo
Most people will think comparing the popular Arlo with the wyze outdoor camera is rubbish. Indeed, wyze cam outdoor is not a comparable product for Arlo, however what a concern is how much difference the cheapest wyze cam v3 is compared to the most popular Arlo camera.
Probably it becomes like the legend of ‘David vs Goliath’ in security cameras. Please refer to table-2 below that shows you spec comparison table between the Goliath Arlo Pro 4 wire-free camera with the David Wyze floodlight camera. The last product is wyze cam v3 plus spotlight kit.
The camera
The first difference is the video resolution each camera can support. Arlo comes with 4MP image sensor; it delivers up to 2k resolution twice as high resolution as wyze cam. Arlo features digital version of WDR (wide dynamic range) to challenge two different extreme light conditions in the same frame, the bright light and the shadow to produce balance vivid image.
Wyze cam is only full HD (1080p) resolution; however it comes with Starlight CMOS image sensor that demonstrates brighter and sharper image in low light condition.
Arlo comes with wider view angle (160 degree), and you can zoom in up to 12x digital with Arlo app in your mobile device and with 2k resolution the result is much better than Wyze with 8x digital zoom using wyze app.
Spotlight
Arlo comes with integrated bright LED for the spotlight with 42lm brightness and 6500K white color temperature like daylight. Wyze cam v3 doesn’t come with integrated spotlight, but you can opt to add a spotlight kit to work as small floodlight with brighter light as much as 70 lm with 5000k color temperature like natural white.
Both spotlights are less bright than those general floodlight cameras that commonly come with 2000 ~ 3000 lumen brightness. See also Arlo vs eufy floodlight cameras.
Storage
Arlo without the Arlo Secure plan can only provide live view and motion detection notifications, unless you subscribe to a cloud storage service. What Wyze has to offer regarding the storage really turns things around. Wyze provides free lifetime cloud storage for storing clip footage (for 12 seconds) and stored for 14 days. Besides that, Wyze provides a micro SD card memory slot you can insert up to 32GB for local storage. You can compare with Arlo which does not provide local memory storage options. However if you already Arlo hub you can connect to it and add USB disk for local memory storage.
Wire-free
The other thing you may consider is the wire-free feature for Arlo that comes with rechargeable battery power in addition of AC adapter. However, with battery power, the use of high-intensity spotlights will also draw a large amount of battery power, thereby reducing battery life quickly. Wyze outdoor camera with a bigger spotlight does not need to worry because it uses a power adapter. However, you need to run power outlet in secure manner should you place the camera outdoor.
Comparison table Arlo vs Wyze
Now, have a look at the following spec and feature comparison table between Arlo and Wyze cameras.
Table 2 Arlo vs Wyze cam
| Wyze version | Wyze Cam V3 | Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight |
| Image sensor | CMOS Starlight image sensor | 1/3” 4MP CMOS image sensor |
| Resolution | 1080p full HD @20 fps | Max video resolution 2560 x 1440 (2k); 1080p; 720p with HDR |
| Lens | Glass lens with f/1.6 | Fixed lens No details |
| Field of view angle | 130 degree | 160 degree diagonal |
| Zoom | 8x digital zoom | 12x digital zoom |
| Spotlight | Separate spotlight kit 70 lumens 4000 ~ 5000 K color temperature | Integrated LEDs 42Lux @1m with 6500K color temperature |
| Night vision | Color with starlight night vision, B/W night vision with 4x 940nm long range visible IR LED, 4x 850nm IR LEDs invisible light | Color with spotlight for more detail, or color with ambient light; B/W with high powered IR LEDs 850nm and IR Cut filter |
| Siren | Built-in mini siren, trigger manually via wyze app | Yes, trigger automatically or manually via Arlo app |
| Audio | Simultaneous 2-way talk, built-in ECM microphone and 80dB speaker | Full duplex audio with single microphone with noise and echo cancellation |
| Storage | Available micro SD card slot up to 32GB with overwrite Free cloud storage for 12-seconds footage and saved for 14-days | Live view, no local storage but can connect to base station with storage Cloud storage plan |
| Wifi connectivity | Single band 802.11 b/g/n @2.4GHz | 802.11b/g/n single band @2.4GHz |
| Need hub connection? | No | No |
| Works with | Alexa; Google Assistant; | Alexa, Google assistant; Apple home kit; Smartthings |
| Smart features | Motion or sound detection with video clip alerts to mobile device With customize detection zone and sound sensitivity settings, Smoke and CO alerts | Motion detection with auto track and zoom With Arlo secure plan: emergency response 24/7 hours; animated video preview; unlimited cloud storage for 30 days |
| Smart plan | Person detection; full motion recording; Vehicle, pet, and package detection | Person, Package, Vehicle, & Animal Detection; Smoke/CO Alarm Detection; Activity zone; call a friend etc |
| Time lapse | Support | CVR – continuous video recording plan is available |
| Outdoor | Yes, IP65 weatherproof | Yes, UV and weather resistant |
| Magnetic mount | Yes, | Yes |
| Power | Power Adapter: Indoor 5V/1A Outdoor Power Adapter (sold separately) | Rechargeable battery; 5V 2A Output AC; AC Adapter Input: 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz |
| Dimension | 2.1 in x 2.0 in x 2.3 in / (52 mm x 51 mm x 58.5 mm) | 3.5 in x 2.01 in x 3.08 in (89mm x 52mm x 78.4mm) |
| Price in Amazon (Sep 2021) | $49.96 | $179.99 |
With all the advantages and disadvantages each of the camera as discussed above, no you can make up your mind which one is suitable to meet your budget and your home security need. You may consider wyze outdoor camera when lower budget matters or Arlo Pro 4 when richer features (with addition of Arlo secure plan) matters. Click the product’s link below to read more detail and shop in Amazon (#ads).
Related products
To add better level of home security you may to consider doorbell camera, see most popular Nest doorbell vs Arlo doorbell. Or you may also like to read this Ring doorbell vs Arlo doorbell.
Should you frequently use webcam for working from home, consider this most popular Nexigo vs Logitech 4k webcams. Or you may also consider new Obsbot webcam vs Logitech webcams. Obsbot comes with AI powered auto tracking webcam.
