This fixed outdoor camera emerged as our favourite overall. It’s straightforward to set up and use, it doesn’t try to do too much and it is very well priced. The stylish aesthetics mean it looks equally at home indoors and out.  

It’s a solid build, and fully weatherproofed to IP65, and while it’s not as robust as some other cameras on this list, it does still shrug off dust and rain for outdoor use. The basic mounting arrangement, with all the required screws and brackets in the box, allows you to position it precisely for full HD coverage with a 120-degree field of view. 

All the standard features you would expect are available, like auto-detecting movement in key zones and differentiating between pets and humans. Its low light performance is excellent, including full-colour night vision using infrared LEDs, which remain invisible when activated, so your intruder can’t easily spot your camera in the dark. It also has two-way voice communication so you can communicate with people detected on camera, whether guests at the front gate, or intruders in the back yard. 

It’s not battery operated, which means you still need to run its power cable back into the house, which is a pain, but at least you are not teetering on a ladder every other week to swap or recharge batteries. The on-board microSD slot means it can record incidents without connecting to the network, important if load shedding is playing havoc with your home setup. 

Full HD, indoor/outdoor IP65, day/night infrared, 106° vertical field of view, microSD slot, two-way audio, R800