The Lorex 2K Wire-Free Security System ($349.99) is a two-camera bundle that can be used indoors or outside. These weatherproof, battery-operated cameras are wireless and easy to install, and offer useful features including color night vision, person detection, local video storage, and warning lights and sirens designed to scare off intruders. They deliver sharp 2K video and work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, but lack the support for HomeKit and IFTTT applets that you get with our Editors’ Choice winner, the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera ($199.99 for one).
Double the Cameras
The Lorex 2K QHD Wire-Free Security System contains two indoor/outdoor cameras and a hub that connects up to six cameras to your home network (additional cameras go for $179.99 each). In addition to the cameras and the hub, the system comes with two USB power adapters and two USB power cords, two camera battery packs, two mounting brackets, a LAN cable, a 32GB microSD card, and a quick start guide.
The hub is a small white-and-silver cylinder that stands 3.7 inches high, 3.6 inches wide, and is meant for indoor use only. It has a small status LED on the front that is solid green when everything is connected and working properly, blinks green when the hub is ready to connect to the network, blinks purple when the hub is ready for pairing with the cameras, and blinks red when the hub has lost its internet connection. There’s a small speaker at the bottom and around back are a LAN port, a USB power port, a pairing button, and a microSD card slot. The hub comes with a 32GB card for storing recorded video locally, and it will accept media of up to 256GB. You can connect the hub to your home network using the LAN port, or you can connect wirelessly using the embedded dual-band Wi-Fi radio.
The IP65 weather-resistant cameras are white, with a glossy black face and a silver base. They measure 4.3 by 2.4 by 2.3 inches (HWD) and can be placed on a flat surface or mounted to a wall using the included brackets. The front of each camera has a motion-activated LED light up top and a speaker at the bottom for two-way talk. These components, along with a built-in siren, make up Lorex’s Smart Deterrence feature designed to scare off unwanted visitors. There’s also a microphone, a motion sensor, a light sensor, and a status LED that is solid green when an alarm has been triggered, flashes green when pairing with the hub or connecting to the network, flashes purple when detecting a Wi-Fi signal from the hub, and is solid red when the camera is successfully connected.
Around back are a power port and a mounting screw thread, and on the bottom is a removable cap that hides the rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack and a small reset button. The battery is rated to last up to nine months before requiring a recharge, but as always, this varies with usage. You can charge the battery while it’s in the camera using the above-mentioned power port, or remove it and charge it inside. Under the hood is dual-band Wi-Fi radio for connecting to the hub.
The camera captures video at 2K (2,560 by 1,440 pixels) and has a 140-degree field of view and an 8x zoom. It uses two infrared LEDS for black-and-white night vision (up to 32 feet) when Auto Night Vision is enabled, and will deliver low-light color night vision when Auto Night Vision is disabled. The camera will send push alerts and record video when motion is detected and store it on the hub’s SD card. Additionally, the hub will emit a chime when a camera detects motion. If you enable the Person Detection setting, you’ll only receive alerts when a person is detected.
The cameras and hub use the same mobile app (for Android and iOS) as other Lorex products, and appear on the Devices screen along with any other installed Lorex devices. Tap the play arrow for a live stream that can be viewed in full-screen mode by turning your phone sideways or by tapping the full-screen button at the bottom of the video panel. Other buttons located below the video panel include a video pause button, an HD/SD button, and a microphone mute button. Below the buttons is a timeline of recorded video events, and below that are Snapshot, Record Video, Talk, Siren, Light, and Privacy Mode buttons.
To access camera settings, tap the three dots in the upper right corner. Here you can update firmware, configure motion settings, adjust siren and two-way talk volume, enable privacy mode, check the battery status, and choose between three performance modes (power saving, optimized, and high). Here you can also enable/disable auto night vision and notifications.
Installing and Using the Lorex 2K Security System
Installing the hub and cameras was quick and easy in testing. I downloaded the mobile app and created an account, plugged in the hub, and tapped the plus icon in the upper right corner of the Devices screen. I used my phone’s camera to scan the QR code on the bottom of the hub and the device was immediately recognized, so I tapped Next to set up the hub. I selected Wired Connection from the menu, verified that the LED was flashing green, and tapped Next. I was prompted to give the device a name and password and it was successfully added to my account.
Following the instructions to add the cameras, I inserted batteries in both, made sure I was within a few feet of the hub, and pressed the pairing button on the back. When the hub’s LED began flashing blue, I tapped Next, removed the base from one camera, and pressed the reset button. When the camera LED began flashing green, I tapped Next, and the camera was immediately paired with the hub. I gave it a name, tapped Set Up Another Camera, and repeated the process for the second camera. I then tapped Complete and the pairing was finished. To complete the installation, I mounted one camera in the front of my house and placed the other one on my deck in the backyard.
The Lorex 2K cameras delivered sharp high-resolution video in our tests. Daytime footage showed vibrant colors and excellent detail with no obvious distortion. Color night video was also sharp, but colors were a bit dull. Black-and-white night video appeared sharp and well lit, but color night video wasn’t quite as crisp and colorful as daytime video. We’ve seen this with other color night vision cameras including the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight and the Reolink Argus 3 Pro.
Person detection worked as intended, ignoring motion from animals and vehicles and sending notifications only when a person was detected. Two-way audio was clean and loud, and the warning light and siren deterrent features worked well, although I think the siren could be a bit louder. The cameras had no trouble streaming video to an Amazon Echo Show using Alexa voice commands.
Two Cameras Are Better Than One
With the Lorex 2K QHD Wire-Free Security System, you get two battery-operated cameras that are easy to install and can be used virtually anywhere in your home or on your property. The cameras delivered sharp, distortion-free video in our tests and responded instantly to Alexa voice commands, and motion detection worked well. In addition to voice control, this kit offers color night vision and intelligent motion sensing, and it doesn’t require a cloud subscription as it stores recorded video locally on an included SD card. That said, it doesn’t support Apple HomeKit or IFTTT applets, and it requires a hub. You’ll spend a bit more for our Editors’ Choice, the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera ($199.99 per camera), but it doesn’t require a hub and it works with HomeKit as well as numerous third-party devices via IFTTT applets. For a much more affordable alternative, we recommend the indoor/outdoor Wyve Cam V3, which isn’t quite as sharp and also doesn’t support HomeKit, but delivers plenty of other useful features for just $19.99.
