Are lightbulb security cameras still terrible in 2025?

Replacing an ordinary lightbulb with a security camera seems like an easy and convenient way to keep an eye on your property without adding wiring, but when I reviewed them in 2023, they were all pretty much garbage with bad video quality, terrible apps, and even worse lighting. 

Fast forward to 2025 and security camera name brands like Wyze and Lorex have made their own lightbulb cameras. So, I went on Amazon and bought 15 top sellers and unique form factors to figure out if any of them are worth buying yet, and as always there are no sponsored reviews on this channel.

For just $13.99 the least expensive camera we’ll be testing today is this motorized pan and tilt camera from Shanna with an attached circular ring of LEDs, making it a perfect design for replacing the lightbulb in a 6 inch can light, but it should also work in any light fixture with a downward facing lightbulb. The Shanna has a resolution of 3 megapixels and records at 20 frames per second to a removable SD card. I measured the horizontal field of view at approximately 70 degrees. The Shanna says to use the Gsmart Cam app, but that app is just a skinned version of the Tuya app, so if you already have a Tuya account, you can use that instead.

Next for $14.23 is this generic looking camera from Luna AI. The Luna AI has motorized pan and tilt and a horizontal field of view of approximately 87 degrees. The Luna AI records at 3.6 megapixels and 20 frames per second to a removable SD card, but unfortunately this camera uses the proprietary Luna AI app and is nearly worthless unless you pay the $6.99 monthly subscription. Yuck.

After that for $15.99 is another pretty generic looking camera from AlkiVision. The AlkiVision has motorized pan and tilt, a 74-degree horizontal field of view, and records at 3 megapixels and 15 frames per second to a removeable SD card. The AlkiVision uses the VicoHome app, which does have a monthly subscription option, but it’s not required.

Then for $17.10 is the Noahtec which again has the exact same generic form factor as most of the cameras from my video two years ago. The Noahtec has motorized pan and tilt, a 70-degree field of view, and records at 3 megapixels and 14 frames per second to a removeable SD card. The Noahtec uses the EseeCloud app, which is pretty decent and does offer a paid cloud option, but it’s not required.

Next for $18.98 is the JUFLSKY which combines a pan and tilt camera with one of those aimable, four-leaf garage LED lights, and this thing is BRIGHT. The JUFLSKY also includes an external WiFi antenna for extra range, and it records at 3 megapixels and 15 frames per second. The JUFLSKY has motorized pan and tilt and has a horizontal field of view of approximately 75 degrees. Unfortunately, the JUFLSKY uses the AJ Cloud app which is almost as useless as the Luna AI app without a monthly subscription, but it does support both RTSP and ONVIF so there’s still some hope for it.

After that for $19.99 is the Noahcam, and just like the less expensive Noahtec, the Noahcam has motorized pan and tilt, a 70-degree horizontal field of view, and records at 3 megapixels and 14 frames per second to a removeable SD card. Also, like the Noahtec, the Noahcam uses the EseeCloud app.

Also for $19.99 is the Wesecuu, another generic looking motorized pan and tilt camera that records at 3 megapixels and 14 frames per second to a removeable SD card, has a 70-degree horizontal field of view and also uses the EseeCloud app.

Then for $23 is a slightly more unique looking motorized pan and tilt camera from Hi-Focus. The Hi-Focus has an 81-degree horizontal field of view and records at 3 megapixels and 20 frames per second to a removeable SD card. The Hi-Focus uses the HF Smart View app, which is another skinned version of the Tuya app, so I’d recommend just using Tuya instead.

Next for $26.21 is the GUOANVISION, a unique design with both a stationary camera and a pan and tilt camera all in one, and this is basically the only time I’d recommend using the auto tracking feature on one of these cameras since you know the top camera will always provide you with an overview regardless of where the bottom camera is pointed. Each camera has a horizontal field of view of 83 degrees, records in 3 megapixels and 12 frames per second. The video file outputs both views stacked on top of each other, so you could use this as a tracking camera or a panoramic camera if you have the top and bottom lenses pointed in different directions. The GUOANVISION uses the iCSee app, which works decently well, even without a subscription.

Then for $29.99 is the ZKCAI motorized pan and tilt camera with a general illumination lightbulb above the camera. The ZKCAI is larger than all the cameras without built-in lightbulbs, but smaller than both the Shanna and JUFLSKY and the pattern of light that it emits makes it suitable to mount with the camera on top, or on the bottom. The ZKCAI has a 70-degree horizontal field of view and records at 3 megapixels and 14 frames per second to a removeable SD card and is now the 4^th camera in this group to use the EseeCloud app.

