Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro Review

Vivint security cameras are some of the best options for a professionally monitored home security system. While the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro is a pricier security system camera, its Smart Sentry feature spooks would-be burglars from your yard. It's a great way to secure your yard if you can afford it. Find out how it compares with other security cameras in our full review.

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• Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro (Gen 2)

Most Vivint equipment, including the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro, requires professional installation. The company doesn't share which power cords and mounting hardware come with the camera. Instead, your Vivint installer chooses the appropriate tools to complete the setup.

One of the best parts of modern security cameras is smart motion detection that sends push notifications of what your camera sees. It helps reduce false alarms because you can create motion zones for the camera to watch. This way, you receive a Vivint Smart Home app notification of motion in your driveway, but not from passing cars on the street.

Vivint's Smart Sentry feature builds on smart motion detection—it deters trespassers using flashing lights and loud sounds.

Vivint's Smart Sentry offers a range of customizable sounds and even a spoken warning saying your camera's recording. This is distinct from security cameras with built-in sirens, like Arlo and Wyze. This means that the Vivint camera can discourage burglars before you can get into gruff mode for the two-way audio feature.

On the whole, Pool Alert isn't so much a groundbreaking new piece of tech but an intelligent application of existing home security tech. Vivint coming up with fresh ideas for existing features is the kind of creative thinking we love to see.

Vivint's video quality is perfectly acceptable for most folks and comes in above average compared to other security cameras, especially with the upgraded image sensor on the Vivint Outdoor Camera (Gen 2). It's an impressive presentation overall.

The Vivint camera produces clear images that make it easy to see details in different lighting conditions like daytime video and night-vision recordings. We couldn't spot any distortions in our videos during testing. We love that you can watch videos on the Vivint app or your Vivint Smart Hub control panel.

There's even a 3x optical zoom that doesn’t sacrifice much quality as you zoom. If you don't mind a more pixelated image, you can zoom up to 10x.

We like that the Vivint outdoor camera has a 140º field of view, covering much of the area in front of the camera. This is similar to what you'll find on SimpliSafe and Cove outdoor cameras but better than the Frontpoint outdoor cam. Still, it's not as wide as a retail camera like the Arlo Pro 4, which hits 160º.

We love that the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro comes with a 4K image sensor, which helps it take excellent still images. These photos look much better than the video quality, and you can easily save them to your Vivint mobile app without taking up much space.

Like other Vivint cameras, the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro records Vivint smart clips up to 90 seconds long when it detects motion. These video clips last for up to 14 days in the Vivint Playback menu.

The latest version of the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro comes with a microSD card slot that supports a up to 64 GB of local storage, which Vivint says is enough for 10 days of continuous video storage. This on-device storage helps the camera record better video and keeps it running when your Wi-Fi drops.

We love this addition, but it's unfortunate that Vivint ties the microSD card to a monthly fee in addition to your monitoring plan.

Similarly, you can still use a Vivint Smart Drive to add local storage for up to 30 days of continuous video. Overall, it's a nice upgrade but unnecessary in most cases, especially with the new microSD option.

Installing the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro is an easy one-step process because it's a professional installation. This means you need to clear space in your schedule for the installer to come to your home. After installation, the Vivint technician will help you connect the device to your Wi-Fi network and learn how to use it in the Vivint app.

We don't recommend using this camera without a Vivint security system—you need to pay for monitoring to use cloud storage anyway—so you need to budget most of a day for the entire home security system installation. Fortunately, Vivint's professional installation charges are one of the most affordable parts of the system.

This camera is weatherproof with an IP65 rating—meaning it can stand up to rain, snow, and heat without any issues. The Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro uses a power cord, so you can't install it in as many places as a battery-powered model like the SimpliSafe Wireless Outdoor Security Camera. Still, you don't need to worry about a battery going kaput in cold weather.

The Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro is an excellent security camera—if you have a Vivint system. (Fortunately, Vivint is our top pick for best home security system, so it's worth the investment.) We're big fans of the Smart Sentry feature that makes a sound to help scare burglars away. The pool safety alerts are also impressive to spot when your child wanders too close to the pool.

Beyond these unique features, the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro isn't much different than a typical security camera—although it's a lot more expensive. If you don't want a security system, we recommend buying a retail security camera like Arlo or Wyze.

Vivint supports up to six cameras, with each camera adding $5 to your monthly monitoring plan.

The Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro is a standalone product without a Vivint security system or service plan. Still, there's no video storage without a Vivint subscription.

View more answers to Vivint FAQs.

• Vivint Indoor Camera Review
• SimpliSafe vs. Vivint
• Frontpoint vs. Vivint
• Vivint Customer Service
• Vivint Troubleshooting