When we reviewed the Lorex Smart Outdoor Wi-Fi Camera W281AA-W, we praised its detailed 1080p video, smart motion detection features, and free local video storage. Lorex once again hits the mark with the 4K Spotlight Indoor/Outdoor Wi-Fi 6 Security Camera ($229.99), which offers impressive 4K video, color night vision, voice controls, dual-band Wi-Fi, and microSD card storage. It doesn’t work with IFTTT applets or Apple’s HomeKit platform, but it still earns our Editors’ Choice award for outdoor security cameras because of its excellent video quality. If you need better support for third-party devices, consider our top pick in this price range, the 2K Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight ($199.99).

This Lorex camera looks similar to older models from the company. A matte white cylindrical enclosure, which measures 3.4 inches long by 3.0 inches wide, houses a glossy black camera and sports an IP65 weatherproof rating. On the back, there's a threaded mounting hole and a protruding, hardwired 19-foot USB power cable. The bottom contains a speaker, as well as a rubber cover that protects a microSD card slot and a reset button. The camera comes with a 32GB card for storing local recordings and can accommodate cards of up to 256GB.

The front has a lens, a microphone, two warning LED spotlights, and an LED light band that alerts unwelcome visitors of the camera's presence. You can change the latter to whatever color you want. The band also doubles as a status indicator; it glows solid green when the camera has an active connection, blinks green during setup, pulses red when the network connection fails, and glows solid red in the event of a malfunction. Under the hood are a dual-band 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) radio and a warning siren. While compatibility with Wi-Fi 6 networking devices is nice, I'd be more impressed if the camera supported the far more intriguing Wi-Fi 6e technology which uses the uncrowded 6GHz radio band.

The camera’s 8MP image sensor captures 4K video and has a 140-degree field of view. It uses Lorex’s CNV (Color Night Vision) Booster technology to deliver color video in low-light conditions and otherwise relies on an infrared LED for black-and-white recordings when there’s not enough ambient light.

The device records video to the microSD card when it detects motion or sound and can distinguish between people, animals, vehicles, and package deliveries. It offers support for Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, though it doesn’t work with Apple HomeKit or IFTTT.

You control the camera with the same Lorex Home app (available for Android and iOS) that all the company's other devices use, including the Wi-Fi Video Doorbell. It appears in a panel on the Devices screen along with a still of the last capture, a play arrow that launches a live stream, and a Privacy Mode button that turns off the live stream and event recording functions. At the bottom of the screen are the Home, Events, and Settings buttons. The Home button takes you back to the main screen from anywhere in the app, while the Events button shows video thumbnails of all the recordings. Tap any thumbnail to play or delete the clip.

The Settings section lets you configure Home and Away options; essentially, your location determines whether you receive notifications. Here, you can also view snapshots and manual recordings, configure notification sounds and schedules, set up two-step account verification, and add more devices. 

In the live stream view, tap the three dots in the upper right corner to adjust motion sensitivity, enable sound detection, turn on continuous recording, create custom quick responses, and toggle the Object Bounding box (this is a motion tracking feature that puts a box around whatever triggers the motion alert). You can also configure Smart Detection settings (intelligent alerts), create motion zones, and configure Smart Lighting options (you can set the lights to act as a deterrent when the camera detects motion, for instance).

At the bottom of the live stream screen are five buttons that let you switch to full-screen mode, select a video quality setting (HD, SD, or auto), pause the video stream, mute the sound, and switch to a multi-camera view with panels for up to nine cameras. There’s also a Timeline button that lets you pinch and zoom through video events and a duplicate (from above) View Events button. Further down, there are buttons for activating the siren, the warning lights, and two-way talk; manual record and snapshot buttons; a Privacy Mode button (another duplicate); and a button that lets you play a quick response message.

Installing the Lorex camera was painless in testing. I already had the Lorex mobile app on my phone, so I plugged in the camera, tapped the plus icon on the Devices screen, and used my phone’s camera to scan the QR code on the bottom of the device. I tapped Next and verified that the LED had begun to flash green. Then, I followed the instructions to create a password and authenticate my Wi-Fi network. Before I moved on to the physical installation, I gave the device a name.

I used the included hardware to attach the mounting plate to a post on my back deck, snapped the camera onto the plate, and plugged the USB adapter into a protected GFCI outlet on the deck. If you don’t have a GFCI outlet handy, you have to snake the power cord into your house and plug the adapter into a wall outlet. Once I turned on the camera, it was ready for testing.

The device delivered stunning 4K video in our tests. Daytime image detail and color quality are among the best we’ve seen from an outdoor Wi-Fi camera, while black-and-white night recordings look crisp and sufficiently bright. Color night captures shows decent saturation, though they aren't nearly as brilliant as the daytime recordings. 

The camera responded instantly to Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands to respectively stream video to Amazon Echo Show and Google Nest Hub smart displays in testing. It didn't have any issues identifying subjects from motion alerts.

There's a lot to like about the Lorex 4K Spotlight Camera W881AAD-E. It’s easy to install, captures highly detailed 4K recordings, and offers some useful perks including color night vision, free local video storage, and intelligent motion alerts. Its warning lights and siren let unwanted visitors know they are under surveillance, while support for Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands increase its convenience. We wish it worked with IFTTT and HomeKit, but the excellent video quality is what sets it apart in the category and helps it earn our Editors' Choice award. The Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera remains a better option if you want more third-party integrations and a wire-free setup, though it can't match the Lorex camera's resolution.