7 Best 180 Degrees Camera (Reviewed [year])
BEST Wide Lens
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Best on a Budget
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Best Overall
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Best Doorbell Camera
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Best Tilting & Panning
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07.19.2023
Written By: John Fox | Security expert / Locksmith 30 Years Experience
One of the most important specs of a security camera is how many degrees of vision it can register. As a security installer, I have had countless calls where businesses or homes have been robbed and we find out the footage is useless because the field of view of the camera was not wide enough to record.
Here I will go through what 25 years of experience with these cameras have taught me, the best models of 180-degree security cameras this year, what I found to be the best features of each and how they compare.
Best Overall
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1. Arlo Ultra 2 Spotlight Camera
Arlo is one of the leading smart camera companies in the US. Most Arlo cameras only go as far as 160-degrees, but the Arlo Ultra 2 pulls out all the stops. This 180-degree smart camera has some of the most serious features you’ll find in a battery-powered camera.
The Arlo Ultra 2 camera has free local storage. The camera stores all the recorded footage locally right inside the camera. This means that even a disturbance in the internet connection can’t keep the camera from capturing footage. This also means that, unlike most other Arlo cameras, you don’t have to pay a penny for long-term storage. All you need is a microSD card, and you’re good to go.
The Arlo Ultra 2 also has the highest resolution you’ll find in a smart camera. The camera recorders footage at 4K, allowing it to collect, quite literally, 4 times more information than your average 1080p camera.
The Arlo Ultra 2 camera also shoots in HDR, which allows the camera to capture details even in nightmarish lighting conditions.
All of these features are extremely relevant to the fact that the Arlo Ultra 2 camera has a field of view of 180 degrees. Wider angle cameras need higher resolution to create the same level of detail as a narrower angle camera. The 4K resolution of the Arlo Ultra 2 camera more than makes up for this. 4K resolution also allows you to zoom in on objects digitally without losing image quality.
Wider angle cameras are also more likely to meet variable lighting conditions, and the HDR technology Arlo Ultra 2 uses takes care of this.
4K resolution means that the camera captures a lot of data, and it would need high bandwidth to transfer that data. But, thanks to local storage, it doesn’t have to.
The Arlo Ultra 2 also has Color Night Vision, which allows you to see full-color footage even in pitch-black darkness.
Features:
- Field of View Type: Wide Lens
- Resolution: 4K
- Motion Detection: Yes
- Local Storage: Yes
- HDR: Yes
- Two-Way Audio: Yes
- Night Vision Type: Color Night Vision
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Best on a Budget
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2. Wyze Cam Pan v2
Wyze is the David to Arlo’s Goliath. The company was only founded in 2017, and despite being much smaller than Arlo, it’s giving Arlo a run for its money. This is because Wyze products cost only a fraction of its competitors.
The Wyze Cam Pan V2 camera works a little bit differently from the previous entry. Instead of using a wide-angle lens, the camera captures a range of 180 degrees by physically tilting itself.
Most cameras marketed as “180-degree cameras” only have a 180-degree range in the horizontal direction; their vertical field of view is somewhere around 120 degrees. But the Wyze Cap Pan V2 camera also pans vertically up and down by 93 degrees. Add that to the camera’s vertical field of view, and you have a camera with a field of view even larger than 180 degrees.
This leads us to one of the most exciting features of the Wyze Cam Pan V2 camera: you can rotate, pan, and zoom the camera remotely via the app. You can view live footage with complete control over where to focus and what to look at.
The camera also has a built-in microphone and a built-in speaker. This 2-way audio system allows you to communicate remotely with anyone on the other side. The camera also has built-in night vision.
The Wyze Cam Pan V2 camera has a resolution of 1080p. This would be a bummer if this was a wide-angle camera, but since the Wyze Cam Pan V2 covers 180 degrees by tilting, this resolution is acceptable.
The camera also has motion and sound detection: it turns on and starts recording as soon as it detects motion or sound.
