Best Cold (colder than -4F) rated camera?

Hi guys. Looking for camera ideas for cold climates. I know Arlo, Nest, etc are rated down to -4F (Arlo -4 when plugged in, 14F when battery used). That’s not quite enough for what I’m looking for. I’d like to get to -30F is possible. Hard-wired power therefore would be required, which is fine. Alexa compatibility is preferred. Voice/microphone isn’t required. This is more of a monitoring, security item. Any good suggestions? The easier they tie into ST, the better, but again, this is a place I’d be flexible on since I know I can’t have it all!
Thanks in advance!

Nestcam IQ Outdoor or Ring Floodlight are probably closest to what you were looking for. These are rated down to -20 Fahrenheit.


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I use the Kuna porch light camera, which is rated for even lower temperatures, but it doesn’t integrate with anything else yet. Their Alexa integration is only for the light not the camera.

None of these tie easily into SmartThings, you should check the forum to see what other people have done for specific models.

Ring floodlight is supposed to have an official integration, but it’s unclear to me whether the camera features are integrated at all or just the light.

The folks in the following thread should know about the ring:

Ring Floodlight Cam

Tagging @wb70 , who may know more about the nest.

Thanks, JD. Nest Cam IQ Outdoor actually says -40F on that link you sent. The Ring comps show -22F as the best they have. Both seem reasonable. Nest is $349 per and Ring $199, which is a pretty noticeable difference. Subscription cost is better with Ring ($100/year for the 4 cameras I’d have vs $250/yr for 4 Nests), although am I reading it correctly that Nest subscription gives continuous recording whereas Ring only provides 60 day access to ring, motion, and sound events?

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I don’t really know anymore than the spec sheets: hopefully others will chime in who do. :sunglasses:

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Nest is continuously recording and lets you scrub through footage (with highlights configurable for zone, sound and other events - including ML-based events like dog barking, facial recognition for IQ cameras). This also means it is constantly using bandwidth. The retention period depends on which plan you choose (5, 10, 30 days).

Ring will only record when an event occurs (typically motion or a request for live view). Retention also depends on the plan you choose. Since it is not constantly recording, it won’t consume bandwidth constantly. However, you lose the ability to scrub through footage that is not associated with an event.

One last consideration, because Ring uploads footage when motion is detected, I’ve often gotten a push notification for motion alert and then been unable to view the footage because the clip hadn’t finished uploading or was still being processed by Ring servers. With Nest, I’ve never had that issue.

Edit: One additional thing you might want to consider when evaluating Ring is: For Owners of Amazon's Ring Security Cameras, Strangers May Have Been Watching The lack of security controls around your uploaded video is… shocking. I have no idea what Nest is like - maybe they just haven’t been caught yet.

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Thanks for the feedback @iderdik. Do you have experience with integrating Nest cameras to SmartThings? Or do you rely on a Nest app for monitoring, notifications, etc?

All I have is the camera so I haven’t bother to install any of the smart apps for it. You can look at what the community has built for it here: [RELEASE] NST Manager v5.0

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