Jumping up to $39.99 is this camera from Litokam which is easily the worst value in the video. The Litokam has motorized pan and tilt, an 87-degree field of view and records at 3.6 megapixels and 20 frames per second to a removeable SD card. But it uses the littlelf Smart app, which is another skin of the Tuya app but with banner ads at the top of the page. Unfortunately, Litokam has decided to lock down their camera so it can’t be used with the standard Tuya app, and unlike the free human detection you get with the Tuya app, Litokam only gives 10 free detections a day and if you want more than that you’ll need to sign up for their $4.99/month plan.

Jumping up another $10 to $49.98 is the Wyze Bulb Cam, which is actually a pretty great design with a long skinny bulb section above its manually aimable camera with about an inch and a half of additional extension if you need that to clear your light fixture. The lightbulb portion of this camera performs very similarly to a traditional lightbulb, and Wyze also sells a companion bulb with matching color temperature and style that can be synced with the camera bulb, which is a great idea. Wyze went with a fisheye lens that I measured at 165 degrees of horizontal field of view, nearly double the rest of the cameras in the video, and it records at 3 megapixels and 20 frames per second to a removeable SD card. It uses the Wyze app, but like all Wyze cameras from the last few years, it’s nearly worthless without their $2.99 CamPlus subscription, which is extremely disappointing.

Next for $49.99 is the Symynelec and not much has changed since my 2023 review. The Symynelec still records 3.6 megapixels at 18 frames per second and has motorized pan and tilt and an 84-degree field of view, but it’s quite a bit larger than the rest of the cameras in this year’s lineup and may have issues fitting into some light fixtures. In 2023 the Symynelec used the Tuya app, but they’ve switched over to the Symynelec app, which is just a skinned version of the Tuya app, so I’d still just recommend using Tuya instead.

Then for 51.99 I bought this camera from TkenPro because it looked like a cool new design, but I definitely overpaid and the TkenPro turned out to be slightly worse than the $15 AlkiVision and has a 70-degree field of view, motorized pan and tilt, and records at 3 megapixels and 14 frames per second to a removeable SD card. Like the $15 AlkiVision, the much more expensive TkenPro uses the VicoHome app.

Last, the most expensive camera I’ll be testing today is the $69.99 Lorex 2K Lightbulb camera. On the one hand I’m excited to see a light bulb camera from an established security camera company, and I think the overall design is one of the best with a large light bulb portion that provides plenty of light, but I’m also not sure why it costs $70 for Lorex to produce a camera that other companies can make for 25% of that price. Still the Lorex records at 3.6 megapixels and 15 frames per second, it has motorized pan and tilt, 87 degrees of horizontal field of view, a dimmable bulb, and it uses the Lorex app, which is decently full featured even without paying the optional monthly subscription.

Arguably the most important aspect of a security camera is image quality, so to test that I hung each of the cameras from the same location and held a sign at 10 and 25 feet and repeated those tests both during the day and at night.

During the day at 10 feet the ZKCAI, AlkiVision, WESECUU, and Shana had the best clarity, while the Hi-Focus, Litokam, Luna AI, and Wyze were at the bottom, but don’t forget that the Wyze also has nearly double the field of view, so lower image clarity should be expected when compared to a narrow field of view camera.

At 25 feet during the day the AlkiVision, TKENPRO, Noahcam, and ZKCAI took the top four spots with the Litokam, Luna AI, and Wyze still rounding out the bottom, this time with the addition of the dual lens GUOANVISION.

At night at 10 feet the AlkiVision came out on top again, followed by the TKENPRO, Shanna, and Lorex, with the Luna AI, GUOANVISION, Wyze, and Symynelec at the bottom.

At 25 feet the Lorex edged out the AlkiVision, and the Shanna and ZKCAI were close behind that with the Noahcam and Hi-Focus now slipping into the bottom four with the Luna AI and Wyze bulb camera.

That means that for image quality the $15.99 AlkiVision dominated with an average rank of 1.5, the ZKCAI had an average rank of 3.75, the Shanna was in 3^rd with an average rank of 4, and the Wesecuu was in 4th with an average rank of 5.25.

I also measured the amount of time that it took for each camera to send a notification and found that the GUOANVISION was by far the fastest, sending a notification in just 3 seconds, followed by the AlkiVision at 7 seconds. Then the bulk of the cameras came in between 8 and 11 seconds, and the slowest notifications came from the JUFLSKY, Litokam, Wyze, and Hi-Focus. The Luna AI failed to reliably send notifications at all.