There is, however, one con of the rotating system. The camera can’t capture the entire 180-degree field at the same time. It has to rotate and pan itself to look at different areas.
Features:
- Field of View Type: Tilting and Panning
- Resolution: 1080p
- Motion Detection: Yes
- Local Storage: Yes
- HDR: No
- Two-Way Audio: Yes
- Night Vision Type: Infrared Night Vision
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Best Doorbell Camera
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3. Arlo Essential Wired Video Doorbell
Granted, this is technically a video doorbell and not a plain old camera, but if you don’t already have a video doorbell, we would recommend getting this video doorbell with a 180-degree field of view instead of a 180-degree camera.
The Arlo Essential Wired Video doorbell is exactly what it sounds like; it’s a smart doorbell with a camera. The camera captures HD footage in HDR, allowing you to see everything from the darkest to brightest areas.
The camera also has two-way audio, allowing you to remotely speak to anyone at the door. You can also respond with prerecorded messages.
The camera has a motion sensor, and as soon as someone approaches the door, the camera starts recording even before they (and whether or not they) ring the bell.
Infrared night vision ensures your door is surveilled even at night. The camera is also resistant to corrosion, and it can survive rain, sunlight, dust, and all other elements.
Features:
- Field of View Type: Wide Lens
- Resolution: 1080p
- Motion Detection: Yes
- Local Storage: No
- HDR: Yes
- Two-Way Audio: Yes
- Night Vision Type: Infrared Night Vision
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Best Wide Lens
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4. GHome Smart Wireless Security Camera
Some cameras have a wide lens and high resolution to capture a large area in full detail. Others use tilting and panning to cover a large field of view. The game Smart Wireless Security Camera is the best of both worlds.
This camera has a wide lens with a 2MP resolution. The camera can turn left and right to cover 180 degrees. It also turns up and down by 110 degrees to cover the vertical range.
The GHome Smart Wireless Security Camera has a motion sensor, a microphone, and a speaker built into it. The motion detector and the microphone turn the camera on whenever there’s motion or sound in the range. The camera starts shooting, tilting, and panning as soon as it’s triggered and captures everything around it.
This camera is specifically designed for babies and pets. As soon as it detects crying sounds or motion, it sends you a notification on your phone, and you can view right from your phone what it was that triggered the camera.
The Smart Wireless Security Camera also works with smart home devices such as Amazon Alexa, allowing you to control the camera with your voice.
Features:
- Field of View Type: Tilting and Panning
- Resolution: 1080p
- Motion Detection: Yes
- Local Storage: No
- HDR: No
- Two-Way Audio: Yes
- Night Vision Type: Doesn’t have night vision
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Best Tilting & Panning
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5. LaView Wireless Security Camera
The LaView Wireless Security Camera sees everything! The camera tilts left and right and pans up and down to scan every corner of the room. The tilting and panning can be controlled directly from the LaView app.
The camera has a resolution of 1080p, which is adequate for a narrow lens camera. It also has excellent infrared night vision allowing the camera to see up to 33 feet in complete darkness.
The camera also has sound and motion detection as well as two-way audio. The camera sends you a notification as soon as it is triggered and lets you view live footage directly from the app. You can also communicate with anyone on the other side directly through the built-in microphone and speaker.
The camera has local storage, you can insert an SD card, and it will store everything on it. The camera uses financial-grade encoding to ensure that no one but you can decipher and view the footage.
Features:
- Field of View Type: Tilting and Panning
- Resolution: 1080p
- Motion Detection: Yes
- Local Storage: Yes
- HDR: No
- Two-Way Audio: Yes
- Night Vision Type: Infrared Night Vision
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Best WiFi Feature
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6. RaceTek Wireless Security Camera
Unlike the cameras discussed so far, this is an IP camera and transmits data through an Ethernet cable instead of WiFi. This may make this camera a bit difficult to install, but IP cameras can provide higher bandwidth and hence, can have a sharper output.
