Maximus Camera Floodlight review: Outdoor floodlight camera IDs cars, people

I like the $249 (roughly £195 and AU$330) Maximus Camera Floodlight, but two main things hurt its appeal. 

7.3

Maximus Camera Floodlight

$276 at Amazon

The Good

The Maximus Camera Floodlight comes with free two-hour cloud storage, optional person alerts and detection zones (with a monthly subscription plan) and delivered prompt motion alerts to my phone.

The Bad

This camera responds to Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, but only adjusts the built-in floodlights -- it won't show a live video feed on a screen-outfitted Amazon or Google smart display. I got some "phantom" motion alerts when bugs flew by and when shadows shifted around throughout the day.

The Bottom Line

I wish this camera-floodlight had more robust Alexa and Google Assistant integrations, but it's a decent choice if you want to easily link your outdoor lighting to a live streaming HD security camera.

• I occasionally got phantom alerts telling me there was motion activity when the lighting shifted -- or a bug flew by. Fortunately, you can adjust the motion sensor's sensitivity, which helped some (but not completely).
  
• I wish the hardware looked better. (The Kuna, now called the Maximus Light Fixture, I reviewed back in 2016 is so cute, so I expected more from this product.) You can't do much about the uninspired design, though, except choose between a black or a white finish.
  

Otherwise, it's a good security camera-floodlight hybrid worth looking at if you want to replace an existing wired outdoor floodlight with a smart, Wi-Fi-connected one.

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The Maximus camera's main competition is the Ring Floodlight Cam. See how they compare in the chart below:

These two cameras are very similar in terms of basic specs, as you can see, but a couple of things stand out when you look closer. While both Maximus and Ring offer optional cloud storage subscription plans for a monthly (or yearly) fee, Maximus is the only one that also offers a free alternative. 

It isn't much, but Maximus provides two hours of free motion-activated video clips storage so that you can review a saved recording for up to two hours after it happens. This is helpful if you miss a motion alert live and want to see what happened later on. If you want more than two hours of saved clips, you'll have to pay, though, starting at $7.49 per month or $59.88 per year. 

Read more about the Maximus cloud subscription plans here. 

You won't get that two-hour grace period from Ring, but its starter subscription plan is more affordable, starting at $3 per month or $30 per year. 

In addition, Maximus offers car and person alerts with its paid subscription plan, which Ring doesn't support. That means you'll get a specific alert that says "Garage: Vehicle detected" or "Garage: Person detected" when that optional feature is enabled through a paid Maximus cloud subscription. 

The Maximus camera works with Alexa and Google Assistant, too. I tried it with an Amazon Echo Show and was disappointed to learn that you can only adjust the camera's built-in lights with Alexa and Google Assistant commands. You can't pull up the camera's live feed on your screen-outfitted Amazon or Google display. 

I also got a lot of phantom alerts from the Maximus camera, especially overnight -- at 10:30pm, 11:41pm, 2:22am, 6:10am and 7:21am. Adjusting the motion sensitivity helped to some extent, but I still got some alerts, even when no important motion was taking place. 

But the camera worked well otherwise. Download the Kuna app to get started and follow the instructions to get it up and running. Installing this floodlight is much like installing any other non-smart floodlight. Turn off power to the light at your circuit breaker and connect the wires -- be sure to ask an electrician for help if you have any questions about this part of the process. It took roughly 15 minutes from start to finish and the in-app set up took about 5 minutes. 

Note: Since this is a Wi-Fi-enabled device, be sure to test your Wi-Fi network speed in the spot where you plan to install your camera or it won't work optimally. 

After everything was set up, I received speedy motion, person and vehicle alerts and was able to view a log of saved clips in the app. I also configured the lights in the app to turn on at sunset and off at sunrise. There's also an option to sound a loud siren manually if you want to scare someone away -- or call 911 straight from the app. 

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Overall, the Maximus Camera Floodlight is a good choice if you're looking for an upgrade to your outdoor home security lighting. I like that it offers a two-hour grace period for saved video clips and the option to pay for advanced features like car and person alerts is nice. At the same time, its motion alert performance wasn't always reliable (and who wants to get a phantom alert at 2am?) and the device itself could look nicer. I also wish its Alexa and Google Assistant integrations were more comprehensive. 

Still, you should seriously consider this $249 camera alongside the Ring Floodlight Cam, particularly if you don't want to pay for cloud storage.