Of those notifications, all the cameras except for the Luna AI, Litokam, GUOANVISION, and JUFLSKY sent rich notifications, with an attached thumbnail image of the motion that was detected, and all of the cameras except for the Wyze, Luna AI, Shanna, and Litokam offer free person detection without a subscription.

The last thing that may or may not be important to you in terms of camera functionality is that the Hi-Focus, JUFLSKY, and Shanna all have ONVIF compatibility. So, if you want to use them with your existing security system you can easily add them to NVRs that support ONVIF like Blue Iris, Synology Surveillance Station, and even UniFi Protect. While the Lorex doesn’t support ONVIF for some reason, it can still be added using RTSP if your NVR supports it.

Next, moving onto light quality, you probably had a light where these cameras are going to be mounted, so they need to be able to replicate the functionality of a bulb. To test this, I used manual settings on my camera to properly expose my driveway using my normal 60-watt equivalent LED carriage lights, then I turned off the lights and without changing settings turned on each of the light bulb cameras.

Most of them were pretty bad, specifically all the cameras that just have LEDs mounted around the lens work more like point flashlights than they do like floodlights, and none of them come close to replicating a standard light bulb. The ZKCAI had a decent distribution of light, but not much brightness compared to a 60-watt equivalent bulb. The Lorex provided slightly more than a 60w bulb, the Shanna was about the same as the Lorex, but with a more downward facing pattern, the Wyze bulb was both bright and evenly distributed, and the JUFLYSKY was about twice as bright as a standard 60-watt bulb and has four adjustable fins to aim the output. All the cameras with purpose-built lighting can be set to come on when motion is detected, or they can run on a schedule.

So, unlike my last review in 2023 where I determined that none of the cameras were really worth buying, this set has some legitimately decent options.

First, if you just want a camera and not a lightbulb replacement, the AlkiVision is by far the best option. It finished first in picture quality, it had the 2^nd fastest notifications with included thumbnail images, and it has free person detection filtering. It uses the VicoHome app which is decently easy to use and makes finding and downloading clips relatively painless, and it’s only $15.99, though like all the cameras in this video you’ll also need to buy a microSD card separately.

If you’re looking for a camera + lightbulb, the ZKCAI is another easy recommendation. It finished 2^nd in image quality, had quick rich notifications with free person detection, and the EseeCloud app is easy to use. The light output isn’t quite up to par with a 60-watt bulb, but it’s ten times better than a camera with only front facing LEDs, and the light output is evenly spread similar to a traditional bulb. Even though it’s twice as expensive as the AlkiVision $29.99 still seems like a fair price.

If you’re looking for something with a slightly better app and a more powerful light bulb, the Lorex was also very good with decent image quality, good light output, and a full featured app that doesn’t require a subscription but seems a bit overpriced at $70.

Speaking of overpriced, the Wyze bulb is cool, and I especially like the ultra-wide field of view and the ability to buy companion bulbs, but I can’t help but think Wyze has lost their way as a company. They used to make decent quality affordable cameras with local access and no subscription. Then they said the only way they could keep selling cheap cameras and stay in business was to charge a monthly fee, but now almost all of their cameras are at higher price points, but they still make them basically worthless if you don’t pay the $3 per month subscription. They’ve also completely abandoned the idea of local access, which I can’t get behind.

So with that in mind the two cameras that are most interesting to me are the $13.99 Shanna with the down firing LED ring that would work perfectly in a 6” can light, and the extremely bright and aimable JUFLSKY garage style lightbulb camera. But both of them have issues that would stop me from recommending them to be used as an out of the box solution, namely that the Shanna lacks any form of person detection and the JUFLSKY’s app, AJ Cloud, is legitimately terrible and has almost zero functionality if you don’t pay the monthly subscription. But both cameras support full local access and ONVIF, so if you already have an NVR, you can just use the apps one time to set up ONVIF and the light timer and then never open them again. Because the Shanna uses the Tuya app, you can also control both the light and camera with Home Assistant, which is pretty cool for less than $14.

As always there are no sponsored reviews on this channel, but I do have links down in the description for all of the cameras in this video, and as always, I appreciate when you use those links since as an Amazon Affiliate I do earn a small commission on the sale at no cost to you. 

I’d also like to thank all my awesome patrons over at Patreon for their continued support of my unsponsored reviews, and if you’re interested in supporting my channel please check out the links below. If you enjoyed this video, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel and as always, thanks for watching The Hook Up.