Unlike most IP cameras, the RaceTek Wireless security camera has all features modern security cameras have. The camera has motion detection that sends you an alert on your phone whenever there’s an activity in the zone, it has two way-audio, which allows you to communicate with anyone on the other side, and it has cloud storage with no storage limit.
The cloud storage is only available if you subscribe to a premium subscription, but it allows you to view recorded footage from anywhere. If you don’t subscribe to the premium subscription, you can still view recorded footage stored locally on a microSD card.
You can always view live footage wirelessly using the app. The app also allows you to move up, down, left, and right on the live footage.
Features:
- Field of View Type: Wide Lens
- Resolution: 1080p
- Motion Detection: Yes
- Local Storage: Yes
- HDR: No
- Two-Way Audio: Yes
- Night Vision Type: Infrared Night Vision
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Best Night Vision
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7. DCSEC180 Degree Surveillance Security Camera
Unlike all the cameras discussed so far, the DCSEC 180 Degree Surveillance Security Camera is designed to be mounted on the ceiling.
This 180-degree camera has a 2-megapixel sensor which is equivalent to 1080p resolution. This is lower than ideal for a 180-degree camera, but the fact that this is an IP camera makes up for it.
The camera also has powerful infrared night vision, guaranteeing it can record in the dark. The camera is rated for both indoor and outdoor use.
Features:
- Field of View Type: Wide Lens
- Resolution: 1080p
- Motion Detection: No
- Local Storage: No
- HDR: No
- Two-Way Audio: No
- Night Vision Type: Infrared Night Vision
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Value Editorial and Buying Debates
What to look for in a 180-degree camera?
The most important factor to look for in a 180-degree camera is resolution. Cameras with a high field of view use a wide lens to project a larger area onto the same camera sensor. This minimizes the size of all the objects in the footage as the same sensor has captured a larger area. Hence, for two cameras with the same resolution, the one with the narrower lens will show sharper footage. Wide-angle cameras have to make up for this loss by increasing the resolution. If you’re buying a 180-degree camera, go for at least 1080p resolution, or preferably higher.
Another feature you should look for is local storage. High resolution is more difficult for the camera to transfer via a limited bandwidth. storing footage locally is much easier, and results are better quality footage. (1)
Why do you need a 180-degree camera?
When a 180-degree camera is placed against a wall, it leaves no blind spots. All the area that can be said to be “in front” of the wall is in the field of view of the camera. In this sense, 180-degree cameras are more reliable than narrow-angle cameras. (2)
What does HDR do in a 180-degree camera?
One common problem with most security cameras is over/under exposure. When a camera has to shoot footage that has some areas much brighter than other areas, it either overexposes the brighter areas or underexposes, the darker areas. HDR is a technology that combines images taken at different exposures to create an image that all the areas at the appropriate exposure. 180 degree cameras are more likely to face over/underexposure problems due to different lighting conditions in different areas. HDR is an important feature for 180-degree cameras. (3)
Before we wrap up, you may want to check other learning and product guides we’ve written below;
Wrapping Up
All the cameras chosen here have their own place in the market. But I think Arlo and Wyze are the two cameras best suitable for most people. If you’re looking for a camera for outdoors, also consider the doorbell as it also has a 180-degree camera.
References
(1) bandwidth – https://www.verizon.com/info/definitions/bandwidth/
(2) blind spots – https://www.britannica.com/science/blind-spot
(3) technology – https://www.britannica.com/technology/technology
John Fox
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is John Fox and I’ve been working as a security consultant for over 20 years now. During my time in the industry, I’ve learned about what it takes to ensure your home and family are always safe. With Safe Now, I’ve tried to take those two decades of experience and share it with others. My goal now is to help others figure out how to make the right choices for their businesses and families. On my website, you’ll find tips and guides on how to prevent crimes, as well as product recommendations. What’s more, my readers can learn more about what to do in case of an emergency and how to protect themselves at all times. So, if you want to know everything there is about security systems and home safety, I invite you to join me and my team and help us build a community together.